He was led of God. Observe here, 1. Herod stretched forth his hand against the church and he killed James the brother of John with the sword. In the midst of a storm, Paul prayed for Gods blessing (Acts 27:35), and after a storm, he prayed that God would heal a sick man (Acts 28:8). Paul prayed for his friends before leaving them (Acts 20:36; 21:5), 14. So he went away to another place. Such was the emphatic and characteristic presentation of His person assigned to the apostle, and this at once. The Spirit puts us in presence of the freedom of the servant, as he pleads with the Lord, for neither man nor even the child of God ever reaches up to the height of His grace. And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man ( Acts 12:20-22 ). 378.) Thus it might seem incredible, if it were not the notorious fact, that the only two known manuscripts in favour of that which is here most certainly requisite are the Alexandrian and the Cambridge Graeco-Latin of Beza. And no wonder. But as we are told here, "When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women; and Simon himself believed also." Historical: Records the historical spread of the Gospel (Acts 1:2). This is why the church advanced more dramatically in Gentile territory, as the rest of Acts shows. It is thought that her house was pretty much the headquarters of the church in Jerusalem. Ask God for your specific requests for yourself and other. We are told of another who also built for the Jews their synagogue. It did not escape the discerning eyes of Peter a little afterward. We see such in the gospels. 3. Ennek a hobbinak a digitlis vilg elg nagy lehetsget nyjtott. If you don't have faith, God's not going to answer your prayers. 2 And he had James the brother of John put to Nowhere in the New Testament does the intervention of Almighty God on behalf of his church appear any more timely and dramatic than in this chapter. Here comes the telling word for him that feared the Lord and bowed to His word, though he was a Gentile. Surely it was true of all who really believed and knew His glory. There are just a lot of Herods in the Bible and it is a little difficult to keep them all straight. God had published it already to the sons of Israel, and the good man rejoiced in it. Why so much haste and impatience? At the passover, when the Jews came from all parts to Jerusalem to keep the feast, they irritated one another against the Christians and Christianity, and were then more violent than at other times. The very same people had done it who had so lately received with the utmost favour (not the truth, nor the grace of God, which is inseparable from His truth, but), at any rate, the mighty impress of the grace as well as of the truth which had produced unwonted largeness of heart, unselfishness of spirit, and joy and liberty, that struck the minds of the Jews accustomed to the coldness of death in their own system. Some of our other records tells us that he went to Rome and was there crucified upside down. We are given a striking prefiguration of the evil king that will be found in the latter day; he that will reign over the Jews under the shadow and support of the Gentiles as Herod was, and not less but more than his prototype bent on the murder of the innocents, and with his heart full of evil for others who will be rescued by the goodness of the Lord. Oh why should any confessor of Christ why should any child of God shrink from rendering godly satisfaction to those that seek it? I am out! But not so the word of God. Way, more, had these been Presbyterians, all under the same government, the phraseology would not have been even the church of Judea, and the church of Galilee, and the church of Samaria, but all these would have been in one church, and even then but a small part of a church. Here is an account of Peter's imprisonment (Acts 12:4; Acts 12:4): When he had laid hands on him, and, it is likely, examined him, he put him in prison, into the inner prison; some say, into the same prison into which he and the other apostles were cast some years before, and were rescued out of it by an angel, Acts 5:18; Acts 5:18. Aristopollis was one of them. So that the attempts of tyrants notwithstanding, God maketh choice of sweet-smelling sacrifices to establish the faith of his gospel. The Encyclopedia Britannica has this regarding Herod's death: It is ironic that the Jews who had, in the elevation of Herod Agrippa I, achieved for themselves tolerance and accommodation, should at the same time have refused so adamantly to extend the same to Christians; and that God's thwarting of their campaign against the body of Christ, by the summary execution of Herod, also by that same event removed the one man who could have preserved their own toleration by Rome. Paul tells us in Galatians how he came to the church in Antioch, caused some trouble that Paul had to rebuke him for. 515-517). And so they would gird themselves up, that is, they would take the sash and they would pull the robe up to the knees and then they would tie the sash so that the robe would then be short and they could run faster. I do not therefore comment upon these additions here: they will remain for their own real and suitable places. Nlam barti hangulatban zajlik a fotzs, garantltan izzads-mentesen Lendletes, prgs s vidm fnykpezs a mottm. "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." As there was a Job in the Old Testament, independent of the law and perhaps before it, so we find a Cornelius before the glad tidings in the New Testament had been formally sent to the nations. The Spread of the Gospel in Jerusalem (Acts 1-7), B. Peter instructs them to go and tell the news to James. In the reign of Claudius also, the dominions of Herod Agrippa were still further enlarged. Perhaps you have heard it said, Never underestimate the power ofprayer. In this exciting drama of Acts chapter 12 you can see the reality of this statement. (v) Herod the Great had another son called Aristobulus (see Aristoboulos G711) ; his mother was Mariamne, a princess who was descended from the great Maccabaean heroes. For it must be remembered that, however far his profession may be from being a true one, every professor of Christianity professes to be a true, not a mere nominal, Christian. Accordingly the rejection of the very witness of Christ, speaking by the Holy Ghost the rejection of Him to heaven becomes the turning-point; and then by the Lord from heaven is now called forth the witness of grace as well as of the glory of Christ. Thereon Philip is invited to come up and sit with him, Isaiah 53:1-12; Isaiah 53:1-12 being, as we know, the portion in question; and the eunuch asks of whom the prophet spoke these words "of himself or some other man?" A Christian society which should openly profess to dispense with discipline, and tolerate on principle open and notorious evil doers [or still worse heretics, Antichrists, or their abettors] within its pale, would thereby renounce its title to one of the essential attributes of the Church; it would sever all ostensible connection between itself and the true Church [or rather Christ and His sacrifice: see1 Corinthians 5:1-13; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 ], of which sanctity is an inseparable property; in short, it would unchurch itself. Probably he had put James to death privately, which the people had complained of, not because it was an unjust thing to put a man to death without giving him a public hearing, but because it deprived them of the satisfaction of seeing him executed; and therefore Herod, now he knows their minds, will gratify them with the sight of Peter in bonds, of Peter upon the block, that they may feed their eyes with such a pleasing spectacle. They were praying. They had not those powers only, but this divine person given to them. For hence the Lord called him to a new sphere a task which, to a Jewish mind, was beyond measure strange. Peter had not long learnt it himself. As we advance farther in the inspired history, we find additions made to these simple elements of social fellowship; the organisation of the Christian society becomes more complex and systematic; questions of polity and order occupy no small portion of the apostolic epistles; and we have every reason to believe, if not from Scripture alone, yet from the unanimous voice of authentic history, that towards the close of the apostolic age Christianity had almost everywhere crystallised itself into a certain, definite, and well known form of ecclesiastical polity" (pp. After all, though it seems so simple as to be a truism, though nothing can well be conceived more certain; nevertheless, practically it is not always the plainest and surest truth that carries all before it in our souls. so gross was his darkness even as to the general point of the chapter. That is, to destroy its chief ornaments and supports. Quite right: only the true text delivers from the need of wresting the force of a word, and is as simply as possible Greeks, not Grecians, and means Gentiles without the smallest difficulty or discussion. And interestingly enough, Jesus, after His resurrection, did appear unto James as Paul tells us in I Corinthians Acts 15:7 . But what is more to the purpose for us Gentiles, when Cornelius and his household were brought in, not only no appearance of it is visible, but positive proof to the contrary. It is always thus in the ways of God. "Were the question put to a person of plain understanding, unacquainted with the controversies which have arisen on the subject, What, according to the Apostolic Epistles, is a Christian Church, or, how is it to be defined? Herod the king: The Herod here referred to is Herod Agrippa I. . The Vatican and all others, uncial and cursive (as far as collated and known), support the error. Hence though Philip might preach and they receive the gospel, the apostles come down, and with prayer lay their hands upon them, and then they receive the Holy Ghost. And they said, "You're crazy!" As the Christian Jews became increasingly offensive to their racial brethren (cf. An event that is unique, and vividly presented as such, takes on the importance of the typical when it reminds us of other similar events. The believers in John Marks house prayed for Peter when he was in prison, and the Lord delivered him both from prison and from death (Acts 12:111), 11. That, to me, is very interesting how close the spiritual world was to these men. The language of the inspired writers of the New Testament is the expression of that Christian experience, or conscious participation in the blessings vouchsafed through Christ, which the Holy Ghost had shed abroad in their hearts: their idea therefore of a saint, or a believer, being derived from their own spiritual consciousness, must have been the highest of which the words will admit. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. Lord Jesus stand by me in my times of trouble,23:11. Surely it can't be Peter!". And Jesus said, "Are you able to be baptized with the baptism whereof I will be baptized?" From pros and euchomai; to pray to God, i.e. "To him give all the prophets witness." to 1 B.C. He killed James. Herod the Great was married ten times. And, of course, he wrote his epistles. How could anything seem too great and good to him whose heart had just made the acquaintance of Jesus? He was truly in earnest before God. * It is well to avoid a figure which churchism has ever turned to its own aggrandisement and the Lord's dishonour. All else is vain, and apt to accredit. A primary particle of connection or addition; both or also. And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him ( Acts 12:4 ); Now a quaternion was actually four soldiers. But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace [Don't make too bit of a stir, fellows. Now, Herod Agrippa I forever enshrines his name in infamy as the one guilty of the blood of the first apostle to be martyred. IMPRISONMENT AND DELIVERANCE ( Acts 12:1-11 ), 12:1-11 About this time Herod the king began to take hostile action to inflict injury on certain men of the Church. And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. "Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word;" for the God who not only has hearts at His command, but controls all circumstances, was now about to accomplish that which He had always at heart, making the disciples to be witnesses of Jesus to the very ends of the earth, though first of all to Judea and Samaria. Kulturltan fotzom, nem nyomok senki arcba egy teleszkpot. It was not enough that they had rejected the Messiah, nor even that He was made Lord and Christ on high. Philip is found at Azotus, and passing through he preaches elsewhere. The change in James may well be another great example of the power of the Cross to change the lives of men. Certain - Some of the church. "And he arose and went." Verb - Present Participle Middle or Passive - Genitive Masculine Singular. *Is it not distressing to find, in this thoughtful production of one in much above the traditions of men and the bias of party, the palpable omission of the grandest and most momentous distinction of the church, namely, the presence of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven? After this comes no slight discipline for Saul. In verse five we read thatprayerwas made: 2. WebActs)12which"gives"you"asnapshotinto"the"prayer"life"of"the" church.Butdontturn$there$yet.$ " And he commanded us to preach unto the people." It was the Lord that had brought Philip, and it was His Spirit that bad taken him away; but it was He too who had given him and left him Jesus for ever. Theirs was not the joy that saw into the presence of God. "About that time was A.D. 44, as Herods death occurred in this year" (Boles 187). "Nor is there any weight in the objection that many of these primitive Churches were very defective in doctrine or in, practice, or in both; that St. Paul speaks of the Corinthians as being, on account of their divisions, 'carnal,' and not 'spiritual,' as 'babes in Christ,' and sharply reproves them for their laxity of discipline in the case of the incestuous person, and their want of discipline in the celebration of the Lord's Supper. "Saul arose and was baptized, and when he had received meat he was strengthened, and remained with the disciples for some time.". It was enough. A fotzs szmomra nem csak egy munka, hanem egy szenvedly, amit csak fnykpezvel tudok csillaptani Szeretem az egyedi elkapott pillanatokat, de nem szeretem az erltetett belltsokat. He was the second husband of Herodias (see G2266) and consented to the death of John the Baptist. Keep me from reading into the Scriptures what I think it is saying, rather than understanding it in its correct context. 4. Now about that time: This phrase refers to the time Saul and Barnabus make their trip to take the collection gathered by the saints in Antioch to the famine stricken brethren in Jerusalem. Ananias, wholly unprepared for the call of such an enemy of the gospel, slow of heart to believe all, expostulates, as it were, with the Saviour. This was precisely what God was now doing; and the remarkable fact appears, that God did not wait for the apostle of the Gentiles to bring the good news to Cornelius. They refused utterly the Holy Ghost's testimony to the Son of man glorified in heaven, and slew or scattered the witnesses, Who then was specially used as the instrument of the free action of the Holy Ghost elsewhere, without plan, without thought of man, and apparently the simple result of circumstances, but in truth God's hand directing all? On believing they were baptized, as we are told in Acts 8:1-40; but they received the Holy Ghost after an interval, through the action of the apostles. God did not clothe him with such overwhelming influence that doors were thrown open to him though the greatest of the apostles. How continually too where we least think they do! As far as God was concerned, it was James' time to come home; it wasn't Peter's time yet. 2 And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. *The copyists of old seem to have confounded in writing, as the Latin and most other ancient translators did in rendering, (Greeks) and (Hellenists), here and elsewhere. Now about that time,. That the famine was in Judea, and Saul and Barnabas were sent thither with what the church at Antioch had collected. So Peter was continuously guarded in prison. "But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews that dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ." The latter is, unquestionably, the ground which he takes" (pp. Prayer was a normal part of their daily ministry (Acts 2:4247; 3:1; 6:4), 4. How blessed it is to see the free activity of the Holy Ghost without any kind of communication of man! However graciously given of the Lord as a token to attract the careless minds of men, they are dangerous when they are made the resting-place and the object of the mind; and this was the fatal mistake made then, and not merely there but by many millions of souls from that day to this. There was the freest action of the Holy Ghost, sovereignly free, and it is impossible to maintain this too stringently; and there was the utmost care that all should be left open for the Holy Ghost to act according to His own will, not only within the church, but also by evangelizing outside. It was to be emphatically a witness of grace in suffering for Christ's name: "For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake." There was at this time some quarrel between Herod and the people of Tyre and Sidon, for whom the quarrel was a serious matter. To Philip was left Iturea and Trachonitis. (748) Perpetuam. Hence the great importance of discipline. . Now at this point we are introduced to James, who became one of the leaders in the early church, who was a half brother to Jesus. All know that there were Jews waiting for the Saviour. ( Acts 12:3 ). Pray about the needs others Fergeteges lagzi volt tnyleg, a kemny mag is aktvan tncolt, gondoskodtak a j hangulatrl. . But Herod, though originally of an Edomite family, yet seems to have been a proselyte to the Jewish religion; for Josephus says he was zealous for the Mosaic rites, a bigot for the ceremonies. the Jews did not believe in Him; but whosoever did, let him be Jew or Gentile, "shall receive remission of sins." It is therefore our wisdom to take heed of the beginnings of sin. Deliverance from the Spirit of Divination 13. Why is it so important to love God and place Him first in Yet his masculine good sense held to the truth, though he did not know the solid basis on which it here stands. He is the Herod of Matthew 2:1-23, who was in power when Jesus was born, who received the Wise Men from the East and who massacred the children. There followed also such signs, or outward powers; but the Holy Ghost was given Himself, according to the Lord's word the promise of the Father, a promise which, as all know, was in the first instance assured to those who were already believers, and which was made good to them because they were believers, not to make them so. I believe that all of our lives are bound within the purposes of God and that God knows the day in which He's going to take me home. See Josephus, Antiq., book 19, chapter 5, section 1. Acts 11:18), Herod took advantage of an opportunity to please his subjects by mistreating some believers and by executing the Apostle James, the brother of John (cf. It is a fallacy then to suppose that Cornelius had no better than merely natural religion. The following extract from the late Dr. Carson's Letters in reply to Dr. John Brown's Vindication of Presbyterianism will show how far an able and excellent man went astray in defending Congregationalism through not knowing that his argument was based, not on God's word, but on man's corruption of it. On the day of Pentecost they were baptized first, and then they received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Pray we hate evil and cling to what is good (12:9). 5. "The Church of Christ was not properly in existence before the day of Pentecost; much less did she, before that era, go forth on her mission to evangelize* the world. 407.]. Unreal!" But it would seem that special reasons operated at Samaria to make it necessary there. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword ( Acts 12:2 ). At the same time, along with this is seen universality in the going out of both the truth and grace of God, which could not but be foreign to the law. So there were sixteen soldiers altogether watching Peter in three-hour shifts, at all times chained to two of them while two were watching the door. In fact, it tells us much aboutprayer. From sun and athroizo; to convene. I quote from the original edition (Edinburgh, 1807): "Acts 11: 31. And they "made great lamentation over him." Pray and say: Father, here am I, take me and use me. (b) Bernice (see Bernike G959) , who appeared with him when Paul was under examination. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) that word, I say, ye know." For these reasons he was popular with the people; and it was no doubt in order to achieve further popularity with the orthodox Jews that he decided to attack the Christian Church and its leaders. A comparison of the last verses of Acts 11 and this chapter (Acts 12) suggests that Barnabas and Paul made that trip to Jerusalem with relief for the victims of the famine at about the time of the events given in Acts 12, this being in 44 A.D., a date determined by the death of Herod Agrippa I. WebActs 12 shows that Peter and James put God first in their lives, regardless of the punishment they might receive. It was not that Peter did not know the same, we are all aware how blessedly he confessed Him to be (not Messiah only, but) the Son of the living God while Jesus was here below. How essential to the idea of a Church the exercise of discipline is, may be seen from the embarrassing contrarieties between theory and practice which the virtual suspension of it in the Church of England is constantly occasioning" (pp. The expansive power of Christianity called it to break forth on all sides; and speedily the original congregation, or in modern language the mother church, of each city gave birth to other societies of Christians in the surrounding neighbourhood. However, outside of the council in Jerusalem, this is the last mention of Peter that we have in the book of Acts. Saul (as he is still called) and Barnabas are made the channels of bringing the contributions to the elders not named before. Preaching. With the apostles becoming more involved with matters outside Jerusalem, James the brother of Jesus was now the most prominent leader in the Jerusalem church (Acts 12:17; Acts 15:13; Galatians 1:18-19; Galatians 2:9,Galatians 2:12). It was not only right, but recorded of God that we might see and profit by it. He slew James, as, when any sedition is raised, the heads and captains go first to the pot, (750) that the common riff-raft may by their punishment be terrified. "Always when you get ready to run, get ready to fight, or get ready to work, you would gird yourself up or get ready to serve. There is a mistake, not only in our vernacular Bible, but also in the common Greek text which is equally faulty as the authorized version. Saul of Tarsus was yet breathing out his threats and slaughter when the Lord was pursuing His onward gracious work among the Samaritans and strangers. The disciples gave themselves to prayer, yet they little believed their own prayers. (Prophetic prayer: Let us fight from the heavenlies Lift up your two hands to the heavenlies as if you are beckoning and shout this prayer point:) By Your Rushing Violent Wind from heavens, O God Arise and SWEEP AWAY every power fighting against my promotion and glory this year 2012, in the name of Jesus. But Peter just kept knocking: and so when they opened the door, they saw him, and they were astonished. The light that shone suddenly on him was from heaven. Although most of the Jews in the Jerusalem church still held to former beliefs and customs, James was not a slave to the law. Next we find Barnabas stirred up to another and a characteristic enterprise. But at this point a still more important step was about to be taken; and the Lord enters on it with due solemnity, as we shall see in the following chapter. Surely to shrink from their enquiries is nothing but self on our part. They were in the church already. Mirt is kell az eskvi fots a kszldsnl? And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry ( Acts 12:24-25 ), Remember they had taken up an offering. To regard him as unawakened at that time is to mistake a great deal of the teaching of the chapter. It was their responsibility now as ever to accept the gracious offer of God. Therefore, I think that the apostle and the son of Alpheus were all one, whom the Jews threw down headlong from the top of the temple, whose death was so highly Commended for his singular praise of holiness. In this chapter a new wave of persecution, instigated by King Herod, broke out against the Church, and especially against its leaders. Prayers Against the Spirit of Affliction 16. 4. A body of believers indeed had been by Christ gathered out of the Jewish people to be the first recipients of the Pentecostal effusion; but before that event, this body could not be called distinctively His Church. Such is the unfolding of the ways of God at this point.