The very night before Herod was about to bring him (Peter) 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 gate guards, 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.”
Acts 12: 6-11
There was a sense of finality as the cell door slammed shut behind James. King Herod Agrippa had made political points with the Pharisees by his arrest of the apostle; the “son of thunder”, as he was known along with his brother, John. Agrippa would squelch this sect known as “Christians” who were proclaiming a new standard of righteousness. It wasn’t by the Law, “because He (God) has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31) The Pharisees were indignant that their system of religious meritocracy was being called into question. Agrippa knew who buttered his bread, and his arrest of James and Peter curried favor with the politically influential Pharisees.
Ironically, James remembered a conversation he had with Jesus about just this situation. He and John risked indignation from the other apostles when they asked Jesus, “Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized ?” Naively they said to Him, “We are able.” Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized.” (Mark 10: 37-39)
The following morning, Jesus’ prophecy came true when James was “baptized” with execution by a Roman sword that was thrust through his body.
Peter was to be next. But it was Passover, and Agrippa would lose favor with the Pharisees, and all Judea for that matter, by desecration of the High Holy days with an execution!
The night before his trial and expectant execution, Peter slept like a baby. “In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety.” (Ps.4:8)
The Lord sent an angel to deliver Peter from certain death, this time. Hallelujah! I am certain that he also remembered the words of Jesus: “Truly, truly, I say to you….You will stretch out your hands, and someone will gird you and bring you where you do not wish to go.’ Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ‘Follow Me.”
(John 21: 18-19)
James was put to death with the sword, Stephen was stoned, others were sawn in two, and “others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection;” (Heb.11: 35)
Paul would later write: “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Phil.3: 10-11)
Both James and Peter were part of the fellowship of the cross: where He leads I will follow. And so also is everyone who presses “on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil.3: 14)
Questions To Think About:
Acts 12: 6-11
There was a sense of finality as the cell door slammed shut behind James. King Herod Agrippa had made political points with the Pharisees by his arrest of the apostle; the “son of thunder”, as he was known along with his brother, John. Agrippa would squelch this sect known as “Christians” who were proclaiming a new standard of righteousness. It wasn’t by the Law, “because He (God) has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31) The Pharisees were indignant that their system of religious meritocracy was being called into question. Agrippa knew who buttered his bread, and his arrest of James and Peter curried favor with the politically influential Pharisees.
Ironically, James remembered a conversation he had with Jesus about just this situation. He and John risked indignation from the other apostles when they asked Jesus, “Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized ?” Naively they said to Him, “We are able.” Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized.” (Mark 10: 37-39)
The following morning, Jesus’ prophecy came true when James was “baptized” with execution by a Roman sword that was thrust through his body.
Peter was to be next. But it was Passover, and Agrippa would lose favor with the Pharisees, and all Judea for that matter, by desecration of the High Holy days with an execution!
The night before his trial and expectant execution, Peter slept like a baby. “In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety.” (Ps.4:8)
The Lord sent an angel to deliver Peter from certain death, this time. Hallelujah! I am certain that he also remembered the words of Jesus: “Truly, truly, I say to you….You will stretch out your hands, and someone will gird you and bring you where you do not wish to go.’ Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ‘Follow Me.”
(John 21: 18-19)
James was put to death with the sword, Stephen was stoned, others were sawn in two, and “others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection;” (Heb.11: 35)
Paul would later write: “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” (Phil.3: 10-11)
Both James and Peter were part of the fellowship of the cross: where He leads I will follow. And so also is everyone who presses “on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil.3: 14)
Questions To Think About:
- How does framing your daily trials as a form of shared companionship with Jesus change the way you view your current hardship?
- James was executed by the sword, while Peter was broken out of prison by an angel. How do you personally reconcile it when God chooses to deliver someone else from a trial, but ask you to endure yours?
- Peter slept so deeply between two guards the night before his expected execution that the angel had to physically strike his side to wake him. What does Peter’s deep sleep reveal about his internal surrender to God’s plan?
- Jesus told Peter that one day he would be taken “where you do not wish to go” (John 21: 18) . Where is the Holy Spirit prompting you to go right now—socially, spiritually, or relationally —that your flesh does not want to go?
- If the fellowship of the cross means “where He leads, I will follow”, what is one area of your life where you are currently hesitating or placing conditions on your obedience?
Posted in The Fellowship of The Cross