Acts 12 Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Acts 12:1-5

1 It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.

5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.

A. Find Out:

1. What had king Herod done? v.1
2. What had happened to James? v.2
3. What did he do with Peter and why? v.3,4a
4. How many guards did he put over him and why? v.4b,c
5. But what did the church do? v.5

B. Think:

1. How do you think the church felt about these events?
2. How does Peter’s imprisonment appear?
3. So what did the church do about it?

C. Comment:

Why pause on such a few negative verses, you might ask. Because there are some important lessons here. First of all, note that persecution turns up and shatters the peace. Sometimes it comes gradually, sometimes suddenly. There had been peace in all Judea (9:31), the word had gone to the Gentiles (Cornelius and Antioch), and now suddenly it seems, the enemy prompts Herod to rise up against the home church in Jerusalem. There are arrests and even a killing and some of the key leaders of the church are involved. 2 Tim 3:12 tells us that those who wish to live a godly life WILL be persecuted, it is part of the package.

The second thing to consider is the effect such plundering of the leadership would have on the church. No doubt initially there was great concern and great anxiety and even great anguish over James’ death. Then when Peter is taken, even more so. What does the future hold, is this the end? What will happen to him? What will happen to us? But then they settle down to prayer, not just a quick casual prayer, but earnest, sustained prayer. This was a crisis and God is their only hope. It sometimes takes a crisis for us to learn the lesson in more than our heads: God is our refuge and strength in time of trouble (see Psa 18:2). In blessing, pray. In trouble, pray!

D. Application:

1. The Christian life is sometimes tough!
2. God is always there. Talk to Him about it.

Passage: Acts 12:6-11

6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. ‘Quick, get up!’ he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.

8 Then the angel said to him, ‘Put on your clothes and sandals.’ And Peter did so. ‘Wrap your cloak round you and follow me,’ the angel told him. 9 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. 10 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.

11 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. Find Out:

1. Where was Peter sleeping? v.6
2. What did the angel do and say? v.7
3. What did he then tell Peter to do? v.8
4. What did Peter think about all this? v.9
5. What happened when they came to gates? v.10
6. What did Peter eventually realise? v.11

B. Think:

1. What aspects of this story are supernaturally miraculous?
2. What aspects are very human and down to earth?
3. How is the Christian life supposed to be a blend of these two?

C. Comment:

This story is one of the best examples in the Bible of the combination of the divinely supernatural and the earthly human. Let’s consider first the supernatural elements of this story.

First there is an angel, second the guards don’t wake up, third Peter’s chain just fall off, fourth they pass guards who don’t see them and fifth the gates open before them. Clearly these are all supernatural “impossible” (in the human sense) events. This is a story of one miraculous thing happening after another.

But now consider the very human aspects of the story . Peter is sleeping so the angel strikes him on the side to wake him up. Peter is still half asleep so the angel has to tell him to get up. Peter is still half in a dream so the angel has to tell him (like a little child) to get dressed and put on his shoes. Having done that he’s told to wrap his cloak around himself, it’s cold outside! And then they walk out! How down to earth can you get! That is the wonder of Christianity: it is the blend of the really human with the divinely supernatural. That’s what makes this story so credible. That’s what makes our lives credible, when the impossible happens to our very human lives, you know it’s got to be real, it’s got to be God!

D. Application:

1. Our humanity is important. Don’t deny it.
2. God does the impossible in our human lives. Hallelujah!

Passage: Acts 12:12-19

12 When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When she recognised Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, ‘Peter is at the door!’

15 ‘You’re out of your mind,’ they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, ‘It must be his angel.’

16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. ‘Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,’ he said, and then he left for another place.

18 In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. 19 After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.

A. Find Out:

1. To where did Peter go? v.12
2. Who came to the door & how did she respond? v.13,14
3. How did the church respond to her? v.15
4. How did they respond when they found it was Peter? v.16
5. What did Peter then say and do? v.17
6. What happened as a result of Peter’s escape? v.18,19

B. Think:

1. Why do you think the church had such trouble accepting Peter’s escape?
2. How do we sometimes behave similarly?

C. Comment:

Peter has been delivered miraculously and now makes his way to one of the homes used by the church. It is the home where many had gathered to pray earnestly for Peter. The response that he gets there should raise some questions in our minds. Note what it is first.

First there is the servant girl (note the personal touch, she is named) who is overjoyed and in her joy doesn’t even open the door but goes to tell the others. But the others! They had been praying earnestly for Peter and they can’t believe that he is there. What had they been praying? What had they been asking for in respect of him?

Perhaps they had been simply asking for his protection. That would be reasonable as a starting place, but why not go the whole way and ask for his release. Now if they had asked for his release, why didn’t they believe when that came? The answer must be that they were so wrapped up in the drama that they were praying but without faith. It is so easy in prayer to get caught up in the “prayer meeting” feeling that we are not actually expecting to see an answer then and there. It is easy to pray words; it is less easy to have faith to expect and answer. The challenge to us here must be to examine our praying and ask if we really believe. (see Jn 15:7,16)

D. Application:

1. Do we pray just words, or pray in faith expecting answers?
2. Jesus calls us to pray in faith.

Passage: Acts 12:19-25

19 After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed.

Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. 20 He had been quarrelling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him. After securing the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king’s country for their food supply.

21 On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22 They shouted, ‘This is the voice of a god, not of a man.’ 23 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.

24 But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.

25 When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.

A. Find Out:

1. Who went where? v.19b
2. Who came to him and for what reason? v.20
3. What was he doing & how did the people respond? v.21,22
4. Why did the angel strike him down? v.23
5. Yet what continued to happen? v.24
6. Who then went where? v.25

B. Think:

1. What had Herod’s attitude been towards the Christians?
2. What was his feeling about himself, apparently?
3. How is he shown to be no match for God?

C. Comment:

This Herod is Herod Agrippa, the fourth of the Herod’s we find in the Gospels and Acts and he is no better than any of the others. We have observed him persecuting the church and now Luke shows us his downfall at God’s hand.

Some people from the north need his help and so when he makes a public speech, they praise him in the most extreme way possible, they declare him to be a god. Now this foolishness would just remain that, if Herod had stopped them, but instead, in his pride, he just accepts their tributes.

There are times when, it seems, the patience of God comes to an end. If it does it is because He knows that if left the person in question will just become a bigger and bigger nuisance to the world and to the kingdom of God.

Thus, He acts quite simply, and, by the hand of an angel, He has Herod struck down. This is a simple act of judgement. When the world looked on, they saw a powerful man who apparently had been bringing anguish to the church. Now they see a man humbled as he finds a slow death. At any point he could have repented and been saved (see Ezek 18:32) but in his foolish pride he held onto himself and died. Meanwhile God’s word continues spreading and God’s men carry on going about their business. Foolish man!

D. Application:

1. No man is beyond the reach of God.
2. God puts up with human foolishness just so far and no further!