At that time Herod the king laid his hands on some of those of the assembly to do them hurt,
A king now turns on the church in Jerusalem. Three questions follow: who was this Herod, why did God let his hands fall on some of His own people, and who held real power?
More than one Herod appears in the New Testament. This one came from a famous family and had a political motive.
At this moment "Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church." This Herod was the grandson of Herod the Great, who commanded the massacre at Bethlehem, and the father of that King Agrippa before whom Paul was brought. History knows him as Herod Agrippa I. His ruling passion was to stand well with everybody, no matter what it cost. He mixed this vanity with careful attention to the rites of the Jewish religion, so he stood well with his subjects. To win their favour even more, he no doubt began the new persecution of the Christians.
The attack changed hands, and that raised a question.
Until now all attempts to stop the movement in Jerusalem had come from the religious authorities. Now the civil power held by Agrippa entered the fight. He began a campaign against the followers of the Lord Jesus. Would it succeed where the others had failed? At first it seemed to triumph. Herod executed James the brother of John, and heaven gave no sign of its horror at the deed.
The alliance behind this attack was strange.
It was about A.D. 44 that Herod sought to win favour with his Jewish subjects by persecuting the harmless Christians. Not that there was any love between Herod and the Jews, for they hated each other deeply. But here they united, since both hated the heavenly testimony.
Herod did not strike at random.
If one of the sons of Zebedee was to be kept as the last of the twelve apostles, the other fell to the sword of Herod Agrippa. He was the first martyr among the apostles. The king was in no way a violent, unpredictable ruler like his grandfather, Herod the Great. But his grandfather courted the favour of the Romans, and this grandson courted the favour of the Jews. And those who seemed to be pillars in the church gave him the readiest means and objects for gratifying Jewish spite.
Note the word "some." The hand fell on a few, not on all. God did not deal with them all the same way.
He kills James, and goes on to seize Peter and put him in prison. But God preserves His servant, and delivers him by His angel in answer to the prayers of the saints. He allows some to be killed — happy witnesses to their heavenly portion in Christ. He preserves others to carry on the testimony on earth, despite all the power of the enemy, which seemed impossible to resist.
Not every writer explains the difference. One leaves the question open: "Why the Lord did not step in on his behalf, as He did for Peter, who can tell?" (F. B. Hole)
This king also stands as a picture of one still to come.
Here is a striking foreshadowing of the evil king who will appear in the last days. He will reign over the Jews under the shadow and support of the Gentiles, as Herod did. Not less but more than the one before him, he will be bent on murdering the innocent. His heart will be full of evil toward others, whom the Lord will rescue by His goodness.
The chapter opens with a king stretching out his hands. It ends with those hands stilled.
So our God rules over all. He is the Governor among the nations, whatever the pride and will of man may be. Power belongs to Him. The power of every enemy is feeble when He steps in. Herod could not understand the power that beat him. Baffled and confused, he condemns the prison guards to death and leaves Jerusalem. But he little thought that his own death was to come before that of his prisoners.
- The hands that reached — Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great, wanted to stand well with everybody. He began this persecution to win favour with his subjects.
- The hands that joined — the king and the Jews hated each other. Here they united, because both hated the heavenly testimony.
- The hands that fell — he struck at those who seemed to be pillars, the easiest targets for Jewish spite. James died by the sword, and heaven gave no sign.
- The hands that were held — God let some die as happy witnesses and kept others to carry the testimony on. Why James was not spared, no writer claims to know.
- The hands that were stilled — power belongs to God, the Governor among the nations. Herod never guessed that his own death would come before his prisoner's.
and slew James, the brother of John, with the sword.
One short sentence records the death of an apostle. Herod's sword falls on James, and Scripture moves on without a word of protest or explanation. That silence raises the questions commentators press hardest: who was this James, why did God allow it, and why was Peter spared days later?
The New Testament holds more than one James, and readers often mix them up.
The James who wrote it was not the brother of John. Herod killed him in the very early years, as Acts 12:2 records. The author of the letter was the James spoken of in Acts 15:13 and Acts 21:18. Paul calls him, "James, the Lord's brother," in Galatians 1:19.
This James is a fisherman's son, and his death holds a unique place in the record.
James. This was one of the sons of Zebedee the fisherman. The name James is the English form of the Hebrew and Greek name Jacob. He is the only apostle whose death the New Testament mentions. Herod Agrippa I had him executed in Jerusalem.
Years earlier, the mother of James and John had asked for the two best seats in the coming kingdom for her sons. Jesus turned to the brothers with a question about a cup, and both said they were able.
You remember that this martyr's mother, Salome, had once prayed, "Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom." Turning to them, the Lord had replied, "Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They said to Him, "We are able" (Matthew 20:21-22, in an older translation). The moment had come for one of the two brothers to drink the cup. The other drank his many years later. John was probably the last of all the apostles to die for his faith, but James was the first. His time of service was short. He died only some twelve or thirteen years after his Master's crucifixion.
James had asked for a throne, and a sword answered him. One writer wonders whether James would have wanted it any other way.
Here we are reminded of James. In the first great success of the gospel he had to seal with his blood the truth he had preached. So he found our Lord's word proved true: he was to be baptized with the same baptism as Jesus Himself. Do you think James would have wanted a throne on earth instead of the martyr's crown?
The killing was not a burst of rage. It was politics, and the most visible Christians made the most useful targets.
So one of the sons of Zebedee lived on as the last of the twelve apostles. The other fell to the sword of Herod Agrippa, the first martyr among the apostles. This king was not a violent, high-handed ruler like his grandfather, Herod the Great. But his grandfather had worked to win favour with the Romans, and this man did the same with the Jews. And those who seemed to be pillars in the church were the easiest targets for satisfying Jewish spite.
James dies; Peter, chained in the same city under the same king, walks out past the guards. One writer traces both outcomes to God.
He kills James, and proceeds to take Peter and put him in prison. But God preserves His servant, and delivers him by His angel in answer to the prayers of the saints. He allows some to be killed. They are happy witnesses to their heavenly portion in Christ. He keeps others alive to carry on the testimony on earth, despite all the power of the enemy, a power that looks impossible to resist. The Lord defeats it by showing the power that belongs to Him and to Him alone — a power He uses when He will and how He will.
Nothing of James's work survives in Scripture. He appears beside Peter and John, then vanishes until this verse.
Yet James was one of the three whom the Lord took into His confidence, along with John and Peter. His life is a blank to us, and his day went down at noon! How little we can see of God's ways! And if we judge a life only by its results, we are certain to judge it wrongly!
- The cup asked for. James asked for a throne beside Christ and said he could drink His cup. Herod's sword answered him.
- The cup given. He is the first of the twelve apostles to die, and the only apostle whose death Scripture records. He is the son of Zebedee, not the James who wrote the letter.
- The cup as politics. Herod struck at the best-known believers to win favour with the Jews. Visible service made James a target.
- The cup withheld. An angel rescues Peter from the same king. God lets some die as witnesses to a heavenly portion and keeps others to carry on the testimony.
- The cup and the crown. James left no record of his work, and his day ended at noon. Judge a life by its visible results and you will judge it wrong.
And seeing that it was pleasing to the Jews, he went on to take Peter also (and they were the days of unleavened bread)
A king kills one apostle, finds the crowd approves, and reaches for a second — all while Jerusalem keeps a holy feast. So who really holds Peter's life: the king with the chains, or God?
The Herod here is not the king of the nativity story but his grandson, and writers describe a man whose whole policy was public approval.
This Herod was the grandson of Herod the Great, who ordered the massacre at Bethlehem. He was also the father of King Agrippa, whom Paul later stood before. History knows him as Herod Agrippa I. His ruling passion was to stand well with everybody, no matter what it cost. He combined this personal vanity with careful attention to the rites of the Jews' religion. That kept him in good standing with his subjects. He no doubt began the new persecution of the Christians to make himself even more popular with them.
Herod saw that the killing pleased the crowd, and went further. One writer looks behind that step to the God who permitted it.
God allows James, the brother of John, to fall to the malice of Herod, the enemy of the gospel. Because this pleased the Jews, the king had a further excuse to keep up his opposition. The death of a few Christians mattered little to him, if their death made him popular with the Jews.
Herod and his subjects were not natural allies. One writer names what brought them together.
Around A.D. 44, Herod tried to win favour with his Jewish subjects by persecuting the harmless Christians. Not that there was any love between Herod and the Jews, for they hated each other deeply. But here they united, because both hated the heavenly testimony.
The note about the feast is not filler. Leaven had to be cleared out of every house at that season, and the timing of the arrest exposes what kind of religion was on display.
The Holy Spirit makes a significant remark: "This was during the days of Unleavened Bread." Everywhere in Scripture leaven is the emblem of corruption. During their religious festivals the Jewish people had to clear it out of their houses. Yet at such a season, when they were more zealous than usual about outward things, they could take delight in blood! In the same way, our Lord's accusers were careful not to cross a Gentile doorstep at Passover time. Yet they had no conscience at all about murdering an innocent Man! (John 18:28) Oh religion, what bloody deeds and what complete hypocrisy people have carried out in your name!
Herod treated James and Peter as interchangeable targets. God did not. The difference is left unexplained, and one writer refuses to smooth it over.
Here we have, in effect, the slain and the spared remnant pictured in the opposite lot of James and Peter. One was given up to a violent death — strange as it seems — with his service only just begun. For the other, God must send an angel from heaven to rescue him... Yet James was one of the three whom the Lord took into His confidence, along with John and Peter. His life is a blank to us, and his day went down at noon! How little we can see of God's ways! And if we judge a course only by its results, we are bound to misjudge!
Peter's escape was not luck. The Lord had already said how Peter would die, and the timing was not Herod's to set.
God's thoughts are not like man's. The Lord had already shown by what death Peter would glorify God, but the time had not yet come: "when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go." Herod meant not only to imprison Peter but to bring him before the people... But the Passover came in between, and Herod was too careful about his religion to ignore the days of Unleavened Bread.
One writer puts Herod's prison in its place with a single image.
But Peter's work was not finished, and Herod's chains were only cobwebs when they stood against God's purposes.
One writer reads the chapter as a picture of what is still to come.
I have no doubt at all that Acts 12 looks to the future... In James and Peter we have those who suffer and those who are spared. We have the Lord stepping in to deliver, and at the very same time the presence of the persecutor in Jerusalem itself.
- Applause — Herod lived to be liked. The first murder pleased the crowd, so he made a second arrest.
- Alliance — king and people hated each other, yet united against the heavenly testimony.
- Appearance — they cleared leaven out of their houses and delighted in blood, just as at the trial of Jesus.
- Ambiguity — James died with his service only just begun, and an angel came for Peter. Results are a poor way to judge a life.
- Authority — the Lord had already said how Peter would die. Herod's chains were only cobwebs against God's purpose.
whom having seized he put in prison, having delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep, purposing after the passover to bring him out to the people.
Herod has Peter in prison, sixteen soldiers guard him, and the execution waits only for the feast to end. Every detail makes the prisoner more secure — and every one of them makes his escape harder to explain away.
Some older English Bibles print the word here as "Easter." That has led readers to look for a Christian festival in the text. Commentators agree on how to read the word.
Simply "the Passover," Acts 12:4, as the word is elsewhere translated.
But was the early church keeping such a feast?
There is nothing in the New Testament about the keeping of Easter. Acts 12:4 simply refers to the Passover as a suitable time for Herod to hand Peter over to destruction.
The phrase behind "four squads" tells us how Herod organised the watch.
A party of "four soldiers." Four such parties guarded Peter in prison. They relieved each other every three hours in the night.
Why so heavy a guard for one man? One writer looks back at what happened the last time Peter was locked up.
He thought he had made a grand step when he took Peter. So he put four squads of soldiers beside him — sixteen soldiers — to guard one single man! Peter had escaped from prison once before, and no one knew how he got out (Acts 5). But Peter knew, and that is why he went to sleep so quietly here, for he knew the Lord could take him out again, if He so willed.
"To bring him out to the people" meant a public death, timed for the crowds the feast would draw into Jerusalem.
Herod sought to win favour with his Jewish subjects by persecuting the harmless Christians. There was no love between Herod and the Jews, for they hated each other; but here they united, since both hated the heavenly testimony. He wickedly intended to keep Peter in prison till after the Passover. Then a great many Jews from all parts would be in Jerusalem, and he would make a public spectacle of his execution. But God preserved and delivered His servant in answer to the prayers of the saints. They have weapons of warfare which the governments of this world know nothing of.
The delay in this verse comes from religion. Herod would kill an apostle, but not during the feast.
Herod meant to do more than imprison Peter. He would bring him before the people, perhaps for sentence, and certainly for execution as a public example. But the Passover came in between, and Herod was too careful a religious man to make light of the days of unleavened bread.
The same contradiction ran through the people he was trying to please.
Leaven is everywhere in Scripture the picture of corruption. During their religious festivals the Jewish people had to clear it out of their houses. Yet at such a time, when they were more zealous than usual about outward things, they could delight in blood! In the same way, our Lord's accusers were careful not to step inside a Gentile house at Passover time. Yet they had no conscience at all about the murder of an innocent Man (John 18:28).
Herod set the date; he did not set the outcome. Peter would die a martyr one day, as the Lord had told him — but not on this schedule.
God's thoughts are not like man's. The Lord had already shown by what death Peter would glorify God, but the time had not yet come: "When you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go."
The hard question this chapter raises is not how Peter got out. It is why James, killed one verse earlier, did not.
God surely designed this history as an object lesson. There is absolutely no circumstance we can be in that is too difficult for God to overcome. Escape was impossible for Peter by any natural means, but it was a simple thing for an angel to do at God's direction. So if God does not deliver us from hard circumstances, He has a wise reason for it. His superior power and grace can enable us to endure what we must face. God could just as easily have delivered James, but allowed him to be martyred instead.
- Passover, not Easter. The word here is the ordinary word for the Jewish Passover. Nothing in the verse points to a Christian festival.
- Sixteen against one. Four squads guarded Peter in shifts, all night long. Herod feared another escape like Acts 5 — and his own precautions made Peter's rescue undeniable.
- Religion timed the murder. Herod would not kill during the feast, yet he had already planned a public execution. He kept the calendar and still meant to murder.
- The delay was God's. Peter's death was foretold, but "the time had not yet come" — the king fixed the date, God fixed the hour.
- Two servants, two outcomes. God could as easily have rescued James; He did not. Where He does not deliver, His grace carries His people through instead.
Peter therefore was kept in the prison; but unceasing prayer was made by the assembly to God concerning him.
Herod had killed James, and Peter was in prison next. This verse puts the prison on one side and the praying church on the other, and shows which one decides the outcome.
The little word "but" divides the verse. Human help had run out, so the disciples took the only road left.
They knew it was useless to turn to Herod. Turning to God was their only resource at this critical moment. God has always been the help of His people.
This was not panic. Prayer was the church's settled habit in a time of conflict.
The assembly should not lean on human help. It should not forget the Lord's promise that the gates of hades will not prevail against it. Through its day of conflict its habit is to pray always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit (Eph. 6:18). So in Jerusalem the disciples prayed to God for Peter. They prayed not as separate people but as one body.
The closing words of the verse are short, but each phrase carries weight. One commentator takes them apart, using an older wording of the verse.
The last twelve words of verse 5 set out in a remarkable way what makes prayer effective. It was "to God," and therefore real prayer. It was "of the church," and therefore united prayer. It was "for him," and therefore definite. It did not wander over a hundred and one requests, but stayed on one object. It was "without ceasing," and therefore fervent and persistent — the prayer that gets answers, according to Luke 18:1 and James 5:16. The prayer of the church brought an angel from heaven to deliver.
Praying alone matters. Praying together carries a promise of its own.
In Acts 12, we find Christians in crisis. The church in Jerusalem responds not by petition or protest but by a far more effective method — a prayer meeting. Personal prayer is powerful in itself, but assembly prayer comes with the Lord's special promise (Matt. 18:19).
An angel opened the prison. But the cause runs further back than the angel.
The pooled prayers of God's people work for good to the godly. The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer that fetched the angel.
The same king, the same hatred, two different outcomes. God was behind both.
He kills James, and goes on to take Peter and put him in prison. But God preserves His servant, and delivers him by His angel in answer to the prayers of the saints. He allows some to be killed — happy witnesses to their heavenly portion in Christ. He preserves others to carry on the testimony on earth, despite the enemy's power, which looks unstoppable.
Another writer applies this to how we judge events. James was one of the three closest to the Lord, yet his life is a blank to us, and his day ended at noon. If we judge a path only by its results, we will misjudge it (F. W. Grant).
The strangest detail comes after the prayer. The people who prayed were the last to believe the answer.
God answered them. Rhoda told the praying company that Peter was at the gate. They said to her, "You are out of your mind." When she insisted, they allowed that it might be his angel. Then the gate opened and they saw him, and "they were astonished." What a sad tale of unbelief it is when we so little expect an answer to prayer that we are astonished when it comes, and call it "a remarkable answer."
Their desire went up to God sincerely, yet "faith can hardly count on Him" (J. N. Darby). God answered anyway. Peter "stepped into the prayer-circle." He was living proof that assembly prayer can set heaven's unstoppable power moving on earth (William J Hocking).
- Crisis — Herod held Peter, and no human help was left. The church turned to God as its only resource, not its last resort.
- Concentration — Prayer that gets answers is to God, of the church, for him, and without ceasing. That means real, united, definite and persistent.
- Chain — The angel opened the prison, but prayer brought the angel. A room in Jerusalem set heaven moving.
- Contrast — The same God let James die and set Peter free. He takes some as witnesses and keeps others for more testimony. Results alone will mislead us.
- Confidence — They prayed hard and still called the answer madness. God answered their asking, not their expecting — so keep asking.
And when Herod was going to bring him forth, that night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards before the door kept the prison.
Peter lies in the tightest custody a king can arrange — chained, flanked by soldiers, watched at the door. It is the last night before his execution. The strange thing about the verse is not the guard but the prisoner: he is asleep.
The details of the arrangement show how thoroughly Herod closed off escape. One writer links them to an earlier escape the king would have known about.
Agrippa most likely knew about the remarkable rescue of the apostles, when the whole group sat in prison waiting to appear before the religious authorities. So he tried to guard against any surprise like that. He handed his prisoner over to four squads of four soldiers, with orders that two soldiers must always be present, chained to Peter. Movement without his guards knowing was therefore impossible. Escape seemed hopeless.
Darby sees a purpose in the heavy guard: it would make God's hand plain when Peter walked free. And in the middle of it all, Peter sleeps.
But God's thoughts were different. The night before he was to be led out to the people, Peter slept in perfect peace under God's protection, even though men guarded him closely. They guarded him so that God's hand would show when He set him free. He slept between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Sentries before the door guarded the prison as well. But we are safer in God's hands than we are when exposed to the violence of men, even though they may seem to hold us firmly in their grasp.
Peter's calm is traced back to something the Lord had said to him years before, in John 21:18, about the death by which he would glorify God — a death in old age.
Peter was indeed to have the honour of a martyr's death — his Lord told him so in John 21:18, but not yet. Our times are in His hand — what comfort! Trusting the Lord, Peter was able to sleep peacefully in prison although chained to two soldiers.
Wolston reads the same restfulness off Peter's clothing. He had unfastened his sandals, loosened his belt and taken off his outer garment — a man settling down for the night, not a man braced for morning.
All this spoke of sweet confidence in the Lord, an easy conscience, and a restful heart. I believe the chained man of God slept far more sweetly in that dreary prison cell than Herod, Satan's servant, did in his palace. Herod might lie on a splendid couch, surrounded by luxury. Far better to be God's man in a prison than Satan's man in a palace!
This time God let the last night arrive before He acted. Commentators see a purpose in the delay.
On the earlier occasion angelic hands set Peter free on the very night of his arrest (Acts 5:19). This time the Lord allowed the enemy to hold him until a few hours before his intended execution. This was no doubt to exercise faith, both in the apostle himself and in his friends who prayed for him.
Herod's plan had two gaps in it. Stuart names them, and sets the sleeping king beside the praying church.
But two essential elements in the situation the king had left out of his calculations. The one was the power of God, the other the power of prayer... The king might be sleeping. The Christians were praying. Which would prevail — the power of man, or the prayer of faith? ... And now He who never slumbers nor sleeps began to work, during the silent hours of the night.
Wolston turns the cell around and aims it at the reader. Peter's chains were visible and temporary; there are others.
Reader, let me ask you, whose man are you? Face this question honestly. It is a thousand times better to be the "prisoner of Jesus Christ," as our beloved Simon was here, than to look like a free man while all the time being the prisoner of Satan. Lust, passion and sin form not two chains but countless unseen ones. They bind the soul in a real condemned cell — the world — and they make sure its final judgment is carried out at the hand of God.
- Chained. Four squads, two chains, two soldiers at his side, guards at the door. Every human way out was shut, so only God could get the credit for the rescue.
- Asleep. Peter rested on his Lord's word that the martyr's death was still ahead, not yet. His times were in God's hand, so the morning held no terror.
- Delayed. God let the last night arrive on purpose, to exercise the faith of Peter and of those praying for him.
- Prayed. The king slept sure of his prisoner; the church prayed without ceasing. The chapter asks which power wins — man's or the prayer of faith.
- Owned. The real question is not who holds you, but whose you are. Better a prisoner of Christ in a cell than a free man bound by unseen chains.
And lo, an angel of [the] Lord came there, and a light shone in the prison and having smitten the side of Peter, he roused him up, saying, Rise up quickly. And his chains fell off his hands.
Herod had soldiers, two chains and a locked prison between Peter and freedom. Only hours were left before he meant to kill his prisoner. Then a light fills the cell. One touch and one command undo everything Herod built, and no guard hears a sound.
The king had arranged everything he could. It counted for nothing.
Peter was indeed to have the honour of a martyr's death — his Lord told him so in John 21:18, but not yet. Our times are in His hand — what comfort! Trusting the Lord, Peter could sleep in peace in prison, even though he was chained to two soldiers. Herod posted more soldiers at the door of his cell. He was determined not to lose his prey. But all men's precautions are useless when God asserts Himself. He who disposed of Pilate's stone and seal made short work of Herod's doors and guards.
Notice when the rescue came — not early, and not too late.
Deliverance was at hand, which the church scarcely expected any more than the king feared it. As usual, it was just before the critical moment. "At evening time there shall be light."
The angel had to strike Peter's side because he slept so deeply. Faith, not indifference, is what put him to sleep.
Unbelief is what stirs up all this restlessness, when there should be stillness instead. Take Jacob: he was praying when he should have been sleeping in the promise. It was not so with Peter. He is in the prison itself, between two soldiers, bound with two chains — and he sleeps. He sleeps so soundly in the promise and sufficiency of God that his rescuer has to strike him on the side to raise him up.
Peter had a reason to rest, and it came from an earlier arrest.
Peter had escaped from prison once before, and no one knew how he got out (Acts 5). But Peter knew, and that is why here he went to sleep so quietly, for he knew the Lord could take him out again, if He so willed. It is a grand thing to know God, and an awful thing not to know Him. Peter knew God, and slept peacefully.
The light, the waking and the falling chains make up one silent work. No guard noticed any of it.
No sentry said, "Who goes there?" as the angel of the Lord entered the cell of the soundly sleeping Peter and a light shone in the prison. God always brings in light. "In him is no darkness at all," is the character of His nature. Simon's two keepers must have slept too. They neither saw the light nor heard the voice, "Get up quickly." The now awakened Peter obeys it, for the angel's touch had roused him before he "raised him up." It seems that as Peter obeys the call to rise, "the chains fell off his hands." No jailer or blacksmith's tool does this. When God sets Himself to unlock a man's chains, how silent, fast and effective the work is! Even the clanking irons, as they fall on the floor, do not wake the keepers.
Peter's rescue began outside the prison walls.
The combined prayers of the saints work for good to the godly… The angel brought Peter out of prison, but it was prayer that brought the angel.
The chapter uses angelic power twice, and in opposite directions.
Next we have Peter's deliverance from prison by angelic agency in answer to the earnest prayer of his brothers. Peter was an eminent apostle, his work was not yet done, and deliverance by supernatural power was God's means of saving him from death. But God did not only deliver His servant; the angel of the Lord also struck down his wicked and blasphemous persecutor, Herod.
The angel does not stay a moment longer than the need lasts.
They reached the street of the city, which Peter knew so well. From there he needed no more angelic or miraculous guidance. So the angel of the Lord leaves our twice-freed apostle to his own thoughts and ways.
Such help stays out of sight for a reason.
No doubt we owe far more to angelic ministry than we notice, in matters of physical strength and wellbeing. Yet as spirit beings their ministry is completely hidden. They are content to remain unknown to us, so that God alone receives the glory for it.
- Prayer — the church prayed; the angel came. Prayer brought the angel, and the angel brought Peter out of prison.
- Peace — Peter slept so deeply on his last night that the angel had to strike him awake. The Lord had freed him from prison once before, and he knew who could do it again.
- Power — no tool touched the chains. The light, the waking and the falling irons happened without rousing a single guard.
- Precision — the rescue came on the last night, not weeks earlier. God's hour is just before the critical moment.
- Proportion — the angel walked Peter one street and left. Where ordinary means are enough, the miracle stops. The same power that freed Peter later struck down Herod.
And the angel said to him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And he did so. And he says to him, Cast thine upper garment about thee and follow me.
On the night before his execution, Peter lay chained in a cell, and an angel woke him. What strikes the commentators is not the miracle but its manner: the angel gives ordinary dressing orders — belt, sandals, cloak — in a death cell.
Peter had gone to bed like any man ready to sleep, though he expected to die in the morning. That is why the angel had to tell him to dress.
We are not told what he went through inwardly, but this we read. On the night before he was to be led out to execution, he had unbound his sandals, loosened his belt, thrown off his outer garment, and lain down to sleep. All this showed sweet confidence in the Lord, an easy conscience, and a restful heart. I believe the sleep of the chained man of God in that dreary cell was far sweeter than Herod's. Herod was Satan's servant, and he might lie on a splendid couch, surrounded by the luxury of a palace. Far better to be God's man in a prison than Satan's man in a palace!
What Peter tied on was simple:
Soles worn under the feet, tied by strings or thongs to keep them in place. Mark 6:9; Acts 12:8. See SHOES.
The chains had already dropped off, yet the angel does not rush Peter out barefoot.
"Dress yourself and put on your sandals" is the next command. There is no undue hurry; everything is orderly. Peter obeys, and then hears, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me."
The angel does not simply open the way and leave Peter to work out the rest. He directs each step, and the record keeps every one.
Every detail is recorded, down to the smallest thing. At the angel's word Peter binds on his sandals and puts on his belt. The angel's care is most thorough. And when they had passed the two guards and reached the outer gate, it opens to them by itself.
Peter did what he was told before he believed it was real.
Told to put on his belt and dress himself, he did so, and followed the angel. The experience was so amazing that he thought it was only a vivid dream.
The empty cell said something in itself. A man running for his life leaves his clothes behind.
Day dawned, and light streamed into the prison. But where was the prisoner? The guards woke up to find that Peter was not there. Only one explanation of his escape could be seriously considered. Supernatural power must have been at work, for there was no sign of haste in his departure. His sandals, his belt, his outer garment — all had gone with him.
Those sandals raise a wider question: how small a thing does God bother to look after?
Christ is the believer's security. The Nail fastened in a secure place cannot be broken. Nor can the smallest vessel fail to find sweet security in depending on Him. For all the weight of heaven and earth rests on His shoulder — the weight of redeemed saints and of confirmed angels. I am foolish and senseless to imagine that I can add anything to Christ's special care and tenderness towards His people. He keeps the basins and knives of His house, and He brings the vessels back to the second temple. So He must have a more tender care for His redeemed ones than for a spoon, or for Peter's old shoes, which must not be lost even in his captivity.
This deliverance began before the angel ever reached the cell.
The combined prayers of the saints work for good to the godly. The church prayed to God for Peter without ceasing, and the angel of the Lord came to him, raised him up, and his chains fell off (Acts 12:5-7). The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer that fetched the angel.
- Prayer first. The angel brought Peter out of prison, but prayer brought the angel.
- Peace before rescue. Peter took off his sandals and belt and slept on the eve of execution. That is the rest of a man who had left his case with God.
- Order, not panic. Belt, sandals, cloak: no undue hurry. The angel directs every detail, and the record keeps it.
- Obedience before understanding. Peter dressed and followed while he still thought he was dreaming. Obedience, not understanding, took him out.
- Small things kept. The God who fastens sandals in a death cell loses nothing belonging to His people — not even Peter's old shoes.
And going forth he followed [him] and did not know that what was happening by means of the angel was real, but supposed he saw a vision.
Peter walks out of his cell behind the angel and does everything he is told — yet the whole time he does not believe it is happening. He takes his own escape for a vision, which raises a question: how can a man obey God's rescue while still doubting it is real?
One writer traces Peter's dreamlike state up to the moment it lifted:
Peter had followed his guide almost in a dreamy state, for he "did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision" (Acts 12:9). But once he was clear of the prison and had walked down one street, the angel left him. His mission was ended. The apostle then came to himself. Aware that he was free, he could say, "Now I am sure that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting."
Peter does not stop to work out whether this is real. He follows each instruction as it comes.
"Dress yourself and put on your sandals," is the next command. There is no rush; everything is done in order. Peter obeys, and then hears, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." Thinking he was "seeing a vision," and not knowing "that what was being done by the angel was real," he still goes with him.
The rescue did not wait for Peter to understand it. Every obstacle gave way while he was still dazed:
His angel stood by and woke him. He freed Peter from his chains and told him in detail what to do, and Peter, as if in a vision, obeyed each word as he was told. He did not come to himself until they had passed both guards, and the iron gate had opened by itself — not to let the angel in, but to let Peter out. They had gone one street away when the angel left him.
Herod had already had James put to death. The difference was not in the strength of the guard but in God's timing for each servant:
Peter was indeed to have the honour of a martyr's death — his Lord told him so in John 21:18, but not yet. Our times are in His hand — what comfort! Trusting in the Lord, Peter could sleep in peace in prison, though he was chained to two soldiers. Herod posted more soldiers at the door of his cell, so determined was he not to lose his prey. But all men's precautions are useless when God asserts Himself.
Another writer draws out the practical lesson:
If God does not deliver us from hard circumstances, it is because He has a wise reason for it. His greater power and grace can enable us to endure what we must face. God could have as easily delivered James, but allowed him to be martyred instead.
Peter was not the only one who could not believe it. The people praying for his rescue could not take it in when it came:
While they were still begging God for Peter's deliverance, the delivered man knocked at the door. Look! The answer to their prayer was there. They could hardly believe it, and in this they were very like ourselves. God's answer went beyond their faith.
One writer reads that night's dazed joy as a picture of what God will yet do for Israel:
At first he was like one who dreamt, thinking that he saw a vision; and so were his companions, saying, "It is his angel!" But so will Israel be hereafter. They will sing, "When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream." In their sudden joy they will have to add, "Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy."
- Asleep — Peter slept the night before his execution, chained between two soldiers. His times were in God's hand, and that hand had not yet set the day of his death.
- Obedient — He dressed, put on his sandals and followed, one command at a time. He did not wait to understand.
- Dreaming — He took the whole rescue for a vision. He came to himself only once the guards, the iron gate and the street were behind him.
- Real — The falling chains, the sleeping guards and the gate that opened by itself were no dream. The rescue was true before Peter believed it.
- Beyond asking — The praying church could not believe its own answered prayer. That is the measure of God: His answer goes beyond our faith.
And having passed through a first and second guard, they came to the iron gate which leads into the city, which opened to them of itself; and going forth they went down one street, and immediately the angel left him.
An angel led Peter past two sets of guards and out of Herod's prison, and the iron gate opened by itself. So why did Peter need a gate opened when his guide did not, and why did the angel leave him alone in the street?
The verse begins with two guard posts. One writer explains why no one raised the alarm.
Peter and the angel passed both the first and second guard without a challenge. All was quiet within the prison, still as death. A sleep — very likely a supernatural sleep, of a kind Scripture mentions elsewhere — had fallen on the guards. Neither their prisoner's movements nor the light that had shone around them woke them.
The verse stops to say what the gate was made of. Gate material was a matter of defence.
City gates were made of wood covered with iron, to make them strong and to keep fire from burning them. The prison at Jerusalem had an outer gate of iron, the only iron one we read of.
The gate did not open because someone outside needed to get in. One writer notes which way the miracle worked, and how late the rescue came.
Deliverance was near. The church hardly expected it any more than the king feared it. As usual, it was just before the critical moment. "At evening time there shall be light." Everything looked certain on the world's side. On the other side, Peter rested in peace through the grace of the Lord who neither slumbers nor sleeps... He did not come to himself until they had passed both guards and the iron gate opened by itself — not to let the angel in, but to let Peter out.
Herod had counted soldiers, chains and guard posts. Two things never entered his arithmetic.
The king could go to bed without a thought about his prisoner, except that he held him fast, so that escape was impossible. But he had left two vital things out of his calculations. The one was the power of God, the other the power of prayer... The king might be sleeping. The Christians were praying. Which would prevail — the power of man, or the prayer of faith?
The church prayed for Peter — and then left him standing outside their own door. One writer follows that irony to the end.
The chains fall to the ground, surely with a lot of noise, yet the soldiers never notice! Neither the guards nor the iron gates do their job. Peter, only half awake, finds himself free. All the prison doors had opened for him. Yet at the house of John Mark's mother, Peter finds himself shut outside a closed door, while inside her fellow believers tell poor Rhoda she is mad. All this because the power of prayer brought results beyond the boldest expectations even of the people praying!
Peter tied on his sandals and followed, and still did not believe any of it was real.
Every small detail is on record. At the angel's word Peter puts on his sandals and fastens his belt. The angel's care reaches to the smallest thing. And when they had passed the two guards and reached the outer gate, it opens to them by itself... Until this moment Peter thought he was seeing a vision. Now he realises that God has delivered him from Herod's hands and from what the Jewish people were expecting. Notice how closely visions matched reality, since Peter took the reality for a vision.
The escort ends after one street, on ground Peter knew.
There is no needless hurry; everything is done in order... Once they reach the city street, which Peter knew so well, there is no further need for angelic or miraculous guidance. So the angel of the Lord leaves the twice-freed apostle to his own thoughts and his own way.
- Gate. The prison's outer gate was the only iron gate the Bible mentions. Iron kept a gate strong and kept fire from burning it down.
- God. It opened by itself, and the point of direction matters: not to let the angel in, but to let Peter out.
- Guards. Herod counted chains, soldiers and guard posts. He left out the two things that decided the night: the power of God and the power of prayer.
- Guidance. Peter obeyed each small instruction while still thinking he was dreaming. The rescue was so far beyond normal life that he took it for a vision.
- Going on. One street from the prison the angel left. Where Peter knew the way, he needed no miraculous help.
And Peter, being come to himself, said, Now I know certainly that [the] Lord has sent forth his angel and has taken me out of the hand of Herod and all the expectation of the people of the Jews.
Peter stands alone on a Jerusalem street. The angel has gone, and only now does his mind catch up with his feet. These are his first clear words as a free man, and they name the two powers God rescued him from: a king and a crowd.
Peter's words come after confusion, not before it. To come to himself is to have his mind clear at last, so he can read what has just happened to him.
One can easily imagine how bewildered Peter was at that moment. We all know how hard it is to take in the situation when we wake out of deep sleep. Peter was in that condition. He had lain down expecting only to wake and go out to die. Then he saw and heard an angel telling him — a man in chains — to get up, dress, and walk out of prison. A moment later he stood on the pavement of a well-known street, a free man. No wonder he was bewildered. But it soon passed... So he acknowledges the Lord's gracious intervention on his behalf.
Peter credits nothing to luck or to his own nerve. Herod had stacked every human safeguard he could think of, and each one failed at the same moment.
Herod was determined not to lose his prey. But all men's precautions are useless when God asserts Himself. He who dealt with Pilate's stone and seal made short work of Herod's doors and guards. So on that memorable night an angel woke Peter and told him to get up, dress, and follow. The chains fell off. Door after door opened before them, and the soldiers slept on. Soon Peter stood in the street, and the angel said goodbye.
Such care did not end with Peter, though it no longer takes so visible a form.
Angelic care has in no way disappeared for His servants, though there is no such display of power as of old... If the Lord opened our eyes more fully, we would see this. Our enemies may look countless and overwhelming. Yet if we are truly with Christ and for Christ, those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?
Peter names two enemies: Herod, and the people whose favour Herod wanted. James had already died. So why did God keep one apostle and let the other go?
Now it was neither the priest nor the people, but the king, wanting to please the Jews; but what of God? If He was magnified in the death of James, He would be magnified more by keeping Peter alive. The wishes of the people and their rulers made no difference. The testimony had already been fully given, even in the temple... They had heard the gospel of the risen and glorified One, and they despised it. They had rejected and crucified Him. So Peter was not to make a similar stand now, though the miracle was just as great. He followed the Lord's usual rule instead: when persecuted in one city, flee to another.
The rescue could have come at once. It did not, and the delay had a purpose.
On the previous occasion Peter was released from prison by angelic hands on the very night of his arrest (Acts 5:19). This time the Lord allowed the enemy to detain him until a few hours before his intended execution. This was doubtless to exercise faith, both in the apostle himself and in his friends who prayed for him. For the assembly in Jerusalem made ceaseless prayer for the prisoner.
Some commentators see in that night a picture of Israel's rescue still to come.
Peter is shown to be the Lord's prisoner, rather than Herod's. He sleeps between his keepers. He lies there "a prisoner of hope." The enemy is strong and mighty, and the remnant have no relief but in God. But that is enough. They pray without ceasing for him. At last this prisoner of the Lord is sent out of the pit, as Israel will be in the latter day... At first he was like a man dreaming. He thought he saw a vision, and his friends were the same, saying, "It is his angel." Israel will be like that later. They will sing, "When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream."
- Chains. Guards, chains, and locked doors were all in place. Every one of them proved useless once God acted.
- Delay. The rescue came hours before the execution, not on the first night. The waiting exercised the faith of Peter and of his praying friends.
- Angel. The Lord did the rescuing, and an angel carried it out. Such care for His servants continues today, without the visible display.
- Certainty. Peter understood it only after the angel left. His first clear thought gave God the credit for the whole night.
- Pledge. A prisoner came out of the pit while his friends could hardly believe it. That night pictures Israel's future rescue — like those who dream.
And having become clearly conscious [in himself], he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was surnamed Mark, where were many gathered together and praying.
The night Peter walked free from prison, he did not look for a hiding place — he went to a house where people were praying for him. That address shows how the first Christians met, what they did in danger, and who grew up in that home.
Jerusalem already held thousands of believers. Where did they all meet?
There must have been very many groups of Christian Jews in Jerusalem. By now they numbered thousands. Large buildings set apart for the assembly seem to have been unknown at that time.
Mary is remembered for what she did with her house. One writer sets her beside other women whose service Scripture records:
Dorcas did a good work in making clothes for the poor. Mary, the mother of John Mark, opened her house for many to gather together in prayer. Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened, did a good work when she opened her house to the servants of the Lord.
Peter was in prison and beyond human help. What did the believers do?
The refuge of the faithful is in prayer. They had come together to ask God for the preservation of Peter, and God had heard their prayer. They did not know how, but they had put trust in God. It seemed to be the natural resource of the hearts of these believers; and the feeling was a common one.
Peter arrived at an hour when no one would expect a house to be awake.
The deep earnestness of these believers shows in this: they were before God at that unusual hour when Peter appeared on the scene.
The verse turns on one word: Peter realized. Only when he was sure the rescue was real did he move.
Then Peter realised his deliverance. Fully aware of it all, he went to Mary's house. Many had gathered there to pray — we surely cannot doubt it — for the very man who was knocking at the door. All through his account Luke presents the truth vividly, and he in no way hides how small the believers' faith was. They could hardly have forgotten how the Lord's angel had opened the prison doors before this and brought the apostles out, when the jealous high priest and his party had put them in public custody. Faith remembers, but it also takes hold for the need of the moment.
Does God still act like this? One writer draws a careful line:
I do not believe that miracles happen today. Angels no longer appear. It was not a gift that could continue. But I fully believe, according to the Lord's promise, that God hears prayer. The angels work for the children of God as much now as in those early times. There is one condition, however: what we ask must be according to the will of God, and we must pray in faith.
The verse names the son of the house: John Mark. One writer asks what that home did for him.
Could it be significant that Mark grew up in an atmosphere of prayer? … That was clearly not the first prayer meeting held in that house.
The verse gives him two names. His later record was uneven, which makes the ending all the more remarkable:
Mark was a common Roman first name. His Jewish name was John. He was converted through Peter. Right at the start of his Christian life, Barnabas (his relative) and Paul took him with them on their missionary travels. He thought he could take up and put down God's work as he liked. He left the two leaders to carry on by themselves, while he went off home again. … Most of us, perhaps, would have thought it best to leave Mark alone after that. It comes as quite a surprise, then, that in the end he received the high honour of writing one of the four Gospels.
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- House. Mary is remembered for one thing: she opened her home. Jerusalem had no church buildings, so houses held the thousands who believed.
- Habit. Prayer was not an emergency measure. It was the natural instinct of these believers, and that house had seen prayer meetings before.
- Earnestness. They were still praying at the odd hour when Peter knocked. The hour itself shows how much they meant it.
- Weakness. Luke does not hide how small their faith was, and God answered them anyway.
- Harvest. A boy raised in that praying house walked out on God's work, and still ended up writing one of the four Gospels.