The persecution by the Roman politician (Acts 12:1-25) By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

 The persecution by the Roman politician (Acts 12:1-25)

By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Christian Arts Ministries: Biblical precepts & Gospel music

 

Scriptures reading Acts 12:1-15

The death of James Acts 12:1-2

¹ It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. ² He had Jame, the brother of John, put to death with sword.

The deliverance of Peter Acts 12:3-19a

³ When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. ⁴ After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. ⁵So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

⁶ The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. ⁷ Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up, “Quick, get up! “He said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. ⁸ Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. ⁹ Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision.¹⁰ They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. 

¹¹ Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.” ¹² When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. ¹³Peter knocked at the outer entrance, ad a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. ¹⁴ When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”

¹⁵ “You are out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “ It must be his angel.” ¹⁶ But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. ¹⁷ Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the brothers about this,” he said, and then he left for another place. ¹⁸ In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. ¹⁹ After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.  

 The death of Herod Acts 12:19b-23

 Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there a while. ²⁰ He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him. Having secured the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king’s country for their food supply.²¹ On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people.²² They shouted, “ This is the voice of a god, not of a men.” ²³ Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

 

12 verse 1 Herod. Herod Agrippa I, grandson of the Herod the Great who ruled the birth of Jesus. Agrippa, at least on the surface, was a zealous practice of Jewish rites and a religious patriot. Herod, Agrippa I, whose successor was King Agrippa (II) in 25:13. Both were different from Herod the tetrarch in 13:1. Thus far the church had suffered persecution only from the Jewish religion. Now Gentile politics began to participate in the persecution in cooperation with the Jewish religion (v.11).

Verse 2 James. The first of the twelve to be martyred.

Verse 6 Peter was sleeping. He had Christ’s promise that he would live to an old age (John21:18)

Verse 11 rescued me. God’s ways are inscrutable Peter was delivered, but James was killed (v.2). Perhaps Peter felt that he had gone out of himself as in a trance; now he came to himself, that is, became sober.

Verse 12 the house of Mary. Traditionally it was here that the Last Supper was held and here now was the nerve center of the church in Jerusalem.

Verse 15 his angel. For other guardian angels in Scripture, (Gen.48:16;Dan.10:20-21;12:1; Matt.18:10;Heb.1:14. Not only the apostle Peter had an angel; even the little ones among the believers have their angels. Angels are servants to the believers who inherit God’s salvation. This is an arrangement in God’s eternal economy.

Verse 17 This indicates that James was a leader among the apostles and among the elders of Jerusalem (15:13;21:18;Gal.1:19’2:9,12).

Verse 20 Tyre and Sidon had to import grain; the fields of Galilee produced large supplies (1 Kings 5:9).

Verse 23 Josephus states that Herod was struck down while delivering his oration and, after five days of suffering, died (A.D.44)

Verse 25 Verse 1-24 are a parenthetical section, a record of Peter’s persecution. This verse is a continuation of 11:30, which, with the preceding verse from 11:22, is a narration of Paul’s initiation into his apostolic ministry. The passage from 11:19-12:25 is a transitional record between Peter’s apostolic ministry to the Jews in ch.2-11 and Paul’s apostolic ministry to the Gentiles in chs.13-28 (Gal..2:7-8). 

 

 

Bibliography,

King James, The Holy Bible (KJV), Cleveland, OH: The world publishing company

Lee, Witness. The New Testament (R.V.) Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1985.

 Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie study Bible (NIV). Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986