God Has the Final Say

Scripture Reading

Acts 12: 1-11

It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.

5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

8 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. 9 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. 10 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.

11 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.”

Devotional

King Herod was after political favor when he arrested James and Peter. He wasn’t doing it to outright persecute the church because he was strongly against Christians, the scripture is showing that he did it to gain brownie points with the people. In fact, he executes James, but strategically keeps Peter alive during Passover to avoid any controversy. There is some disagreement amongst theologians as to whether Peter’s imprisonment was really doing Passover or if it was during the season of Easter. The description of the times matches Easter, but the Greek wording translate directly to Passover. Interestingly enough though, either interpretation appears relevant to this scripture.

As you may already know, Jesus is resurrected on Easter when he defeats death. Death could not hold him captive. And similarly, if you go back to the origin of Passover in Exodus, we recall that Passover was when the enslaved Israelites in Egypt sacrificed a lamb and brushed the blood over their dwellings. In doing so, they were passed over by the death that struck Egypt taking away their first-born children. In both scenarios, death comes but, there is victory in accordance with God’s will. We see the same thing here.

Although James did perish as Jesus alluded to in Mark 10:35-40, Peter was saved by an angel of the Lord despite being in what would’ve been the equivalent of maximum-security prison coupled with additional guard details. Herod wanted to make sure that even God could not save Peter and instead ensure his death, but God has other plans. Just to further drive the point home, Peter was chained to two guards, one of each side of him and then had more guards outside the prison cell. Additionally, there are guards at the iron gate. This is above and beyond standard practice for that time, but despite all of Herod’s protective measures and additional guards, an angel of the Lord helps Peter escape. In fact, Peter is so stunned that he’s not even sure that what’s going on is real until he was outside the prison!

So, what can we take away from this? In life, people may judge you for your faith, they may bully you in school or in the workplace because you’re different, the world will strive to make it unpopular to follow Jesus and you may be outright persecuted for your faith. We are fortunate enough in the US that the consequences are less severe, but people around the world are putting their life on the line every day because they are Christians. Just ask the Christians in China who are smuggling Bibles into the country and starting underground churches to avoid persecution by the government. China now has the fastest growing Christian population in the world in spite of their government’s opposition. One of the key takeaways here is that fear didn’t hold back James, Peter, the current day Christians in countries like China and we shouldn’t let it hold us back either. The world wants to judge you, they want to turn you away from Jesus and chain you to sin and put the enemy’s guards around you to make sure God doesn’t get in the way of their plans. Quite frankly, Satan wants you to conform to the world and stay imprisoned to sin, but praise God that he’s already claimed victory over evil. Satan’s fate of imprisonment followed by death is already sealed in Revelation 20. So, in all things remember that man may judge you, the Devil may try to hold you, but God has already opened Heaven’s gate for you. Let’s pray.

Prayer

Father God, thank you for the reminder that the final say always belongs to you. Thank you for being our guide and our rescuer that not only opens the door for us to be released from the bondage of sin, but also guides us to your Heavenly gates. I pray that in every situation I encounter in life that I will always seek your guidance and know that no situation is impossible. I also pray that fear will not hinder me or keep me from following you. In Jesus’ name, Amen!