Chapter 12

It is a dark time for the Church. Although the numbers have been expanding hugely, Herod’s forces have driven the Christians from Jerusalem and pursued them across the country. Evading the dreaded soldiers, a group of disciples led by Peter has established a foothold in Solomon’s Portico. The evil Herod, obsessed with shutting down the church, has murdered James[1] and captured Peter, placing him in prison and planning to kill him [2] . . .

The opposition was always expected against the church, but I don’t know if they were really expecting this, especially so soon after Stephen’s martyrdom. Executing James would leave a big hole in the command structure – remember that there was the Seventy, the Twelve and the Three, and James was one of the Three.

The church are therefore hurt, and hurt grievously.

Imagine, then, the panic that must be gripping the church now – with James dead, Peter is now fully half of the leadership at the highest level. If he dies, only John is left.

Anxious to protect their top level leaders, the church gathers to pray. And this sets up for one of the genuinely funny stories of the Bible.

While the disciples are praying, Peter is accepting his lot and preparing to meet his doom, when suddenly he notices two things: 1) the guards are asleep, and 2) an angel is telling him to get the heck out of here. Dazed, and fairly sure he’s dreaming, Peter eventually comes to himself and walks to the home where the Christians are praying. Ironically, the servant girl (Rhoda) is so excited to see him that she forgets to let him in, so poor old Peter is standing outside waiting for quite some time! But eventually he gets brought in, and with palpable joy and relief, the other Christians get the story from him.

You can always tell how disliked a particular person is by people by how gleefully they give you the gory details of their death. Well, by that argument, Herod must have been a right horror! Certainly the non-biblical histories tend to describe him as someone who was unlikely to be missed.

Well, we can enjoy these pieces of narrative simply for the story – but does a modern Christian have anything to learn from them?

I believe so.

Verses 12 – 16 are rich in their irony, because we have a group of Christians praying faithfully but still not really believing that their prayers are going to achieve squat. I think if you were able to look into their minds, most of the people in that room probably thought that Peter would face the scaffold the following day, regardless of what they did.

Why am I so sure? Well, look at how they reacted when Rhoda told them Peter was at the door! “You’re crazy,” “It must be his angel,” etc. These people had little faith.

Yet they were there praying. Whatever they believed, they were going to put whatever faith they had to work.

Jesus talks about having “faith the size of a mustard seed.” I think this is what he’s talking about here. People who have seen too many brothers and sisters murdered by Herod to really expect any good to come of their prayers; yet at crunch time they’re still there on their knees.

I have a lot of admiration for these people. I have had (and continue to have, from time to time) periods of my life when I struggle with faith. Sometimes I find it hard to believe God is there at all. At other times I believe He is there, but not listening to me.

Sometimes the lack of faith prevents me praying.

But a person is never more dangerous to the devil when, wracked with doubt though he may be, he still falls to his knees and asks God to intervene.

That person is taking whatever faith they have, be it small or large, and placing it in a reliable object. It’s not actually the faith that moves mountains, it’s the person in whom the faith is placed!

What is even more interesting here is that God gives them not only what they prayed for, but what they didn’t dare to pray for! Not only is Peter released, Herod is struck dead!

The application here is clear. Be honest with yourself – how’s your faith right now?

Not that it matters. Since the issue is really whether GOD can do things rather than whether you can believe it or not, all that’s really needed is sufficient faith to not give up, and to ask God for help!

And by His own rules, that allows Him to bring His strength to bear. An incredibly powerful God, who has no limits save the ones He chooses to observe!

[1] I have always thought it’s a bit rough on someone who was one of the three “Inner-circle” disciples that his death is covered as a “by the way” point!

[2] Star Wars fans among my readers, REPRESENT! :)