Image: "The Journey Ahead", 2020, Rocky Gap State Park, Md
Acts 12:1–3 Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. 2 Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. 3 And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also...
Acts 12:5 Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.
Acts 12:11 And when Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.”
Acts 13:32–34 And we declare to you glad tidings—that promise which was made to the fathers. 33 God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus. As it is also written in the second Psalm: ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.’ 34 And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, ...
Acts 13:48 Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
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In chapters 12 & 13 we begin a transition. We see Peter at the peak of his Church leadership in 12 and in 13 we see the rise of Saul/Paul who will to some degree displace him. Each of their stories however has this in common: they depict a journey. In his supernatural escape from prison and God's judgment on Herod for his crimes, we see that Peter has come a long way from his cringing denials of Jesus. Peter in prison is sleeping between two guards. He must have been fairly certain that he was going to be executed even as was his brother apostle James. (12:2) Yet we are not told that he was shaking in his boots... he was prepared to follow his Lord wherever Jesus led him.
But he had something going for him: the constant prayers of the church. (12:5) Here we see how God uses His people. God didn't need to be reminded that Peter was in jail. He knew full well that he was. But God was working in and through His people in this even as He was through James' death. The Church of Jesus Christ is washed not only in the blood of Jesus but in the blood of its martyrs and those who suffer for the glory of God. It's part of the journey, not only for individuals like Peter and Saul/Paul but for the Church as a whole.
The Church is confirmed in its faith, strengthened in its resolve, and sharpened in its proclamation by facing adversity. Notice the fruits that are born from Peter's imprisonment: Acts 12:22–24 ...Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died. 24 But the word of God grew and multiplied. Herod's antipathy toward God's people, like Pharaoh before him, is met with a forceful rebuttal and the result is that the Church was strengthened, not defeated.
Saul & Barnabas are set aside to their task of taking the gospel to the Gentiles as a direct result of the pressure being exerted against the church. God used the wicked passions of the Jews and the politicians to "push" His people to greater exertions and to purge from them the weak-kneed and timid. We must remember that travel, in and of itself, in those days was very dangerous. Sea travel had been greatly expanded but once you left coastal waters things could get hairy in a heartbeat. This entire missionary party had to show great courage and then boldness. They get to Cypress and immediately caused a bit of a stir. Sergius Paulus was the Roman appointed "proconsul", an important official who could quite easily become as dangerous as was Herod. Saul and his party are summoned to see him and are immediately opposed by the local witch-doctor who saw his "rice bowl" being threatened. Again, in a somewhat lesser fashion but similar content, God vindicates His servants and His Word. This time the governor, being an "intelligent man" (13:7), "believed." (13:11) We should be astonished at this statement. Here was a haughty Roman humbled by the Word of God. This is the power of God at work and the sharp efficacy of its power was heightened by its undeniable victory over the swirling opposition it faced.
Saul and his partners then started the serious work of preaching and teaching wherever God gave them the opportunity. Further opposition is raised up among the Jews who were jealous of their success. But, (13:46) Saul and Barnabas grew very bold and plainly told them that by their rejection of the word of God, they were judging themselves unworthy of eternal life. They then said that therefore they would turn to the Gentiles.
This will now become the main theme for the last chapters of Acts. It is the sad story of how God's original covenant people prove to be God's enemies and that God uses that antagonism to cause the word to be preached to "as many as had been appointed to eternal life" among the Gentiles.
These chapters are rich indeed in doctrine as well as encouragement. God's sovereign rule over His Church and indeed, the entire world, is present in every line. It is He that shapes all things such that His Word produces exactly the fruit it was sent to bear. Along the way, God actually uses difficulty and even persecution to heighten His harvest. He is a great and wonderful God, whose ways are far above us, but He proves Himself faithful at every step along our journey of doing His will.
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