Acts 12 "When Our Plans Meet God's Purpose"
John Lennon said, “Life is what happens while you’re busy making plans.” But an old Yiddish proverb puts it this way, “Man plans, and God laughs.” Proverbs says it like this, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
In other words, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.”
I’ve had a lot of plans over the years that haven’t exactly gone as… planned.
In grade school, three years in a row, I wrote 'Batman' under 'what I want to be when I grow up.' I came up a few billion dollars and a perfectly tuned physique short of that plan.
I used to stand on my bed and practice guitar for hours—gonna be a big star one day! I came a lot closer to that one than I did Batman. But ultimately my plans for being the American Bono only got so far—I was in Rolling Stone, on MTV, it was fun but no one has heard of me. I still didn’t find what I was looking for.
We all make big plans. Perfect vacations. Amazing surprise parties. Do it yourself home renovations. And life happens—feels like God laughs.
When we’re young, we make all these elaborate plans for our education, our career, for marriage and family. And then one day we wake up and wonder where all the time went.
It’s good to make plans. It’s even better to have plans that align with God’s plans. That way He can laugh with us, instead of at us.
We’re continuing to go through the Book of Acts line by line—the history of the early church.
The first wave of persecution started when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem killed a young man named Stephen. Saul led an attack on the church, especially the Greek speaking members, that caused many Christians to leave Jerusalem and spread all over the place. Jesus put a stop to that first wave by confronting Saul on the road to Damascus and calling him to change teams—for the church instead of against it.
There are two ways to defeat an enemy: One way is to make them your friend, like Jesus did with Saul—today we’re going to see an example of the other way. Chapter 12…
About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Acts 12:1-3
Last week we talked about the church in Antioch taking up an offering because a prophet told them a famine was coming—God wanted them to get ready to help the Christians throughout Judea when the food ran out.
About that same time a new wave of persecution broke out in Jerusalem against the church. This time it wasn't being led by the religious leaders, it was the political leader put in charge of the Jews by Rome—King Herod. This is about ten years after the death of Stephen, the church had been growing in relative peace. All of a sudden, Herod came up with this big plan to be popular with the Jewish leaders by making a big show of taking down the apostles—the leaders of the church. So, he went after them. He probably saw Jesus as a threat to his throne—all these Christians saying “Christ is King,” “Jesus is Lord.” His motivation wasn’t theological or religious, he just wanted more power. Since it was Passover, he thought he could strengthen the support of the Jewish leaders by giving them something extra to celebrate.
Most of the apostles were out of town doing ministry at all those churches spread throughout the country because of the first persecution—but Herod found out James was in Jerusalem so he arrested and beheaded him. He was the first apostle to be killed. There’s a really great story told by Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius (early Christian historians). They say James told his guard about Jesus while he was waiting to be executed. The guard believed—and was so vocal about his new faith that he was executed too.
Luke doesn’t say much about James here but let’s give him a proper obituary: He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, the brother of John, part of Jesus’ inner circle along with Peter. He was there at the Transfiguration, the raising of Jairus’ daughter from the dead, one of the disciples who was closer to Jesus when He prayed in Gethsemane. His mom had asked Jesus if her sons could sit at His right and left hand when He came into His kingdom. Jesus called them the Sons of Thunder. They were the ones who wanted to call fire down from heaven when a Samaritan village didn’t show Jesus proper respect. He’s also the first apostle to be martyred.
And it did make the Jewish leaders very happy, so Herod found Peter and arrested him, too.
This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. Acts 12:3-4
Herod must think he’s very clever. He plans to kill the head apostle on the anniversary of the day Jesus had been killed—the day after Passover. He wasn’t going to take any chances of Peter getting away, either—going to guard him with four sets of four soldiers. Make a big show of his execution. Good times. Bring the kids!
So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. Acts 12:46
Peter is in jail, waiting to be executed, chained to two soldiers at all times in his cell—potty breaks are awkward, this whole scene is going nowhere good. He would have been in jail a few days at least. His friends in the church are obviously upset—the church is praying nonstop for him. I’m sure they’re praying for his life to be spared, for him to be released. I mean, this is Peter, the Rock, the head apostle.
So, it’s the night before he’s going to be killed—and what’s Peter doing? Well, the same thing he was doing the night before Jesus was crucified. He’s sleeping. I suppose this could be seen as a sign of his great faith, “What? Me worry?! No. To live is Christ, to die is gain! God’s going to do what God’s going to do.”
Or Peter could be like me. When I get really stressed and overwhelmed—I go to sleep. Not the best survival technique. “Oh look, a bear! Quick, let's take a nap.”
Whatever the reason, Peter is sound asleep. Apparently, so are the guards.
And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. Acts 12:7-19
Peter is pretty sure he’s having a wonderful dream. An angel shows up with bright light. It says the angel strikes him in the side—maybe he tried gently waking him first, maybe he went straight to punching. The chains fall off his wrists. Peter looks at the guards he had been chained to—still asleep. Cool. Puts on his cloak and his shoes—the angel tells him to follow as he leads him out of prison. Peter thinks he’s dreaming.
When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” Acts 12:10-11
There were multiple guards—the angel must have put everyone to sleep—probably the real reason Peter was asleep, too. Because this isn’t Harry Potter and Peter didn’t have an invisibility cloak. They make it past all the guards, come to the big iron gate that leads to the city, and it just opens like the automatic doors at Walmart. To the original readers of this story, who knew about the strength and size of the gate, this would have been an impressive detail.
They go about a block and the angel takes off—Peter wakes up from his sleepwalking. He’s like, “This is really happening!? Right on! Thanks be to God!”
When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. Acts 12:12
It’s the middle of the night, he needs to get off the street, so he goes to the house of a friend. Mary’s place is a really nice, big house—probably one of the places they met for church. Mary’s son John Mark is better known to us as the writer of the Gospel of Mark. He was a disciple of Peter and the nephew of Barnabus. A bunch of Peter’s church friends were gathered there praying for him.
And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” Acts 12:13-15
Don’t miss that this is funny. Mary’s maid, Rhoda, is the one who answers the door. She recognizes Peter’s voice and is so excited she forgets to let him in—leaves him standing in the street. She runs to let the others know that Peter is alive and well, standing on the porch, and all the people in that prayer meeting, praying for Peter to be released—none of them believe her. They don’t believe God has answered their prayer. They not only don’t believe Rhoda and say she’s crazy, they try to explain it away with some really bad theology. “It’s probably just Peter’s angel.” What the heck does that mean? Like, his guardian angel? Did he die and become an angel? Is that how it works? Do angels knock? This is classic “don’t get your hopes up” language.
But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place. Acts 12:16-17
While they’re still mansplaining to Rhoda that God couldn’t have answered their prayers, Peter’s trying to knock the door down. When they finally open it, what do you know! There he is. They must have erupted into some kind of joyous hurrah but Peter’s like, “Y’all need to calm down or we’re all going to get busted!”
He tells them about his angelic jailbreak and says to pass the info on to James and the brothers—clearly not the James who had just been killed. He’s talking about James the brother of Jesus—who had become the leader and head pastor of the Jerusalem church.
Peter left in the middle of the night, no one knows where he went—probably best that way. He’ll show up again in a few chapters. Meanwhile, back at the jailhouse…
Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Acts 12:18-19
Not a good day to be one of those prison guards. Herod’s like, “You had one job!”
He was not a nice guy. He was pretty much the worst. A self-serving, power-hungry, cruel tyrant. He pretended to be a devout Jew but he was no such thing. He was a narcissist who desperately wanted to be popular with the Jewish leaders—obsessed with his own glory and keeping his throne. Herod came from a violent family—his grandfather tried to kill baby Jesus, and his uncle killed John the Baptist and was part of the crucifixion. This guy, Herod Agrippa, was no different. The Herod family was always happy to sacrifice other people for power, influence, or popularity.
Luke wants to make sure we know what happened to the guy who had big plans to kill the apostles…
Then he (Herod) went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there. Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. Acts 12:19-20
It doesn’t say why Herod was mad at the people of Tyre and Sidon but he probably didn’t need much of a reason—that’s how it is with people who have unchecked egos, they can be petty. But the people of Tyre and Sidon couldn’t afford for Herod to be mad at them because they depended on him for food. It seems like that famine we talked about last week was starting to affect people.
So, they got an audience with the king through his personal assistant, Blastus. Why aren’t more people named Blastus?
On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”
Acts 12:21-22
How vain did he have to be to not know the people were just blowing smoke? “Oh, Herod, you are sooo handsome, sooo smart, when you speak it’s like I’m listening to James Earl Jones!”
Herod’s like, “The voice of a god! Yes! I do have the voice of a god don’t I? I am a god.”
It’s dangerous to believe your own press and make plans for personal glory.
Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. Acts 12:23
Herod’s moment of glory ends quickly. One minute he’s basking in fake praise; the next, struck down by an angel and eaten by worms.
The Jewish historian, Josephus, records this incident in his writings, too. Says Herod was dressed in a shiny robe made of spun silver, was giving a speech to a cheering crowd in Caesarea, when all of a sudden he had some kind of stomach pain, was carried from the throne, and died. Josephus agrees with the Biblical account that he died at the hand of God for accepting blasphemous praise and believing he was a god in his arrogance and pride.
Herod’s big plans for self-glory and killing the apostles directly opposed God’s plans.
I told you, there are two ways to defeat an enemy: either make them your friend (like Jesus did with Saul), or take them out (like God did with Herod). These are two ways to pray for our enemies—like Kemper says in his song “Malediction,” “Save them Lord, or slay them dead.”
So, this puts an end to the second wave of persecution against the church. Herod died in 44 A.D. The next massive persecution isn’t going to happen until Nero in the mid 60s. The next 20 years are not exactly going to be a cake walk, but the church will have enough freedom to continue growing…
But the word of God increased and multiplied. Acts 12:24
The church still continues to grow. Today. No political power can stop it, no attacks of the devil, no internal quarrels—nothing can stop God’s plan for the advance and preservation of the Gospel going into the world to build His church.
Which you’re part of, and God has plans for you that won’t fail, too. But sometimes He has to get our plans out of the way, first.
I’d make a terrible Batman. I’m too slow, afraid of heights, and not really comfortable in tights. But I do get to fight against the evils of the world by preaching the Gospel and pointing people toward Jesus—the only superhero that really matters.
And I thought I’d make a really great American Bono but the truth is, I don’t really like politics. Plus, I lost most of my hair at 30—that was never going to work out. But I really love being the pastor of NewChurch. More than I could have ever imagined when I was standing on my bed playing along with Thin Lizzy records. This is where I’m supposed to be—I couldn’t be trolloping around the globe and be here with you guys every week at the same time. God knew what He was doing. He had to get my plans out of the way.
He knows what He’s doing with you, too. Not U2, you also.
You know how when Peter was in jail and the church was praying for him to be released—they’re just praying and praying for days. It looked hopeless. Then when God sends an angel and busts him out, they don't believe it. I think that’s very encouraging.
It’s encouraging because the miracle didn’t depend on the quality of their prayers. It didn’t depend on the amazing depth of their faith. I mean, they were praying but they didn’t really believe God was going to do anything.
But He did. And it’s the same with us, because nothing depends on the quality of our prayers, either. We don’t have to close our eyes really tight and try to faith harder. The only thing anything depends on is the quality of our God—the One we put our faith in. Any faith at all is enough faith. Any trust at all is enough trust.
What are your plans? Your hopes, your dreams. Have they left you frustrated, disappointed? Are they in line with God’s plans? How can you know?
You can pray. It doesn’t have to be a great prayer. Just tell God your plans. Listen for His laugh. Listen for His redirection.
Sometimes just the act of prayer will do the trick. You’ll realize what parts of your big plans are in line with His will and which parts aren’t. He’ll bring Scripture to your mind and help guide you.
You should also talk to trusted Christian friends—people who know you and know Jesus. People who can help you wrestle with these things and see if your plans line up with God’s word—with His plans.
Trust God. Put your life in His hands. Peter didn’t break his own chains. He didn’t devise a clever strategy. God sent an angel to wake him up and break him out—he was asleep, he barely knew what was going on.
Jesus has broken your chains, too. You’ve been set free. You are not condemned anymore. By His death, your sins are forgiven, and by His resurrection you are justified—you are made right with God. You might barely know what’s going on, too, but God has big plans for you.
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
And here’s the best part: God’s plans don’t depend on how perfectly you pray or how carefully you plan. His plans are rooted in His faithfulness, not yours. So, whether you feel stuck like Peter or disappointed by life’s twists and turns, remember this: Jesus has already broken your chains and set you free. His plans for you are better than your plans for you. Trust Him, follow Him, and learn to laugh with Him—because in His hands, your story is guaranteed to go somewhere good. AMEN.