But the word of God continued to spread and flourish
Acts 12:1-25
Key verse 24
God offered a message of salvation, the Gospel, for all peoples on the earth. So, the world must hear the message of the Gospel and we are chosen to do so. The world responds to the Gospel in two ways, one is to accept it leading to salvation and the other is to reject it, leading to eternal judgment. Today’s passage is about rejection of the Gospel, persecution. When people accept the message of the Gospel, we are to teaching them to the way of Christ so that their lives might be conformed to the truth in Christ. When one rejects, what would be the cost for us, the delivers of the message of the Gospel and what would be the cost of the rejection of the Gospel? When we know and account for the cost for us and the cost for those who reject it, we are more at peace within ourselves and with the Lord. This is not that the persecution is revenged but that we become more filled with joy and more certain of our blessing in the Lord. How could that be possible? I hope and pray that today’s passage may give us such insight.
Herod Agrippa made systematic persecution of the church and soon he faced God’s judgment. As we go through today’s passage, I pray that we may have right understanding and find peace in the midst of persecutions.
What was the time? After the conversion of Cornelius, a gentile, Peter came back to Jerusalem and reported this to the church; the church accepted Gentile believers.
Soon after that, a gentile church was formed in Antioch and she sent Paul and Barnabas to help the church in Jerusalem. So by this time, the message of the Gospel saturated the land of Israel and it overflew to many different parts of the world. The most important thing at this time was the fact that a gentile church at Antioch was firmly established and their relationship with the mother church in Jerusalem was well solidified.
God rescued Peter
Herod Agrippa I was born in 11 BC and ran an extravagant life. His life style was so bizarre that he was considered a black sheep of the family. He was a friend of the emperor Gaius Caligula. As soon as Caligula ascended to the emperor, Agrippa was given the kingship of Judea. He also helped Claudius, to succeed the throne after Caligula( about three years on the throne). He accused the tetrarch Antipas(Galilee and Perea; Killed John the Baptist, Married Herodia, sister of Agrippa, exiled AD39 in Gaul) of conspiracy against new emperor Caligula. Caligula sent Antipas to exile and gave the land of Antipas to Agrippa. In this way he governed almost all the land his grandfather, Herod the Great, ruled.
As noted above, he had a very strong relationship with two Emperors of Rome and had lived a very extravagant life style when he was young. He became king of Judea about AD 41, when he was 52 years old. So it is likely that by the time when he began persecution, he ran Judea just about a few years. As a fresh king, he would be eager to earn the respect of the people of his land, Jews. Also he was born and lived long time in Judea, he would have known what went on the land of Israel, i.e. the spread of the new belief and Jews’ hostility against them. Through the message of the Gospel, and the works the apostles did, the presence of God’s power was made obvious to all. Yet, he not only ignored those signs and wonders but also chose to side with the Jews for his own good, to earn the respect and honor from the Jews. He began persecution. To do so, the Festival of the unleavened bread made the best time. It would catch the attention of many Jews from all over the world and was great occasion to publicize his will and power. Knowing this, he put some believers in prison, and killed James, the brother of John. When he realized that this pleased Jews, he did more; He arrested Peter with an intention to kill him as well. In this way, he showed his determination to destroy the emerging religious group, the church. In this way, he displayed his power as the absolute authority over the nation.
Peter’s arrest at this time was different from previous ones and bore great significance. Herod put chains on both of Peter’s hands with two guards and additional two guards were to guard him in a heavy security prison. It seems that he knew of Peter’s early escape from the prison and now he would not make the same mistake. Simply it was an expression of his determination to kill Peter.
But the emerging church faced a great trouble. She never faced or dealt with the absolute power of the king before. Literally there was no way to get out of the power of the king and his ‘murderous trap’. What could she do? There was nothing but to pray. In addition, Peter was running the ministry in front. He was the top leader, the source of the words of God, and the source of power of God. All believers looked up to him as the source of God’s truth and power. His death meant a great blow to the head of the church and even would paralyze the entire work of God. In this situation, something happened.
The night before trial, an angel came to him and woke him up; told him to dress and led him out to the street; two chain were fell off, the two body guards and two sentries, first and second guards, did not know all these. The Iron Gate was swung open all by itself for the angel and Peter. Even Peter was like dreaming. When he came to full cognition of the situation, he was on the street.
When he came to sense, he said this;
11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.”
King Agrippa did everything he could in order to secure Peter’s life under his authority and power. Nevertheless, it was impossible for the king to keep Peter from God’s hand.
For the Jews, Peter was the culprit in spreading the word that they were the murderers of Jesus. Though they had arrested him, he got out leaving no trace behind. They could not arrest and could not contain the power of his word. Simply Peter was an impossible figure to handle. But Herod arrested him and all Jews was hoping that this would be the occasion to do away with Peter for good. What does it mean? All the powers of the whole world was against the church and she laid bare to their hostile attack from those authorities.
The danger to the church was far too great to imagine. If they kill Peter, what would happen? Then, they could eradicate this new breed of belief. Their hope to decimate the new belief would succeed.
But it did not happen as they wished. Peter got out of the prison, and was freed from the iron fist of King Agrippa.
How did the church respond to this?
Soon after he got out of the prison, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark. Her house was a meeting place for the church. Many had gathered, praying. When Peter knocked at the door, Rhoda came out and heard Peter’s voice. She was so overjoyed and went in without opening the door for him and shouted to the believers inside, “Peter is at the door. To the many believers, it was unthinkable to happen. So they said, “ You are out of your mind. This tells us that to them Peter was as good as dead by the hand of Herod. Peter’s rescue was an impossible thing. But eventually they came to realize that they were wrong and Peter was there at the door. Peter described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. On hearing the each step of this story, it was clear for them that the Lord came to rescue Peter. The Lord was living with them and heard their prayers. He left this message; “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this.” It was apparent that James was not there. He was to take leadership while Peter was on the run. Also all the brothers and sisters must be informed of this great news, not only that Peter did not suffer death but also that God was living with them and heard their prayers.
What does this story reveal to us? Gospel of Jesus forced the world to respond. The world powers and authorities were not willing to accept the authority and message of Jesus. They set themselves together firmly against the message of the Gospel and expressed that hostility against the Church. The church seemed to be laid bare to these hostile power and to be totally helpless. But this is not true. God was with the church and as He unshackled Peter from chains of Agrippa, He can undo all the powers of this world and even destroy that authority. As Peter faced death, he experienced resurrection through this rescue. As
Peter was going through death and resurrection experience, so did all the believers go through death and resurrection along with Peter. This was not only for them a reminder of the power and hope in Jesus’ death and resurrection but also a reinforcement of that faith and that hope in God. Such reinforcement in the spirit of resurrection is hard to come only by teachings and admonitions. Persecution and death threat is the place where we believers know and experience the power of resurrection and hope in God in its full extent. In the end, if believers come out of such persecution with the exuberant spirit of resurrection, then, persecutions pose never a threat to the believers but rather it serves the believes as the spring board to the next step toward God’s hope for the world and for us.
God is living in and among us through the promise in the Gospel of Jesus. He is with us because He want to use us to save the world and at the same time he want to impart the eternal blessings that overcomes the power of death.
This message was made clear in the event of Herod’s death.
Herod’s death
Not long after Peter’s escape, there was an occasion for the king to address before the people of Tyre and Sidon. The people of Tyre and Sidon were in disagreement with Herod. Apparently Herod cut off the supply of food for them. They were in great trouble. So they were eager to earn a favor from him. When Herod gave a public address to the people, they saw his glaring royal clothes and praised him to be God. This was a clear enunciation of the idea that Herod is greater than the God of the new belief, which he and Jews vehemently hated and rejected. Such praise was very soothing to his spirit and this was what he was eagerly wanted to hear from his people. He wanted to let the all the people of his land know that he was at the authority and he could and would do anything to uphold his power. Driven by that spirit, he had dared to arrest believers, killed James and made attempt to kill Peter, the top disciple of Jesus, the Lord and king. God was patient with him even such hostility against God and His servants. But at this time his heart to honor himself above God was publicly displayed. It was an abomination and an open defamation of God’s name. Suddenly he fell sick with abdominal pain and died in a few days. It was said that worms ate him. But actually God struck him down in full view of large constituents of his kingdom. God gave an unmistakable message to the entire people of the nation. The one who fails to honor God shall die. God delivered His judgment and let the world know that God is the final and ultimate authority not the king! Also through this, he made clear that God is not patient forever. He will judge in time. God is God of judgment! No one should dare to make mistake on this. In some sense by succumbing Herod under His power in such full view of a large crowd, God was declaring this message to all the nations in surrounding the land of Israel! This was so important because from this point, the message of the Gospel were already had gone out and was even widely spreading to those nations. Believers had to deal with the authorities of kings and governors!
What were these two events seen and understood by the church?
Luke summarized these events in this way;
24 But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.
What does it mean to us?
The most important issue or the compelling theme of this time at the heart of people was the word of God.
The arrest of some believers, killing of James, Peter’s arrest and rescue were not a trivial or minor incident for the believers. They were surely matters of life and death for many and made a great impact on the entire believers. But this persecution was not the primary or key importance for them.
Death of Herod was also an important event because he was the agent of such hostility against the believers. His death meant a great deal for the believers. Yet this was not the primary importance.
What of the word of God was so important? The writer of this history, Luke, made two similar summaries before this;
The first of such summery appears in 6:7.
7 So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith. (Act 6:7)
This was the conclusion of the first period, the end of which was marked by the arrest and release of the apostles by Jewish religious authorities.
The second summery of events followed by the recording of what happened after Stephen’s martyrdom. (9:31)
31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers. (9:31)
Both of these two and the present summery see persecutions and their resolution in the prospect of how the word of God faired. What does this tell us about?
First it was not his personal view but was the view of the entire church. In other word, the fact that the word of God continued to spread and flourish was at the spirit living in the utmost heart of all believers. It was neither their suffering nor the loss of some believers that made so much impact on their mind. Instead the spreading and flourishing of the word of God was high above all in importance. Does it mean that the word of God, its spreading and flourish were more important than their lives? Surely so!
Such spirit are expressed explicitly in the words of Stephen and in Paul
Stephen, when he was being stoned to death, expressed such view:
56 “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
Suffering in pain leading to death was not a cause of fear but was the occasion to see and enter into God’s glory.
Paul in his final meeting with meeting with the leaders of Ephesian Church said this in Act 20:23-24.
23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
This was Paul’s value of his life. In his mind the utmost importance in his life was not his wellbeing but the word of God. This was not just an ideal that he wanted to pursue. This was in his spirit and in his heart. That was well expressed in his final remark at Caesarea to those who were weeping for Paul’s imminent fate to death.
13 Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
In such spirit, he had no sorrow and no sadness in facing death. There was no shadow of death. Instead, his mind was filled with a great passion for Jesus’ name to be lifted up in his life by the way of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
What is the spirit that compels us to run our daily lives? Is the word of God at the utmost height of your mind and spirit? If not, what else is there running your life? If you have any excuses not to do so, then, do you believe that our lives must be different from the lives of the first believers?
Finally, let’s explore what Peter thought about his life, since he had gone through death and resurrection experience personally. As his death was coming, he wrote a letter to all believers scattered in the world;
2 Pet 1: 13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.
Pete knew he would die soon. At this time he wanted to make sure one thing! They would remember all these things. To do so he will make every efforts to see that happen. All these things are the word of Jesus! He wanted to convey all of Jesus word to his followers! This was first and foremost importance in Pete’s life!
Why did God save Peter while he letting James suffer death!
As we understood Peter’s view of his life in regard to the word of God, it was not his personal making but was from the Lord. That is to say that God’s rescuing from the crutches of Herod is better to be understood also in this light;
Peter followed Jesus from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and was the top of the inmost circle of Jesus’ disciples. This implies that Peter was the most important holder of Jesus’ word and that his survival until he fully convey the message of the Gospel to the next generation, his death shall not happen. This was the will of God.
We should note that three disciples, Peter, John, and James, were the top three disciples of Jesus and were the key bearer or the ‘containers’ of the most accurate and intimate teachings of Jesus. As they were like any men, it is more correct and reliable when three come together to support the truth. Just before this, James was killed and Peter and John were left to carry that mission. If Peter dies, then, only John would be left to carry the message of Jesus to the next generation. Yet Peter’s arrest happened just a little more than 10 years (about AD 44) since Jesus’ ascension and it was far too short period to set firmly the words of Jesus to their follower. Such importance is hinted in two places. First, at Jesus’ reinstatement of Peter on the edges of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus emphasized for three times the feeding of Jesus sheep. Though feeding is an inclusive term to care for the sheep, the most important aspect of feeding is feeding the words of Jesus. Second, it appears in Peter’s letter to the believers (2 Peter 1) Such view fits well to Luke’s summery of this event, the word of God continued to spread and flourish. So we even may say that the importance of Peter’s life did not lie in his leadership ability as the head of the church but in his ‘knowledge’ of Jesus teaching as well as his passion to stand for and to carry the truth for the next generation. Have you ever a thought come across your mind that your life is precious as much as you have the word of God and have ability to carry His word to the next generation?
If there is even a small grace of God in your life, then the word of God must be the utmost importance in your life. We ought live in and ride with the power of the word of God!
How can we live in and ride with the word of God?
All three, Stephen, Paul and Peter were living in the word of Jesus and ran their lives with the power of the word of God. What was the spirit in them?
First, this is the spirit that saw God as the authority and the runner of history and sees these two events as His commanding presence in and among them.
Second, it is the spirit that believes that God’s commanding presence is well represented and revealed through the word of GOD. In such spirit, one upholds the authority of God’s word with absolute obedience and faith
Third, it is the spirit that is undeterred by the power of death but sees and shares God’s perspective, His glory. It is found starkly in Stephen’s last word.
In such spirit he had no sorrow and no sadness even in facing death. There was no shadow of death. Instead, his mind was filled with a great passion for Jesus’ name to be lifted up in his life. Again, he was looking ahead the coming glory in and with Jesus, the Lord.
Fourth, there was a clear sense or awareness of the impending coming of the kingdom of God. That kingdom and its coming was in the power of the words of God, the Gospel. Spreading to distant countries and brining many to God implies that the kingdom of God is growing in power and ever increasing in size. This is to see growing dominance of God’s authority and power over the world. This was an indication of the impending coming of the kingdom of God. As I noted early, Luke gave two summaries of historical progression of events. Both shared the same idea. God’s power in the word of God was growing and growing, spreading wide and wide, resulting in adding many peoples into God’s kingdom. At beginning of our ministry Dr. Sam Lee saw this vision because so many students were changed by the power of the word of God. Recently our general directors shared the similar vision as they prayed for the world mission.
All these happened because the believers firmly stood on the Word of Jesus [12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Heb 4)]. “The word of God continued to spread and to flourish.”
I pray that we may ride on the power of the word of God in all that we do by trusting in its power, committing to its truthfulness, and relying on God’s accompaniment.
This is the way God wants to spread His kingdom.
May God empower you through His word in all that you do!
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