I cannot tell you how old Rhoda was, but the Bible calls her a “damsel,” so I think she could have been a young teenager. She may have been a servant-girl or even a daughter in the house of John Mark. I know she was an active girl and not afraid of the dark, even though it was late at night.
It was shortly after midnight, and there were many gathered together in that house, praying. Peter was in prison and his life was in danger. They were not signing a protest to the government to release him. Instead, they were praying to the God of heaven, the Father who loved them, and to the Lord Jesus who has all power in heaven and earth.
Rhoda was there at the prayer meeting. She knew Peter, for she had often listened to his voice and she knew it well. His words were precious, because he told her that she was not redeemed with silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ. He told her that Jesus, His own self, bore her sins in His own body on the tree. And he told her that she was a living stone in God’s great spiritual house. Perhaps she had not yet heard of all these wonderful truths, but all this was part of Peter’s message, and since it was God’s Word, it was precious to the hearts of those in John Mark’s house that night. Maybe there were groans and tears as they prayed for Peter in prison and about to lose his life.
Listen! There is a knock at the gate. It was Rhoda who ran down the passageway in the dark where she heard not only a knock but a voice calling to be let in. She recognized the voice, and she was so surprised and happy that she ran back to those praying with the news that Peter was at the gate!
But girls can be wrong! Why listen to Rhoda? It couldn’t be true. Didn’t she know that Peter was in prison? They told her she was out of her mind.
But she insisted that it was Peter’s voice and that he was at the gate!
“It is his angel,” they said.
Maybe there has been a time in your life when you knew that the answer is “Yes,” even when everybody around you said “No.” If you are trusting what God says, you may be sure that His Word is true. Others will see it later. Yes, God is true and His Word is worth trusting no matter what anybody says.
By this time everybody could hear the knocking on the gate, and when they opened it . . . there stood Peter - the very man they had been praying for! They were so delighted that they all talked at once, but Peter raised his hand to hush them.
After they became quiet, he told them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. It was a very interesting story that he told them, and we will tell it to you next week.
If you can’t wait, you may read it for yourself in the Bible, in the book of Acts, chapter 12.
ML-03/02/2003