18Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. And if anybody should try to take them, they can call down fire from heaven and consume them. At the same time scripture shows there might be and often was an interval after the gospel did go forth. We will deal with Herod Agrippa II, his son, in a few weeks as we move on in the book of Acts. The time for the call of the Gentiles strictly was not yet come, though the way is being prepared. Acts 12 a. James, son of Alphaeus. . "But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews that dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ." They're all inside praying, "Oh God, help Peter! Much of our prayer is powerless because it lacks earnestness. Contrasts mark Acts 12:1-23: James dies, God delivers Peter, and Herod dies. Hence it is there were mighty powers that wrought by those who were employed by the Holy Ghost; as, for instance, by Philip himself; afterwards also by the disciples, when Peter and John came down and laid their hands upon them with prayer. But in the sense in which they supposed themselves to be Christians, do they, to all appearance, apply that title to those to whom they write" (pp. . You may unsubscribe from Bible Gateways emails at any time. i. The facts were notorious; but of this we may be sure, that never had they been put together before the mind of the Ethiopian as then, never connected with the living Word and His grace. It was so ordered of God that the Holy Ghost should not at first be conferred on the disciples at Samaria: I do not mean merely on such as Simon or false brethren, but even on those that were true. All depended upon this. d. It is his angel: The Jews believed in the idea of guardian angels, and it seems that some among them may have believed that ones guardian angel bore some kind of resemblance to the human it was assigned to. Thus we see the Lord was working, and, as so constantly happens, it was not only that He called out Paul for the Gentiles; it was not only that He sent Peter to a Gentile; but now these men, who might have been despised as irregular labourers, were in the current of the same work of God, even if they knew nothing of it, save by divine instinct. Then, he disappears from the divine record. 1 Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. The despised and hated name of Jesus is the only hope for man, Jesus is the only Saviour and Lord. due to the church of God? And he said unto him, Put your garment on, and follow me. he would probably, without hesitation or difficulty, reply, that a Christian Church as it appears, for example, in St. Paul's epistles is a congregation or society of faithful men or believers, whose unseen faith in Christ is visibly manifested by their profession of certain fundamental doctrines, by the administration and reception of the two sacraments, and by the exercise of discipline. In Peter's case, because they wanted to keep him sure, he was chained on both sides to guards, and then there were two guards who would stand watch at the door and four quaternions would mean that there were four groups of four soldiers. (K)He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, Get up quickly. And (L)the chains fell off his hands. The word in the Greek is Passover after the time of unleavened bread. He was ruler of Judaea, Samaria and Idumaea. Scripture does show, though it does not sanction as divine, a faith that is founded on evidence. i. e. Go, tell these things to James and the brethren: The James that Peter told others to report to was not the James who was just martyred. It was wrought not by those that had previously been always the great spiritual witnesses; for we hear of none ministering but the apostles, and indeed not even of all the apostles speaking, though it may be that they did. This brought the question to a simple issue; but here again, let it be noticed that the gift of the Holy Ghost belongs to those that believe. Among the Jews there were four kinds of deaths: 3. killing with the sword, or beheading; and. Because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate: Rhoda was so excited to hear from Peter that she left him out at the gate! This could mean that he was either younger or shorter than the other apostle by that name. Cornelius was one of those who, among the Gentiles, had abandoned idolatry; but more than this was sometimes found. It is too familiar how soon human superstition perverted this blessed institution of the Lord into a sacramental means of grace, duly administered by one in the line of succession. There were four such squads because the day and the night were divided into four watches each of three hours duration; and each squad was on duty for three hours at a time. So he said, "Gird yourself up. It is always thus in the ways of God. If you don't have faith, God's not going to answer your prayers. So from experience we know there is many a man that you cannot doubt to be truly looking to the Lord, yet far from resting in the peace of God. One of the three apostles most intimate with the Savior. WebActs 12:2. WebThere are two significant New Testament characters named James. In the lists of the twelve apostles in the synoptic Gospels, there are two apostles called James, who are differentiated there by their fathers: James, son of Zebedee, and James, son of Alphaeus. And so, "Go show these things to James and to the brethren and he departed and went to another place." I. Acts 12:2 The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) Philip is found at Azotus, and passing through he preaches elsewhere. There was at this time some quarrel between Herod and the people of Tyre and Sidon, for whom the quarrel was a serious matter. . 2 And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. How then could so fatal an error have been committed? The Gentiles were sinners: why should they not dare to speak to the Gentiles? In the Gospels, James is mentioned a couple of times, but at that time he misunderstood Jesus ministry and was not a believer ( John 7:2-5 ). After his death, the word of God prospers. What happens to Peter in the Book of acts? The people cried out, "It is the voice of a God and not of a man." Herod Agrippa I was the grandson of Herod the Great ( Acts 12 ). Jerusalem passes as the center of the church's activity and now moves to Antioch, and all of the missionary activity in taking the Gospel into all of the world centers out of the church in Antioch. "Repent, therefore, of this thy wickedness, and pray God if, perhaps, the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee; for I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity." And as he came into the theater, the sun reflected off of this silver cloth. His spite was at the church, and, with regard to those he gave trouble to, it was not upon any other account, but because they belonged to the church, and so belonged to Christ. Peter is jailed a 3rd time and set free miraculously a 2nd time. I will not pretend to say that it cost him little, but am sure it would have been a heavy trial to many a man of God to leave that which was so bright, where He had wrought powerfully in using himself for His own glory. The man just now so ignorant is not the channel that God was about to use for bringing out the remarkable confession that is introduced prematurely here. All else is vain, and apt to accredit. Alas! Friedrich Nietsche was the philosopher who coined the idea that God was dead, and that Christianity was a despised religion of weaklings. Acts 12 Verse Acts 12:2. Acts 2:38 in all English translations. The meaning is evidently that he went into some place of retirement until the danger was past. The first apostle to suffer martyrdom. It was not to be done by mere systematic rule of a human pattern. There is this difference, no doubt, between such cases now and that of Cornelius then, that, before the mission of Peter, it would have been presumptuous for a Gentile to have pretended to salvation; now it is the fruit of unbelief for a believer to question it. 4. WebActs 12 James Killed and Peter Imprisoned. As there was a Job in the Old Testament, independent of the law and perhaps before it, so we find a Cornelius before the glad tidings in the New Testament had been formally sent to the nations. WebAngels have often done such work before ( Exodus 12:21; 2 Kings 19:35; 2 Samuel 24:16; 2 Chronicles 32:21 ). When he had beheaded James, he proceeded further, he added, to take Peter also. The voice of a god and not of a man! Up to Acts 12, the church had been on a streak of success, experiencing one exciting conversion after another. "Luke doth at length declare that certain of them brought this treasure even unto the Gentiles. James What was the difference between Peter and James? Acts 12 Commentary - Commentary Critical and Explanatory Herod stretched forth his hand against the church and he killed James the brother of John with the sword. He is very Jewish in his Christianity and James is the most Jewish of all the epistles. She was a direct descendant of the Maccabeans, which made her a Jewess, but she was married to Herod the Great and so Herod Agrippa I was sort of half Jewish in a sense. He was the grandson of Herod the Great who was the Herod at the time of the birth of Jesus. For Peter, it opened of its own accord. When they were past the first and the second ward, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city; which opened to them of its own accord: and they went out, and they passed through one street; and then the angel departed from him. Find answers to your Bible questions with Bible Gateway Plus. There is no question of a Jew, but "Whosoever believeth in him." is stricken by an angel, and dies miserably. Among the various spiritual gifts then common in the Church, the chief place was to be assigned to prophecy; 'for he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.' When told, on a former miraculous liberation from prison, to go and speak unto the people (Ac 5:20), he did it; but in this case to present himself in public would have been to tempt God by rushing upon certain destruction. & 11. . Faith never rests on any other ground than God's word. Two Manchester, N.H., men were arrested and charged with committing lewd acts in front of children while in a rowboat on Dorrs Pond on Friday, Manchester policesaid. Saul, wrong as he was, persecuted out of sincere (though misguided) religious conviction; Herod persecuted out of purely political motives. They include two of the twelve apostles and one of the brothers of Jesus. So there were always four soldiers guarding Peter. Gittin, c. 5. sect. a. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) 515-517). We see such in the gospels. 2018 David Guzik No distribution beyond personal use without permission. Now at this point we are introduced to James, who became one of the leaders in the early church, who was a half brother to Jesus. 12About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. No man in his natural state could pray, nor serve God acceptably, as Cornelius did. i. The promise was not merely to them and to their children, but to all "afar off, as many as the Lord their God should call." Web12 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. Festus did not have any charges to send with Paul, and so he had asked Herod Agrippa II, the son of this Herod Agrippa I, to hear Paul's case in order that they might develop charges against him to send to Nero when he was sent there. Extraordinary precautions were also taken by chaining him to two soldiers instead of one as usual (compare Seneca, Epistulae, 5:7). And he actually murdered several of his sons. But James was not shortchanged by his death. In Jewish Antiquities (20.9.1), Josephus describes James as the brother of Jesus who is called Christ. Though the Spirit of the Lord catches away Philip, so full is his heart of the truth that we may be sure all that occurred confirmed it in his eyes. Acts 12 Then Peter says to them, "Can any man forbid water?" It is important to distinguish between the two things one, the charge to which man appointed him; the other, the gift which the Lord conferred. What a joy to be warranted to proclaim Him to others without stint, even to a soul as dark as the Ethiopian, who was then and there baptized!
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