IBS Seminar 11: Acts 12:1-25: A Deliverance Ministry

Objective: To show how God is sovereign. That although God's people may suffer, God's word cannot be silenced nor God's purposes thwarted.

Imagine waking up to a miracle and having an angel for your alarm clock! That's what happened to Peter when he was in prison for the third time, awaiting trial and certain death. Years later when he wrote his first letter Peter must have had this miraculous experience in mind when he quoted Psalm 34:15-16.

"For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

That promise came true in Peter's experience and he would never could never, forget it. David's promise certainly summarizes what God did for Peter, and it reveals three wonderful assurances to encourage us.

1. God Sees our Trials Acts 12:1-4
"The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous" 1 Peter 3:12a. There are times when the dark clouds of evil surround the Church and the future looks bleak. That is how it must have appeared that day when Peter was arrested. James the apostle had just been murdered by Herod, the crowds loved it, and it seemed the same fate awaited Peter. God watched and noted what Herod Agrippa was doing to God's people.

This evil man was the grandson of Herod the Great, who ordered the massacre of children at Bethlehem. He was the nephew of Herod Antipas who murdered John the Baptist. They were a scheming ruthless family, no better than the drug barons of Latin America or the Mafia of Russia who are a law unto themselves. The Herod family were despised by the Jews. They were in fact Edomites from the south east of Palestine, favoured by Rome they had taken over the role of puppet Kings throughout the region.

Shrewdly, Herod began persecuting the church in an attempt to win favour with the Jews. Now that the Church openly accepted Gentile believers Herod's plan was more acceptable to nationalistic Zionist Jews who had no place for "pagans" within either their religion or land. Herod began by arresting believers. He had James beheaded. Pleased at his growing popularity, he seized Peter too with the same intention.

T
his time though he would wait for a public occasion on which to maximize the effect. Peter was being heavily guarded by sixteen soldiers, four at a time, chained to two guards, with two more watching the doors. Herod appeared in masterful control but this was an illusion. As are all meglomaniac attempts to total domination. With new sof te aweful tragedy of Kosovo still fresh in our memories, I remember, ten years ago this summer after helping with a similar IBS conference in the former Yugoslavia, I stood silently in the Roman Ampitheatre at Pula, in Slovenia. It is the best preserved Ampitheatre in the world, a giant oval skyscraper large enough to seat 25.000 people. In the first and second century it was used for entertainment Roman style. A popular sport guaranteed to draw the crowds was to pit christians against wild animals. The cells still exist. We walked up the steps leading into the ampitheatre. The entrance used by the wild animals from their cages was clearly visible. It was quite an emotional experience knowing our unknown brothers and sisters had given their lives in that place, because they couldn't, wouldn't stop loving Jesus. Their faith and their prayers outlasted the Roman Empire, their prayers and witness ended the barbaric gladatorial sports, and eventually brought about the emancipation of slaves, and the conversion of most of Europe to Christ. So in our generation it will the prayers and peacemaking efforts of our brothers and sisters in the former Yugoslavia which offers the only hope to all factions caught up in that ethnic war. it was costly for the first disciples and it will be for us too.

Someone once said, "when we seek to be Christ like we should not be surprised if the crowd will try and crucify us." God sees our trials,

2. God Hears our Prayers 12:5-17
Peter wrote, "And His ears are open to their prayers" 1 Peter 3:12 That little phrase "but the church" is the turning point of the story. While the mystery of God's providence remains, and the question as to why Peter lived and not James remains unanswered, the truth is as Thomas Watson the puritan preacher put it, "The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was the prayer that fetched the angel."

2.1 Peter Sleeping 12:6
I find it hard enough sleeping with my six year old son Michael in my bed occasionally, let alone having two guards chained to my wrists. But Peter was able to sleep even though he knew the next morning might be his last.

2.2 Peter Escaping 12:7-11
This is the fourth time we encounter angels in the Acts of the Apostles. Acts 5:19; 8:26; 10:3,7 and now here. One of Billy Graham's most important books is entitled, "Angels, God's Secret Agents", for that is what they are - God's secret agents.
John Calvin wrote in his Institutes,

"Angels are the dispensers and administrators of the divine beneficence towards us. They regard our safety, undertake our defence, direct our ways, and exercise a constant solicitude that no evil befalls us." Luther put it more simply when he said: "An Angel is a spiritual creature without a body created by God for the service of Christendom and the Church."

Luke tells us that the angel had to give Peter a good shake to wake him up. To begin with he thought it was all a dream, until that is he discovered himself outside the prison, fully clothed. So amazing was his escape that the word he uses to describe it is the same word used by Stephen to explain the Exodus. Just as God rescued Israel our of Egypt, so God rescued Peter out of death row. No one but God alone had providentially rescued Peter. Peter sleeping, Peter escaping,

2.3 Peter Knocking 12:12-16
If anything confirms the truthfulness and honesty of this biblical account surely it is the confession that Peter had great difficulty getting back into the Church. When you remember that

2.3 1 Many people were praying...
2.3.2 They were praying earnestly...
2.3.3 They were praying right through the night...
2.3.4 They were praying specifically for Peter to be delivered,
2.3.5 Then the scene described here is almost comical.

Rhoda couldn't believe her eyes, the rest of them couldn't believe their ears. Peter had a harder time getting into the church than out of prison. These Christians in Jerusalem believed God could answer their prayers. That is why they were praying through the night, but when the answer came to their door, they couldn't believe it. Isn't that so true of us?

We must face the fact that even in the most fervent prayer meetings there is sometimes a spirit of doubt and unbelief. Example from Colson of Wenceslas Square and our prayers for an end to communist power here... Was it an accident ? Certainly not. It was the result of the prayers and influence of Christians. It has been very costly. The brutal murder of Christian leaders like father Popiosco in Poland, like James, has not been in vain. There is an invisible thread that links us to believers in other places, at other times who seek to obey God rather than men. Yes we know its all true but it still surprises us when God uses our prayers in His perfect sovereign will and the miracles happen. Why them and not me, why James and not Peter? God knows, God only knows, for He sees. His eyes are upon His people. Whether God takes the storms away when we pray, or more usually calms our hearts in the midst of the storms, we can know with absolute certainty that nothing will happen to us outside His sovereign power or His fatherly love. For God sees our trials. God hears our prayers.

3. God Deals with our Enemies Acts 12:18-24
"But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil" 1 Peter 3:12
Can you imagine the scene that morning? The next quaternion arriving at the cell to take over guard duty, and finding the door locked, the four guards inside and Peter gone. There was a great incentive for Roman guards to not lose their prisoner. Roman law stipulated that if a guard permitted a prisoner to escape, he was required to suffer the punishment the prisoner would have received, even death. The text tells us what happened next.

Herod travelled north to Tyre and Sidon to exert his power and authority. Josephus the Jewish historian tells us that this scene took place during the festival honouring Claudius Caesar, and that the king wore a beautiful silver garment in honour of the occasion. Although we do not know what he said, we know why he said it. He wanted to impress the people and that he did. They played on his Herodian ego and told him he was a god, and he loved every minute of it. But he did not give the glory to God, so this whole scene was nothing but idolatry. He should have remembered what God had said through Isaiah 42:8. "I am the Lord; that is my name; and my glory I will not give to another." Instead of Peter being killed by Herod, it was Herod who was killed by Peter's God. Perhaps the same angel that delivered Peter smote Herod. Josephus tells us as an independent witness that Herod contracted an illness of the bowels and died five days later.

The Church today like earlier generations suffers because of men like Herod who use their authority to oppose the truth. God's people have often suffered under despotic rulers and governments, and God has always preserved His witness in the world. God has not always judged evil officials as He judged Herod, but He has always watched over His people and seen to it that they have not suffered in vain. But God sees our trials, He hears our prayers and deals with our enemies. Sixteen years ago this month, August 21st 1983, Benigno Aquino woke at 5:00am, in Taiwan.

He had become a Christian in prison reading Chuck Colson's book "Born Again". Having been released by Marcos and deported, he was now returning to the Philippines, a servant of Jesus Christ with the hopes and aspirations of the majority of his people looking to him to bring an end to the brutal regime of Marcos and form an openly elected democratic government... Cory, the wife of Benigno Aquino, a housewife with no political ambitions was overwhelmingly elected to lead her country, despite the fraud and corruption of Marcos. Marcos tried to destroy her, as he had done her husband. But he was defeated without a bullet being fired. He fled powerless when his army refused to crush rows of kneeling praying Christians that resisted his tanks.

The story of the Aquinos is remarkably similar to that of Acts 12. God sees our trials, and He is not indifferent. God hears our prayers. He will not remain indifferent. Although his people may suffer, the Good News of the Gospel can never be silenced. At the beginning of chapter 12, Herod seemed to be in control and the Church was losing the battle. By the end of the chapter, Herod is dead and the Church is very much alive and is growing rapidly. Read 12:24.

The secret? There is no secret. They were a praying Church, not a perfect Church. Even their prayers were mixed with doubt, nevertheless they prayed and they refused to allow anyone to stand in the way of the proclamation of the Gospel. Missionary Isobel Kuhn used to pray this prayer when in trouble. "If this obstacle is from you Lord I accept it; but if it is from Satan, I refuse him and all his works in the name of Calvary." God has chosen to use our prayers, and Satan still trembles when he sees the weakest saint on his knees. God Sees our Trials, God Hears our Prayers, God will Deal with our Enemies. In His way, In His time. Lets pray.