Study #41: The angel of the Lord delivered Peter from death, and killed king Herod (Acts 12:1

Study #41: The angel of the Lord delivered Peter from death, and killed king Herod (Acts 12:1 - 24)

Acts, Chapter 1.5: God elected special Gentiles to hear the Gospel and be saved (9:32 - 12:24)

§Complement Introduction: God used Peter to heal a paralyzed man and raise a woman from the dead (9:32 - 43)

¶Opposite Peter healed a paralyzed man at Lydda (9:32 - 35)

¶Opposite Peter raised a woman from the dead at Joppa (9:36 - 43)

§Complement Body: God led Peter to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles for the first time (10:1 - 11:30)

¶Unique Peter received a vision from God to prepare him to meet with the Gentile Roman Cornelius and his family (10:1 - 23a)

¶Complement Peter met with Cornelius and his family to preach the Gospel to them (10:23b - 48)

¶Complement Peter met with the church at Jerusalem to explain the sequence of events that led him to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles (11:1 - 18)

¶Opposite The Jews preached the Gospel to the Gentiles in Antioch, and the converts became the first church of the Gentiles (11:19 - 24)

¶Opposite Agabus the Prophet prophesied of a great famine, which led the church to send relief to the Christians in Judea (11:25 - 30)

§Unique Conclusion: The angel of the Lord delivered Peter from death, and killed king Herod (12:1 - 24)

¶Complement The angel of the Lord delivered Peter from being slain by king Herod (12:1 - 17)

¶Complement The angel of the Lord smote king Herod and killed him for his pride (12:18 - 24)

Comments: Our Bible study covers the first and second paragraphs of the Conclusion Section of Chapter 1.5 of Acts. The “O” on the left side of each division means “Opposite”; the “C” on the left side means “Complementary” (like two sides of the same coin); and “U” means “Unique”. One Unique, two Complements, and two Opposite (or the reverse) is the Golden Ratio design, which is found only in the Traditional Canon of the Holy Bible.

Other religious books such as the Muslim “Quran”, the Mormon “books”, the Hindu Bhagavad Gita, etc do not have the Golden Ratio design in any way, shape, or form; and therefore they are not from the one, true God of the Holy Bible: the Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

§Unique Conclusion: The angel of the Lord delivered Peter from death, and killed king Herod (12:1 - 24)

¶Complement The angel of the Lord delivered Peter from being slain by king Herod (12:1 - 17)

Opposite Now about that time, Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the Assembly. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also (then were the days of unleavened bread). And when he had arrested him, he put him in prison. And he delivered him to four squads of soldiers to guard him: intending after the Passover to bring him forth to the people. Therefore Peter was kept in prison; but prayer was made without ceasing by the Assembly unto God for him.

Opposite And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains; and the guards before the door kept the prison. And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison. And he struck Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, “Arise up quickly.” And his chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said to him, “Gird yourself, and bind on your sandals.” And he did so. And he says to him, “Cast your garment around you, and follow me.” And he went out, and followed him. And he did not know that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision. 1When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of his own accord; and they went out, and passed on through one street; and immediately the angel left him. And when Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain, that the Lord has sent his angel; and he has delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.”

Complement And when he had considered it, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to listen, named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter’s voice, she did not open the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said to her, “You are insane.” But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then they said, “It is his angel.”

Complement But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished. But he, beckoning to them with the hand to hold their peace, declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Go show these things to James, and to the brethren.” And he departed, and went into another place.

Unique Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers, what had become of Peter. And when Herod had sought for him, and did not find him, he examined the guards; and he commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and remained there.

¶Complement The angel of the Lord smote king Herod and killed him for his pride (12:18 - 24)

Opposite And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Zidon.

Opposite But they came with one accord to him; and, having made Blastus the king’s chamberlain their friend, desired peace, because their country was nourished by the king’s country.

Complement And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne; and he made a speech to them. And the people shouted repeatedly, “It is the voice of a god, and not of a man!”

Complement And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory; and he was eaten by worms, and gave up the spirit.

Unique But the Word of God grew and multiplied.

Comments: Notice that the Conclusion Section is divided into two paragraphs that complement each other in both of their themes, and also in their internal Golden Ratio design, which is “OO-CCU | OO-CCU”. This is the same design that is found throughout the Bible in every Conclusion Section.

In the smaller documents (such as Jude or 2 and 3 John), they only have one paragraph, not two; but the design is the same: “OO-CCU”.

In the rest of the Chapter(s) in their Body Sections, if two paragraphs are complementary, their internal Golden Ratio design is “UCC-OO | UCC-OO”; but not in the Conclusion Section. The only reason for this difference that makes sense is that the Lord wanted to make the Conclusion distinct from the Body Section.

§Unique Conclusion: The angel of the Lord delivered Peter from death, and killed king Herod (12:1 - 24)

¶Complement The angel of the Lord delivered Peter from being slain by king Herod (12:1 - 17)

¶Complement The angel of the Lord smote king Herod and killed him for his pride (12:18 - 24)

Peter is the main character in most of the Chapters in Part 1 of the Book of Acts, but this is nearly the last mention of Peter in Acts, except for Acts 15 at the Council of Jerusalem.

From now on, the main character in Acts will be the Apostle Paul. Peter was an important Apostle in the history of Christianity, but only a transitional one. God used him to open the door to sending the Gospel to the Gentiles, but he was not the Apostle to the Gentiles! Paul was.

“But conversely, when they saw that the Gospel of the uncircumcision was committed to me, as the Gospel of the circumcision was to Peter (for he that worked effectively in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles); and when James, Cephas, and John (who seemed to be pillars) perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave to Barnabas and I the right hands of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision.” Galatians 2:7 - 9

Cephas was another name for Peter. This text shows conclusively that Peter was never the Apostle of the Gentiles and never claimed to be one. Even at the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15, Peter was certainly an important voice and personality, but he did not make any decision! The half-brother of Jesus, James, was the pastor of the church in Jerusalem, and he made the actual decision on what to do about the Gentiles, with regard to circumcision and keeping the Law of Moses.

“And after they held their peace, James answered, saying, “Men, brethren: listen to me...THEREFORE MY DECISION IS, that we do not trouble them that from among the Gentiles are turning to God; but that we write to them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood: for Moses of ancient generations has in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day.” Acts 15:13, 19-21

So the claims of the “Bishop of Rome” or, the “pope”, to be “the successor of Saint Peter” are based upon a lie, and not the truth.

The pope, in fact, is the successor of the previous “popes” of Rome, which were pagan; their title was “Pontifex Maximus”, and they were the leaders of pagan religion in the Roman Empire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontifex_maximus

The popes began to assume the title of Pontifex Maximus only after the fall of the Roman Emperors. But instead of being honest, they lied and created a new religion with themselves at the head of it; and falsely claimed that Peter was the first pope; and they were his successors. They succeeded in their lies, because of the great ignorance among the population of the Roman Empire; and the power of the government of Rome to impose its will on the people in that era.

And over time, those who opposed the false claims of the popes were reduced to a few Christians who were hiding in the mountains. They were called Anabaptists (“ana” means “again”), because they re-baptized those Catholics who repented of their sins and trusted in Christ as their Savior.

Those Anabaptists are the spiritual ancestors of all Independent, Fundamental Baptists today, and they are still being persecuted by Rome wherever the Catholic religion is in control of or has influence over the civil government.

In the second paragraph, Herod was full of pride, which was his undoing. His pagan visitors from Tyre and Zidon flattered him with repeated shouts of “It is the voice of a god, and not of a man!”

“And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory; and he was eaten by worms, and gave up the spirit.” (Acts 12:22)

This “Herod” was Herod Agrippa (or Agrippa I), who was the grandson of King Herod, who had ruled Judea at the birth of Christ. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_Agrippa

Herod was like many people today. Because of their pride, they refuse to acknowledge their need for repentance from their sins and to receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior from sin. Instead, they go forward, day after day, with their face and heart hardened against Jesus.

They reason with themselves like this:

1) I haven’t robbed any banks, so God will probably let me into Heaven, even though I told many lies and looked at pornography

2) I haven’t taken God’s Name in vain for 1 whole week, so I’m not such a bad person, even though I cheated, lied, and used other profanity every day

3) I went to church last week, so I’m not a bad person, even though I stole things and cursed many times

You see, the problem is that people don’t really want to stop sinning, even though their sins are like a millstone around their neck, dragging them down into Hell.

Before anyone can truly repent, they must understand the horrors of sin in the sight of a Pure, Holy, and Righteous God. God will not allow a single, solitary sin in his HOLY HEAVEN! Not even one!

This is how God sees YOU and your sins, my friend:

“As it is written, “There are none righteous; no, not even one. There is no one that understands; there is no one that seeks after God; they have all gone out of the Way; they have together become unprofitable. There are none that do good; no, not even one. Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways; and the Way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” And we know that whatsoever things the Law says, it says to them who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be shut, and all the world may become guilty before God; therefore by the works of the Law no flesh shall be justified in his sight: for by the Law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:10-20

Sin is such an ugly thing in the sight of God that even if you only committed a single sin in your entire lifetime, God would still be righteous by casting you into the Lake of Fire forever and ever!

But the problem is that you haven’t committed only one sin, but MILLIONS AND MILLIONS! How many times have you stolen something from someone else? How many times have you told a lie? How many times have you looked at pornography? How many times have you wanted to kill someone, and maybe even have killed someone? How many times have you coveted something that belonged to someone else? How many times have you worshiped false gods such as “allah”, buddha, or a shameful statue of an idol like Mary or the saints? How many times have you been filled with pride and arrogance like Herod? How many times have you harmed someone else?

Truly the Word of God says,

“And we know that whatsoever things the Law says, it says to them who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be shut, and all the world may become GUILTY BEFORE GOD.”

Without Jesus Christ as our Savior, WE ARE GUILTY AS CHARGED before God!

My friend, Jesus Christ is the answer to all sins, no matter how vile or how numerous! Jesus died on the cross for your sins and mine almost 2,000 years ago, so that we might be freely justified before God from all sins, and free from the guilt of those sins, once and for all time! Then He rose again from the dead on the third day in triumph over sin, Hell, and the grave!

Do you want to be free from your sins, so that you might have a home in Heaven when you die? There is only one Way to do that: you must repent of your sins, which means that you must understand how much God HATES sin, even the tiniest and smallest sins in our sight, and agree with God that you have sinned and done wrong in his sight.

Tell God that you are a sinner; tell Jesus Christ that you believe that He is the Son of God, and ask Him to save you because you believe that He died on the cross for your sins and rose again from the dead on the third day. This is the Way to Eternal Life! May the Holy Spirit help you to do it right now.

Here is a prayer that you may use. Find a place to pray where you are alone with God, and pray these words with all of your heart:

“Lord Jesus, I know that I have sinned against YOU. I am no good, and you are righteous! I believe that you died on the cross for my sins, were buried, and rose again from the dead on the third day. I want you to come into my life and be my Lord and Savior. Please come into my heart right now. Forgive me for all my sins, and save my soul. In the mighty Name of Jesus, I pray, Amen!”

If you have turned from your sins and accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and only Savior from sin, please message me through Facebook or email me at editor@phibible.org and let me know that you have done that, so that I can pray for you and rejoice with you in what God has done in your life. Amen.