In the last lesson I wanted to follow Paul uninterrupted from the time of his conversion at least through his first missionary journey. One of the reasons for this was to show some of the time gaps during this period to give a sense of just how many years elapsed until he began to contemplate a second journey –in all it was probably about 15 years (from AD 35 to AD 50). Another was to give a brief summary of that first journey to show both the limited success Paul had and the extreme danger involved (remember what happened to him in Lystra). We’ll see in later lessons that Paul had greater success in his second and third trips, however, the danger also increased.
So now we leave Paul in Acts 15 to go back and see what Peter was doing during this same time period. He’s already played a prominent role in the early church, especially in the events before, during and after Pentecost. We find him again in Acts 9. Starting in verse 32 he goes to Lydda (a small town about 30 miles west of Jerusalem) and a man named Aeneas, who had been paralyzed for 8 years, was healed. Verse 35 tells us, “then all the inhabitants of Lydda and the plain of Sharon saw what had happened and turned to the Lord.”
Then in verses 36-43 there is the account of the resurrection of Tabitha. Peter is asked by some disciples to go to Joppa, a seaport on the Mediterranean 10 miles west of Lydda (or 40 miles west of Jerusalem), where a woman named Tabitha (Aramaic) or Dorcas (Greek) had died. She was well known in the area for her kindness and acts of charity. And when Peter arrived, she had been prepared for burial and the local widows had gathered to mourn her death.
One can only imagine the excitement when Peter presents her alive to the disciples and widows in verse 41. Then as you follow the account, when this became known in Joppa, “many believed in the Lord.” And Peter stayed on, taking full advantage of the situation, no doubt preaching and teaching Christ. “And Peter stayed in Joppa for a considerable time with a certain Simon a tanner.” (Verse 43)
That “considerable time” in verse 43 is about 1 year and it ends in Acts 10, when Cornelius sends for Peter. This is a pivotal event (along with the conversion of Saul) in the revelation of the New Covenant. Up until this point in time (about 10 years after Pentecost) the gospel had only been preached to the Jews. But the Lord knew (and had even predicted with the parable of the householder in Matthew 21:33-46) that the Jews would reject the gospel; so he was prepared to take His message to the Gentiles.
Now, we’ve already partially discussed this event in Lesson 176 as it related to Peter’s revelation concerning the baptism in the Holy Spirit. But, let’s look at this in a little more detail. Acts 10:1-2 tells us Cornelius was a commander of 100 men (a centurion) in the Italian cohort or regiment (made up of all Italian men, thought to be about 550 infantry and 65 cavalry). Both he and his household are described as being “devout”; meaning they religiously followed the requirements of Judaism.
I’ll not cover this in detail, but from verse 3 to 33, the Holy Spirit through angels and visions coordinates events that bring Peter and Cornelius together in Caesarea. And in verse 33 Cornelius tells Peter, “Now, we are all here, present in the sight of God to hear all that you have been instructed by the Lord to tell us.” Peter’s message is brief and to the point, from verse 34 to 43 he presents Christ and the forgiveness of sins for all who believe in Him.
Then I have to quote verse 44, “And while Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell on all who were listening to his message.” In verse 45 the Jewish believers who had come from Joppa with Peter (verse 23) were amazed when they saw the Holy Spirit come on the Gentiles. This must have become the main topic of conversation for the several months that followed, when Peter is summoned to Jerusalem to defend his actions in taking the gospel to the Gentiles. And as already discussed in Lesson 176, it is the point he makes in his defense that could not be disputed – “the Holy Spirit fell on them just like He did on us at the beginning.” (Acts 11:15, also in 15:8-9). How could anyone argue the fact that God had given those Gentiles the Holy Spirit without any preexisting conditions (circumcision, keeping the law, or even water baptism)?
From here we’ll go to Acts 12, where we see the persecution of the church continue. In verses 1-2 Herod kills James. This is Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great, who built the temple and the nephew of Herod Antipas, the one who killed John the Baptist. And this James is not the brother of Jesus; this is the brother of John, both early disciples of Jesus, the sons of Zebedee (Matthew 4:21, 20:20-23). Their mother was one of the several women named Mary mentioned the gospels (Matthew 27:56). James is the first of the apostles to be killed. All the rest met violent deaths, except his brother John, who probably dies a peaceful death in his old age (around AD 100 in Ephesus).
In verse 3 we see Herod proceeding to take Peter and put him in prison, because he saw that the death of James had “pleased the Jews”. He wanted to hold Peter until after Passover and then take him before the people and let them pass judgment (presumably death) (verse 4). Then he could kill Peter to please them even more. Remember, it was important for those appointed by Rome to govern the provinces that they keep the peace – a difficult task in Israel accomplished only by keeping the Jewish religious establishment happy. We’ve already seen that pressure come to bear and even be the deciding factor in Pilate turning Jesus over to be crucified.
But then God had other plans for Peter. The very night before Herod was to bring Peter before the people, he was in a cell sleeping between two soldiers, bound with chains, with more guards at the door (verse 6). Now, when you read verses 7-10, you will see an important principle illustrated. An angel appears, kicks Peter in the side, tells him to get up, the chains fall off, the angel tells him to tighten his belt, put on his sandals and his outer garment and follow, they go unnoticed past the first and second guard, approach the locked iron gate that leads out into the city, it opens of its own accord and Peter finds himself standing in the street alone. So what’s the principle? In our relationship with Him, the Lord expects us to do what we can and trust Him to do what we can’t.
Now Peter goes to Mary’s house (verses 12-17), where a group has gathered to pray for his deliverance (verses 5 and 12). This is yet another Mary, the mother of John Mark (verse 12), further illustrating how so many of the disciples of Jesus named in the gospel accounts and Acts were connected.
And the soldiers responsible for keeping Peter secure are in a panic (verse 18). Allowing a prisoner to escape under your watch was punishable by death and they had no explanation for what had happened. Herod had no choice; he had them executed. And in his embarrassment concerning the whole matter, he decided to get out of town (to Caesarea) until things cooled off (verse 19).
Lastly, verses 20-23 record the death of Herod. In verse 20 we see that “Herod was highly displeased with the people of Tyre and Sidon.” The words “highly displeased” are from thumomacheo, and literally mean, fighting mad. There doesn’t seem to be any reason for his anger recorded in any of the contemporary histories. However, it was serious enough that emissaries were sent to Caesarea to try to make peace; the reason being that the coastal towns of Tyre and Sidon were dependent on supplies from Galilee for their survival and Herod controlled those trade routes.
In verse 21 Herod attends a festival in honor of Caesar, and arrayed in his royal finest, made what amounted to a flattering, political speech praising Caesar. And in response (verse 22) the people began to shout, “It is the voice of a god, and not a man!” Then, this is verse 23, “And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.”
This might be another one of those instances where a time gap exists, but is not expressed. If you simply take the verse as it reads, you would conclude Herod was eaten by worms and died right there in front of the crowd. However, in his account of this, Josephus says Herod was immediately stricken with intense pain in his stomach, but died 5 days later, after suffering greatly. He also makes a point of saying that because of the suffering; Herod acknowledged his mistake in not rebuking the people for their unseemly flattery. The point here is that Josephus’ account does not contradict Luke’s.