Acts 12

Read Acts 12

The whole point of this chapter is to juxtapose the powers of this world and the divine powers available to the Church. Immediately we are confronted with an arrogant, reckless tyrant in Herod who seeks only his own glory and is willing to kill people to get it. He has no severe qualms with Christians, but he knows slaughtering them will get him high regard among the Jews whom he rules. So, he kills James, one of their leaders and arrests Peter. The church of Jerusalem has no response to such power. As king of Judea, Herod could pretty much kill whomever he choses whenever he choses. But a key verse is inserted here: “So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.” Herod has all the power of the great Roman Empire behind him. Yes, but the church prayed. And that is the turning point. Everything in this section hinges on that verse. Rome verses the church. Who wins the matchup? The church prayed, and so the fight is really not fair. The church appeals to an almighty warrior-king, and all Herod has are prisons, guards, chains, swords, armies, and dungeons. It’s not much of a fight. All the church must do is pray and all heaven is unleashed upon their enemies. And those prayers do not even have to be made with great faith. All the better if they are, but even these prayers, which it seems the church hardly believed would be answered, were answered in might and power.

The story does not end there, for Herod is still in power, and he is still the same scoundrel he ever was. And so it happens that at the moment he attains the glory that he craved, his life is taken from him. Here there is another pivotal statement: “Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory . . . But the word of God increased and multiplied.” Herod who has the authority to wipe out every Christian in Jerusalem actually has no power except that which is given to him. As the powerful tyrant breathes his last, the word of God charges onward.

The message from Luke here is clear. What has the church to fear? Take up your weapons of faith. Commit yourself to prayer. Trust the omnipotent, glorious God to make His glory known. No human power, no matter how great or fierce or wicked, can thwart the expansion of his kingdom.