Acts 12:8-19 Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen. ”When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!” “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel. ”But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place. In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.
We find in the above focus a very serious affair. Herod wants to win more favor with the Jewish people by killing Peter. The Jewish elite were extremely happy about Herod’s focus on eliminating the leaders of Christ’s followers. For them these apostates were a danger to the Jewish society, to the staid religious order and to the coherence of the community. The beheading of James was a necessary step in the cleansing of the Jewish community of the teachings of Jesus. By eliminating the leaders of THE WAY, Herod understood he was doing everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen. In many ways, the majority of the Jews were persecuting Jesus’ followers. The Sanhedrin had killed Stephen, causing many Christians to flee Jerusalem. Nevertheless, the leadership of THE WAY stayed in Jerusalem. Now Peter was in prison for the cause of Christ. But an angel interrupts this scene by coming to Peter in his cell. The angel is on a time schedule for he tells Peter to get up quickly. We do not see God stopping time, changing the mode of reality in this cell; instead, we hear the angel say, “Quick, get up!” He does not wake Peter up gradually, helping Peter understand the situation. Rather, He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. No sweet talk whispered in Peter’s ear to wake him up. No, the angel strikes him, for the angel’s intervention is on a time schedule. In this scene, nothing is done nonchalantly or slowly. Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. Even though this is a supernatural event, the angel is in a hurry, functioning within the reality of the natural world. We see this same situation of an angel functioning in the order of physical realities when he tells Joseph to flee with the baby Jesus to Egypt. When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” (Matthew 2:13) Again later when Joseph and his family return to Judea, God does not disturb the realities of the natural world. After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” (Matthew 2:19-20) As we see in the above focus, God does send an angel to rescue Peter from being beheaded the next day. However, he functions in a time element that requires everything be done quickly. Peter is told to do things that are very ordinary, part of the routine of getting up such as dressing himself. We do not see the clothes and sandals being put on Peter in a supernatural way; no, it is Peter’s responsibility to prepare himself. Then Peter is told to follow the angel, follow me. Peter followed him out of the prison. Peter is not in some sort of transcendental state, floating along behind the angel. No, he walks out of prison, using his own legs, walking by the guard stations and through an open gate. A supernatural event, but not a metaphysical one. Peter’s faculties were engaged in this whole scene, plus, all completed within a certain time schedule. We see in this focus, Pete is obedient, willing to put on his clothes and sandals, willing to follow the angel. Whether being in a dream or not his obedience to the angel’s words are absolutely necessary for his escape.
Experiencing supernatural events does not always lead to obedience. We see the children of Israel in the wilderness, saturated with supernatural events. Their whole journey was one of God’s intervention in their lives, a cloud led them and protected them during the day, and a pillar of fire was with them at night. They had been led out of slavery; they had experienced the crossing of the Red Sea on dry land. They saw their enemy Pharaoh and his army swallowed up by the Red Sea. They experienced being fed supernaturally by manna and quail; they drank water from the rock. Their clothes and sandals did not wear out. Yet, when it comes for them to move into Canaan, they rebelled and refused to cross the river Jordan and take possession of Canaan. They feared the strength of the inhabitants of Canaan. They questioned the strength of God and his faithfulness to them. Their faithlessness in God and his strength angered God. The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.” (Numbers 14:11-12) In today’s focus, we see Peter obeying the commands of the angel. He was willing to follow the angel and then after they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Up to that time, he was being led by the angel, as the children of Israel in the wilderness. He then completed the task of deliverance by going to a place where believers were praying for his freedom. The children of Israel had no story to tell when they refused to enter into Canaan. They had no story to tell about settling into Canaan, the land of rest, milk, and honey. Instead, God made them go back and journey in the wilderness until the first generation died out. Now we see Peter, a member of the first generation of the redeemed, freed from the devil’s clutches, going to other believers to tell of his deliverance from imprisonment. His story would be one of victory, a story about a faithful and powerful God. However, the people praying for his release did not believe there was such a victory to be won. When Peter goes to the house where they are praying for his deliverance from prison, their unbelief was so great that they refused to believe Rhoda, the servant girl’s announcement, Peter is at the door! Instead of believing her, they told her she is out of her mind. But she persisted in her claim that Peter was at the door, so they then said, It must be his angel. Their prayers for Peter contained little faith. Faith is the essential ingredient in knowing God or to seeing his hand involved in lives. In Lystra, Paul perceives that a man who was lame from birth possessed faith in God. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk. (Acts 14:8-10) Now in Peter’s situation, we see a house full of Christians with little faith, mouthing words, but not really believing that the reality of God can change the intractable, the impossible. But God is a good God who answers prayers for those who have little faith.
Peter is delivered from jail and the guards pay the price for his escape. Herod Agrippa had them executed. We see in Joseph and Mary’s escape to Egypt with their child, Jesus, cost some little boys their lives. When Herod the Great realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under. (Matthew 2:16) The natural order of events were not altered because of God’s intervention into the lives of Jesus and Peter. Guards were killed; little boys were murdered. The Herods' wickedness prevailed in these two events. However, God’s will was to be done. He preserved Jesus and Peter; the Good News of being born again would be proclaimed to the whole world. A Savior, the Son of God, has come to the world to redeem all men and women from their captivity to sin. Jesus, the Seed of redemption, has been given to mankind. From now on, all who place their trust in Jesus’ work can become children of the Most High. Peter’s deliverance from prison was a very serious event; a necessary situation, for the Good News needed to be spread throughout the world. Peter would soon realize that Jesus is Good News for the Gentile world too. God makes known to Peter through another dream that the Gentile world should hear the Good News of redemption because they too can become children of the Living God. Therefore it was necessary that Peter escape imprisonment, for God had great plans for Peter. Peter escapes death, but others will face the consequences of his escape with their lives. Jesus is brought to Egypt safely, but young boys will experience death. The war between good and evil is real, and it goes on today. God is asking his people to obey his commands, to carry out his will regardless of the consequences. We see later on in Peter’s life his willingness to lay down his life for Jesus. In Jesus’ life, we see him willing to give his life for his Father God. The struggle between good and evil is a constant battle, but the Bible says that we are more than conquerors. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39) To be more than conquerors, we must understand fully where our strength comes from. We must realize real life is within us. As with Peter, the Holy Spirit was resident in him so he could follow the angel’s voice without any hesitation. The angel knew his time of intervention was short, so he ordered Peter to do everything quickly. Peter obeyed. The cry is always the same in our lives, what must I do to be saved?” And in every situation the same answer is necessary in our souls, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. (Acts 16) Will we escape all of our predicaments in life? Maybe not. But the answer to our lives is always believe in the Lord Jesus and his work of redemption. Peter escaped certain death this day, but later through tradition, we learn of Peter dying upside down on a cruel cross. What was the cry he championed throughout his life: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved. Peter was more than a conqueror. He knew nothing would separate him from the love of God. Dear friends around this breakfast table, nothing will separate you from the love of God. No trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword will ever separate you from God, for you are his child. If it seems as if imprisonment today is your condition, thank God for He loves you. If you are free from the entanglements of this world, no worries at all, thank God. In or out of prison we are CHILDREN OF THE LIVING GOD forever.
