Acts
12:1-18 (NIV)
1 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged
to the church, intending to persecute them.
2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.
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.
5 So 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.
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.
When is
the last time you had a dream come true? I am not talking about a nightmare, I
am talking about a real dream, a dream that goes beyond your wildest
imaginations? Perhaps this is too much to even attempt to believe so you have
given up on dreaming for the best. Our text today finds one of the apostles in
a very dark place, chained between two Roman guards behind two locked doors
each guarded by two more Roman guards.
Herod had
witnessed how his arrest and public execution of James had led to an increase
in popularity among the Jews so he had Peter arrested and thrown in jail with
every intention to have Peter executed after Passover was over. So we find our
friend in jail with no hope of ever being set free.
It has now
been several days since his arrest and it was now the evening before his
execution. What shape do we find Peter in this evening before his execution?
Was he busy pacing back and forth in his cell overcome with worry, was he
shaking an angry fist at God, was he even arguing with his captors? Nothing of
the sort.
What is
amazing is is we find Peter in this predicament, he is sound asleep. In fact he
is sleeping so soundly that the angel has to strike him on his side to wake him
up. He quickly gets dressed and follows the angel out of the prison. The angel
leads him through the streets of Jerusalem until Peter finally wakes up. The
Scripture says all the time that Peter only thought he was dreaming of being
set free, he did not think this was real.
When Peter
arrives at the door of the house where the church was gathered praying for
Peter, even the church has a hard time believing that Peter was set free from
Herod's prison, it was more than they could have ever thought to ask for but it
was true nonetheless.
Do you see
any parallel to your experience? Do you find yourself in some place of deep
despair, or some hopeless circumstance, are you unable to pray that you might
be set free? If this is your state you have great reason to rejoice for God
wants to do amazing things for you far beyond your ability to even dream of
them. Some day in the future, it may be even today, you may feel like you are
trapped hopelessly behind some prison of fear or doubt and then, without you
even trying to conjure up such thoughts ,the God who saved you by his own
sovereign will, will break through your dungeon and lead you out so you might
praise him even more.
O and
think of this church, when God sends his son to bring us home it will all be
greater than anything we have ever dreamed of and it will take a lot of time to
get used to what God has done on our behalf. It will seem like a dream but one
day soon it will be a reality greater than any other reality you have ever been
part of. You will be more alive than ever. So rest in this truth, even when you
are in a prison of your own making the God who saves is working even now to
bring you out of your dark dungeon.
Now unto
him who is able to do exceedingly abundant above all that we ask or think let
us rest in his promise of his soon coming deliverance,
Pastor Phil