(Suggested Reading: Chapter 12:1-24)
The twelfth chapter opens on an ominous note. Herod1 the King “laid his hands on some of those of the Assembly to harm them, and slew James, the brother of John with the sword. And seeing that it was pleasing to the Jews, he went on to take Peter also.” This is a new phase of persecution and should be examined in the light of what has already transpired.
The Attacks of Satan
We are perhaps slow to identify our persecutors as not men merely but tools of Satan. Yet the Scripture clearly teaches that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” Eph. 6:1212For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12). In some countries in the world today evil spirits are unchecked publicly; in others man is manipulated unseen by Satan to accomplish his ends. Sometimes he proceeds with guile as in the case of the orator Tertullus Acts 24... but more often by open violence. Prison, chains, the lash, the soldier, the sword these are the symbols we encounter in Acts Satan’s tools of trade. What is characteristic of his method is the use of ever-increasing pressure against those who stand for the truth.
At the beginning the Apostles were only jailed and warned. Then they were beaten when they refused to stop preaching. Stephen was stoned and the Church so persecuted that it had to disperse. But at this time it had reformed, either through conversions, the return of those who had left, or both. Now for the first time an apostle is slain and another imprisoned. This was an especially ominous event because it linked the secular and religious powers against Christianity. This union is the secret of Satan’s success as a persecutor in the world. When the American nation was founded the God-fearing men who framed the Constitution adopted the principle of separating Church from State. This was based less on knowledge of Scripture than on historical experience of the tyranny of Protestant state churches—a tyranny which caused the pilgrim fathers to flee England for the new land of America. But Scripture clearly shows the two-fold way in which Satan exercises power in the Lord’s temptation. Satan took the Lord to the pinnacle of the temple—religious power—and showed Him the kingdoms of the earth in a moment of time—political power. Satan distinctly said, and the Lord did not refute him, that the power and the glory of these kingdoms belonged to him. As to the world’s religions there is no doubt that he manipulates their leaders.
So it is here. As long as the believers carried on with the law, the temple, the synagogue, they could be tolerated up to a point. Their testimony accusing the religious leaders of the nation of the death of Christ evoked great bitterness. But in the eyes of the Jews they were merely another Jewish sect, the synagogue of the Nazarenes, one more added to the many prevalent in Jerusalem at this time. But when Peter in effect broke with the Jewish system of things by receiving Gentiles and eating with them, and his actions were ratified, alarm bells rang throughout the capital. It must be remembered that by this time Christians were numerous and their actions watched. Satan well knew how useful the law was in chaining man to useless works, and the strength of that union of Jew and Gentile which was now emerging. So his religious puppets are manipulated to lobby with the political power for the first time. In the later stages of the Church’s history the political power becomes the instrument of persecuting cruelty. Satan then has gone to the limit of his powers. Sad as such conditions became, the Lord envisaged them in His first declaration of the Church to Peter with the assurance that the gates of hades should not prevail against it. They have often pressed hard against it, but greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.
The direct attempt of Satan here was to strike hard at the leadership of the Church. In the inscrutable ways of God, James the brother of John suffers death—the only death of an apostle in the New Testament—and Peter is delivered. When reason fails us—when things happen in life we can’t understand—faith helps us overcome. Having experienced this in his own life Peter writes of it to encourage others “that the trial of your faith, being much more Precious than of gold which perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” —1 Pet. 1:77That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: (1 Peter 1:7).
Peter’s Deliverance From Prison
Peter’s position appears hopeless. Not only put in prison, but guarded by soldiers on continuous relief through the four watches the meaning of “four quaternions of soldiers” —he is under continuous surveillance. Furthermore, he is bound with two chains. Two soldiers guard him in his cell and two are posted in front of the door. These details are given to us in an interrupted fashion—the break being the comment “but prayer was made without ceasing of the Church to God for him.” This conditions our thinking for what takes place—his deliverance from an apparently hopeless situation.
What happens demonstrates the superiority of the power of God over Satan’s power “and lo, an angel of the Lord came there, and a light shone in the prison.” Peter’s deliverance is typically Jewish as befits the Apostle to the Jews, unlike Paul’s deliverance later at Philippi. The Jews believed they were under the protection of angels. An angel disturbed the pool of Bethesda. Stephen said they had received the law as ordained by the ministry of angels and had not kept it. The light that shines in the prison also is in contrast to the earthquake at Philippi. Israel was a light in a dark world, but the gospel Paul preached in the Philippian jail shook the whole world and disturbed it. The world is Satan’s prison.
And now we come to a beautiful touch. The light does not wake Peter. He is sleeping too soundly for that. The angel has to hit him on his side. Even then he isn’t sure about this and thinks he has seen a vision. This incident has to be considered in the light of Peter’s past. Luke tells us that on the Mount of transfiguration “Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, and when they were awake, they saw His glory and the two men that stood with Him” —Luke 9:3232But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood with him. (Luke 9:32). Luke also tells us that the disciples—which would include Peter—were sleeping for sorrow before the Lord’s betrayal so that He had to reprove them— “why sleep ye?” In Mark’s gospel Peter is singled out— “Simon, sleepest thou? Could you not watch one hour?” Thus Peter slept during the Lord’s sufferings and the manifestation of His glory. But Christ has suffered these things and entered into His glory. Peter’s sleep now is an undisturbed repose in the knowledge of what Christ has done for Him and where he now is. He is fulfilling the first part of his words to the Lord— “I am ready to go with Thee, both into prison, and to death.” This shows how the Lord leads us gradually in the experience of Christian life. Peter certainly wasn’t ready when he spoke these words, but he was ready when he slept between the soldiers. Full trust in the Lord is seen here. Picture yourself in Peter’s position in the prison awaiting execution. Would you be sleeping so soundly that an angel would have to hit you hard to wake you? This picture is given us as we come to the close of Peter’s ministry so we may see the way the Lord led Peter.
The deliverance by the angel was miraculous. The soldiers in Peter’s cell were probably asleep, secure in the knowledge that Peter was chained to them by his hands. But the angel says to Peter “rise up quickly!” And his chains fall off his hands. Peter is told to dress and dutifully follows the angel. The prison guards do not see them for “as soon as it was day there was no small stir among the soldiers what was become of Peter.” In accordance with cruel Roman customs that accepted no excuses for failure to guard prisoners they are later put to death. As for Peter the iron gate of the prison simply opens. The angel escorts him through one street, then leaves him. The miraculous now gives way to everyday life.
The Prayer Meeting in Mary’s House
Peter attributes his deliverance to the Lord. He thinks over what has happened and decides that the best thing to do is to go to the house of Mary the mother of John Mark. Unknown to him a prayer meeting is being held for him. It tells us much about our own limited faith in prayer. Peter had already been freed while prayer was still going on. This of course was unknown when Peter stood outside knocking. But when Rhoda answers she instantly recognizes Peter’s voice. Instead of opening the door she is overjoyed and runs to tell everybody Peter is here. It is a very human scene in contrast to the angelic deliverance. Nobody can believe their prayers have been answered! Surely this is a picture of us of little faith. Poor Peter! He keeps knocking outside in the night air and darkness. Finally, they open the door and are astonished. So the Lord really answered our prayers! The prayer meeting does not continue, however, to thank the Lord for deliverance. These reminders of our weakness bring before us the truth that we are the Lord’s sheep. Sheep are not particularly intelligent naturally; neither were these believers in their conduct. But sheep have a shepherd who looks after them and so have we. The Lord loves us not because of what we are but because of what He is. How blessed to know that the Lord is our Shepherd and we shall not want.
Peter tells the story of his deliverance and says, “go show these things to James and to the brethren.” This admonition, coming as it does at the close of Peter’s recorded public ministry in the Acts, is not without meaning. James by this time has become the most important man in the Church at Jerusalem. We will see this later on in the Acts, but it is well to note it now.
Peter Goes to Another Place
And now we have to say goodbye to Peter, that faithful servant of the Lord Jesus, in whose affections we may be assured he occupied a most deserved place. The divine record of his ministry closes with the statement that “he departed, and went to another place.” The other place is not specified because such knowledge would not contribute to life and godliness—2 Pet. 1:33According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: (2 Peter 1:3)—otherwise it would have been given to us. But we may be sure it was not Rome.2 He is thought to have written his first epistle about A.D. 64 and his second the following year. The considerations involved in these approximations, like the date of his martyrdom, are too involved to discuss here. But it is generally conceded that neither Peter nor Paul lived to see the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in A.D. 70. Both suffered martyrdom—John 21:18, 1918Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. 19This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. (John 21:18‑19); 2 Ti. 4:66For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. (2 Timothy 4:6). The departure of Peter is full of pathos. Paul too at the end of his life said that the time of his departure was at hand. We dearly miss all the Lord’s people who are taken from us if our hearts are right with God.
Some believers mistakenly make much of Peter’s failure, forgetting that the Lord turned and looked on Peter. That was enough. So he writes later “if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious” —1 Pet. 2:33If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. (1 Peter 2:3). He is numbered with the twelve, of whom the Lord said “ye are they who have persevered with Me in My temptations. And I appoint unto you, as My Father has appointed unto Me, a kingdom, that ye may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” With such a reward, promised by the Lord Himself, we do well to refrain from talking too much of whatever failure came into Peter’s life. God has a way of looking at His servants apart from their failures. He looks at them from the tops of the mountains. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in His way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds Him with His hand” Ps. 37:23, 24.
The Death of Herod and Its Dispensational Teaching
Some commentators3 have been astute enough to read into the account of Herod’s death more than the mere history of it. Others, while aware of it, have not expounded it. There is in the story an interplay of history and prophecy. Let us examine it in this connection.
Historically the famine which was prophesied by Agabus is a picture of the state of the Jew during the Church period. Agabus, whose name means “grasshopper” appears twice in the Acts. (the locust, which devours crops, is of the grasshopper family). Agabus’ appearance coincides with the end of both Peter and Paul’s public ministry. Gloomy tidings are associated with his messages in both cases. What followed Peter’s ministry to the Jews was the introduction of a spiritual famine a famine of the Word of God. The only relief that the Jews can get, as in the case of the actual famine, is through the ministry of Paul 11:30. Paul’s doctrine characterizes the Church period when the Jews, spiritually, are starving to death. If they come to Christ they will not hunger, for God has not cast away His people. But they must submit to Paul’s ministry “believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.” Then the time comes when Barnabas and Saul return from Jerusalem 12:25. Paul’s ministry ceases when the second coming of Christ takes place. Famine conditions end, and God raises up a godly Jewish remnant in the land of Israel.
Now let us consider the same account as a prophesy of conditions that will be found in Israel when antichrist rules over them. Like Herod he will persecute the godly Jews. Some he will put to death like James, and others he will imprison like Peter. In some cases, the Lord will allow His servants to seal their testimony with their lives; in other cases, He delivers them. Again, the unexplained ways of God. But those who serve the antichrist, like Herod’s soldiers, will face certain death “as soon as it is day” that is when the present darkness is over and Christ’s kingdom is established in the world.
Just as his followers perish so does he. He will exceed Herod’s sin of accepting and basking in the adoration of the people. He will sit in the temple of God Thess. 2:4 showing himself that he is God. The Temple of God mentioned here is the Third Temple the Name of the State of Israel today.4 So what manner of men ought we to be as we see the end approaching. The Spirit of God is restraining the full development of this evil until the Church is raptured. But how awful the end of the ungodly! Like Herod who was eaten alive by worms he will be thrown alive into the lake of fire Rev. 19:2020And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. (Revelation 19:20) “where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched” Mark 9:4444Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. (Mark 9:44). The reason is that both Herod and Antichrist claim divine worship, and the Lord has said “My glory will I not give to another.”
Peter’s Three Sleeps
The Jew always thought of the Messiah as the conquering King, ignoring His sufferings foretold in the Old Testament. This explains the Lord’s rebuke to the two on the way to Emmaus “O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken, ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” Peter’s first two sleeps correspond to these two sleep periods of the Jewish nation. Like Peter they fell asleep concerning Christ’s sufferings and like Peter (on the mount of transfiguration) they fell asleep as to His glory. But at the end of Israel’s history, awaiting death in prison at the hand of the Antichrist, they fall asleep in complete confidence as to their Messiah’s will for them. He does not fail the sealed remnant but delivers them “as soon as it is day.” The end of Jacob’s history is beautiful. He worships, leaning on the top of his staff, as Israel will in the millennium.