Acts 12

Acts 12:1-25

The Acts of the Apostles Chapter 12:1-25 Acts 12:1-25 This chapter is supremely interesting because with it Jerusalem, as the centre of the Church’s operations, passes out of sight. It only appears twice again in the history of this book; once as the meeting-place of the council which set the Gentiles free from all the obligations of Judaism; and once, when Paul revisited it, and for the saving of his life was compelled to seek the protection of the Roman power.

It is also an interesting fact that the words in the seventeenth verse (Acts 12:17), “Peter departed, and went to another place,” are the last concerning him in this history. In Galatians there is an account of his contention with Paul; and his letters were certainly written at a later date; but here he passes out of sight in Luke’s history.

We have been tracing the story of the development of the work among the Gentiles. The outstanding facts in that development were: first the apprehension of Saul of Tarsus; secondly the vision of Peter, and the reception of Cornelius; and thirdly, the establishment of the new centre of operations in Antioch. Antioch will now become the centre, not Jerusalem. All those wonderful missionary journeys which remain to be considered, started from Antioch; and the returning apostles and missionaries reported there. It became God’s new centre for the fulfillment of the commission which Jesus gave to His disciples, that they should be witnesses unto Him, not only in Jerusalem, Judaea, and Samaria, but also unto the uttermost part of the earth.

The story contained in this chapter is quite simple and straightforward. The supreme interest is that of conflict between the godless theocracy and the new nation. Those terms need some definition. The term “godless theocracy” in itself is a contradiction. The nation of Israel was created by God in order to be a theocracy, a people governed, not by man, but by Himself. To recall the facts of the history of Israel from 1 Abraham, will be sufficient to illuminate the thought;-Abraham called, Abraham answering; the growth of the people, their organization into national life by the way of exodus from Egypt; the appointing of the leader and the lawgiver; the giving of the law, and the establishment of the ritual.

These are but landmarks. Then there came an hour in which they said,-and mark the profound significance of the word, “Make us a king like unto the nations.” In that hour God said to Samuel that they had rejected Him from being King. That was the hour of their supreme failure. From that moment there was steady degeneration. God made the nation in order that all other nations might in it see the breadth, the beauty, the beneficence of the government of God. The nation was to be, not a monarchy, not a democracy,-and each is an equal tyranny,-but a theocracy, a God-governed people.

Luke describes Herod as king. Those familiar with Paley’s “Horse Paulinas” will remember that he quotes this reference as proving the historic accuracy of Luke. This man Herod was king of the Jews, the first to bear the title for long time. He represented in his own person, as he acted on behalf of the nation, the theocracy without God. That is one side of this picture.

On the other side was the new nation; and again the term may need explanation. It may be suggested that we substitute the word “Church,” for nation; but in this connection I adopt that word “nation” from Peter’s definition of the Church as a holy nation. This reveals one side of truth concerning the Church which we are perpetually in danger of forgetting. I am inclined to think that the Church has most signally failed in that she has forgotten she is God’s theocracy, God’s nation. What is a nation? A nation consists of all those who live under one sole authority, and in mutual inter-relationships; and the Church in the will of God is not merely an elect race, not only a royal priesthood, not only a people for God’s possession, not only a people having a heavenly vocation that can only be fulfilled in ages yet unborn; that is all true, but she is also a nation, in the world for the same purpose for which the Hebrew nation was created, for the revelation to the world of the beauty, breadth, and beneficence of the Divine government.

Here then, is the picture of that nation, with no earthly king, and without a parliament; but with one governing King. These two forces come into conflict in this chapter. The Church, the holy nation, will come into conflict with other of the world forces presently. She has been doing so ever since. Here, however, is the last clash of the conflict between the theocracy God-created, which had failed; and the theocracy God-created, which was yet upon its trial.

In that way we will consider it; dealing with the opposition and defeat of the false; and the strength and victory of the true. Such division is based upon a recognition of the one central matter of the Kingship of God. For the realization and manifestation of that Kingship Israel was created. For the realization and manifestation of that Kingship the Church exists as to its earthly responsibility. The supreme matter in life is not the saving of man’s spirit; nor better dwellings. Those are parts of the supreme matter, which is the establishment of the Kingdom of God.

Even that is a phrase which I sometimes think we have devitalized by using too commonly. What is meant by the establishment of the Kingdom of God? It means that the matter of importance for every soul, for every nation, for the world is that God should govern. The will of God was the master-passion in the life and ministry of Jesus. The ancient people of Israel was created a nation to realize that will, and to manifest it. The Church of God was created to realize it, and to manifest it.

In noticing then the opposition and defeat of the false, our attention is necessarily fixed in the first place, upon this man Herod, Agrippa the first, a nephew of that Herod Antipas who murdered John, and a grandson of Herod called the Great, the murderer of the innocents at the time of the birth of our Lord. This man was of Roman habits, for he had lived in Rome for thirty years, the boon companion in every kind of vice of the son of an emperor. He was, however, strangely enough, even throughout those days of dissolute habits, a man having Jewish interests. It is confidently affirmed, and accurately undoubtedly, in contemporary history, that it was through his intervention that Caius was prevented from setting up an image of himself in the very Temple of God. He had always been interested in Jewish people. Josephus says of this man:

“He loved to live continually at Jerusalem, and was exactly careful in the observance of the laws of his country. He therefore kept himself entirely pure, nor did any day pass over his head without its appointed sacrifice.”

It is impossible to read that without seeing that Josephus defended Herod, because of his sympathy for that which was purely Jewish. Then we must remember that there was Edomite taint in his blood, just as in the case of the Herod with whom Jesus came into contact. Finally, he was a man of Greek learning. Leaving Jerusalem, at the end of this campaign, he found his way to Caesarea, and set up a throne, and as Josephus tells us, sat thereon in glittering garments of silver, receiving the homage of the crowd until he received the homage which put him in the place of God. This was the man who now stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the Church.

Luke tells us in this chapter that he “put forth his hands to afflict certain of the Church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also.” This man was preeminently a politician; one who had no strong antagonism to the Christian movement within his own country, but who had very little interest therein; a man who desired to retain his own position and footing, and who in order to do it, found it was necessary to hold the Jews and please them. So the last movement against Christianity by the organized nation of Israel, through the person of their king, was a political movement.

All this is of no value save as it is set in the light of the fact that this was a people made for the exhibition of the Divine government. Here was their last king, the sycophant of a child of Roman voluptuousness, an Edomite, attempting for political purposes to retain Jewish power, supremely given over to all manner of Greek frivolity; and this man is the representative of the people whom God had created. This was the man who stretched forth his hand to vex the Church.

In the activity of the opposition two things must be noted. First, James, the brother of John, was slain by the sword. He was surnamed by his Lord, Boanerges, a son of thunder, and only appears beyond the Gospel narratives in two places. He is named among the apostles who received the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, and again in this one sentence, as being murdered by Herod. That sentence reminds us of an occasion when he and John found their way to Christ, and said, “Grant unto us that we may sit, one on Thy right hand, and one on Thy left hand, in Thy glory.” Our Lord said to them, “Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink the cup that I drink? or to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” And they said that they could, little knowing what they said.

In that matchless and infinite grace, which is ever patient with His people, He did not laugh at them, but said with a tender note of loving sarcasm, which yet thrilled with infinite grace, “The cup that I drink ye shall drink; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized; but to sit on My right hand or on My left hand is not Mine to give: but it is for them for whom it hath been prepared.” Now Herod stretched forth his hand to vex the Church, and slew James with the sword. So he was baptized with his Master’s baptism. And what of John? He lived on until the last of the apostolic band had crossed over. So we may be baptized with the baptism of fellowship in the sufferings of Christ by life, as well as by death. The opposition, however, fastened upon James, and then upon Peter, who was imprisoned and guarded, the intention being to bring him forth and slay him.

Now mark the end of the opposition. It was entirely baffled. The empty prison was the end of it. In the fifth verse of the chapter we read, “Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made earnestly of the Church unto God for him.” There were the two forces at war. Peter kept in prison by Herod; a Church at prayer for him. “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat: but I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not.” Mark the continuity of the Acts. Peter was kept in prison, but the Church prayed.

The empty prison tells the sequel; the opposition failed, and the Church won. Herod left Jerusalem for Caesarea, in all likelihood in anger; and then within a few days, or weeks at most, there was the final manifestation of his supreme sin; rebellion against God. That final manifestation was the assumption of the functions of God. This is no distant story. These are living things to-day. If a man dethrone God he always makes himself God.

If God do not occupy the throne of every life then man will assume for himself the very functions of Deity. So there was wrought out in the person of Herod Agrippa the sin that ruined a nation in the hour when he allowed a fickle shouting crowd to declare, “The voice of a god, and not of a man,” and received homage as such. Swiftly and awfully the touch of the Divine wrath was upon him, and he gave up the ghost.

Turn to the other side of this picture. There are three things to be noted in considering the strength and victory of the Church: first, the Divine government itself; secondly, the instruments made use of; and finally, the issue of the conflict.

As this story is studied, two things impress us concerning the Divine government: first, the mystery of it; and secondly, its clear manifestation. It is impossible to read the story and declare that God’s government can be finally explained. Why did God permit James to be slain, and deliver Peter? Why did He allow Herod to arrest James and slay him; and then, to use the word that is always indicative of our human limitation, miraculously deliver Peter? There is no answer to these questions. I also have seen James slain when I thought we could not spare him.

I also have seen a man full of fire and enthusiasm and force, removed swiftly and suddenly, by a way of pain; and I have said, What is God doing? His is a government which does not attempt to explain itself finally to watching men, but which manifests itself so that watching men cannot deny it.

James is slain, and if men are in the midst of the troublous days when Herod is stretching out his hands, they will say they are coming to the crisis when they are powerless. God did not deliver James, but immediately afterwards He delivered Peter. That reveals the fact that if He can deliver Peter, He could have delivered James. There is infinite comfort in that; the comfort of the revelation of the fact that One Who could deliver Peter, and in wisdom did so, was equally wise when He did not deliver James. Life can never be perfectly understood in the process of its living; we must wait. Just beyond the gleam and flash of the sword, and the overwhelming agony of the moment James came to the explanation. God doeth all things well; and the release of Peter illuminates the death of James, as we come to rest in the infinite wisdom of the Divine government.

The instruments of the Divine government revealed in this chapter are two: first, a praying people; and secondly, ministering angels. A praying people that is the supreme thing, so far as human responsibility is concerned. Mark two things about these praying people. They prayed earnestly, and the word is a very strong one, “without ceasing” it is translated; “earnestly” is more accurate; but still better, they prayed “with agony.” He was not released until the very night before execution. I think they prayed through all the day and night; one group gathered in the house of the mother of Mark, and perhaps others in other places. Herod Agrippa, pervert of Rome, with Hebrew national aspirations, an Edomite, and a Greek, cleverest of all the Herods in certain ways, stretched out his hand to vex the Church.

What shall we put against this new force? A praying Church is against this force.

But another thing about their praying is that they prayed doubtingly. That has been strenuously denied, but I think the story cannot be read without seeing it. When Peter knocked at the door, Rhoda, the girl with the sweet and fragrant name, heard his voice, and she forgot to open for very delight, and left him standing outside. When she came and said, Peter is without, they said, “Thou art mad.” But they had been praying? Yes, and believing; and yet wondering how God could do it; and when the answer came they were surprised. Do not criticize them.

I am thankful for the story. It cheers me in my praying. I pray, and God knows I believe in Him, and I desire, and I wonder whether He can. If I challenge my unbelief, it vanishes. These people prayed earnestly and doubtingly, and yet that force of earnest, halting prayer was mightier than Herod, and mightier than hell.

Then notice the ministry of angels. If we are tempted to say that does not happen now, I affirm that the only thing that does not happen is the smallest thing in the story. Peter did not know it was an angel who delivered him, and did not know he was out of the prison until the angel had gone. He thought he was dreaming, and it was not until the angel had taken him the length of one street and had departed, to use the word of Luke, translated differently, he collected himself together. He gathered up all the impressions, and then discovered that the Lord had delivered him. The only thing that does not happen now is the small thing, the material part of the story, the chains removed from the wrists, and the opening of a door.

Those soldiers did not see that angel. There is an older story which helps us at this point. There was a servant who said to his master, Lo, my master, what shall we do? His master prayed, “O Jehovah, open his eyes.” When his eyes were opened, lo, sweeping up the mountain he saw hosts of angels. It is not well that we should see them to-day, for this is not the age of sight; it is the age of faith. But they are here!

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation? I still believe in angels, and many a prison door the angel opens still, and many an hour of darkness is illuminated by something that we do not understand. It is the ministry of the angels. The material manifestation may be denied to-day, but that only proves that we are living in a clearer spiritual atmosphere, for when the spirit must be instructed by the thing that appeals to the senses it is because men are in the twilight. In proportion as we rise into the larger and higher and fuller day, the material signs will pass; but it is still true that “the angel of Jehovah encampeth round about them that fear Him.”

And how did this end? “And immediately an angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory; and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost. But the Word of God grew and multiplied,” in spite of kings and peoples and prisons. Then the chapter ends with the little part of the, great whole, a small touch, full of beauty. Barnabas and Saul are seen going over to Antioch. Behold Jerusalem for the last time; the whole of the godlessness manifested in Herod, who stretched out his hand to prevent the growth of this spiritual movement; and this victory of the new nation. The opposition ends in defeat.

Who are these three men going off down that road? They have three hundred miles before they reach Antioch; Barnabas, Saul, and Mark. Herod is dead, but the Word of God is living; and the messengers are on the highroad.

Let the story fling its light on present circumstances; on all oppositions, of kings, peoples, prisons.

“Why do the nations rage, And the peoples imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against Jehovah, and against His Anointed, saying,

Let us break their bonds asunder, And cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh: The Lord will have them in derision. Then will He speak unto them in His wrath, And vex them in His sore displeasure; Yet have I set My King Upon My holy hill of Zion.” Do not treat that as ancient literature; it is the matin of the morning, it is the evangel of eventide. Sooner or later godlessness assumes the functions of God, and then immediately is blasted and broken.

Let the light of this study fall, not only upon all opposition, but upon the people of His purpose. James is still slain, and Peter spared; or to take another illustration from the same story, a prison door that striving men cannot open, is opened without hands, and Peter passes through. A house door, that a maiden could open, Peter has to knock at, and then cannot open it. We are in the midst of these mysteries. God knows they are in our lives. Let us thank God that He Who opens one door shuts the other; and the door He shuts is as great a beneficence as the door He opens.

Prayer is still our one and only resource. Not federation even among ourselves, if we are prayerless; not policy or art, or cunning, but prayer is the resource of the Church; and angels are still ministering spirits; and the Word of God still grows and multiplies.

Yet is there not a warning here? Israel, Jerusalem, Herod! Go back to the twenty-third chapter of Matthew, and listen again to the words of Jesus, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” There is a perpetual principle involved. For what is the Church created? If we fail, that word will be spoken to us as surely as it was spoken to Israel.

Yet note the encouragement of it all. God, the Church, and the Word! Said Paul, when writing to Timothy near the end of his ministry, “I suffer hardship unto bonds, as a malefactor; but the Word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things.” In the spirit of that government of God as revealed in our study, be it ours to work and toil, to suffer and to sing, until He calls us home by the swift and sudden call, or after the long day’s work is done; from the shadows of eventide into the light that never fails.