Gospel Meditation, #37 James Killed and Peter Imprisioned

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 37

Acts 12:1-5

James Killed and Peter Imprisoned

  1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
  6. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. “Herod the king” a son of Herod the Great, ruled much of Palestine from A.D.41-44, was unscrupulous and did all he could to please the Roman emperors, Caligula and Claudius.
  8. He set about to persecute the Church and did so violently, thus demonstrating his political and religious convictions were weak.
  9. James was the older brother of John, the Beloved Disciple. The family name was Zebedee and they were fishermen. James and John were among the first followers of Jesus going back to the days of John the Baptist. (see Matthew 14:18-20)
  10. Herod would do anything to retain political power so he killed James “with the sword” and it is uncertain how the execution was carried out.
  11. The event pleased the “Jews” and this is in reference to the religious Jews, the Sanhedrin, who watched with horror no doubt, the growth of the numbers of followers of Jesus in Jerusalem.
  12. These events took place during the high holy days, the feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread. (see Leviticus 23:3-8)
  13. Wanting to further ingratiate himself with the Jewish community, Herod proceeded to imprison Peter who was a prominent leader amongst the Christians.
  14. “Four squads of soldier”—Herod would take no chances with Peter, who had escaped from a Roman prison before. (see Acts 5:17-21)
  15. The plan was to have Peter presented to the people, in a public display, at the time of Passover. This is, of course, is exactly what happened to Jesus.

The Church in Antioch

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 36

Acts 11:19-30

The Church in Antioch

  1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
  6. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. This portion of Acts occurred without the church in Jerusalem knowning anything about Peter and Cornelius.

8,    We return now to the events following the death of Stephen. Believers were scattered about and in Antioch, the third most important city in the Roman Empire, the Jewish missionaries preached to Gentiles, a great number of whom were saved.

  1. News of this reached Jerusalem and the church sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he saw what the Lord had done, he was glad. This is one of the most significant and world changing events in history.
  2. While Barnabas was there, a great many more were “added to the Lord.” Barnabas, seeing the need for these new followers of Jesus to be discipled, heads north to Tarsus to find Paul and after doing so brings him to Antioch. (Antioch of Syria, is now part of Lebanon.)
  3. A whole year, Luke tells us, the two spent working with the Gentile believers; they “taught a great many people.”
  4. It was in Antioch where the followers of Jesus were first called “Christians” and the term essentially means, “belonging to Christ.”
  5. For unknown reasons, “prophets” came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one was named Agabus.
  6. This introduces something that is not clearly understood in terms of who prophets were and what function they occupied in the church. Here Agabus, who will be encountered in Acts 21:1-14, announces that a famine will come upon the world. History gives us a time period given for the famine, “in the days of Claudius” who ruled Rome from A.D. 41-54. It is thought the time period here would be about A.D. 44.
  7. Interesting to note that in Acts 21 Paul disregarded the prophesy of Agabus. But the church at Antioch acted on the word from Agabus and sent relief money to Jerusalem, which resulted in Barnabas and Paul traveling to Jerusalem, another significant historical event.

 

Peter Reports to the Church Acts 11:1-18

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 35

Acts 11:1-18

Peter Reports to the Church

  1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
  6. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. Gentiles are now believing in Messiah Jesus. This is nothing less than a seismic change for the Jewish followers of Jesus.
  8. Peter, the lead apostle, confirms the events at Caesarea with Cornelius and his “household.” The Holy Spirit indeed has fallen on Gentiles.
  9. Peter, as part of his report, goes back to the baptism of John in the Jordan.
  10. Peter recalled the words of Jesus who said, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
  11. An important note is necessary. The word “with” in the first part of the sentence above could be rendered “in.” And it is clearly, in the Greek text, “in the Holy Spirit” and not “with the Holy Spirit” in the second part of the sentence.
  12. This reading, “in” is more in line with the fact that the believer is placed “into” the body of Christ. Theologians vary here. (see Romans 6:3)
  13. Baptized in the Holy Spirit means a new placement, a new identity, as opposed to a being “anointed” with the Holy Spirit.
  14. Gentiles have now been given the same gift as Jewish followers of Jesus. Peter could not then reject as being brothers the Gentiles in Caesarea.
  15. Those of the Church in Jerusalem “fell Silent” and glorified God. What this would have looked like is not clear. Did a worship service break out? Were people shouting “hallelujah? Were the believers offering words of praise? We simply do not know. We do know that they admitted that “God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
  16. “Repentance” likely means a change of heart and mind; Gentiles were now embracing Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah that the Jews had been waiting for. Life here is zoe and refers to ultimate life, eternal life.
  17. This alone is the one and only significant event.

The Holy Spirit Falls Upon the Gentiles

GOSPEL MEDITATION # 34

Acts 10:44-48

The Holy Spirit Falls Upon the Gentiles

  1. Find a quiet place without distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still, and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer.
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
  6. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. Peter’s first message to Gentiles at Caesarea results in the third awakening recorded in the Book of Acts, the first being that of Jerusalem (Acts 2), the second being the Samaritan (Acts 8).
  8. When the Holy Spirit “fell” on the Gentiles gathered in Cornelius’ home, Peter, along with the six companions from Joppa were amazed that Gentiles experienced the same as they had on the Day of Pentecost.
  9. The Hebrew Scriptures mentioned that Gentiles would be blessed, and no Jew would have doubted such would be impossible, still it was a shock to the early Jewish believers.
  10. Here though were Gentiles speaking in tongues, just like at the Upper Room in Jerusalem. (We note that there was no mention of tongue speaking at the Samaritan awakening.)
  11. Now that the barrier was broken down, and that by an undeniable demonstration, what next?—baptism.
  12. Neither John the Baptist nor the early Church developed the practice of baptism. It was practiced in Judaism before the days of Jesus. There is evidence or baptismal pools, for instance, at the Qumran community dating to the first century before Christ.
  13. Baptism was always a symbolic ritual showing a turning from the past and turning toward something new. It also indicated reception into the community of believers as it was a public profession of faith.
  14. We must note also, that baptize means dunk or immerse.
  15. Peter now “commands” the newly converted Gentiles to be baptized once he receives approval from his companions.
  16. Baptized into “the name of Jesus Christ” means that the baptism meant those so baptized believed in the finished work of Jesus the Messiah, namely His death, burial, and resurrection.