One Believer Dies, Another Lives: On Reading Providence

“Attention-grabbing query for you at the moment, Pastor John, on tips on how to learn windfall in Acts 12, which we encounter collectively tomorrow in our Bible studying. The query comes from an nameless listener to the podcast, who writes, “Pastor John, good day, and thanks for the continued encouragement I obtain for my soul by way of the Ask Pastor John podcast! I’ve a Bible query for you at the moment, as a result of I admit that I’ve a tough time studying and understanding windfall in Acts 12.

“There we’re given an extended and detailed account of the divine intervention that got here to Peter’s rescue to avoid wasting his life in Acts 12:6–11. However simply above his dramatic and detailed deliverance, in the identical chapter, we’re advised that James — matter-of-factly — was murdered by the king’s sword. That’s in Acts 12:1–2. What are we to make of the variations right here within the degree of safety and in how elaborately, or not, every story is advised? Why the distinction? And what classes will we study studying windfall within the lives of every follower of Christ?”

Properly, I’m tempted to say, “Don’t learn windfall; learn the Bible.” However that’s not honest. That’s an insufficient response to the query as a result of, on the one hand, whereas it’s true that the majority of God’s providential acts on the planet don’t talk all of his 1000’s of explicit designs in that windfall, there are circumstances on this world that windfall has designed in such a manner that we must be understanding what they imply. Jesus acquired very upset that individuals in his day might learn the climate however couldn’t learn the indicators of the occasions (Matthew 16:3).

However, to say that we must always learn our Bibles doesn’t make issues fully easy, proper? As a result of right here in Acts 12, the query stays: Why does the loss of life of James get two verses and the rescue of Peter get twelve verses? And I feel the reply must be sought in a cautious studying of the chapter, not just by asking questions on windfall. We study windfall by a cautious studying of the biblical textual content, not the opposite manner round.

Acts 12 begins, “About that point Herod [the king] laid violent palms on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he noticed that it happy the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter additionally” (Acts 12:1–3). Then, for the following twelve verses, you get this wonderful story about how God rescued Peter miraculously and saved his life. So, providentially, God gave up James to loss of life and rescued Peter.

So, what’s occurring on this chapter? What’s the purpose of Acts 12? I feel the purpose of this chapter has extra to do with Herod and Peter than with James and Peter. This chapter begins by Herod killing James, and the chapter ends by God killing Herod. James is talked about twice on this chapter; Herod is talked about six occasions.

So right here’s what I feel is occurring. Herod is the primary individual launched within the chapter and is portrayed as anti-Christian and as arrogantly presumptuous in opposition to God’s folks. And it’s exactly Herod’s presumption and his pleasure that begins the chapter and that may deliver him to smash on the finish of the chapter. I feel the general level of the chapter is that this: whereas God might permit boastful man to have some short-term triumphs over his folks (therefore the loss of life of James), however, God reigns over boastful kings, governors, and brings them to smash in his time and places them to disgrace.

“We study windfall by a cautious studying of the biblical textual content, not the opposite manner round.”

Now, lest we consider the loss of life of James is one way or the other a fluke or an event for Herod to assume he’s in cost, bear in mind Matthew 20:20–23: James’s mom requested Jesus if James and John, her sons, might sit at his proper hand in his kingdom, and Jesus stated, “You have no idea what you’re asking.” He turns to them and he says, “Can you drink the cup that I’m to drink?” They usually stated sure. And he stated, ominously, “You’ll drink it.” And James drank it within the second verse of Acts 12.

Herod was not in cost; God was fulfilling his phrase. Herod wasn’t ruling when he beheaded James; God was ruling. Oh how cautious we must be in studying windfall.

However then Luke describes the imprisonment of Peter in such a manner as to make Herod look presumptuous and foolish. First, Luke highlights that Herod totally supposed to deliver Peter out of jail the following day and do to him what he did to James; that was his futile plan. Then, to indicate how helpless Herod was, Luke tells us that on the very evening earlier than Herod deliberate to deliver Peter out, he made certain — Herod made exclusively certain — that he was being safely guarded. He had him in chains; he had him between two guards on both facet of him; he had two sentries behind locked gates. The entire emphasis falls on Herod’s sense of energy. I’ve acquired him. I’m holding him.

And all of it’s completely futile as a result of when God’s angel exhibits up, the chains merely fall off. They only fall off. The guards don’t know what’s occurring. They’re completely oblivious. The gate is described as opening as if it had a will to do all of it by itself. It simply opens. And Peter comes out to a praying fellowship, after which he goes on his manner. And when Peter realizes what’s taking place, he says, “Now I’m certain that the Lord has despatched his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod” (Acts 12:11). He didn’t simply say, “rescued me from jail,” however “from the hand of [this presumptuous king] Herod.”

And the story of Herod and Peter might have ended proper there, with the triumph of God over this man who thought he might do something he happy with God’s folks. However the story doesn’t finish there as a result of the story actually is about Herod as a lot as about Peter. What does Herod do? He does what each tyrant does who’s pissed off that he doesn’t have all the facility he thinks he has and who’s about to be mocked (for Peter’s escape): he kills the troopers who failed to protect Peter. In fact he does. That’s what tyrants do. Futile.

After which, to deliver the story to a climax, the chapter ends with Herod — on an appointed day, along with his royal robes — taking a seat on the throne, delivering an oration and being claimed by the folks, “The voice of a god, and never of a person!” (Acts 12:22). In different phrases, his presumption reaches a crescendo on this chapter. And Acts 12:23 says, “Instantly an angel of the Lord struck him down as a result of he didn’t give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his final.”

Kings Beware, Saints Be Daring

So, the message of this chapter — and, in a way, the windfall behind it — is that sure, God’s trustworthy servants will typically drink the cup that Jesus drank in martyrdom, however beware, kings of the earth: Don’t assume that you’ve got final energy over God’s folks. Watch out for pleasure and presumption, watch out for not giving God glory. And, saints of the Lord, in all of your struggling know this: God reigns over the earth. He reigns over the kings of the earth. So press on with the enterprise of spreading the gospel, whether or not you reside or whether or not you die.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and instructor of Needing God and chancellor of Bethlehem Faculty and Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He’s writer of greater than 50 books, together with Needing God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most lately Foundations for Lifelong Studying: Training in Critical Pleasure.” from the Transcript