Atos 12

Atos 12

Morgan comments, “That force of earnest, halting prayer was mightier than Herod, and mightier than hell.” When Herod was about to bring him forward - Which signifies that this must have been the last day of the Passover feast and now he would not be defiled by getting innocent blood on his hands! The hour is late! But mark it down - God is never too late! The verb bring forward (prosago) reflects the language of the law court, to bring before. Peter was sleeping - This is the third time Scripture describes Peter as sleeping - (1) The Mount of Transfiguration (Lk 9:28-36,32+) (2) The Garden of Gethsemane (Lk 22:45, 46+) and (3) In a Jerusalem prison chained to two guards! What is the difference between Peter's three times of somnolence? Only in the third sleeping episode was Peter a Spirit filled man and as such He was experiencing the peace "which surpasses all comprehension, (that) will guard (phroureo = Military term for soldiers standing on guard duty) your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. " (Php 4:7) William MacDonald suggests that Peter was so peaceful because "He probably remembered the Lord’s promise that he would live to be an old man (John 21:18), and so he knew that Herod could not kill him prematurely." Solomon's description of the gift of God to His children well describes Peter's serenity in such serious surroundings... It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep. Psalm 121 (see commentary) is a beautiful description of the scene, the psalmist writing 1 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? 2 My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. 8 The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever. As Brian Bell says Peter must have known and fully trusted the words of this great Psalm for he manifested a "quiet conscience, perfect security, patient hope." O, for grace to imitate Peter's example when (not if) our next trial comes (cf 1 Peter 1:6-7+). Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains - Not one soldier, but two soldiers...two chains! Normally a prisoner would be handcuffed to one soldier but not two soldiers...two chains! God was allowing the enemy to stack the odds, so that the subsequent liberation would have to be viewed as nothing other than a miracle wrought by the Omnipotent God. One would also think this might have been a "witness" to Herod and all the other Jews that God was NOT on their side! One wonders if we will see some orthodox Jews in Heaven because of having witnessed the greatness of this miracle? Note that Peter is about to meet His Maker if Herod has his way. And yet Peter is not worrying but resting! Not was not frantically fretting, but soundly somnolent! He was no doubt in "Stages 3: the deep sleep stage" (Had to toss that in since I am a physician - another source). No anxiety! No alarm! He did not fret in spirit, but fell asleep in his cell. Don't forget that this was the man who some 11 years earlier had thrice denied the Lord Jesus, but such was not to be the case this time because Peter was a transformed man. He was a Spirit filled man, a man comforted by the Comforter, a man resting in a Spirit enabled response (to not be anxious) and resting on God's Word of Truths in a number of OT passages - "The steadfast of mind Thou will keep in perfect peace (Hebrew literally is "shalom, shalom"), Because he trusts in Thee." (Isaiah 26:3, cf Isa 41:10) And Psalm 46:10 "“Cease (desist, relax) striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Clearly Peter knew the principle later propounded by Paul in Philippians - Read Php 4:11, 12, 13+! Peter was sleeping and the church was praying. Clearly these are to some degree cause and effect related. But remember that Peter did not know the church was interceding for him (he may have hoped it was happening, but he had no way of knowing with certainty)! His trust ultimately was in God. Peter was not only conqueror, he was more than conqueror (Ro 8:37KJV+). At this moment he would gladly have affirmed Paul's later challenge to the last enemy "Death" -- "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" (1 Cor. 15:55). John Polhill wrote, “That Peter could sleep so soundly the night before his trial is perhaps indicative of his calm assurance that he was in God’s hands (ED: NOT IN HEROD'S HANDS!).” (See Acts: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture) John MacArthur on Peter's peaceful sleep - Our sleeping pill and tranquilizer saturated society could take a lesson from Peter on how to trust God. First, he trusted in the Lord Jesus’s promise to him that he would die later, when he was old (John 21:18). Since he was not yet an old man, he had nothing to fear. Further, each time he had been in jail before, he had been released. God had a perfect track record. All this enabled Peter to advise believers to cast “all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Believers who learn, like Peter, to trust God’s promises and past performance, usually sleep soundly. (See Acts 1-28 MacArthur New Testament Commentary Two Volume Set) Steven Ger suggests that Peter was able to sleep because he was "trusting in Jesus' promise that he would not be executed until after reaching old age (John 21:18-19). Peter had about twenty more years still coming to him." John Stott - Later Paul, in a similar situation in Philippi, was to pray and sing to God (Acts 16:25+). This leads Chrysostom to comment: ‘It is beautiful that Paul sings hymns, whilst here Peter sleeps.’ Both Luke’s heroes, Peter and Paul, showed themselves to be equally defiant of death." (Borrow The message of Acts : the Spirit, the church & the world page 208) Jack Andrews - Years ago the American Baptist Publication Society had on its seal the picture of an ox standing between the altar and the plow. This picture tells us that the ox was ready to serve by pulling the plow and he was ready to die on the altar. Peter was there as a servant of God! He was ready to live for God’s glory, but he was also ready to die for God’s glory! Peter would have agreed with the affirmation of Paul (also in prison waiting to die) "For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know Whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day." (2 Ti 1:12+). Peter was willing to live for Jesus and he was also willing to die for Jesus! Church history tells us that the Apostle Peter was martyred by the Romans under Nero. He was crucified upside down! THOUGHT - Beloved, we are not really ready to live for Jesus until we are ready to die for Jesus! We need to imitate Paul (1 Cor 11:1+) who said "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Php 1:21+) We should live in a state of constant readiness to live or die, to spend or be spent. Ready to die and therefore ready to live. Ready to live and therefore ready to die. Paul had only two days on his calendar, "Today" and "That day." (cf 2 Ti 1:12b) The Christian who is right and rich and radiant is ready, come what may! We need to be like Jonathan Edwards who wrote "Resolved, To live with all my might, while I do live." (Edwards resolved to read his resolutions over once a week!) This begs the question - What about you dear reader - are you ready to die that you might truly live? And guards in front of the door were watching over the prison - Watching is the same verb tereo translated "kept" in Acts 12:5 (see note). Watching is in the imperfect tense picture them as repeatedly watching, suggesting that they did not fall asleep at their post. Guards (5441)(phulax from phulasso = to guard) means a guard, prison keeper, sentinel. Three uses - Acts 5:23, 12:6, 19. In Acts 5:23 notice the irony of guards guarding a cell without prisoners! And soon two guards chained to Peter would awake from sleep with no prisoner! God has a wonderful sense of humor. Prison (5438)see note on phulake POSB - God’s providence saved Peter but not James. Why? Very simply, it was time for James to join his Lord and receive the fruit of his labor for work done here on earth. Peter’s work was not yet done. Believers must always remember, the day when they are to go to their Lord does come. God’s will may be for the believer to suffer and bear martyrdom for His name’s sake. God’s plan may be to use the persecuted believer’s faithfulness as a testimony to reach others. (Borrow The Preacher's outline & sermon Bible : New Testament page 182) Acts 12:7 And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter's side and woke him up, saying, "Get up quickly." And his chains fell off his hands. KJV Acts 12:7 And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. an angel of the Lord Acts 12:23; 5:19; 10:30; 27:23,24; 1 Kings 19:5,7; Psalms 34:7; 37:32,33; Isaiah 37:30; Daniel 6:22; Hebrews 1:14 and a light shone in the cell Acts 9:3; 2 Samuel 22:29; Ezekiel 43:2; Micah 7:9; Habakkuk 3:4,11; Revelation 18:1 Get up quickly Genesis 19:15,16; Isaiah 60:1; Ephesians 5:14 And his chains fell off his hands Acts 12:6; 2:24; 16:26; Psalms 105:18-20; 107:14; 116:16; 142:6,7; 146:7; Da 3:24,25 TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL! LIGHT AND LIBERTY! There was a television show entitled "Touched by an Angel," an American supernatural drama television series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994, and ran for 211 episodes and nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. None of the episodes however were as dramatic as that in which Peter played the lead role (along with the angel of course and the intercessors behind the scenes!) THOUGHT - Chapter 12 presents as dramatic a contrast as one could find in all of Scripture, for here we see an angel of the Lord rescue Peter from certain death and in Acts 12:23 we see another angel of the Lord strike Herod resulting in a gruesome death! One man was living for God's glory and the other was living for his own glory. The moral of the story is clear to all who claim to follow Christ as Lord -- We have but one life to live, so enabled by His Spirit may we live our life for God's glory. If you reviewed your life over the past year, for whom did your attitudes and actions testify that you were living - Self or Savior? There is no middle ground beloved. As Jesus' taught "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." Mt 6:24+). Behold (2400) (idou) is the second person singular aorist middle imperative of eidon which means to see, perceive, look at. In the NT idou is used as a demonstrative particle that draws attention to what follows. Idou in the middle voice means "you yourself look, see, perceive!" The aorist imperative is a command emphasizing "Do it now! Don't delay!"