Well,
it’s been a while since, in the progression of Acts, someone was killed; at
least someone who was part of the church and mentioned by name. You might have even forgotten how volatile
things between the Gentiles and Jews (mind you that these titles precede the
now all-encompassing title of Christian that we saw last week) really
were. If you recall, over the past few
Sundays we have been reminded of Peter’s ministry to and the subsequent
indwelling of the Holy Spirit upon the Gentiles, those outside of national
Israel. I mentioned last Sunday that the
text that was before us (chapter 11) really didn’t seem to make such a big deal
about this newfound change. Well, if you
recall, I told you to hold that thought for a week and we would see that things
were different. You see, way back in
Acts 7, immediately after his speech, Stephen, the newly ordained deacon, was
stoned to death. Why was he stoned to
death? Well, in essence, it was because
he was preaching that Jesus’ sacrifice and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit
was for all those that believed in Jesus as the Messiah and that these promises
weren’t just limited to the Jews. This
tension was still bubbling underneath the surface just waiting to come out. For the most part, the Jewish leadership
didn’t get too upset (to some extent) with the apostles and other followers of
Jesus for proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah, as long as it was only to the
Jews. Don’t get me wrong, they still
thought the apostles were wrong, but at least they weren’t being too
blasphemous (whatever that means). However,
now that the promises of God and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit are being
claimed to be opened to the Gentiles, that is an entirely different matter
altogether.
Our
text opens up by mentioning who is in power at the time, Herod. More precisely, it is Herod Agrippa who is
over Jerusalem at this point. Now, we
don’t really know a lot about this particular king other than the fact that he
was a little crazy and he thrived off of the approval of his citizens. It was his uncle, Herod Antipas, who is
mentioned during the trial of Jesus and had John the Baptist beheaded (just a
little history lesson for you). And in
Herod’s wanting to please the Jews, he decided, on the heels of this news of
Gentiles being given the Holy Spirit, to arrest one of the apostles, James to
be exact. After having him arrested, he
has him put to death by the sword rather unceremoniously. Then, after seeing how much this pleased the
people, he had Peter arrested and seemed rather on his way to a round two of
sorts. However, it was Passover time,
and no blood could be shed during this time, so he had to wait.
Meanwhile,
Peter sat in prison while he and those outside of prison prayed for him. Now, I want you to really pay attention to
this notion of prayer, because it goes much deeper than saying a quick word to
God about a particular situation. You
see, this wasn’t Peter’s first time in prison.
We’ve already seen two different accounts of Peter in prison thus far
and we know that he rested in God to deliver him, which we will see how deep
that rest runs in a moment. But while
Peter was praying inside the prison, the church was gathered outside of the
prison praying together. Well, they
weren’t actually gathered right outside the prison, but they were in Mary, John
Mark’s mother’s house. This is,
according to some Biblical scholars, the same place where Jesus gathered with
his disciples the night before he was betrayed and delivered into the hands of
the Romans. They weren’t meeting in
secret. Had Herod wanted to find all of
them and bring them in he could have.
They were simply gathered together for a time of prayer because that was
how they responded to persecution and disaster within the church. After all, one of their leaders was just put
to death and another one was sitting in prison awaiting the same fate.
How great would
it be if this was our reaction to persecution and hardship? What if instead of forming a course of
action, vision casting, or strategic planning, we just gathered together and
prayed. Don’t get me wrong, I know that
there are times that call for action, but we should not and cannot treat prayer
as a last resort. The statements that
speak of having no other place to go so you turned to God are ridiculous. The first place that we should turn is to God
because He is the only one who actually has the power to see us through
whatever it is that we are dealing with.
The early church knew that; they gathered together for regular prayer,
but this was something different.
Whenever there was any pressing issue taking place within the church
itself or within the lives of those associated with the church, they would
always gather together for a special time of prayer.
Now, I
mentioned a second ago that Peter very much rested in God to deliver him. Well, in fact, that’s exactly what Peter did;
he rested. He rested so much that he
actually fell asleep. Now I don’t know
about you, but I don’t sleep well, especially if I have something running
through my mind or something pressing the next day or in the next few
days. And even if by some miracle I am
able to go to sleep, it’s a light sleep and I never get very much rest. But that’s not what we find here with Peter;
Peter was out. And I don’t just mean
sound asleep, I mean you could have played the drums in his ear and he might
not have heard you. We’re told that the
angel that came to him shone a light in his cell and had to poke him just to get
him to wake up. The chains fell off of
Peter as he stood up and he got dressed and began to follow the angel out of
the prison. As Peter was making his way
past the guards, covered in his cloak, we’re told that Peter didn’t even know
if what was happening was even real or if it was another vision. It was almost as if Peter was still a little
groggy and couldn’t tell if he was dreaming or not. However, Peter eventually woke up and
realized that what was happening was indeed very real.
Peter realized
that God had delivered him from prison.
And upon his more fuller awakening, Peter went to the place where the
rest of the church was gathered together in prayer. There was some confusion between Peter and
this servant Rhoda and the Christians gathered there as to whether or not it was
actually Peter knocking at the door, but eventually they got everything sorted
out. He told them of how God had
delivered him from his situation and then charged them to go and tell the rest
of the leaders of the church that he had been delivered from prison. Now, I want to clear up one point of
confusion that you might have right now.
When Peter told them to go tell, “James and the brothers” he wasn’t
referring to the James that had just been killed. Peter knew that James, John’s brother, one of
the sons of Zebedee, one of the original twelve had been killed. The James that Peter was referring to was
Jesus’ brother who as we will see beginning at the Jerusalem Council became a
leader in the church and also penned the Epistle of James that we find in our
New Testament.
But getting
back to our text, we’re then told about a dispute of some sort between Herod
and the people of Tyre and Sidon. Now,
we won’t go into the facts of what happened here (mainly in the interest of
time), but we’ll skip down to verse 22:
“And the people were shouting,
‘The voice of a god, and not of a man!’
Immediately an angel of the Lord struck [Herod] down, because he did not
give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.” Now, this eaten by worms part is just to put
to rest any notion of Herod’s simply being rendered unconscious. You see, Herod had put himself on the level
with God. He had put himself on a level
that he felt was above (or at least equal to) anyone or anything that could be
imagined. In his pride, ultimately we
see his destruction.
Now, I want to
take just a moment and say a few things.
This text has often been used to point out two things: the deliverance of God’s servant Peter from
persecution, and the destruction of Herod, the oppressor and persecutor of the
Lord’s people. However, I don’t want us
to forget about James, the apostle who was killed. You see, he was a servant of the Lord just as
Peter was, but he wasn’t delivered from his situation. It’s a hard thing for us to accept, but
sometimes, we’re not delivered. Sometimes, we’re allowed to suffer, and it’s
not just some character-building type of experience. James wasn’t going through any type of
character building so that he could learn something from it. NO, James was put to death by an evil and
wicked man, and that’s all there is to it.
Friends die. Family suffers. Bad things happen, even to the people of
God. Sometimes, it seems as if we could
say that bad things happen, especially to the people of God. We comfort ourselves with words like “One day
we’ll all understand. One day, we will
know the reason or the plan behind our suffering.” Well, maybe, maybe not. I haven’t found anything in Scripture that
tells me that we will be made fully aware of God’s plan. In fact, from what I read, I’m quite certain
that even in a glorified and heavenly state, I still won’t be able to fully
understand and comprehend the entirety of God’s plan.
So, what’s the
point in it all? Listen really quickly
to the words of verse 24. “But
the word of God increased and multiplied.” You see, people die; even the people of
God. Sometimes, just as our brothers and
sisters in Iraq can attest to, they die simply because they are people of
God. Indeed, bad things happen to good
people and good things happen to bad people.
Now, I realize that for some of you, you’re wondering how I got here
from our text. Well, let me sum it up
this way. James was good and bad
happened to him. Peter was good and good
happened to him. Herod was bad and good
happened to him, but eventually bad happened to him. So, in our text, two men found death. However, their deaths could not have been
more different. For you see James death
on this earth was the beginning of a new and eternal life, whereas Herod’s
death was only a foretaste of the suffering that would become his eternal
reality. You wonder why I’ve spent so
much time talking about going out and reaching out to those around us. Well, it’s because for the one who is found
in Jesus, death is merely the passage into a glory that we can’t even
imagine. Heaven is our eternal
reward. We don’t become Christians
because it leads to a better life, a more successful and fruitful existence, or
a higher quality of living. Now, I could
argue that it indeed does lead to these things, but that a discussion for
another time. The point is that the
Christian faith isn’t about those things, but it is about God and our praise,
worshiping, glorifying, and honoring Him for what He has done in providing for
and saving of a fallen people. I don’t
want you to think that because you’re a Christian that life will just always be
perfect for you because it won’t, at least not life upon this earth. However, regardless of whatever hardships and
struggles may befall us, we have to remain steadfast in our resolve to spread
the gospel. We must remain committed to
seeing “the word of God increased and multiplied.” Glory be to God; in the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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