Beloved, I am pleased to share with you today the above theme from Acts 12:23-24. Indeed, neither the chains, nor the sixteen soldiers, nor herod’s murderous intentions can prevent Peter from sleeping peacefully in his prison. Nor can there be any obstacle preventing the Lord from delivering His dear servant (Ps 121:1-8). That is why an angel wakes him up and then makes him come out with power and solicitude. “After seizing him and throwing him in prison, he put him in the custody of four squads of four soldiers each, with the intention of bringing him before the people after Passover.
Peter, therefore, was kept in the prison; and the Church never ceased to pray to God for him. The night before herod was about to summon him, Peter, bound by two chains, slept between two soldiers; and sentries in front of the door guarded the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord came, and a light shone in the prison. The angel woke Peter up, hitting him to the side, and saying: Get up promptly! The chains fell from his hands. And the angel said to him: Put on your belt and sandals. And so he did. The angel said to him again: Wrap yourself in your cloak, and follow me.”
Later Peter, having beckoned them to be silent, told them how the Lord had pulled him out of the prison, and he said: Announce it to James and the brothers. Then he went out, and went to another place. When it was daylight, the soldiers were in great turmoil, to know what Peter had become. Herod, having gone in search of him and not having found him, questioned the guards, and gave the order to lead them to the torture. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea, to stay there. How often we pray with our lips, without really waiting for the object of our request! How many times we still doubt… while the answer is already at the door.
For deaf to all divine warnings, Herod will lend a complacent ear to the flattery of the Tyrians and Sidonians who, for political reasons, seek the friendship of this murderer. He is suddenly struck in front of all with a horrible death. While the Word of the One whom he attacked in his madness will spread more than ever.
Indeed, while the work of the Holy Spirit spread outside Judea and among the Greeks, Satan deployed his efforts in Jerusalem to harm Christians. He used for this King Herod, grandson of Herod the Great who had ordered the massacre of the little children of Bethlehem. “He put his hands on some of those in the assembly to mistreat them, and he had John’s brother James, dy by the sword. And seeing that this was pleasing to the Jews, he continued, also making Peter take.” A bloodthirsty man like this king easily made himself pleasing to the Jews by killing those they hated. Without them dying themselves, their common hatred made them agree, like the previous king Herod with Pontius Pilate. If men unite out of hatred for Christ, God’s grace worked for Christians to unite out of love for Christ, made partas of the divine nature, for we too were “hateful, hating each other” (Titus 3:3) and enemies of Christ.
When Herod had Peter arrested, it was the feast of unleavened bread; instead of executing him immediately, he imprisoned him to deliver him to the Jews after the feast. “That night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound by two chains; and guards, in front of the door, guarded the prison.” Nothing was more impossible than getting Peter out of prison; but what is impossible for men is possible for God. Sixteen of Herod’s soldiers guarded Peter; his Lord and Master had myriads of angels at the service of his own, for: “Are they not all administrator spirits, sent to serve on behalf of those who will inherit salvation?” (Heb 1:14). Our prayers support you all in your efforts to inherit salvation.
By a wonderful grace of God, believers occupy a superior position to angels, since they are children of God. As for our bodies, which are material, because they belong to the first creation, we are inferior to them; the angel is seen passing through doors and walls, without them needing to open, while the door opened to let Peter pass. While we are in these bodies, we need their services; but soon we will have spiritual bodies, similar to that of the Lord, who, after his resurrection, was in the midst of the disciples, “the doors being closed.”
When we are glorified, Christ-like, we will have inherited the great salvation referred to in Hebrews 1:14 and 2:3, and will no longer need the service of angels. Peter having recognized himself in the street, “went to the house of Mary, mother of John nicknamed Mark, where several were assembled and prayed.” He naturally went where he would find disciples. Indeed, at the home of the mother of Mark, nephew of Barnabas (Col 4:10), people prayed for him.
Finally, this Herod, king over the Jewish people, without the right to this honor except by the authority of Rome, represents the Antichrist, persecutor of the faithful in the future, who will also be struck, consumed by the breath of the mouth of the Lord when he comes in his glory (2 Th 2:8).
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
- Examples of Human Flattery
2 S 14:17 Your servant said, “Let the word of my lord the king give me rest. For my lord the king is like an angel of God, ready to hear good and evil. And may Jehovah, your God, be with you! Dn 11:21 A despised man will take his place, without being clothed with royal dignity; he will appear in the midst of peace, and will seize the kingdom by intrigue. Lk 20:21 These people asked him this question: Master, we know that you speak and teach righteously, and that you do not look at appearance, but that you teach the way of God according to the truth. Acts 12:22 The people cried out: Voice of a god, not of a man!
- Examples of Pride
Pharaoh Ex 5:2 Pharaoh answered: Who is the Lord, that I may obey his voice, letting Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.
-Naaman 2 King 5:11 Naaman was irritated, and he went away, saying, “Behold, I said to myself: He will come out to me, he will present himself, he will invoke the name of Jehovah, his God, he will wave his hand in the place and heal the leper.
-Ozias 2 Ch 26:16 But when he was powerful, his heart rose to lose him. He sinned against Jehovah, his God: he entered the temple of Jehovah to burn perfumes on the altar of perfumes.
-Hezekiah 2 Ch 32:25 But Hezekiah did not respond to the blessing he had received, for his heart rose; and the wrath of Jehovah was upon him, upon Judah, and upon Jerusalem.
-Haman Esth 3:5 And Haman saw that Mordecai did not bend his knee or prostrate himself before him. He was filled with fury; (Isaiah 10:13 For he says: It is by the force of my hand that I have acted, It is by my wisdom, for I am intelligent; I have set back the limits of peoples, and plundered their treasures, and, like a hero, I have overthrown those who sat on thrones; Is 14:13 You said in your heart: I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mountain of the assembly, at the end of the north; Is 47:10 You trusted in your wickedness, You said: No one sees me! Your wisdom and knowledge have seduced you. And you said in your heart: Me, and nothing but me! Ez 28:2 Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: Thus speaks the Lord, the Lord: Your heart has risen, and you have said: I am God, I am sitting in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas! You are man and not God, and you take your will for the will of God. Ez 31:10 This is why the Lord, the Lord, speaks: Because he had a high stem, Because he threw his top in the middle of thick branches, And because his heart was proud of its height,)
-Nebuchadnezzar Dn 4:27 Therefore, O king, may my advice please you! put an end to your sins by practicing righteousness, and to your iniquities by using compassion for the unfortunate, and your happiness may be prolonged.
-Belshazzar Dn 5:23 You have risen up against the Lord of heaven; the vases of his house have been brought before you, and you have used them to drink wine, you and your greats, your wives and your concubines; you have praised the gods of silver, gold, brass, iron, wood and stone, who do not see, who hear, and who know nothing, and you have not glorified the God who has in his hand your breath and all your ways. (Ab 3 The pride of your heart has led you astray, You who dwell in the hollow of the rocks, Who sit on the heights, And who says in yourself: Who will rush me to the ground?)
- Divine Judgments, Examples
1 S 25:38 About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal, and he died. 2 Sam 6:7 Jehovah’s wrath ignited against Uzza, and God struck him on the spot because of his fault. Uzza died there, near the ark of God. 2 The 6:18 The Syrians descended to Elisha. He then addressed this prayer to the Lord: Deign to strike this nation with blindness! And the Lord struck them blindly, according to the word of Elisha. 2 Kings 15:5 The Lord struck the king, who was a leper until the day of his death and remained in a remote house. And Jotham, son of the king, was at the head of the house and judged the people of the country. 2 King 19:35 That night the angel of the Lord came out, and struck in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand men. And when we got up in the morning, behold, they were all dead bodies. 1 Ch 21:7 This order displeased God, who struck Israel. 2 Ch 26:20 The high priest Azaria and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he had leprosy on his forehead. They hurriedly kicked him out, and he himself hurried out, because the Lord had struck him. Acts 12:23 At the same moment, an angel of the Lord struck him, because he had not given glory to God. And he exhaled, gnawing at worms.
- Punishment of sin: physical or spiritual death(Gen 2:17, but you will not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for the day you eat it, you will die.)
Gen 3:19 It is by the sweat of your face that you will eat bread, until you return to the earth from which you have been taken; for thou shat are dust, and thou shat shall return to the dust. (Dt 32:51 because you have sinned against me in the midst of the children of Israel, near the waters of Meriba, in Kades, in the wilderness of Tsin, and have not sanctified me in the midst of the children of Israel.) 1 Ch 10:13 Saul died because he was guilty of infidelity to the Lord, whose word he did not observe, and because he questioned and consulted those who spoke of the dead. Pr 11:19 Thus justice leads to life, but he who pursues evil finds death. Ez 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the son as well as the soul of the father, both are mine; the soul that sins is the soul that will die. Rom 5:12 Therefore, as through one man sin entered the world, and through sin death, and thus death spread over all men, because all have sinned,… Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but God’s free gift is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
- Examples of implementation of the death penalty:
Lev 10:2 Then the fire came out from before the Lord, and consumed them: they died before the Lord. Nb 15:36 The whole congregation took him out of the camp and laped him, and he died, as Jehovah had commanded Moses. Nb 16:32 The earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them and their houses with all the people of Kore and all their possessions. Joshua 7:25 Joshua said, Why have you troubled us? Jehovah will trouble you today. And all of Israel lapida him. They were burned in the fire, they were laped; 2 The 9:33 He said: Throw it down! They threw her away, and he spilled his blood on the wall and on the horses. Jehu trampled on her feet; 2 Ch 23:15 She was given a place, and she went to the king’s house through the entrance to the horse gate: this is where they gave her death. Is 7:10 And Haman was hanged from the wood he had prepared for Mordecai. And the king’s anger subsided. Acts 5:5 Ananias, hearing these words, fell, and exhaled. A great fear grips all the listeners. Acts 12:23 At the same moment, an angel of the Lord struck him, because he had not given glory to God. And he exhaled, gnawing at worms.
- Growth of the prophesied kingdom of Christ:
Ps 72:16 The wheat will abound in the country, at the top of the mountains, and their ears will stir like the trees of Lebanon; Men will bloom in the cities like the grass of the earth. Isa 9:6 To give the empire of growth, And an endless peace to the throne of David and his kingdom, to strengthen and sustain Him by law and justice, Now and forever: This is what the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do. (Isa 42:4 He shall not be discouraged or slacken, unless He has established righteousness on earth, and the islands hope in His law.) Is 54:3 For thou shat shall spread to the right and to the left; Your posterity will invade nations, and populate deserted cities. Is 55:5 Behold, thou shat of nations which thou shat not know, and the nations which do not know you shall come unthinding to you, for the sake of jehovah, thy God, of the Holy One of Israel, who glorifies you. Isa 60:5: 22 Thou shabble then and rejoice, And thy heart will leap and expand, When the riches of the sea turn to you, When the treasures of the nations come to you. Mk 4:31-32 It is like a grain of seneve, which, when sown in the earth, is the smallest of all the seeds that are on earth; 32 but, when it has been sown, it rises, becomes greater than all vegetables, and grows great branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell under its shadow.
From all the above, we note that this Herod, king over the Jewish people, without the right to this honor except by the authority of Rome, represents the Antichrist, persecutor of the faithful in the future, also struck, consumed by the breath of the mouth of the Lord. For here two kinds of activity of angels: on the one hand they are employed in favor of believers, and on the other hand, they also execute judgments of God. For despite the activity of the enemy, “the word of God was spreading more and more, and the number of disciples was increasing. And the Word is identified with the results it produces: it grew and multiplied, for everything comes from the Word under the action of the Spirit of God. Our prayers support you all in your efforts to inherit salvation.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Ghost. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may be shining in my life right now.
Thank you Lord Jesus for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby watering point to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and for centuries of centuries. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow about “Jews multiplying signs of disbelief.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.