Acts 12:1-11

This passage, Acts 12, teaches most eloquently the truth that the church will have both tragedies and triumphs. Our gracious Savior will send enough trials to make us strong and I also strongly believe, based on the testimony of Scripture, He will send enough triumphs to strengthen and encourage us. We will not always be popular! We will also be persecuted! We will not always be on the mountaintop! There will also be numerous valleys that make up our landscape! I remain humbled by the sobering thought that this is not a cruise ship, but a battleship. It is believed that some got on board thinking this was a cruise line. You are on the wrong ship! We were made to endure stormy weather.

The truth is joy is sometimes succeeded by sorrow; laughter evolves into tears; sunshine disappears; dark clouds hauntingly reappear, and darkness persists. However, I must also quickly testify from the passage to the Delivering Grace of God. The enemy will strike but see how forcefully the triumphant Head of the Church strikes back. How consoling always to know that He, our omnipotent deliverer will never allow His Church to be placed in perpetual jeopardy. In Him, we always triumph.

In the passage, Herod rears up his ugly, vicious head in verse one, but by the end of the chapter, he is smitten by God and literally eaten up by worms. When Herod thought he was big, he was dramatically struck down by an angel of the Lord and humiliatingly wiped out before the eyes of those, who were proclaiming him to be a god. He was apparently struck down by the same angel sent to miraculously deliver Peter from prison, after he had killed James, the brother of John. Surely our God will strike back. The enemy cannot prevail.

It must be concluded, however, that in both cases presented in the passage God’s sovereign will was executed and He received the glory. He allowed James to be slain, but He sent an angel to miraculously bring Peter out. When we look at James we perceive as much grace as we see in Peter’s supernatural deliverance from prison. In James, it must be acknowledged that we also see a hero of the faith, a champion of the cause, a faithful witness, a saintly martyr, refusing to deny the faith, holding fast to the end, dying in victory, submitting to the divine will. I say, we shouldn’t overlook the message and testimony of James in the passage even though he dies in such a violently tragic way.

In 2024 we desire desperately only to be in His will, even though it might not seem as glamorous. Like James, our testimony might be overlooked or overshadowed but how precious it is to die in His will. The truth is we pray, and He answers. He answers but sometimes not as we desire or to our liking. It is not everybody that is going to be healed! Not everybody is going to be rescued! It’s not everybody that is going to have a Peter testimony! What we do know for sure is that He gives grace for whatever we must face or go through. He gave James grace to triumphantly endure martyrdom. He will sustain us, even in death! He is faithful! Whichever way – We Triumph!