About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And look and see, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. In fact, prodding the side of Peter he awakened him, saying, “Get up quickly” and the chains fell off his hands. (Acts of the Apostles chapter 12 written by Luke, a physician, around AD 70) |
“About that time…”? Around AD 44, Jerusalem. “Herod the king”? Herod Agrippa 1, King of Judea and adjoining territories AD 41-44, friend of Roman Emperor Caligula and of his successor Claudius. See Wikipedia for a history of his early nefarious activities. “James”? One of the 12 disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, living and witnessing to Jesus in Jerusalem. “Peter.”? The most outgoing of those 12 disciples, again a Jerusalem resident. Both James and Peter had been preaching boldly ever since AD 30 of the resurrection of Jesus from crucifixion and of the forgiveness and eternal life he offers to all who come to him.
Please note the “angel of the Lord” “prodding the side of Peter” to awaken him and to bring him out of imprisonment on the night before his likely execution. The “angel of the Lord” left Peter in a Jerusalem street.
When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
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He found his way to the house of Mary – where Christians were praying. He instructed them –
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“Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place. Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death.
Because Peter is not available to be killed, the sentries are “put to death”.
Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there. Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”
Don’t misjudge the people of Tyre and Sidon. Earlier this year (as one journalist neatly captioned a photograph) - One is a former journalist leading a liberal democracy. The other is an authoritarian crown prince of an oppressive state that executes people and has zero tolerance for freedom of speech. Yet there’s a bizarre bromance going on between Boris Johnson and Mohammed bin Salman. The Tyrians and Sidonians needed food. We need oil.
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Immediately an angel of the Lord prodded him - instead of which he did not give the glory to God, and he brought it upon himself to be consumed by worms. He breathed out his life.
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Please note the word “prodded”. Why did “the angel of the Lord” prod Herod Agrippa 1 at the very instant when “the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”? Was that a last-minute attempt to get him to deny that he was God, to give glory to God and to the Lord Jesus? Self-centered to the end, his own worms consumed him. It’s on the record in Josephus as well.
Not so Peter. The angel of the Lord’s invisible "prodding" of Peter was to release him from captivity, to protect him from death and to enable him to continue to care so much that others should hear of the LORD’s love in setting him free. Free forever through Jesus the crucified. Free, indeed, from death for ever.
In fact, the word of God increased and multiplied.
And that’s ongoing. As is the invisible prodding.
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