Acts 12:6-19
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
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. 13 Peter
knocked at the outer entrance, and 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’re 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.
Then Herod went from
Judea to Caesarea and stayed there a while.
I always love reading
this story! It makes me feel secure
knowing how God took care of Peter, who was supposedly securely chained by human
standards, but God sent an angel to release him from prison. As I read the story I can envision the
happenings that night. It makes me laugh
to think that Peter thought he was dreaming and all of a sudden he realizes
that this is actually happening! Then I
have to laugh again when Rhoda hears his voice and gets so excited that she
forgets to let him in the door! I can
again envision Peter as he signals to them to be quiet. There must have been
quite the excitement when they saw the man that they had been praying for
standing amongst them. The man they thought was surely going to be executed. Sometimes when we pray we don’t realize that
God will use His mighty power to answer the prayers or we underestimate His
power. It makes me wonder if they had
been praying that he would have strength through this trial rather than praying
for his release. Maybe they just
underestimated the amount of work that the Lord had for Peter to do.
In this story we see
that the angel guides Peter out of the prison and walks with him for a block
and then disappears. At that time Peter
comes to his senses. Does he panic
wondering what to do next? No, instead
he goes where he knows people care for him and he finds that many are there
praying for him. He then leaves them and
moves on to his next stop. He doesn’t
stay around to be found again by the authorities he leaves. If I were Peter I would be asking the Lord,
what next? You saved me, now where is my
angel to guide me now? But Peter makes sure
that James finds out about his release and then he leaves for another
place. It is as though he knew what he
was supposed to do and he was going to do it.
I have one more laugh in
this story and it is at the end of it. “There
was no small commotion” that line really makes me chuckle. I can just see them all running around trying
to figure out what has just happened.
The sad part though is that the guards were executed for letting a
prisoner escape. They had nothing to do
with his escape but Herod, the hard hearted person that he was, had to blame
others rather than recognize the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today as you seek Him, remember
that our God is mighty in strength and power.
Let us not forget the greatness of our God and serve Him where He leads
us.
Seeking Him with all my
heart,
Sheila
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