Advent Archive: Acts 12

-Amber Allen
This is a super-cool and super-gruesome chapter, all at the same time. Acts 12 gives the miraculous account of Peter being liberated from a jail cell by an angel alongside the events of James being murdered, the jail keepers being put to death, and Herod falling down dead and being eaten by worms. But even though the Bible holds no details back on these adventurous accounts, the main theme of this chapter is not just miracles and murders but rather how in control our sovereign God is. You have to wonder why the Lord let James be killed by Herod, but performs a miracle to let Peter escape. I wonder why the jail keepers had to lose their lives over which something they had no control. I wonder why, after all the countless, horrible deeds Herod does, God took his life over a haughty speech. The actions are not ours to judge or question. God gives and God takes as He pleases. Every move He makes is fair and just. So, it was the perfect thing for James to die, for Peter to escape, and for Herod to get eaten by worms. These are all the fairest and most perfect moves for the accounts to take. It's a call to us to trust that God is in control in everything, and that His ways are perfect.
Food For Thought: Read Mark 10:35-40. In what way was this fulfilled in Acts 12?