Act 12:3-6 | KingComments | STEP | In the following verses, Luke draws attention once more to Peter before he disappears from the stage in Acts except for one more performance in Acts 15. The Jews have not yet lost any of their hatred of Christians. They welcomed the death of James. When Herod notices this, he wants to take political advantage of it. In order to be even more favorable to the Jews, he continues his campaign of purification. He then arrests Peter, which is the third time he is arrested. Just like Pilate, Herod also acts with the favor of the people in mind. Common feelings of hatred bring Herod and the Jews together. The hatred of the Jews concerns the worship of the Lord Jesus as God. According to them, this is apostasy from God, because to them He is only a human being and the worship of a human being is punishable by death. Because of the feast, the execution does not take place immediately. The reference to the days of Unleavened Bread means that the Passover was celebrated. It was a reminder of the time when the people were under foreign domination, but from which God delivered His people. Here the Christian people of God are oppressed by political power, as will be the case in the end times with the faithful remnant. But just as God delivered His people at the time so that they might serve Him, so He is delivering His own now and in the future. In all times political powers have tried to prevent the serving of God. In this case of Peter, Herod leaves nothing to chance. He will certainly have heard of the previous imprisonments of Peter and how he has been delivered from them twice. That will not happen to him. So he will keep those weak Christians with his security measures from plans to deliver Peter. Only, the question is not what Herod is doing. What matters is what God can do. Herod’s security measures are firm. Peter is guarded by four squads of soldiers. That means that he is guarded by four men every three hours, to the four periods of three hours in which the night is divided. Two soldiers of each squad are chained to Peter and two soldiers are on guard at the door. So the guarding is all right. But there is a battle going on in another area that nullifies all security measures of any kind. That is the battle of prayer. This is what the church is involved in. The church has come into being in an atmosphere of prayer ( ) and persists in this attitude. The postponement of the execution of Peter is used by the church to pray for him. This is indeed what may be called a prayer meeting! The imprisonment of Peter, with the terrifying death of James still fresh in memory, drives the church to fervent prayer. The power of prayer is greater than the power of Herod, yes, than the power of hell. Several days are spent in prayer with only one subject: Peter. It is a fervent communal prayer, it is addressed to God and it is a concrete prayer: for Peter ( ; ). An initial effect of the prayer can be seen in the peace Peter has. While he knows what Herod intends to do with him, he is not restless, but asleep. This sleep is a victory of faith. He sleeps the sleep of the righteous. On the one hand he knows what happened to his good friend James. On the other hand he has the experience that the Lord has delivered him from prison before. He has put everything in the hand of the Lord. What He decides is good and that gives him the rest to sleep. He has slept at times where he had to remain awake, such as at the transfiguration of the Lord on the mountain ( ) and at the Lord’s prayer in Gethsemane ( ), but now he sleeps in peace ( ).

‏ Acts 12:3-6

Peter Arrested

In the following verses, Luke draws attention once more to Peter before he disappears from the stage in Acts except for one more performance in Acts 15. The Jews have not yet lost any of their hatred of Christians. They welcomed the death of James. When Herod notices this, he wants to take political advantage of it. In order to be even more favorable to the Jews, he continues his campaign of purification. He then arrests Peter, which is the third time he is arrested.

Just like Pilate, Herod also acts with the favor of the people in mind. Common feelings of hatred bring Herod and the Jews together. The hatred of the Jews concerns the worship of the Lord Jesus as God. According to them, this is apostasy from God, because to them He is only a human being and the worship of a human being is punishable by death.

Because of the feast, the execution does not take place immediately. The reference to the days of Unleavened Bread means that the Passover was celebrated. It was a reminder of the time when the people were under foreign domination, but from which God delivered His people. Here the Christian people of God are oppressed by political power, as will be the case in the end times with the faithful remnant. But just as God delivered His people at the time so that they might serve Him, so He is delivering His own now and in the future. In all times political powers have tried to prevent the serving of God.

In this case of Peter, Herod leaves nothing to chance. He will certainly have heard of the previous imprisonments of Peter and how he has been delivered from them twice. That will not happen to him. So he will keep those weak Christians with his security measures from plans to deliver Peter. Only, the question is not what Herod is doing. What matters is what God can do.

Herod’s security measures are firm. Peter is guarded by four squads of soldiers. That means that he is guarded by four men every three hours, to the four periods of three hours in which the night is divided. Two soldiers of each squad are chained to Peter and two soldiers are on guard at the door. So the guarding is all right.

But there is a battle going on in another area that nullifies all security measures of any kind. That is the battle of prayer. This is what the church is involved in. The church has come into being in an atmosphere of prayer (Acts 1:14 ; Acts 2:42) and persists in this attitude. The postponement of the execution of Peter is used by the church to pray for him.

This is indeed what may be called a prayer meeting! The imprisonment of Peter, with the terrifying death of James still fresh in memory, drives the church to fervent prayer. The power of prayer is greater than the power of Herod, yes, than the power of hell. Several days are spent in prayer with only one subject: Peter. It is a fervent communal prayer, it is addressed to God and it is a concrete prayer: for Peter (Heb 13:3; Rev 5:8).

An initial effect of the prayer can be seen in the peace Peter has. While he knows what Herod intends to do with him, he is not restless, but asleep. This sleep is a victory of faith. He sleeps the sleep of the righteous. On the one hand he knows what happened to his good friend James. On the other hand he has the experience that the Lord has delivered him from prison before. He has put everything in the hand of the Lord. What He decides is good and that gives him the rest to sleep. He has slept at times where he had to remain awake, such as at the transfiguration of the Lord on the mountain (Lk 9:32) and at the Lord’s prayer in Gethsemane (Mt 26:40), but now he sleeps in peace (Psa 4:8 ; Psa 3:5-6).