Well if I was Peter, who had just seen James, one of my bestest buddies and fellow missionaries "put to death by the sword" I would be bricking it to say the least. 16 soldiers are a lot of soldiers to arrest one man, and he was put in prison because of the passover, otherwise I wonder whether Herod would have done away with him right away. But in v6 it says that Peter was "sleeping between 2 soldiers". Now as a bit of an insomniac at the slightest sign of stress I find that pretty remarkable.
It made me wonder whether Peter was in that Place of surrender where he was ready for whatever happened to him. It was in that place of peace when the angel woke peter up and told him to put his clothes on. Now, again, if that were me, I would have probably argued, or panicked or something, because an attempted escape from prison would have landed me/Peter into even more trouble (if that were possible!). Perhaps that was why Peter was in a trance when he walked past all those soldiers and out of the door! Hurrah! I like it that the angel stayed with him until he was safely out of prison and then legged it, and then Peter came to himself.
It made me wonder whether Peter was in that Place of surrender where he was ready for whatever happened to him. It was in that place of peace when the angel woke peter up and told him to put his clothes on. Now, again, if that were me, I would have probably argued, or panicked or something, because an attempted escape from prison would have landed me/Peter into even more trouble (if that were possible!). Perhaps that was why Peter was in a trance when he walked past all those soldiers and out of the door! Hurrah! I like it that the angel stayed with him until he was safely out of prison and then legged it, and then Peter came to himself.
So various things came to me when I was thinking about all of this. The main thing was, why did God rescue Peter and not James? Well I have no idea but James was as equally important to God as Peter, and he would have received a very warm welcome in heaven and a knowledge that he had fulfilled his calling whilst on earth. Peter obviously had more to do whilst on earth.
I have had that thought often as I have quite a number of "near misses" (mainly whilst in the car!) I remember recently one occasion where I felt I had to stop at a traffic light when it was green. Something just made me pause. At that moment a big lorry charged through a red light and if I hadn't stopped it would have squished me and you would have probably all attended my funeral. It was also very sobering as I kind of thought "why me? Why did God choose to rescue me and yet thousands die across the world, and are tortured for their faith, or die in accidents etc". I don't know, but it made me realise that God must have more for me on this earth, and so I want my life to count. I think Peter dies a grisly death later on, so it seems his time had not yet come at that point.
Anyway. All this makes me think of an Amy Grant song that was released in the 80s:
It is worth a watch for the sheer comedy of a weird video, cheesy acting and bad hair alone! Enjoy!
Hils
It is worth a watch for the sheer comedy of a weird video, cheesy acting and bad hair alone! Enjoy!
Hils
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