SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/2/2018
8:58 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “God’s Power Cannot be Contested”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 12:5-19
Message of the
verses: We will pick up where we
left off in our last SD by looking at verse 7a:
“7 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.’” We mentioned in our last SD that Peter was
sound asleep and not even the light that shone in the cell caused him to wake
up and so the angel had to strike his side to awaken him, telling him to “get
up quickly.”
Once Peter woke up “his chains fell off his hands.” Peter was kind of in a daze not really
knowing what was happening to him, and as we will see he thought he may be
having a dream. Once his chains fell
off, and I have to say that this did not to be a difficult task for the angel
to care for, he was told to “Grid yourself and put on your sandals” And Peter
obeyed. The angel then told him to “Wrap
your cloak around you and follow me.” I
suppose that Peter’s mind was swarming as he did not realize if this was true
or a dream.
Peter continued to obey the angel and as mentioned he did
not realize that what was happening to him was true or not, as he though “He
was seeing a vision.” We have to
remember that visions were not new to Peter as we saw in chapter ten of
Acts. Now once Peter followed the angel
out of the gates that opened automatically for the angel the angel left Peter,
and then we read “11 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.’” What they were expecting was namely his
execution.
I suppose that the first thing that went through Peter’s
mind as he stood there outside the prison was that he needed to get out of
there and so “12 And when he realized
this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called
Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.” Peter knew that the people in this household
were praying for him and so that is where he decided to go. John who is called “Mark” is the author of
the gospel of Mark, and some believe that it was in this house where this
prayer meeting was going on was where Jesus and His disciples had eaten the “last
supper.” Near the end of the gospel of
Mark we read of a young man who had lost his clothes as he ran with the rest of
the disciples after Jesus was arrested, and it is also believed that that young
man was Mark. Mark is also the one who
went on Paul and Barnabas’s first missionary journey, and he was the one who
left them early on during that trip. The
progress that Mark makes spiritually is seen throughout the NT and near the end
of his life Paul wants to see Mark because he was useful to him.
John MacArthur writes of John Mark’s mother: “She was evidently a wealthy woman, since she
had servants (v. 13), and her house was large enough to accommodate all the
believers present. Before going into
hiding, Peter made his way to her house.
That he knew to go there suggests that believers gathered there
regularly.”
“13 When he knocked at the door of the gate, a
servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice,
because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that
Peter was standing in front of the gate. 15 They said to her, "You are out
of your mind!’” I can’t help but think
that there are times when my faith lacks in a similar way that these people’s
faith was lacking in this section. First
of all the servant girl leaves Peter outside the gate, and then as she tells
those who were praying that Peter was outside they tell her that she was out of
her mind. Keep in mind that the reason for
the prayer meeting was that God would release Peter from prison so that he
would not be executed in the morning and when they hear that God has answered
their prayers they don’t believe it.
Perhaps they were so engrossed in their prayers that they did not have
time to listen to the young servant girl that God had answered their
prayers. At any rate God did answer
their prayers as we read “But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept
saying, "It is his angel." 16 But Peter continued knocking; and when
they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed.” I suppose that amazed was a good reaction for
these prayer warriors when they saw Peter.
Peter then tries to quiet them down as we read: “But
motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord
had led him out of the prison. And he said, "Report these things to James
and the brethren." Then he left and went to another place.” Now I want to focus in on who Peter tells
them to report on what happened and that as “to James and the brethren.” Now at the beginning of this chapter we saw that
James, the brother of John was the first apostle to be martyred, and so we have
to ask ourselves who is the James that Peter wants this new reported too. Well the answer to this question is the “half-brother”
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and there are certain religions who do not believe
that Mary had any more children and that she remained a virgin. James is the author of the book of James, and
his brother Jude is the author of the book of Jude, and both are half brothers
of our Lord. When we get to chapter fifteen
of Acts we will see that it is James, not Peter who is leading the church at
Jerusalem, and so this could not have been the James, brother of John who was
killed in chapter 12.
Here are the following verses in this section: “Then he [Peter] left and went to another
place. 18 Now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers
as to what could have become of Peter. 19 When Herod had searched for him and
had not found him, he examined the guards and ordered that they be led away to
execution. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and was spending time
there.” This last section tells us that
Peter left to another place, not telling us where he went. Then we read that Herod did get to execute
the guards after examining them. The
last then we see is that Herod left and went to Caesarea. John MacArthur concludes by writing “His plan
blown up in his face, and he needed a vacation to pull himself together. Unfortunately for him, he still failed to
learn that he could not fight God. That
mistake, which cost him Peter and his prestige with the Jews, was shortly to
cost him his life.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I see something
in the life of Herod that is something that when it happens in my life is to
confess it to the Lord right away and that is pride.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Remember when I sin and fail the Lord “confess
our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.”
Memory verse: Psalm 143:10 “Teach me to do Your will, for
You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “The angel.”
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘O Lord God of
Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven, nor in the earth, which…and shows
mercy unto Your servants’?”
Answer in our next SD.
2/2/2018 10:04 AM
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