There now broke out upon the Church, and especially upon its leaders, a new wave of persecution instigated by King Herod. But even this short mention of the thing is sufficient to let us know that the first preachers of the gospel were so well assured of the truth of it that they sealed it with their blood, and thereby have encouraged us, if at any time we are called to it, to resist unto blood too. He began with vexing them only, or afflicting them, imprisoning them, fining them, spoiling their houses and goods, and other ways molesting them; but afterwards he proceeded to greater instances of cruelty. They were in the church already. 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. He visits round about. ". One of the chief means was prayer, 1. If this took place in A.D. 46, and Herod died in A.D. 44, then the event Luke related in chapter 12 antedated the famine visit, and probably all of Acts 11:27-30, by about two years. It is not merely that the absence of it operates injuriously upon the tone and standard of piety within the Church; it affects the claims of the society as such to be a legitimate member of the visible Church Catholic. The greatest precautions had been taken to see that Peter did not escape. Ha szeretntek, ott vagyok, de ha nem, akkor szrevehetetlenl teszem a dolgom. For courage to witness for Christ (Acts 4:2331) 3. There followed also such signs, or outward powers; but the Holy Ghost was given Himself, according to the Lord's word the promise of the Father, a promise which, as all know, was in the first instance assured to those who were already believers, and which was made good to them because they were believers, not to make them so. From that we learn that this was the headquarters of the Christian Church. The Holy Ghost came down upon them suddenly, with no previous sign whatever, except that which was suitable to the Holy Ghost when sent down from heaven the mighty rushing wind, and then the tokens of His presence upon each were manifested. Among the Gentiles we know that they were installed, as we shall see a little later, by apostolic choice. But what I want to press for our profit, beloved brethren, is that at any rate he who is the object of grace can afford to be gracious. And very ambitious surely he was to please the people who was willing thus to please them! Moreover, in these chapters the Church of Christ is first spoken of as in actual existence. Ever since the conversion of Paul, we have heard no more of the agency of the priests in persecuting the saints at Jerusalem; perhaps that wonderful change wrought upon him, and the disappointment it gave to their design upon the Christians at Damascus, had somewhat mollified them, and brought them under the check of Gamaliel's advice--to let those men alone, and see what would be the issue; but here the storm arises from another point. "In the opening chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, the Christian dispensation is seen in actual operation; for that with the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost that dispensation properly commences will probably be admitted by all parties. Partner with StudyLight.org as God uses us to make a difference for those displaced by Russia's war on Ukraine. It was the obliterating of mere fleshly distinction between Jew and Gentile. Cornelius prayed that God would show him how to be saved (Acts 10:14), 9. (b) Bernice (see Bernike G959) , who appeared with him when Paul was under examination. He was a grandson of Herod the Great, and one of the sons of Aristobulus, whom Herod put to death (Josephus, Antiq., 18, 5). 1. 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. Question. Male facta male factis tegere ne perpluant--One evil deed is covered with another, so that there is no passage through them. Oh why should any confessor of Christ why should any child of God shrink from rendering godly satisfaction to those that seek it? For assuredly he would never have been content with one or two murders, and so have abstained from persecuting the rest, but he would rather have piled up martyrs upon heaps, unless God had set his hand against him, and defended his flock. Prayers To Cancel Bad Dreams 18. God answered prayer and gave a He did this because he saw it pleased the Jews. With that energy which characterized him he says, "Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. 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. And it continues still. Pray about the needs others Verse Acts 12:1. 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. Salvation means that the heart enters into deliverance by grace as a present known public standing in the world. All these things were pressed home by Stephen; indeed, I have simply touched on a very small part of his most telling address. 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. At the passover, when the Jews came from all parts to Jerusalem to keep the feast, they irritated one another against the Christians and Christianity, and were then more violent than at other times. The spiritual power which wrought so wonderful a change in the Apostles must first descend from heaven, and give to the Church its inner form as its spiritual characteristic! Three days and nights he neither eats nor drinks. 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. Is not this interlacing after a divine sort? Power of Prayer (Acts 12:1-12) Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. When King Herod mistreated the believers in Jerusalem and had James put to death, he saw that it pleased the Jews, many of whom hated the Christians and considered them a cult. WebPraying through Acts 1:10. At first they were more timid; they spoke only to Jews. "Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word;" for the God who not only has hearts at His command, but controls all circumstances, was now about to accomplish that which He had always at heart, making the disciples to be witnesses of Jesus to the very ends of the earth, though first of all to Judea and Samaria. Help me torecognise the different audiences that are being addressed in different Bible passages. 12:1-17. It is important to distinguish between the two things one, the charge to which man appointed him; the other, the gift which the Lord conferred. So says the Spirit to Philip, "Go near and join thyself to this chariot." But he had heard the voice of His mouth, and His words were spirit and life, eternal life, to his soul. Father, I declare that I walk in the wisdom of Christ today in Jesus name. He was led of God. So he came in like a shining god, making this speech to the people and, of course, the people began to cry, "It's the voice of a god, not of a man!" He made an appearance to his half brother and after that point his half brother James and His half brother Jude became pillars in the early church. So Peter came to the house where the prayer meeting was being held. It was not so with Cornelius. (c) Drusilla (see Drousilla G1409) , who was the wife of Felix, the governor before whom Paul was tried ( Acts 24:24). "But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews that dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ." Share whats on your heart and where you need Gods help, guidance, and healing. See Josephus, Antiq., book 19, chapter 5, section 1. Accordingly, among the train of those that received the gospel and were baptized, Simon is found. God has no pleasure in the death of a sinner. One of the chief means was prayer. There were four such squads because the day and the night were divided into four watches each of three hours duration; and each squad was on duty for three hours at a time. It was the fact. Who they were the writer immediately specifies. Or Mariam of Hebrew origin; Maria or Mariam, the name of six Christian females. Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church ( Acts 12:1 ). Take, as the most solemn moment of all, the day of Pentecost. stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church: Herod, not unlike politicians of today, must have been checking the popularity polls when he learns it will make him politically popular to oppress the Christians (verse 3); therefore, he takes it upon himself to bring a violent attack upon the Lords church. "And it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people. Leadership. IDEAL OPORTUNIDAD DE INVERSION, CODIGO 4803 OPORTUNIDAD!! Clearly they were not Christians; but God has all hearts in His keeping. On the contrary, the grand bearing of this chapter is that now the tide of blessing is flowing away from Jerusalem. Where they really didn't know if it was reality or just some spiritual revelation. The expansive power of Christianity called it to break forth on all sides; and speedily the original congregation, or in modern language the mother church, of each city gave birth to other societies of Christians in the surrounding neighbourhood. . This precisely Cornelius had not known, nor could any one have known it till the work of redemption was done. Little did the great apostle of the circumcision anticipate what was before him as he tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon a tanner. We will deal with Herod Agrippa II, his son, in a few weeks as we move on in the book of Acts.