(vi) To complete the list we may note that Herod Agrippa ( G67) , was the father of (a) Agrippa the Second, before whom Paul was examined and before whom he made his famous speech ( Acts 25:1-27; Acts 26:1-32). He had before this delivered Saul from the effects of undue anxiety and distrust in the minds of the disciples. And in the present case this requirement is the more reasonable from the circumstance that the Apostles uniformly identify themselves, as regards their Christian standing and hopes, with those to whom they write. It was their responsibility now as ever to accept the gracious offer of God. When they opened the door and saw him they were amazed. The disciples gave themselves to prayer, yet they little believed their own prayers. This is the Herod of our present passage in Acts 12:1-25. *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? 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. So James is now following his Lord in martyrdom, the brother of John. It was wrought not by those that had previously been always the great spiritual witnesses; for we hear of none ministering but the apostles, and indeed not even of all the apostles speaking, though it may be that they did. 2. Egy eskv, az ifj pr szmra mr relatv korn reggel kezddik. But the moment I have accomplished that purpose of God and plan for my life, then God's going to take me home.In the book of Revelation, chapter 11, we read concerning the two witnesses that come to bare witness during the tribulation period upon the earth. There were Gentiles who truly looked to the Lord, and not to self or man; who had been taught of Him to look for a coming Saviour, though they quite rightly connected that Saviour with Israel; for such was the burden of the promise. He was led into no small perplexity by the reading current in his day, and, to the shame of Christendom, still tolerated as the received reading. but they came with one accord to him, because they had made a friend of Blastus the king's chamberlain, and they desired peace; because their country was nourished by the king's country [or by Palestine]. So about this time, Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. Acts 12:1-24 | BELIEVERS EARNEST PRAYERS - Triton World And so this Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great, began to persecute the church just to curry favor with the Jews.His son, Herod Agrippa II was the one that Paul faced in Caesarea as Paul was actually being interrogated by him in order that they might develop charges against him when he was sent to Nero. How all-important for our souls that we should have Christ before us, and that we should have no desire but for His glory! Paul and Barnabas had fulfilled their errand of mercy to the Church at Jerusalem and so returned to Antioch, taking with them John Mark. prayer points from acts 12 (1.) WebFirst, there was unity in prayer many were gathered together praying (12:12), any differences that might have separated people from one another were now completely lost She was a direct descendant of the Maccabeans, which made her a Jewess, but she was married to Herod the Great and so Herod Agrippa I was sort of half Jewish in a sense. To these the Emperor Claudius afterwards added Judea and Samaria; which were nearly all the dominions possessed by his grandfather, Herod the Great. With their friend on the throne, the Jewish hierarchy decided to exterminate Christianity; and there was no reason why they could not have succeeded, except for the intervention of the Father in heaven. is stricken by an angel, and dies miserably. The apostle died a martyr, to show the rest of them what they must expect, that they might prepare accordingly. And they said, "Yes, Lord, we are able." On the fourteenth of Nissan they began the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and so it was during this Feast of Passover that Peter was arrested. For it is not maintained that the first Christians, any more than those of our own day, were or could be perfect; and all that can be fairly gathered from what St. Paul says of the Corinthians is, that they were imperfect and inconsistent. Nobody could have this till the gospel, and even after its publication God Himself sent specifically to the Gentiles; for He has His ways, as well as His times and seasons. She recognized Peter's voice and, in her joy, she did not open the door but ran and told them that Peter stood before the entrance. (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. Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural. He had gone up to the great city of solemnities, but the blessing was no longer to be found there. 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?" Summary: Acts 12 has both answered and unanswered prayers within it. It was, no doubt, a Gentile title. To a reflecting believer it will be plain that the reasons for this do not hold at the present time. The common people respected him for his sincere faith and called him James the Just. "And he commanded them to be baptized.". This can't be real; it's just a dream. It was so ordered of God that the Holy Ghost should not at first be conferred on the disciples at Samaria: I do not mean merely on such as Simon or false brethren, but even on those that were true. Placed in a dungeon, Peter had 16 soldiers guarding him (4 squads of 4 each). Prayer He did this because he saw it pleased the Jews. Another thing too let me again and again remark: the gift of the Holy Ghost never means those mighty wonders of power which had acted on the greedy and ambitious mind of Simon Magus. stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church; Beza's ancient copy adds, "in Judea": it seems to be the church at Jerusalem; perhaps some of the principal members of them; and so the Ethiopic version renders it, the rulers of the house of God. If you But "as for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and dragging off men and women, committed them to prison." Take, as the most solemn moment of all, the day of Pentecost. This was suitable to them. It did not escape the discerning eyes of Peter a little afterward. It must be his spirit. ], The supernatural deliverance of Peter 12:1-19, "Peters rescue from prison is an unusually vivid episode in Acts even when simply taken as a story about Peter. WebTHE POWER OF PRAYER. TUESDAY Pray we Demonstrate genuine love Gird yourself up and tie on your sandals. He did what, I have no doubt, was the right thing. They were now put in contact with his wants, and all was instantly light in his soul. And God has, in the meantime, a work for me to do, and until I have accomplished that work that God has in mind for me to do, God's going to preserve me and keep me until that day. and they took with them John who was surnamed Mark. He was made king by the Emperor Caligula, and was put in possession of all the territories formerly held by his uncle Philip and by Lysanias; viz. We have only to extend this undoubted principle of interpretation to the Jewish people itself in its national that is, its legal-character, to perceive that the terms by which, in the Old Testament, its privileges are expressed, assume, when applied to Christians, a different meaning, or rather betoken the spiritual realities of which the former were but the types" (pp. When this When Caligula was slain, he was at Rome, and having ingratiated himself into the favor of Claudius, he conferred on him also Judea and Samaria, so that his dominions were equal in extent to those of his grandfather, Herod the Great. Ennek a hobbinak a digitlis vilg elg nagy lehetsget nyjtott. Now about that time - That is, during the time that the famine existed, or the time when Barnabas and Saul went up to Jerusalem. This is an essential feature of Christianity. Egy kedves bartom eskvjn ktttem ki Gyr vrosban.Bemutatnk pr fott a lakodalom rszleteibl. And when they understood the bearing of that which God had wrought here below that it judged man; that it gave no countenance to the religiousness in which they boasted; that it showed most convincingly, and so much the more bitterly because convincingly, what God all through His testimony with them had expressly intimated, by the prophets as well as in the types of the law itself, that He had deeper purposes; that nothing on earth could satisfy Him; that it was in His mind, on the proved ruin of Israel, to bring in heaven and its things for a heavenly people even while here below: now that this was made manifest, above all, in the testimony that Stephen had rendered to the very man that they had rejected and crucified, seen in glory at the right hand of God, it was unbearable. He was ruler of Judaea, Samaria and Idumaea. "Lord," says he, "I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name." But they said unto her, [You're crazy.] The personal holiness of the Christian is a property of the individual, not of the society as such; hence a professing Christian society, however large a proportion of holy men it may contain, does not predicate of itself that it is a part of Christ's holy Church as long as it exercises no formal official act implying that assumption. But the correction confirms the true reading. After his death, the word of God prospers. "About that time was A.D. 44, as Herods death occurred in this year" (Boles 187). Thus all the first-rate Uncials, the Sinai, Vatican, Alexandrian, and Palimpsest of Paris, supported by some of the best cursives and all the best ancient versions, oppose the vulgar reading. Finally, when the angel left and Peter was standing on the street, he said, "Hey, it wasn't a dream. To Philip was left Iturea and Trachonitis. . Thus we see God had allowed things apparently to take their course. They requested one day that they be granted to sit one at the right hand and the other at the left hand of Jesus when He was in His kingdom. 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. For through the years the theater was covered with sand, and as the result, was well preserved. But it is still more strange as evidence of the slipshod criticism of the Reformers that Beza, who was more of a scholar than his predecessors, uniformly edits , and writes a blundering note to the effect that it is here used in the sense of . My object, of course, is simply to give a sketch of the important book now before us, endeavouring to connect (as, indeed, evidently the chapter does connect) what was coming with what was past. And as he came into the theater, the sun reflected off of this silver cloth. "Suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? She despised the Holy Ghost as she had despised the Messiah; and no wonder therefore that he who had gone up to Jerusalem to worship was returning with the yearnings of his heart still unsatisfied. Verse Acts 12:1. 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. These gifts, at least such as were of an extraordinary sort, were the outward signs of that gift in early days; and it was of great importance that there should be a decisive palpable testimony to it. It was at the feast of the passover, when their celebrating the memorial of their typical deliverance should have led them to the acceptance of their spiritual deliverance; instead of this, they, under pretence of zeal for the law, were most violently fighting against it, and, in the days of unleavened bread, were most soured and embittered with the old leaven of malice and wickedness. Alas! Help me torecognise the different audiences that are being addressed in different Bible passages. WebPraying through Acts 1:10. It was a action that you would take in order that you might have greater freedom of movement. In fact, it is thought by some that the upper room was actually in the house of Mary the mother of Mark. It is not only that God uses one and another: this He does and we may bless Him that so He does; but the God who employs means is also above them, and He needs now only to draw out by circumstances the souls of some simple Christian men who had faith and love to seek the Gentiles without requiring the same vigorous and extraordinary means, under His mighty hand, as even the apostle did. (Ephesians 4:1-32) I merely make the remark in passing; though it will not be needed for most here, it may be for some. Father, every ungodly power that has penetrated to the position of authority in the church expose and disgrace them and if they fail to repent, uproot them, in Jesus name. 407-8, for a brief biography of Herod Agrippa I.] Nevertheless "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh;" and he who loves to present the Lord in the depth of His personal grace, and the height of His glory, has surely a spiritual fitness for the expression of the heart's joy in that which faith has created within. Hogy egy prat emltsek: termk-reklm, glamour, portr, csald, prfot. Korbban, filmes idszakban meggondolta TovbbEskvi fots munkja, vrl vre emberek tzezrei dntenek gy, hogy letket sszektik, csaldot alaptanak sboldogsgban lnek. In the New Testament he is called Philip and is mentioned in Luke 3:1. Azeskvi fotzst, eskvi szolgltatk munkjt rendszerint a felszn alapjn tlik meg, de elmeslem a valsgot megmutatni mindenfle kdsts nlkl. "Who art thou, Lord?" Is not this interlacing after a divine sort? theology. Acts 12:5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. Contrasts mark Acts 12:1-23: James dies, God delivers Peter, and Herod dies. It was no longer simply a cleaving to a God of goodness who could not deceive and would not disappoint the soul that hoped in His mercy, "but the conscious joy of knowing his sins all one, and himself distinctly put on the ground of accomplished redemption as a known present thing for his own soul in this world. One of his wives, Miriam, had a son, Aristopollis that was murdered by Herod the Great, as was Miriam. Reading: Acts 5:12-16 (NLT) The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. He was delivered to four quaternions of soldiers, that is, to sixteen, who were to be a guard upon him, four at a time, that he should not make his escape, nor be rescued by his friends. I quote from the original edition (Edinburgh, 1807): "Acts 11: 31. 422. That, to me, is very interesting how close the spiritual world was to these men. It is granted that man sees difficulty in this: there is what he cannot reconcile; but be assured that the great point is, first, to believe. afterwards the Apostles preach and organize. Warren W. Wiersbe noted, This is certainly a good lesson for the church today. . The great tragedy of this particular wave of persecution was that it was not due to any man's principles, however misguided; it was due simply to Herod's bid to gain popular favour with the people. Evidently it was power in external display, then so richly manifested, which acted on the fleshly mind of Simon, himself having the reputation of a great one, and before this the vessel of some kind of demoniacal power the miserable power of Satan, with which he dazzled the eyes of men. "And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." In this chapter a new wave of persecution, instigated by King Herod, broke out against the Church, and especially against its leaders. For indeed he was but man. See Luke 3:1. Also help me to bring to my mind some urgentprayerrequests. He would do this after Easter, meta to pascha--after the passover, certainly so it ought to be read, for it is the same word that is always so rendered; and to insinuate the introducing of a gospel-feast, instead of the passover, when we have nothing in the New Testament of such a thing, is to mingle Judaism with our Christianity. 1). 256, 257). He apparently became a believer only after Jesus resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:7; cf. 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. While the typical character of the Mosaic institution in general is recognised, it has not been sufficiently borne in mind that the Jewish nation itself in its external or political aspect, was a type, and nothing more, of the Christian Israel . WebThe greatest sacrifice and act of submission is when we lay our agenda down and pick up Christs. And he goes, the Lord communicating another vision to the apostle himself, in which he sees Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him that he might receive his sight. When redemption was accomplished, it was the seal of the faith and the life which they already had. But here we have clearly a man who had been chosen for another and an external purpose by the church, but whom the Lord uses elsewhere for a new and higher purpose, for which He had qualified him by the Holy Ghost. 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. So he went out and followed him. It may be observed passingly, that thus plainly baptizing is in no way a necessarily ministerial act. It is prayer that expects no answer. What kind of death he suffered: He was slain with the sword, that is, his head was cut off with a sword, which was looked upon by the Romans to be a more disgraceful way of being beheaded than with an axe; so Lorinus. Keep me from reading into the Scriptures what I think it is saying, rather than understanding it in its correct context. The Martyrdom of James; Peter's Imprisonment. On this occasion they of the circumcision see that the Gentiles receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; for they hear them speak with tongues and magnify God, and they were astonished. The facts were notorious; but of this we may be sure, that never had they been put together before the mind of the Ethiopian as then, never connected with the living Word and His grace. What a revolution this word caused in that mighty heart! 'Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria,' etc. Leadership. But the Lord said unto him, "Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. The latter is, unquestionably, the ground which he takes" (pp. 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. May our hearts and minds be fully Apparently a primary word; a 'mother'. 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. Jehovah's house had been left doubly desolate; Jerusalem had this added to her other sins that, when the blessing had come down from heaven, she would not have it. But this other James, who will write an epistle after his name and will take a role of leadership in the council in Jerusalem, is not the James of the gospel, except that Mark does name him as one of the half brothers of Jesus. Clearly the Jew is meant. Jerusalem passes as the center of the church's activity and now moves to Antioch, and all of the missionary activity in taking the Gospel into all of the world centers out of the church in Antioch. They're all inside praying, "Oh God, help Peter! Gird yourself means to tie your skirt on up. The word in the Greek is Passover after the time of unleavened bread. He valued the ancient people of God; nor is he indeed the only centurion that loved their nation. Thus we see the Lord was working, and, as so constantly happens, it was not only that He called out Paul for the Gentiles; it was not only that He sent Peter to a Gentile; but now these men, who might have been despised as irregular labourers, were in the current of the same work of God, even if they knew nothing of it, save by divine instinct. Where, whither, when, in what place. It may be that the Lord had not allowed the true character of Simon to be manifested to every eye at that moment. Although most of the Jews in the Jerusalem church still held to former beliefs and customs, James was not a slave to the law. Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, NT Apostles: Acts 12:12 Thinking about that he came to (Acts of the Apostles Ac). Acts 12 Kedves Ltogat! The Power of Prayer - Preachers Corner As a rule, a prisoner was chained, his right hand to the left hand of the guard. I can understand difficulties in the minds of believers; and no one would wish to force or hurry the convictions of any; nor would it be of the slightest value to receive even a truth without the faith that is produced, and exercised, and cleared by the word of God. Prayer was a normal part of their daily ministry (Acts 2:4247; 3:1; 6:4), 4. He would direct attention to the fact, that the ordinary greeting of St. Paul, at the beginning of each epistle, is to the 'saints and faithful brethren' constituting the Church of such a place, fellow-heirs with himself of eternal life; and that throughout these compositions, the members of the Church are presumed to be in living union with Christ, reasonings and exhortations being addressed to them, the force of which cannot be supposed to be admitted, except by those who are led by the Spirit of God; in short, that the members of the Corinthian or the Ephesian Church are addressed as Christians; and a Christian is one who is in saving union with Christ.". But he is truly a bondman, and at once is ready to go at the bidding of the Lord, who had given him to reap in joy where He had Himself tasted the firstfruits in the days of His own ministry here below. 2. 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. Genitive case of hos as adverb; at which place, i.e. Surely it was true of all who really believed and knew His glory. Matthew 18:19,20 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven, Many were gathered together praying.--The facts of the case show that the meeting was held at night, possibly to avoid persecution, or, it may be, as the sequel of the evening gathering to "break bread.". 192, 193). And when Herod had sought for Peter, and found him not, he cross-examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death ( Acts 12:19 ). Lord, help me to think about some real answers toprayerI have had. Samaria, which had held out against the truth, was now yielding the harvest that a greater than Philip had sown; and there was joy in that very Samaria where greater works were now done according to His own word. He visits round about. He figured that they would be coming to Mary's house looking for him and so he, no doubt, went to hide out from Herod. It's all set. Lord Jesus stand by me in my times of trouble,23:11. No doubt their spiritual condition was defective, and their outward position must have seemed anomalous; but Scripture is decisive that such godly Gentiles there were. Question. They said to her, "You are mad." We see such in the gospels. WebThe following are prayer points for personal revival and spiritual awakening that you can use to pray and bring back the fire of the Spirit into your life, church and community. It gives teaching on how to face trials and temptations, on the character of true faith, and on many practical matters such as the control of the tongue, the use of wealth and the exercise of patience (James 1:3,James 1:12; James 2:14-17; James 3:2,James 3:13; James 4:1-2; James 5:8). "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. He acts on that of which he afterwards wrote. . * The external authority is very decidedly for the singular against the plural. He is mentioned in Matthew 2:22. .," pp. But this manifestation and fruit of gracious power silenced even the unruly and hard spirits of the circumcision. We know that God could have delivered James by a miracle even as He delivered Peter. He was a grandson of Herod the Great, and one of the sons of Aristobulus, whom Herod put to death (Josephus, Antiq., 18, 5). A fotzsban az emberbrzolst tekintem a legnagyobb kihvsnak.Fontosnak tartom a folyamatos nkpzst, hogy megismerjem a legjabb trendeket s irnyzatokat, igyekszem mindig napraksz jdonsgokkal szolglni. Oh Lord, deliver Peter" and all. * Thenceforth the Church becomes a matter of history; and its history is nothing less than that of the vicissitudes, prosperous and adverse, which the kingdom of God upon earth has in the lapse of ages passed through. The persecutor died but the church continued to grow (24-25). For every particular church is so, called on the supposition of its being a manifestation, more or less true, of the one holy Church the body of Christ. the Jews did not believe in Him; but whosoever did, let him be Jew or Gentile, "shall receive remission of sins." Did he not feel so much the more settled in Jesus as there was no other object now before his soul? Confidence in man, in self, was overthrown to its foundations all that his life had been zealously building up. In due time follows the further development of the truth as to Christ in testimony. 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. His pedigree contains several infamous characters who opposed the purposes of God. The people cried out, "It is the voice of a God and not of a man." The character of James life and teaching can be seen in the letter in the New Testament that bears his name (James 1:1). As the Christian Jews became increasingly offensive to their racial brethren (cf. From that we learn that this was the headquarters of the Christian Church. He spent some thirty years of his early life in Rome, but then came back and loved living in Jerusalem and was seeking to curry the favor of the Jews, living as the Jews lived. Water baptism is neither slighted nor is it put forward as a command or condition. Ministry. A man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the queen of the Ethiopians, was returning after having gone up to Jerusalem to worship. And although its character had to be yet more brought out by another and far greater witness of divine things who was still in the blindness of Jewish unbelief at this very moment himself taking his own miserable part, though with a good natural conscience, in the death of Stephen, all told powerfully upon the Jews, but lacerated their feelings to the utmost. Undoubtedly the cruelty of this mad man was restrained and bridled by the secret power of God. (748) Perpetuam. And so he did. Father, I declare that I walk in the wisdom of Christ today in Jesus name. Yet the Holy Ghost was given in especial power on that day. This remained; but he preached Him rather in His own personal glory, not as the Son of David, the servant, which was the great burden of Peter's preaching, made Lord and Christ; not that He was the Son of man in heaven, as Stephen witnessed; but that this Jesus, the Christ, is the Son of God, clearly therefore more particularly bound up with the divine nature, or godhead glory of Himself.

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