Acts 12:1-11

Chapter 31

Prayer

Almighty God, we know not what we read in thy book except thou dost teach us its meaning by thy Spirit. We have heard the letter and its music is in our ears, but we would hear the inner meaning of every word spoken to the heart itself, then shall we, though on earth, be really in heaven. Thy word is the same there as it is here, only we do not read it well. We know not all its compass. We do not yield ourselves with thankful delight to the sway and inspiration of its infinite music. We are children of the world. We are travellers who have chosen the night for our pilgrimage. We are not children of the day, flowers of the noontide, lovers of glory cloudless and eternal. Thou can make us such in Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Saviour, and by him alone. Deliver us from this delight in darkness, and make us by the indwelling Holy Ghost children of the morning, with eyes that delight to drink in the glory of noontide. We know not the meaning of our life. We would crowd immortality into mortality, and the miracle is beyond our little strength. We would satisfy the infinite with the finite, and thus do we live foolishly before God. Show us in Jesus Christ, thy Son, that we were meant to lay hold of that which is unseen, and beyond, and immeasurable, and Divine. Thus may we, as followers of the Lord, have our conversation in heaven, and may we bear upon the whole life that we live proofs that our citizenship is on high. We are weary oftentimes because our life is frail. We break down in great unmanly tears because we cannot reach the things that are too high for us. We are fretted and chafed by vexations to which we should pay no heed were we really living in the sanctuary of thy peace. But the world is rough, and time is like a cold wind blowing through our days and carrying them away, and the very earth yields under our footstep and becomes a grave into which we fall. Such is the mystery of this breathing. Sometimes we would we were but beasts of the field, eating their grass, and dying at night. Thou hast stirred us with marvellous inspiration, and caused angels to touch us in the night season, and call us away into liberty and renewed service, and all heaven seems to be busy about us. Why this movement of the soul? Why this joyous trouble? Why this triumphant agony? Surely thou didst make us in thine own image and likeness, and we have lost our glory. Thou art saving us by the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thou hast sent him as the Good Shepherd to bring us home again. May he find us every one, and take us home this day. Regard, we pray, all who are now bent before thee at the sacred alter, and receive from each heart its hymn of praise. Our houses are thine, and they are homes and sanctuaries, because thy blessing rests upon the roof. The children all are thine, and thou dost ask an account of them at every sunset. And the sick ones, who would come out if they could, who long to be here, are all thy patients, thou Physician of men. And the prodigals, whose empty chairs at the table trouble us, and whose unpressed pillows are witnesses against them, are surely thine also. Thou wilt not forget them. They make us pray. They compel us to be trustful and uplooking and piously expectant; but for them we might make life one foolish game, and the days a succession of empty jests, but they drag us down and then lift us up. Look upon thy servants who are in business, and who make too much of it, who do not get hold of it aright, and to whom it is a temptation, a snare, and a long mockery. Show them how to lay hold of it with their ten fingers, without one fibre of their hearts ever touching it. And the Lord rule the Nations. Himself be on the throne, and let all lower monarchs draw their breath from his sovereignty. Be with all thy servants today; the minister in the pulpit, the teacher in his class, breaking bread for the little ones, and teaching opening minds the truth of God and Christ; with the visitor to the sick, with the missionary to the outcast, and with all who in any wise shall endeavor to do good. And at night when we sing our closing hymn amid the gathering darkness, may we hear a voice, saying, "The Lord is a man of war, and the victory this day is in his hands." Amen.

Act 12:1-11

1. Now about that time Herod the king [the son of Aristobulus and Bernice, grandson of Herod the Great] stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.

2. And he killed James [ Mat 12:23 ] the brother of John with the sword.

3. And because he saw it pleased the Jews [the ruling policy of the Herodian house], he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread) [about the end of March or the beginning of April].

4. And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter [after the Passover] to bring him forth to the people.

5. Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.

6. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.

7. And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison [the chamber or dwelling]; and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.

8. And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.

9. And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision.

10. When they were past the first and the second ward [shewing that Peter had been placed in the innermost dungeon], they came unto the iron [a touch of precision characteristic of Luke] gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street [the word implies narrowness]; and forthwith the angel departed from him.

11. And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.

Peter Delivered

"Now about that time" we know that troubles never come alone. We know well what the "time" was which is referred to, for it came under our notice in our last study. A time of famine was prophesied. There was to be great dearth, and great suffering was to be occasioned by that dearth of food. Whilst the Church was put in charge of this prediction, and had already begun to contribute towards the relief of the brethren, "about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the Church." Famine might kill them slowly; he would find a quicker way! All ways of destruction are pleasant to the destroyer's mind. Only let his opponents die, whether by famine or by sword, and he is satisfied. What is the Mystery above us which allows such things? How well it would have been when Herod "stretched forth his hand" to have kept it there so that he could never take it into his side again! Such would be our way many a time of dealing with antagonists and enemies. God takes in more field; his thought has a wider compass, and he needs more time for the exemplification of his purpose.

"He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword." This was not a Jewish method of killing people. If James had been tried by the regular Jewish Court, and had been found guilty, he would have been stoned to death. But what is crime of the higher sort if it cannot be inventive? What if a king cannot overleap a hedge and take a short cut to the consummation of his purpose! Beheading is quicker than stoning! Possibly the law may be dishonoured by the use of the sword, or by the adoption of eccentric and unusual methods, but the indignation of the wicked cannot wait. It needs no further condemnation. Its impatience is the seal of its iniquity. Justice eternal, impartial, divine, can wait. It never misses its aim! Though hand join in hand, the wicked cannot go unpunished. There is no counsel against the Almighty! Let the wicked man take what methods he may, in every method which he adopts you will find the seal of its infamy. Having performed this trick of cruelty, Herod saw that "it pleased the Jews," and he proceeded further. That is the natural history of wickedness! It is self-impelling. It gathers momentum as it goes. You cannot stop with one murder. You get into the trick of it; you acquire the bad skill, and your fingers become nimble in the use of cruel weapons. Murder does not look so ghastly when you have done it once. How many people have you murdered? You think of murder as blood-shedding; murder is heart-breaking; life-blighting; hope-destroying! How many people have you murdered? How many are you murdering today at home? "He proceeded further." The one glass needs another (it says) to keep it company. Crimes do not like solitude they like companionship; and so one crime leads to another, and wickedness is self-multiplied. Remember the words, "He proceeded further!" You do not find God's amazement in the completion of a thousand sins; you find his astonishment in the first sin. If you can do one sin, the whole life is lost. We are not thieves because of a thousand thefts; we are not liars because of a thousand lies, or murderers because of a thousand homicides; we find our criminality in the opening sin. Therefore, what I say unto one, I say unto all, "Watch!"

"Because he saw it pleased the Jews." There are those who like to see you play the fool and the criminal, and will hurrah you and acclaim you, and when the constable comes for you they will flee away! Why should you be killing other people to please the onlookers? What will they do for you in the critical hour? All the while Herod thought he was king, and yet "because he saw it pleased the Jews he proceeded further." King in name, slave in reality! What contradictions there are in social life, and in official terms! Sometimes the judge has been the prisoner. Sometimes the conqueror has been the loser. Sometimes, as in this instance, the king in name, branch of a blasted tree whose roots were warmed in hell, was slave. He lived upon the popular pleasure. Whatever pleased the people he was willing to do. Therein he tarnished his crown, and sold his kingdom, and lost his soul!

In the fifth verse there is a pitched battle. Read it: "Peter therefore was kept in prison ": there is one side of the fight; after the colon "but prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him." Now for the shock of arms! Who wins? It is the battle of history. It is a field on which the universe gazes with conflicting feeling. Prayer always wins. You can only be of a contrary opinion when you take in too little field. There is no action of any importance that is bounded by a single day. It is out of death that life comes. Even the darkness is thick sown with the seed of light. Such prayer as we read of in the fifth verse is irrepressible. The prayers you could keep down if you liked will never be answered. Any prayer that could have been stifled has not force enough to reach the heavens. How to treat irrepressible prayers! No answer has been given to that inquiry. The controversies have waged round such prayer as might not have been spoken cold, lifeless, hopeless, pointless, prayerless prayer; a religious skeleton! I want to hear what men have to say about the prayers I cannot help praying that will come out of the soul and in daring fashion sound for themselves all the places of the universe till they knock against the Heart that opens like the door of home. If you are disputing about a prayer of words I would join you in condemning it, but that is not the subject; it is the prayer you breathe in sigh, or troubled cry, or shout of violence, when the dear life is being taken, when there is but one inch of blue in the sky, and that is fast closing; when the prodigal will not come in! Such praying does not admit of literal criticism. It cannot be written down, it cannot be argued out of the life; when the skilful disputant has completed his incoherent appeal, the heart untouched rushes in eager haste to seek or make a God!

The miracle is eternally true in all that is worth being true. Is it not foolish on our part and most self-impoverishing to be directing faithless inquiry towards incidental points and omitting the central and abiding quantity? All the miracles are true. They have counterparts in our own life, and therefore we have no doubt about their truth. The points to which critical scepticism is directed are really not parts of the miracle. They are but accessories, illustrations, helps, or points enkindled to make the story more graphic and memorable. I know of no miracle in all the Bible that I have not personally lived, therefore it is useless for any man who has not lived them to endeavour to persuade me that they are not true. I have been exactly in the condition described in this miracle, and so have you. Why dispute about the vessel instead of eating the bread which it holds? What have we in this miracle? First of all, we have last extremities. "The same night, when Herod would have brought him forth, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers." Have we not been in that very same darkness, my brethren? When we were to have been killed the next day! Not when we were to be injured, or impoverished, or torn to pieces seven years from date, but when the catastrophe was to occur as soon as the next day dawned? Have we not sometimes counted two or three things that were left, and said, "Beyond these we have nothing?" Have we not sometimes taken up the pieces of the one loaf and said, "This is all?" Have we not sometimes gone out of the house, leaving wife and children behind, with a great sob in the throat, feeling that if we did not succeed this day we must give it all up? So far then you have no difficulty about the miracle. In the next place we have appearances dead against us. Thus two soldiers, two chains, and the keepers keeping the door before the prison! Why these were compliments to Peter! The devil cannot avoid paying us compliments all the time he is trying to destroy us. There is an involuntary homage to the very Deity he mocks! Why keep such a man, in such a case, between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and the keepers keeping the door before the prison? Why all this arrangement about a man like Peter? Why all these temptations addressed to a man like one of us? Why these deadly attacks, why these continual repetitions, why these suggestions, and seductions, and lures, and charms, and bribes, and why this waiting through all the dreary night? It is a reluctant but significant tribute to the character whose destruction is contemplated. Have not appearances been dead against us? No letters, no friends, no answer to the last appeal, no more energy, no more hope, the last staff snapped in two. So far the miracle is true. In the third place we have unexpected deliverers. Have we no experience here? Is it not always the unexpected man who delivers and cheers us? "But a certain Samaritan came where he was," that is the whole history of human deliverance in on graphic sentence. Have you been unexpectedly delivered from accumulating and threatening embarrassment? Has not one of your own proverbists said, "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." Hath not one of your own poets said, "It is always darkest before the dawn?" and shall other men have their proverbs and their poems about unexpected deliverance, and the Christian be silent in the Church when such miracles are challenged? All our life properly read is a chain of unexpectedness. Deliverance shall arise from an unthought-of quarter! We cheer men, not because of a gracious sentiment only, but because of a time-long history, solid as the rocks on which your towns and towers are built. In the fourth place, we have spiritual transport. Peter said, "Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews." Have we no special hymns? Has laughter not rushed into our mouth suddenly like an unbidden but most welcome guest? Have we not sometimes taken down our harp from the willows and struck it to some new tone of joy and gladness and hope? Peter did not understand this miracle at first. He thought he saw a vision. He "wist not that it was true" in the mere sense of a fact, "which was done by the angel." "And when Peter was come to himself he said" that is the point we must wait for. We are not " ourselves " just now. A thousand winds are breathing in our head and through our life stormy winds, musical winds and we cannot yet catch and determine the whole harmony. Our eyes are dazed by cross lights; the light is coming from every point, and we cannot see things in their right proportion, distance, and colour. We are not "ourselves" just now, I repeat. Do not let us imagine that we are now speaking final words or giving final judgments. For my own part, in this great universe I see men as trees walking. Innumerable visions float before my wondering eyes. The righteous are trodden down in the streets, the man of integrity has not where to lay his head; the bad man has a plentiful table, and his fields are so rich that his barns must be enlarged. The little child that has never said "mother," is torn from its mother's arms; graves a foot long, and no more, are dug in the daisied earth. What is it? When we are COME TO OURSELVES we shall know and praise the Lord, whose angels have been our ministering servants!