Thoughts From Acts 12 - Part 3

  Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.”12 When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”15 “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place. Acts 12:11-17

           I was amazed by the power of angels when I read chapter 12. They treat our total reality like it's nothing. They break all the physical rules that we live by. They appear out of nowhere and then just disappear. They could be in my room right now and I wouldn't know. Is that why my dog is barking at apparently nothing? The chains on Peter just fell off. They weren't unclasped with his superhuman strength like Samson would have done but the metal became air for a second and fell right through the wrists. If I were Simon the Sorcerer, that's the trick I'd pay for. The clanging of chains falling didn't wake up the guards so it appears the angel had put them into a deep sleep so obviously he could mess with their minds like a Jedi master. He had a physical presence because he poked Peter in the side to wake him, yet he didn't push the iron gate open, but it just opened by his thought. Ebony Maw, the Voldemort looking guy on the side of Thanos in the Avengers comes to mind, but he had a physical substance that could be punched. I feel like a punch would pass right through an angel.

         When people doubt the Bible because of miracles it shows that their minds are enslaved to the rules of nature that we are bound to. Isn't it possible that if there is a God that transcends these and servants not bound to the laws of science, that miracles aren't even miracles for God? It's just Him doing what He wills whether it fits our planet or not. The Christians praying for him expected God to act according to the rules of Earth. That's why, even though they were in a prayer meeting praying for his deliverance, they didn't let him in because they didn't believe it was him. Lack of faith? Yes, in the fact that they thought God had to abide by the rules He created. Maybe He'd use an earthquake, but they didn't feel one. Maybe Simon the Zealot would mount a rescue extraction except he is here praying with us. Maybe the people would ask for Peter's release or Herod would change his mind, but an angel recue wasn't on their BINGO sheet.

       When we pray we need to remember this; God is not limited to solving problems in ways that we can conceive of. No problem is too big. No answer is impossible. He's the same God and He doesn't change.