Lesson 13 - Acts 12:7-12, 16-19 - PETER'S ARREST AND DELIVERANCE
INTRODUCTION: This will be our final lesson in the first half of Acts. Over the course of our study of the history of the early church recorded by Luke, we have watched the church grow from the apostles and 120 disciples in the upper room on the day of the Pentecost to many, many thousands, not only in Jerusalem, but all over Judea and Samaria; then last week in Acts 10, we saw Peter meet with the Roman centurion Cornelius, where God unfolded his program to include Gentiles in His plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. We studied a preview of this in Acts 9, when Saul of Tarsus, the leading persecutor of the early church, encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus was appointed to be God's missionary to the Gentile world.
This week, in Acts 12:7-12, 16-29, we will study a new wave of persecution of the early church in Jerusalem, when out of an effort to gain political favor with the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem and the religious Jews in Judea, Herod Agrippa I ordered the arrest and execution of James, the brother of John, and then arrested Peter with the intention of putting him to death, too.
Synopsis of Acts 12:1-6: When Herod unexpectedly arrested and beheaded James (the apostle, not the half-brother of Jesus who became the leader of the Jerusalem church), he did it as a test case to gauge the reaction of religious Jews who opposed the church. When he was informed of their enthusiastic approval, he ordered the arrest of Peter with the intention of executing him right after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when many religious Jews would be present in Jerusalem. Verses 4-6 report that Peter was taken into custody by four squads of guards and jailed (probably in the Antonia Fortress, see map), and on the night before his execution, he laid in his cell with two guards on either side, chained to him by manacles. In the face of this bleak turn of events, v. 5 tells us that the church got on their knees to ask God for Peter's rescue. This is where we come into today's text.
Read Acts 12:7-12 - BEHOLD, AN ANGEL OF THE LORD SUDDENLY STOOD NEAR PETER
7 And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly stood near Peter, and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter's side and woke him, saying, "Get up quickly." And his chains fell off his hands. 8 And the angel said to him, "Put on your belt and strap on your sandals." And he did so. And he *said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." 9 And he went out and continued to follow, and yet he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 Now when they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.
v. 7a: " And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly stood near Peter, and a light shone in the cell;" - The angel finds Peter between the two guards sleeping like a log. He's already famous for his ability to sleep when he should be praying (Matt. 26:36-46). Commentators suggest that Peter's trust in God's plans, whether He intended for him to live or die, was so absolute that it allowed him to sleep peacefully despite his dismal circumstances. With the light of God's glory, the presence of the angel served to illuminate the otherwise pitch darkness of the cell.
v. 7b: "and he struck Peter's side and woke him, saying, "Get up quickly." - Giving Peter a quick poke in the side to wake him up, the angel commands him to "get up" and move as fast as he can.
v. 7c: "And his chains fell off his hands." - As Peter struggles to get up, the chains binding him to the guard on either side miraculously fall away from his hands. He's free to go!
v. 8: "And the angel said to him, 'Put on your belt and strap on your sandals.' And he did so." - Peter is obviously confused and disoriented, not moving with urgency, so to get the show on the road, the angel brusquely orders him to gird himself up, put on his sandals, and get ready to move.
v. 9a: "And he went out and continued to follow," - Once on his feet, Peter starts following the Angel out of the fortress. The two guards are apparently still sound asleep and nothing has happened so far to raise the alarm and bar their escape.
v. 9b: "and yet he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision." - Still not fully awake and befuddled, Peter wonders whether he's just having a vision, dreaming all of what's happening to him.
v. 10a: "Now when they had passed the first and second guard" - As Peter follows the angel through the fortress, they pass two guard posts totally unnoticed. The text doesn't reveal whether the guards were asleep or if Peter and the angel were somehow invisible to them.
v. 10b: "they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; " - As they hurry away from the fortress, the locked gate into the city miraculously opens for them.
v. 10c: "and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him." - As Peter and the angel move deeper into the city, the angel vanishes in the blink of an eye!
Read Acts 12:11-12 - WHEN PETER CAME TO HIMSELF
11 When Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting." 12 And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.
v. 11a: "When Peter came to himself" - Suddenly coming alert, Peter realizes this is for real!
v. 11b: "he said, "Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod" - Because God had used His sovereign power to save him from certain death, Peter knew that God had more unfinished business for him to accomplish on this earth. The point Luke makes here is that human schemes and activities can never defeat God's sovereign plans. You might ask why did God allow Herod to kill James but not Peter. The answer is that it was the sovereign will of God-a mystery we're incapable of understanding.
v. 11c: "and from all that the Jewish people were expecting." - With James now dead and Peter awaiting execution in the fortress, the Jewish antagonists were most likely expecting Herod to take further action to exterminate the rest of the apostles and maybe the other leaders in the church.
v. 12: "And when he realized this," - What Peter "realized" was that he must go onto hiding somewhere, because the authorities were certain to search for him once they discovered that he had escaped. But first, before doing this, he wanted contact the people he knew were praying for him, to let them know he was alive and well.
v. 12b: "he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying." - Luke identifies "Mary" in relation to her son "John" to avoid any confusion with the other NT women named Mary. Tradition holds that this Mary owned the 'upper room' where Jesus held the last supper, which afterward became a headquarters for the apostles. This Mary is also related to Barnabas (possibly his aunt). The John mentioned is John Mark, Barnabas' younger cousin, who later became a source of bitter disagreement between Barnabas and Paul on the second missionary journey (Acts 2:25-3:13). But this Mark will write the first gospel, and later Paul will tell Timothy, "...bring [Mark] with you, for he is very useful to me..." (2 Tim. 4:11).
Read Acts 12:16-19 - REPORT THESE THINGS TO JAMES AND THE BROTHERS
16 But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. 17 But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, "Report these things to James and the brothers." Then he left and went to another place. 18 Now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to what could have become of Peter. 19 When Herod had searched for him and had not found him, he examined the guards and ordered that they be led away to execution. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and was spending time there.
Synopsis of vv. 12-15: When Peter knocked on the door of the gate to Mary's house, the servant girl who answered it was so taken-aback that she ran back inside to tell the others without letting Peter in! When the girl informed those inside that Peter was waiting at the gate, they told her, "You are out of your mind!," and when she remained insistent, they told her it must be "his angel" (v. 15).
v. 16: "But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed." - Peter, probably somewhat exasperated by now, continued to pound on the door. And when they finally answered it and "saw him," they stood back "amazed." This is probably an understatement-I imagine they were utterly dumbfounded. Since they probably assumed that Peter was dead by now, some scholars wonder whether they thought they were seeing some kind of apparition-his angel or his Spirit.
v. 17a: "But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison." - Peter shushed them with hand, then quickly explained how God had miraculously rescued him from the fortress.
v. 17b: "And he said, "Report these things to James and the brothers." - The "James" to whom Peter refers isn't James the apostle but to James the half-brother of Jesus and writer of the epistle by the same name. This James, who did not believe in Jesus until after His resurrection, became the foremost leader in the Jerusalem church after Peter left. He also became a major player in the Jerusalem Council, supporting Paul's position that Gentile Christians were not required to be circumcised or abide by the other requirements of the Mosaic Law (Acts 15:1-29).
v. 17c: "Then he left and went to another place." - At this juncture, Peter had become infamous among the religious Jews in Jerusalem because of his association with Samaritans and Gentiles. After this, Peter disappeared from Jerusalem. The NT doesn't tell us where he went, but he evidently left Judea and early Bible historians claim that he ministered throughout the Jewish Diaspora.
v. 18-19: "Now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to what could have become of Peter. 19 When Herod had searched for him and had not found him, he examined the guards and ordered that they be led away to execution. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and was spending time there." - This is another literary understatement. When the authorities found Peter's cell empty, Herod concluded that the guards had either cooperated in Peter's escape or had been negligent in securing him. In those days, a Roman guard who allowed a prisoner to escape would suffer the same punishment as the prisoner (remember the panic of the Philippian Jailer when the earthquake freed Paul and Silas in Acts 16?). The guards here all died. After Herod Agrippa's plans were thwarted, he moved to Caesarea and died a year later in 44 A.D., when "an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died" (i.e., from maggot-infested gangrene) (Acts 12:23). God is sovereign, Amen?
APPLICATION-GOD PLANS ARE SOVEREIGN AND CANNOT BE HINDERED BY ANYTHING
1. Since God is sovereign, He can easily deliver His servants from humanly impossible situations if it is His will. No wicked act, not even the slaughter of a righteous believer, takes place apart from the sovereign will of God. God did not lose control when Herod beheaded James the apostle-He allowed it to happen for reasons we can't begin to fathom. God loved James and John just as much as He loved Peter; yet, He allowed James to die and John to mourn the loss of his brother, while He delivered Peter. God offered no explanation! Maybe He was teaching the church that no man is indispensable to His cause. In any case, James' unexpected demise did not hinder the spread of the gospel. No prison can interfere with God's sovereign plans or hinder His servants if He wills to free them. Despite all of Herod's elaborate precautions, it only took one angel in Peter's case.
2. God is most glorified when we are most helpless and totally dependent upon Him. If Peter had somehow contrived his own escape, he would have been praised for his ingenuity and daring. But he wasn't even thinking about escaping-he was sleeping like a log! Peter had nothing of himself that he could boast about! His testimony was simply that, "the Lord had led him out of the prison." (v. 17). Peter's deliverance forms a good picture of how God saves sinners: Before God saves us, we are like Peter, sleeping in the darkness, indifferent about our sin, and unable to see the light of the glory of the gospel of Christ. Our sins had chained us so that we could not escape, even if we had wanted to. We were under God's sentence of death. Then while we were in this desperate and helpless condition, God broke in with the light of His glory, woke us out of our spiritual slumber, and caused our chains to fall off so that we could willingly and joyfully follow Him into the light.
ENDNOTE: Up to this point in the Book of Acts, Peter has been the most prominent and visible apostle throughout most of the first twelve chapters; however, beginning in Chapter 13, Saul (as the apostle Paul), will become the leading figure in the rest of the Book. After this time, we will hear of Peter only once more in this Book, when he defends the ministry of Paul and Barnabas to the Gentiles at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:7-11).
