Down stairs the children are hearing the story of Peter’s great escape. It is a story to remember. His escape from the clutches of King Herod excited the young church, enraged King Herod and filled the soldiers who were guarding Peter with fear.
The key concept in conjunction with the story for the children is perseverance or ‘don’t give up’. It is based on Jesus’ promise to prepare a place for His followers. Their memory verse is: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2: 9).” So don’t give up!
As Peter lay chained to two soldiers with two other soldiers guarding the door to his cell, his thoughts may have turned to the place Jesus was preparing for him. Before he went to sleep, I can hear him talking to Jesus, “Well, Jesus, have you had enough time to prepare my place? I assume you have been working hard. James has already arrived, thanks to Herod. Stephen, one of our early lay leaders, is with you, too. You must be pretty busy getting places ready. Are you all set for my arrival? Ready or not, it looks like I am on my way to heaven. Herod means business. Sixteen men have been set aside to make sure I don’t escape. They are doing their job well, so Lord, I expect to see you shortly. But that’s alright! I am anxious to see what you have prepared for me.”
According to tradition, Peter did give his life for the cause of Christ; but not on that particular night. God had other plans. An angel came to the Peter’s rescue. The chains that bound him to the two guards were released. At the angel’s command, Peter got up, dressed himself and followed as the angel lead him past the guards, and out to the city gate—which opened automatically. You and I are used to gates and doors opening automatically or with the push of a button, but such things were new for the Apostle Peter.
Now in the city, after they had walked down a street, the angel left Peter. Peter comes to himself and utters: "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating." Peter thought he was dreaming. He finally realizes that what has happened is real. He was no longer in prison chained between two soldiers.
Saved from death, Peter had to now reengage with life. He goes to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark. Many people had gathered at this home and were praying for him. He knocks loud and hard at the door. Finally Rhoda comes to the gate.
In her excitement at seeing Peter she forgets to unlock the gate and let him in. She runs to tell this group of praying saints that their prayers have been answered. Peter is safe. He is standing at the gate. Wow! Isn’t God wonderful?
Listen to their “faith filled” response: "You’re out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel." But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.”
For Rhoda’s sake, I am glad Peter didn’t get impatient and walk away. Can you hear Rhoda if Peter had moved on. “I am telling you it was Peter. I recognized his voice. He spoke to me...” Thankfully for Rhoda, Peter waited. When they opened the gate there was Peter. I would imagine there were hugs and tears and lots of questions. What happened Peter? How in the world did you get out of jail?
Peter tells his story. He then instructs the people to let James (the brother of Jesus) and the others know that he was free. God had intervened.
At that point Peter recognized it is time to move on. King Herod was not going to be a happy camper. Peter would be on the most wanted list in the morning.
Peter was right. Herod was furious. He made a thorough search for Peter. He cross examined the guards. The guards were confused by Peter’s disappearance. “No! We did not fall asleep. We did not leave the door where Peter was chained to the two other guards. We stayed there all night. We did not see Peter leave. We have no idea how he got free from his chains and got out the gates. Yes, we were awake all night. Yes, we stayed at our posts. We do not know what happened!” Would you believe their story?
Herod was not amused. If the guards talked about an angel, Herod was not going to accept any story about a miraculous deliverance. All sixteen soldiers, not just the four responsible for guarding Peter, were ordered executed. The joyous and great escape for Peter had a tragic ending for the sixteen soldiers responsible for his security.
As we read this story we rejoice with Peter and the early church. It was an amazing intervention by God into the affairs of humanity. God plucked one of his children out of maximum security. All of Herod’s efforts to secure Peter added up to nothing when God stepped into the picture. Just as death could not hold, Jesus so the most secure prison could not hold one of God’s apostles.
Yet we are left with questions. Why was James, the brother of John, not saved from death by Herod? Did James do something wrong? Had he failed God in some way? Or was Peter more spiritual than James or more special to God than James? Did it have to do with the prayers that the people prayed for Peter? Maybe their prayers for Peter were filled with faith while their prayers for James were not so powerful. Or maybe the church had learned to pray better after the death of Stephen and James. What do you think?
I raise these issues because this passage reminds us we do not understand the ways of God. Tragedy strikes a person we love or difficulty comes our way and we can’t understand what is happening. Sometimes the confusion grows deeper because well meaning people like Job’s comforters attempt to explain the ways of God and why it is we are experiencing what it is we are experiencing.
Job’s friends attempted to fix him. In their attempt to fix Job they conveyed many scriptural truths. There were even times when Job agreed. He knew he was not innocent before God. How can a mortal be righteous before God (Job 9: 2)? Compared to the holiness of God, Job knows no one can claim to be perfect. Or who can argue with God? Yet as Job listened to his so called friends, he knew their application of scripture to his situation was not right. In spite of all the true things they were saying, they were wrong. At the end of the book, God responds to Job’s righteous sounding friends. Speaking directly to Eliphaz, God says: “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.”
We come back to James’ death by Herod and Peter’s deliverance from Herod. Can we explain why? Not really. There are many things we cannot understand about life around us.
The Psalmist puts it this way: “Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills.
So disturbed in fact is the Psalmist that he continues:
“Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.”
The more he thought about his own life and the prosperity of the wicked the more unfair it seemed to be until he had a breakthrough in his thinking.
“When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.”
Praise breaks out in spite of the inconsistencies and unfairness of life. We read: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
God is the Psalmist’s satisfaction. In spite of his disappointments, his struggles and the seemingly carefree existence of those who do not follow God, the Psalmist knows there is more to life then what we see today. He is able to persevere because he looks forward to being with God forever.
The early church did not know why Peter continued to live and James died but they knew that Jesus had gone to prepare a place for them. Where he was, they would be. They knew, in the words of Paul, that to ‘live is Christ and to die is gain’.
The early church persevered because they knew that in death they were going to a better place. The Roman catacombs give expression to their belief. In his book Heaven, Randy Alcorn quotes a historian who writes, “Pictures on the catacomb walls portray Heaven with beautiful landscapes, children playing and people feasting at banquets.”
Alcorn goes on to quote Aristides from 125 AD who was explaining to a friend why Christianity was so successful: “If any righteous man among the Christians passes from this world, they rejoice and offer thanks to God, and they escort his body with songs and thanksgiving as if he were setting out from one place to another nearby.”
The early church mourned the loss of James. But they escorted his body with songs and thanksgiving knowing that James was going to that place prepared for him by Jesus, his friend and master.
An important part of perseverance is a goal. If we are going to continue, if we are not going to give up, we have to have a reason to go on, a hope.
What is our hope? Our hope is an eternal home we call heaven. Anthony DeStefano in his book “A Travel Guide To Heaven” uses the image of a resort. He then writes: “If heaven is anything at all, it’s fun. It’s a place of unlimited pleasure, unlimited happiness and unlimited joy.” (Quoted by Ptolemy Tompkins, Guideposts, September 2007, p. 80)
However you want to describe heaven, it is a place worth going to. It is so worthwhile and the reward is so great that when you keep heaven in mind, you will find the strength to continue even when you feel discouraged or are tempted to give up. You may find yourself struggling and tempted to give into the pressures around you. Let me paint a picture for you of the joy of persevering.
On August 28th at 9:24 a.m., Natalie completed her swim from Sackets Harbor to Kingston. The swim took 23 hours and 17 minutes. In the early morning hours cold and sick to her stomach she wondered if she could keep going. The team of people around her, including her coach, and her parents, encouraged Natalie. She did not give up. Sunrise brought the Kingston skyline in view. Her sister jumped in to swim beside her. Natalie found new energy. With boats sounding their horns and people shouting words of encouragement Natalie made her way to shore.
The Whig reported wrote: “The assembled crowd erupted when Natalie's tiny, shrivelled and pale white hands came to rest and grasped one of the stones on the rocky shore. She managed a few stiff waves with her right hand to the crowd before her father scooped her out of the water and into her family's arms on the zodiac.”
You and I have a team of people around us. The author of Hebrews describes them as a ‘cloud of witnesses’. Jesus has gone on before. James is there as well as Peter. God has sent his Spirit to travel with us. He has given us one another for support. When we get close to the shore line we will see the light of Heaven. Can you imagine your heavenly Father scooping you up into his arms, saying to you “My child . . .You made it. I knew you could. Congratulations.”
Natalie described her arrival at Confederation Park as a feeling that can’t be replicated. Our arrival into heaven will be a feeling that can’t be replicated. Are you ready to persevere no matter what life throws at you? Heaven will be worth it.