Request your free, three-month trial to Tabletalk magazine. You’ll receive the print issue monthly and gain immediate digital access to decades of archives. This trial is risk-free. No credit card required.
Try Tabletalk NowAlready receive Tabletalk magazine every month?
Verify your email address to gain unlimited access.
Acts 12:6–11
“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’” (v. 11).
During the persecution that came against the church after the martyrdom of Stephen, Herod Agrippa I arrested the Apostle Peter. This occurred during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which the first-century Jews had come to merge with the Feast of Passover (Acts 11:19–12:3). At first, Herod only imprisoned the Apostle, not wanting to disturb the festivities of Passover and purposing to hand down Peter’s sentence after the holiday. Clearly, Herod did not want Peter to escape, for he went to great lengths to keep him confined. He ordered four squads, totaling sixteen soldiers, to guard Peter (v. 4). This severe trial for the church, in turn, prompted the believers in Jerusalem to fervently pray for Peter’s release (v. 5). By this, they left a good example for Christians in every generation. When the church finds itself under siege, we dare not resign ourselves to continuing forever as a persecuted minority. Instead, we are to pray fervently, knowing that God delights to work in and through our intercession to relieve the suffering of His people. Matthew Henry comments, “Times of public distress and danger should be praying times with the church; we must pray always, but then especially.”
Today’s passage gives us further details regarding what Herod did to make sure that Peter could not escape. The Apostle was bound between two soldiers—he was chained to two different men—and sentries were placed at the prison to guard him (v. 6). One might think that all these guards would trouble Peter, that the evident danger that he was in would have rendered him sleepless with worry. Yet Peter was fast asleep the night before he was to stand before Herod (v. 6). His trust in the Lord was so secure that like David many centuries earlier, Peter could sleep peacefully as his enemies threatened him (see Ps. 4).
So soundly did Peter sleep that when God sent an angel to rescue him, the angel had to strike him rather hard to rouse him. Miraculously, Peter’s chains fell off, and he was able to follow the angel out of the prison and back on to the streets of Jerusalem (Acts 12:7–10). Apparently, the Apostle was in a bit of a daze through all this, for he did not fully recognize what the Lord was doing until he was out of the prison. Much later, he could see that God had rescued him from his enemies (v. 11).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The church did not give up when Peter was arrested but fervently prayed for God to rescue the Apostle. When the church is under attack in our own day, we may be tempted to think that nothing can be done to rescue us, and we can grow discouraged in prayer. Yet we must press on in intercession, asking the Lord to rescue us, knowing that He may use our prayers to bring relief to His people.
For further study
- Psalm 91
- Acts 16:16–40
- 2 Timothy 4:18
- 2 Peter 2:4–10
The bible in a year
- 1 Chronicles 6–7
- John 8:12–38