Imprisoned.

Acts 12 starts with the first death of an apostle and ends with the death of a king. Herod Agrippa I beheads James and imprisons Peter. An angel rescues Peter and he quickly lets the church in Jerusalem know before he goes into hiding.

Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great and friend to the Pharisees, accepts glory due only to God and dies, likely a few days later, of internal worms. Meanwhile, the church continues to grow, and Barnabas and Saul return to Syrian Antioch. The scene is set for Paul's extensive ministry to the Gentiles.

Acts 12:6 - "And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.

This deliverance of Peter represents our redemption by Christ, which not only proclaims liberty to the captives, but brings them out of the prison-house. Peter, when he recollected himself, perceived what great things God had done for him.

Acts 12:6–11 describes Peter's angelic rescue from a Roman prison. Herod Agrippa I arrested and killed the apostle James, brother of John. When he realized how much local religious leaders approved, he arrested Peter with plans to kill him after the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The church has been praying, however, and Peter's ministry is not over. God answers their prayer by sending an angel to rescue him from prison. Peter will stop by and update members of the church and then go into hiding. We won't see him again until the meeting of church leaders in Acts 15.

Herod Agrippa I is the grandson of Herod the Great (Matthew 2:1). In his younger years in Rome, he made a habit of getting into trouble and relying on his wife to bail him out. When his friend Caligula became Caesar, Agrippa was given rule of the tetrarchy of his uncle Philip, northeast of Galilee.

In time, his political machinations proved effective, and he now controls Galilee, Samaria, Judea, and Perea across the Jordan River.

In addition, he has earned the favor of the Sanhedrin by showing a modest but effective respect for Judaism. For some unspecified reason, he has arrested and beheaded the apostle James. When he realizes the move has made him even more favorable to the Sanhedrin, he arrests Peter but wants to wait until after the Feast of Unleavened Bread before he executes him (Acts 12:1–5).

Peter has been arrested twice before, but only by Sanhedrin guards who have no authority to execute a prisoner (Acts 4:1–22; 5:17–40; John 18:31). Now, he has been arrested by Roman soldiers. He is probably being kept in the Fortress Antonia, the guardhouse on the northwest corner of the Temple Mount.

Jesus has told him that he will die by crucifixion (John 21:18–19), so he has plenty of reasons to be nervous.

However, Jesus also told Peter he would be "old" when he died. Agrippa reigned over Judea from AD 41 until his death in AD 44—so this is no later than fourteen years after Jesus' ascension. Peter knows his ministry isn't finished, but even if it were, he would face death on behalf of Jesus.

It's noteworthy that at this moment, he's fast asleep. In fact, tradition states that when the Romans finally do sentence him to crucifixion, he demands to be hung upside-down as he has no right to die like his Savior.

Luke, the author of Acts, continues to describe the lengths to which Herod has gone to secure Peter during his imprisonment:

On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison (v. 6).

Peter is in a seemingly hopeless situation. He just saw his old friend and ministry partner James beheaded, and he knows that his neck is next on the chopping block. Herod has set "four squads of soldiers to guard him" (v. 4), sixteen men in total, binding him with two chains to two soldiers on either hand, with more guards outside the cell.

Peter was arrested years before by the Sanhedrin, but the Lord intervened and freed him and the other apostles. However, it is easy to imagine that in this circumstance, Peter thinks that this is it for him. For the first time in years, a fellow believer has been put to death. James the Apostle has been murdered (Acts 12:2).

Peter was arrested during Passover, and so his mind likely has turned to Jesus's arrest and crucifixion, which also took place during Passover. At this point Peter has probably resigned himself to the fact that ultimately, the fate of he and the other church leaders will be much like Jesus's, Stephen's, and James's. Jesus Himself warned Peter that it would be so (Matthew 24:9, John 21:18-19).

But Peter does not seem afraid. He does not seem bothered by these circumstances. He is not fretting over dying. He is not wringing his hands, he is not pacing back and forth in his cell. He is sleeping.

Peter's faith is on display in his sleeping. On the eve of his own execution, he has no apparent concerns. He has come to this place where he has watched God raise the dead, where he has seen miracles, where he has seen God do things that no man would ever imagine.

And so he trusts and rests in God, and he realizes that regardless of "Whether I still have my head attached to me tomorrow or not, I am in His hands."

Perhaps at this point Peter had learned the lesson that he wrote later in his church letter, known as I Peter:

"Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you."
(1 Peter 5:6-7).

We can see in this passage penned by Peter that he trusted God to exalt him in God's own timing if Peter would humble himself before God. In this case humbling himself meant being content if he was to die as a martyr.

Part of Peter's apparent peace at his looming martyrdom might have been due to Jesus telling him to expect to be martyred (John 21:18-19).

Peter was also one who desired to be great. So Jesus granted Peter's request, for true greatness comes through being a faithful witness for Christ, in spite of death, loss, or rejection. The Greek word translated as "witness" in the book of Revelation is "martys" from which we derive the English word "martyr" (Revelation 1:5).

Jesus was a faithful witness because He overcame death, loss, and rejection by the world. Jesus promises to greatly reward all who follow in His footsteps by following His example (Revelation 3:21).

And while God allowed Herod to behead the Apostle James, thus calling that faithful minister to be reunited with his Lord Jesus, God has more work for Peter on earth.

While Peter laid there, sleeping in a cell chained to two guards, with many guards watching over the prison outside the door, God intervenes:

Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands. Then the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals”; and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.”

Peter was sleeping so soundly that the light of the angel of the Lord did not wake him. The angel had to hit Peter to stir him—he struck Peter's side. The angel commands Peter to rise. We know from verse 9 that Peter thought he was seeing a vision.

We might surmise from this that visions like the animals dropped from heaven on a sheet seemed real (Acts 10:9-15).

Clearly the guards chained to Peter did not wake, nor did anyone else. Only Peter, whom the angel struck and woke, sees the angel. Perhaps this is why he thought he was seeing a vision. No one else in the room was reacting to what he saw.

Immediately, Peter is released from his bonds:

And his chains fell off his hands (v. 7).

The angel does not need to touch the chains, they simply drop from his wrists.

Peter waits for the next command from the angel. He has been woken up and his chains have fallen, but he is otherwise still in the jail cell with sleeping guards all around.
The angel continues to herd Peter along into action:

And the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and put on your sandals."

And he did so.

Peter gets dressed and puts his shoes (his sandals) on.

The angel gives him further instructions:

And he said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." (v. 08)

Peter throws on his cloak and obeys:

And he went out and continued to follow. Peter is so confused at this point that he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision (v. 9).

The angel leads him out of the cell, and none of the guards stir. They sleep, all the while the prisoner and his supernatural guide make their way through the prison.

When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself (v. 10). Again, it is interesting that the angel's purpose is simply to tell Peter what to do, to lead him by word.

The chains fell from his wrists by themselves, and the iron gate at the front of the prison opened for them by itself. It is not by the angel's hand that these obstacles are undone. God is removing barriers and bondage to free Peter, while the angel shines as a guiding light to take him back into the city.

They exit the prison, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him (v. 10). The angel's job was done. He departed from Peter immediately. The divine jailbreak is complete. Peter is left standing alone in the street.

Here he seems to fully wake up, to realize it had all been real:

When Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting." (v. 11).

He came to himself, meaning he came to his senses, and saw that the entire rescue from the prison had truly happened, that he knew it for sure, and attributed it to God. It was the Lord who sent the angel and rescued him.

It was from the hand of Herod that he was delivered; his imprisonment, as well as the intended outcome of that imprisonment—Peter was rescued from all that the Jewish people were expecting. They were expecting to see Peter executed, just as James had been. But it was not Peter's time to go. The Lord has more for him to do.

Peter goes to a woman named Mary’s house, where a prayer meeting is taking place. Believers have stayed awake praying for him all night. Peter knocks at the gate and a servant-girl hears his voice.

When she recognized Peter's voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate (v. 14).

She ran into the inner room of the house and tells her mistress Mary and the other believers that Peter is standing outside at the front of the gate.

They said to her, "You are out of your mind!"

We have here an account of Peter's deliverance out of prison, by which the design of Herod against him was defeated, and his life preserved for further service, and a stop given to this bloody torrent. Now.

One thing that magnified his deliverance was that it was a signal answer to prayer (v. 5): Peter was kept in prison with a great deal of care, so that it was altogether impossible, either by force or by stealth, to get him out.

But prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him, for prayers and tears are the church's arms; therewith she fights, not only against her enemies, but for her friends: and to these means they have recourse.

Learn thence, That God oft-times suffers his children to come to the pit’s brink, and then delivers them, that they may be the more sensible of his mercy, and have the greater cause to magnify his power. Peter was now come to his last night; the tyrant Herod probably intended his execution next morning. Now was the time for God to step in: Our extremity is his opportunity.

Observe farther, That notwithstanding Peter’s imminent and impending danger, he sleeps very soundly, resigning up himself into the hands of Christ, and resolving, if he may no longer live Christ’s servant, that he will die his sacrifice. I question whether Herod that imprisoned him slept half so soundly.

Lord! how soft and secure a pillow is a good conscience, even in the confines of death, and in the very jaws of danger!

Observe lastly, That God takes most care of Peter, when he was able to take least care of himself: When he was asleep, and altogether insensible of his danger, God was awake, and acting effectually in order to his deliverance.