angels

Acts 12 is one of my favorite parts of the whole book. To me, it’s the story of what happens when you think you can defy God, when you don’t give him the respect he deserves. That’s what Herod did, and in this chapter God thwarted him in a couple of ways. 

Herod started by murdering James and throwing Peter in prison. God responded by sending an angel, who walked into the prison and broke Peter’s chains. This is how it’s descried in verses 8-11:

“Then the angel said to him, ‘Put on your clothes and sandals.’ And Peter did so. ‘Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,’ the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.

"Then Peter came to himself and said, ‘Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.’”

A more attentive man than Herod might have wondered if Peter’s God had something to do with it, but Herod blamed his guards and had them executed. Then, at a state event, he made a speech, evidently an impressive one according to verses 21-24: 

“On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, ‘This is the voice of a god, not of a man.’ Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

"But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.”

For all of Herod’s power and oratorical skill, God’s angel swatted him like a fly, because Herod was willing to be put next to God rather than acknowledge God as the source of his gifts. Herod’s word proved worthless, while the word of God flourished.

Two angels (or maybe just one, maybe even Michael the warrior angel, who often did such jobs for God) easily countered what Herod in all his might tried to do. It’s a reminder that God cannot be blocked, and he will not be mocked.

And he takes care of his own. These days, he’s more likely to send one of us than an angel, but he never leaves his followers helpless.