A Study of Acts: Peter is rescued by an angel
Acts 12:16-19 - Our prayers must be bold AND with expectation
“On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And his chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he *said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.
When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. When he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, “It is his angel.” But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, “Report these things to James and the brethren.” Then he left and went to another place.
Now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to what could have become of Peter. When Herod had searched for him and had not found him, he examined the guards and ordered that they be led away to execution. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and was spending time there.”
Acts 12:6-19 NASB1995
This is one of my favorite passages in Acts. If God is not through with you, then He can use His supernatural powers to liberate you or set you on the right course (I believe those powers are still in work today - Cessationism is not my creed). Sometimes He can just bring forward things to you through the Spirit that you should do for Him, if you are not in mortal danger, like Peter was. There is a lot to unpack in these verses, so let’s get started.
First of all, on the night that he was to be brought forward to the people for judgment, Peter is sleeping. He is between two guards, bound with two chains, and there are guards in front of the door watching over the prison, but yet he sleeps. Peter has complete trust in God and does not fear his fate. I like this commentary from Precept Austin quoting John MacArthur:
Our sleeping pill and tranquilizer saturated society could take a lesson from Peter on how to trust God. First, he trusted in the Lord Jesus’s promise to him that he would die later, when he was old (John 21:18). Since he was not yet an old man, he had nothing to fear. Further, each time he had been in jail before, he had been released. God had a perfect track record. All this enabled Peter to advise believers to cast “all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Believers who learn, like Peter, to trust God’s promises and past performance, usually sleep soundly.
Peter knew that he would live longer and die later because of Jesus’ words to him in John 21 and he had seen miraculous rescues from prison for himself and others before. God had a perfect track record. So cast all of your anxiety upon Him! I admit to having anxiety occasionally about things and not sleeping well. I am a “natural-born” worrier (my Mom was, too) and I jump to worst-case scenarios at the drop of a hat when something out-of-order occurs, even if it’s minor. This has improved a little bit as my faith has grown but I still find myself beating myself up for not trusting God. But God is there!
This beautiful fresco is entitled “The Liberation of Peter” by the renowned artist Raphael. It is located in the Apostolic Chapel at the Vatican and was painted in 1514.
Back to our passage: An angel suddenly appears in the prison and light shines into Peter’s cell. The angel has to poke Peter in the side to wake him up (now that’s a deep sleep). The angel tells Peter to get up quickly and the chains fall from Peter’s hands. He is told to gird himself and put on his sandals. To gird oneself is to bind your garments in your belt (in those days of long flowing garments) so that you can move quickly. The angel tells Peter to wrap himself in his cloak and follow the angel. Peter thinks he is having a dream or vision, because he is not sure what is going on but he walks with the angel. We don’t know exactly what happens to the guards, but the artworks are probably pretty accurate this time in that they were put into a trance or deep sleep state.
I love this commentary from Steven Cole that I found in Precept Austin about this supernatural liberation and what it tells us about God, His glory, motivation for prayer, and our dependence on Him:
God is most glorified when we are most helpless and totally dependent on Him.
If Peter had engineered his own escape, he would have been praised for his ingenuity and daring exploits. But what could he say about his part in this escape? He wasn’t even thinking about escaping—he was sleeping! Can you imagine him boasting, “Yeah, I had to gird myself and put on my own sandals and coat. The angel didn’t fly me out! I had to walk out of there on my own two legs.” Peter had nothing in himself that he could boast about! His testimony was, “The Lord led me out of prison” (Acts 12:17). Peter’s deliverance is a picture of how God saves sinners. Before God saves us, we are like Peter, sleeping in the darkness, insensitive to our sin, and not able to see the light of the glory of the gospel of Christ. Our sins chained us so that we could not escape, even if we had wanted to. We were under God’s sentence of death. While we were in this desperate and helpless condition, God broke in with the light of His glory, woke us out of our spiritual slumber, and caused our chains to fall off so that we could willingly and joyfully follow Him out of this prison of death. Since our salvation was totally from the Lord in His great mercy, He gets all the glory. We can only praise Him because He saved us. We had nothing to do with it.
God often waits until the eleventh hour to deliver us so that we will be motivated to pray.
The text does not say whether the church was praying for James, but I assume that they were. There is no hint that they were somehow at fault for his death because of their lack of prayer. But the camera zooms in on the church at the eleventh hour with Peter. It was the very night before Herod was planning to execute him that we see the church gathered in this all-night prayer meeting, praying fervently (Acts 12:5). Fervently is an athletic term that pictures an athlete straining every muscle as he puts everything into a race. Luke 22:44 uses the same word to describe Jesus’ fervent prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. There is nothing like an eleventh hour crisis to get us praying as we should be praying the rest of the time! If we only could see it, we’re always on the brink of disaster and death, because our adversary, the devil, is prowling about as a roaring lion, seeking to devour us. So at all times we should be a praying people! But the Lord often delays the answers to our problems or crises so that we will recognize how much we really do need Him.
God is not limited by the prayers of His people, but He works through our prayers to teach us to depend totally on Him.
I say that God is not limited by our prayers because clearly, although the church was praying, they were not praying in faith. If they had been expecting God to work, they wouldn’t have been so surprised when He answered! They would have been jubilant, as Rhoda was when she recognized Peter’s voice on the other side of the door. But they would not have said, “You’re out of your mind! It couldn’t be Peter. It must be his angel!” Prayer is a mystery. Why do we need to pray when God already knows our needs? A major part of the answer is, so that we will recognize that we are totally dependent on Him. And yet, He can work even if my prayers fall short in their form or in their faith. Sure, I should believe in Him with a strong faith. But even if my faith is weak, He is able to do far more than I can ask or even think (Eph. 3:20). His answers do not depend on any merit in my prayers, but only on His sovereign grace and mercy. We’ve seen that although God is almighty, He does not prevent the untimely deaths of some of His choicest servants. And, since God is almighty, He can easily deliver us from humanly impossible situations. (Acts 12:1-25 The Unstoppable Gospel)
The angel and Peter come to the iron gate that leads into the city and it opens by itself! A word study finds that the Greek adjective for “opened by itself” is αὐτόματος or autómatos, with the following Biblical usages:
moved by one's own impulse, or acting without the instigation or intervention of another
often used of the earth producing plants of itself, and of the plants themselves and the fruits growing without culture
This is yet another miracle in a series of miracles that evening. The door did not have a mind of its own, obviously, or operate with 21st century electronic sensors, pressure pads and cameras. While researching this, I found some excellent commentary from John Piper about mindless obstacles:
What Is Between You and God's Call?
So I sat there a long time thinking. Gates. Locks. Iron bars. All mindless, decision-less, volition-less. They can’t decide to do anything. How many of these are between me and God’s call on my life? How many of these mindless obstacles are between you and God’s call?
A good friend had just been hospitalized with a virus attack on his heart. That’s dangerous. So I thought, and later wrote, “I take heart and pray for you that this mindless virus will, like the gate, ‘of its own accord’ get out of your way. I’m counting on ten or twenty more years of camaraderie in the great warfare before we give our account.”
Here’s the point. God has a good plan for every one of his children. No exceptions (Romans 8:28–30). But there are innumerable bars of iron in the way. Gates. Fallen trees. Canyons. Maybe it’s money. Maybe disability, cancer, virus, aging, hostile adversaries, lack of training, discouragement, fear, anger, unjust policies, prejudice, lost hope.
Mindless Obstacles Will Not Stop Us
But these obstacles do not have a mind of their own. The gate didn’t. And they don’t. Why is that story in the Bible? It’s there to show that, until God’s good purpose is done for you, mindless obstacles will not stop us.
The soldiers did not wake up. Peter’s chains fell off. And the gate opened. Mindless material obeys the mind of God. Mindless states obey the mind of God. If God has a good purpose for you — and he always does — every gate will open of its own accord. That is, we can’t make it open. We pray. We work. And we wait. The accord belongs to God.
Let’s trust him together. Let’s believe that there are no locked gates he cannot open. Let’s believe that he will open them because he loves us and has an amazing, Christ-exalting plan for us. Don’t look at the locked gate and despair. Look at the locked gate and say, “Excuse me, I have work to do.” Look at the soldiers and say, “Sleep on.” And then move forward. You may think you’re dreaming. You’re not.
God’s creation, even if it is mindless and inert material, follows His commands! Gates will open of their own accord according to His purpose for you. So wonderful! Don’t look at the locked gate and despair.
The angel leaves Peter and he comes to the realization that he has really been rescued from the hand of Herod. He goes to the house of Mary, the mother of John (Mark) and knocks on the door. So who is John Mark? Let’s consult the experts at Gotquestions.org:
John Mark, often just called Mark, is the author of the gospel of Mark. He was a believer in the early church mentioned directly only in the book of Acts. John Mark is first mentioned as the son of a woman named Mary (Acts 12:12), whose house was being used as a place for believers to gather and pray. Later, Mark is mentioned as a companion of Barnabas and Paul during their travels together (Acts 12:25). John Mark was also Barnabas’ cousin (Colossians 4:10).
John Mark was a helper on Paul and Barnabas’ first missionary journey (Acts 13:5). However, he did not stay through the whole trip. John Mark deserted Paul and Barnabas in Pamphylia and left the work (Acts 15:38). The Bible does not say why Mark deserted, but his departure came right after a mostly fruitless time in Cyprus (Acts 13:4–12). Only one conversion is recorded in Cyprus, but there had been strong demonic opposition. It’s likely that the young John Mark was discouraged at the hardness of the way and decided to return to the comforts of home.
Some time later, after Paul and Barnabas had returned from their first journey, Paul expressed a desire to go back to the brothers in the cities they had previously visited to see how everyone was doing (Acts 15:36). Barnabas agreed, apparently upon the provision that they take John Mark with them. Paul refused to have Mark on the trip, however, citing Mark’s previous desertion. Paul thought it best not to have a quitter with them; they needed someone more dependable. Paul and Barnabas had a “sharp disagreement” about John Mark (verse 39) and wound up separating from each other and going on separate journeys. Barnabas took John Mark with him to Cyprus, and Paul took Silas with him through Syria and Cilicia to encourage the believers in the churches in those areas (Acts 15:39–41).
There’s more about John Mark at the link for this commentary. He was later reconciled with Paul and matured in his ministry and faith. In some of the studies I did of Holy Week in this long-running devotional blog, there is evidence that the house that sponsored the last supper might have been the home of Mary and her son Mark was perhaps the anonymous young man who eludes capture in the Garden of Gesthemane after Jesus was arrested, as documented in his Gospel.
So Peter knocks and a young servant girl and believer named Rhoda (she is important enough to the story that we know her name) hears his voice and recognizes that it is him. She flies into the gathered group inside in her joy, without answering the door, and tells them that Peter is here standing outside the door! So the believers, of little faith in spite of their prayers, tell her she is out of her mind! Rhoda stands up for herself and insists that it is Peter. They exclaim that it must be his angel. This is, according to commentary that I read, an allusion to popular Judaic beliefs that guardian angels can resemble the person they are guarding.
Peter knocks again and again! He has escaped the shackles, many guards and had the gate of the city open for him automatically but his fellow congregants are keeping him out! They finally open the door and see him and are amazed! He motions for them to be silent and tells them about his rescue by the Lord and asks them to report this to James and the others. The James he is referring to, since James the Greater is now a martyr, is the half-brother of Jesus, who was is highly influential in the church. Peter leaves to another place and we don’t see much more of him in Acts. But we know him through his letters and his appearances, although brief, in Paul’s letter to Galatians. This commentary from Chuck Swindoll from Precept Austin is good about the two parts of really effective prayer:
First, ask God for what you want—and be bold! Too often we temper our requests—even good, godly requests like the healing of a friend or the restoration of a failing marriage—perhaps to protect ourselves from disappointment, or to pray responsibly, or to avoid presuming upon God, or to pray within the bounds of what we imagine the Lord’s will might be: “Lord, if it be Your will, restore this failing marriage.” “If it be Your will . . . ?” Really? Pray boldly for what is good. Don’t hold back. Don’t qualify your requests. God’s sovereignty isn’t threatened and His goodness isn’t compromised if you plead earnestly—supplicate shamelessly—for good to prevail. He may not choose to alter the circumstances. He may allow a Stephen to suffer unjustly. He may allow a wicked authority to deprive the church of a godly leader. Nevertheless, He will honor your earnest desires, if not in the manner you hope, then in some unexpected way you cannot foresee.
Second, trust the sovereignty and goodness of God to prevail. The people in the home of Mary gathered to pray for Peter. We don’t know the content of their prayers, but some must have asked God for a miraculous release, just like the earlier release. Clearly, however, no one really expected to see Peter alive again, or they wouldn’t have been so dubious when he knocked. Still, they trusted God.
We can’t expect the Lord always to do as we ask or to give us exactly what we want. (In my own prayers, I stopped telling God how to fulfill my requests a long time ago.) Even so, we can be sure He will always do what is right and will always act in the long-term best interests of everyone involved. No matter how your circumstances turn out after earnest prayer, assure yourself with these words—repeat them as often as necessary: The Lord is right in all His ways (see Deut. 32:4 and Da 4:37+). (Acts - Swindoll's Living Insights)
Such great advice on prayer, again!!
Herod is beyond furious with these developments and those poor guards are put to death. Herod retreats to Caesarea and my next devotional will examine the brutal death of this tyrant (Acts 12:20-25) and the continued growth of the church.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - Today I pray the words of Amazing Grace, as done by Chris Tomlin:
Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I'm found
Was blind, but now I see
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed
My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace
The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures
My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace
My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbear to shine
But God, who called me here below
Will be forever mine
Will be forever mine
You are forever mine
Amen!
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Precept Austin was accessed on 10/22/2024 to review the commentary for Acts 12:6-19.
The Blue Letter Bible was accessed on 10/22/2024 to review the definition for “opened by itself”.
Gotquestions.org was accessed on 10/22/2024 to answer the question, “Who was John Mark?”
John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary. For more than thirty years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis. He is author of more than fifty books, and his sermons, articles, books, and more are available free of charge at desiringGod.org. By John Piper. © Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringGod.org