Year 7, Day 245: Acts 12

Theological Commentary: Click Here

In Acts 12 we lead off with the challenges to the Apostles.  James, the brother of John, is killed.  When Herod sees that it pleased the Jews, he starts looking for another.  Peter is arrested and slated to die.

Before we get to Peter, I want to spend a second looking at this most senseless death.  We can learn a good bit about human behavior here.  Herod is willing to destroy life because it makes him popular.  Unless we are careful, human beings will absolutely go against their morality and ethic if the reward is great enough.  With training, we can avoid this reality.  Left to our devices, though, we are likely to fall.

We move on to Peter. In fact, let’s contrast what God does with Peter to what God does with Herod.  Peter is in jail.  He’s about to be killed.  God frees him through angelic means.  When Peter gets to where he is going, he is focused on giving glory to God.  Peter tells the story about how God saved him.  That’s a great example to learn.

On the other hand, take a look at what happens to Herod.  Herod finds himself in a place where people are giving him praise.  He dresses quite regally and impresses them with great speech.  There is no humbleness.  There is no nod to the God who equipped him.  In fact, when the people call him a god, Herod doesn’t even deny it.  He dies that day, because in his arrogance he has no humility.

There’s a deep lesson to learn here.  We can do great things.  We can have great things done to us.  There’s no problem there.  But we need to be humble.  God deserves the glory.  God deserves to be the focus.

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