Acts 12:1-19
James had just been killed by King Herod, whilst Peter had been captured and imprisoned, awaiting trial. This had sent shocking waves down the Christian community. Out of distress, they gathered to pray for Peter, whose fate was apparently going to be decided sooner or later by King Herod.
God stepped in and intervened with a miraculous and angelic visitation which rescued Peter from prison. Peter thought he was dreaming, he thought it was all a vision that he would soon awaken from. This goes to confirm the scripture in Psalm 126:1 - When the LORD brought back the captive ones of Zion, we were like those who dream.
The church had been praying for Peter while he was in prison - they were earnestly in prayer : So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. I presume the church prayed for God to intervene. They wanted Peter to be released and not killed.
God answered their prayer. It was indeed a miraculous escape - 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. 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.
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.
WHAT IS NEXT?
