David: [upbeat music] And that's the story of Jesus. He came to us, who were oppressed and needy, entered into the realm of our slavery, and defeated it, and brought us out of it, and is handing death itself, and Satan himself, and sin itself over to a final destruction, while he's bringing us into a final rescue and on the land with him. It's the story of the Bible.
Christine: [upbeat music] Welcome to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Spoken Gospel is a ministry that's dedicated to speaking the gospel out of every corner of scripture. In Luke 24, Jesus told his disciples that every part of the Bible is about him. In each episode, hosts David and Seth work through a passage of scripture to see how it's all about Jesus and his good news. Let's jump in. [upbeat music]
David: Well, welcome, everyone, to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Thank you so much for joining us. We are in our penultimate episode of Acts, [chuckles] which is, is making Christine laugh. The second to last episode here. We, uh, just saw the gospel go to the ends of the earth, to the Roman of Romans, the Gentile of Gentiles, and the household of Cornelius in the Gentile Pentecost, and that was really fun. If you missed that episode, definitely go back and listen to it. And now, today, we are going to see Peter's Passover resurrection as he's released from prison, and it's really cool. So we're gonna dive in, but before we do, we wanna kind of see how we've got here. So we've kind of been looking at the pattern and shape of Acts from the lens of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ends of the earth, Acts 1:8, and that kind of being the table of contents for the book of Acts. And so we've seen Acts 2, the gospel goes to Jerusalem, Holy Spirit is poured out. In the first Pentecost, we see Samaria and the reunification of the land of Judea, the two kingdoms, and the second Pentecost in Acts 8, and then we just saw the third one with Cornelius going to the ends of the earth and the third Pentecost there for the Gentiles. And so end of Acts, book over. [chuckles] But we're going to see-
Christine: Or is it?
David: Or is it? We're going to see the book continue, and we're going to see the gospel push into new territories and go to the ends of the earth. We're going to see reform and decisions made in Jerusalem. We're gonna hop around a lot, and it can kind of leave you asking a question, "Well, what happened to that pattern of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ends of the earth? I thought that was the rubric I was supposed to read Acts through, and now it's ending."
Christine: Maybe there's more than one rubric.
David: Maybe there's more than one rubric. And so do you wanna help us kind of set up maybe another kind of cycle or pattern that goes throughout the book of Acts, and we find ourselves in as we come to this story?
Christine: Yeah, we see that as Jesus continues to do what he's been doing, what he began to do in his earthly ministry, we see him continue to do that in and through his people. And just as with Jesus' ministry recorded in Luke and the other gospels, Jesus performs miracles. He is welcomed in some circles, and he is rejected in others. He is persecuted by some and welcomed by others. So we see that happen with his followers as well. As the ministry grows, there is external challenge. There is internal challenge, too. Jesus' inner circle was nothing if not dysfunctional at times-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... and we see that happen in the Church, especially as it grows. There were internal struggles with holiness and administration in Acts 5 and 6. We talk about Acts 6 a little bit more, and there is also external persecution from mostly certain Jewish groups, but yeah, as the gospel goes out, it meets and encounters new, [chuckles] new frontiers.
David: Pagan opposition.
Christine: Yeah.
David: Yeah.
Christine: It'll- there'll be pagan opposition as well, and we kind of meet one of those here in Acts 12-
David: Mm
Christine: ... with Peter-
David: Yeah
Christine: - 'cause we have King Herod show up on the scene.
David: Yeah. So what we're saying is, there's a pattern inside of Jesus' own life that, of course, his body is mapping onto now, and that Jesus was persecuted, was killed, but was saved from that persecution by an act of God, rescued from the realm of the dead, which then led to the growth of his church.
Christine: Yes.
David: But then that church is persecuted, scattered abroad, but God saves them in, in amazing ways and saves other people through them, and the Church grows. But then it's persecuted, and it's saved, and it grows. It's persecuted, it's saved, and it's grow- and it grows, and so this is a pattern we see. And so with the gospel going to the household of Cornelius and that original table of contents being fulfilled in a sense, and the gospel going to the ends of the earth, we have this amazing growth arch, this cycle reaching a huge climax, uh, in, in terms of the literary design of the Book of Acts. And yet what we see immediately after is persecution. Right after where we left off the last podcast in chapter 11, verse 18, where the people in Jerusalem are rejoicing that the gospel's gone to the Gentiles, the next thing we read is persecution. "Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, and they spoke the word of the Lord to no one except the Jews." And so you have this persecution that happens, and so the Church spreads, and we're gonna start seeing salvation and growth, but there's gonna be more persecution that we're gonna see as we pick up with Peter. So that's just an- another pattern to notice, and what's cool about that is not only the literary design, which you can nerd out about, but it's also amazing how that is the Church mapping on to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus again, and again, and again.
Christine: Yeah, and to add on to that, Jesus' ministry to both Jew and Gentile-
SPEAKER 2: ... and Samaritan, you could say, continues, 'cause Jesus healed all of them in His own ministry. He did not make a distinction in who He would heal.
David: He healed Jews, He healed Samaritans [chuckles]-
SPEAKER 2: Yeah
David: ... and He healed pagan Romans.
SPEAKER 2: Gentiles, yeah.
David: Yeah.
SPEAKER 2: And so even that kind of ministry of healing, saving new life, is spreading out to many different people, and even the teaching, 'cause you read verse, uh-
David: 19
SPEAKER 2: ... 19 of chapter 11, and immediately after that, in verse 20, we see that some men even went to Cyprus and Cyrene, and went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. And the Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. So there are, after the Gentile Pentecost, there are people going to Jewish communities, people going to Greek communities, extending to an island-
David: Mm-hmm
SPEAKER 2: ... of the island of Cyprus, and then going to Cyrene, which is the African region. And so you just get more and more people, God's hand moving His people into further and further frontiers. So-
David: Yeah
SPEAKER 2: ... it's just beautiful.
David: And so Peter, in this story in chapter 12, maps onto that, and we meet Peter, and he becomes imprisoned. And we'll talk about why and who and how, but just showing... I think it's easy to read Acts, especially once we get out of the pattern of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ends of earth. It's easy to read Acts, and it feels like a hodgepodge of stories, just 'cause you jump to, from Paul to Peter, from Antioch to Jerusalem. You jump all over the place, but there's still a brilliant literary design that we won't be able to get into fully, but that's at least something to look for.
SPEAKER 2: Yes, and on top of that, it's not only Acts that speaks in patterns. The whole Bible does that-
David: Yes
SPEAKER 2: ... which we went, I won't say overboard-
David: [laughs]
SPEAKER 2: ... but we got really excited about all the different Bible connections that we saw in Cornelius's story with-
David: Yeah
SPEAKER 2: ... Ezekiel and Jonah and Genesis and all the things. So here, too, we mentioned it's Peter's Passover, which that Passover occurs in Exodus.
David: Exodus.
SPEAKER 2: So do you wanna talk more about why we're calling it Peter's Passover?
David: Yeah, so there's a lot of things in the story that cue us into, that Luke is trying to show us how the story of Peter, who is mapping himself onto the story of Jesus, is mapping onto the story of the Passover, and showing how God is still rescuing His people from imprisonment and slavery, uh, to the powers, in order to bring His light to the nations. He's still doing that work, which is what He was doing in Passover. And so one of the first things we see about that is actually, I think, brilliant, is before we even get to the story, which is full of Passover allusions, we get to the story of Peter's imprisonment, his enslavement, via a famine and provision by a man named Joseph. So this should remind us of the story of Genesis, where we meet Joseph, who is one of the 12 sons of Israel, and he is betrayed by his brothers and handed over to Egypt, and there he rises to power. And in the land, there becomes this big famine, which he has a dream about, this prophetic, God-given dream.
SPEAKER 2: Pharaoh has a dream about it.
David: Pharaoh has a dream, and-
SPEAKER 2: And Joseph interprets it
David: ... Joseph interprets it. And Joseph gives this interpretation as a spirit-empowered man of God and talks about a famine that's going to come into the land. And because of that provision that God gave Joseph to interpret the dream, he's able to work with Pharaoh and the Egyptian economy to provide bread and, and sustenance and life to the nations who flock to Egypt to be fed during the famine. Of that group is Joseph's own family, the tribe of Israel, who go down. And so here again, we have a story of a prophet, and this is verse 27 of chapter 11: "At that time, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them, named Agabus, stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine over all the world, and this took place during the reign of Claudius. The disciples r- determined that according to their ability, each would send relief to the brothers living in Judea. This they did, sending it to the elders by Barnabas and Saul." And so you have a repeated story here, where there's a famine that is known by a Holy Spirit-empowered man of God, and preparations are made to send relief to people who need it. And one of the people who does that distribution of food is named Barnabas, whose name is Joseph.
SPEAKER 2: That's right.
David: Which is just really cool.
SPEAKER 2: Really cool.
David: So-
SPEAKER 2: Barnabas was his nickname. Joseph was his given name-
David: That's right
SPEAKER 2: ... which we learn at the end of chapter four.
David: Helpful, yes. 'Cause when you told me that, I was like, "I thought his name was Barnabas," [chuckles] and I had to be reminded that, no, his name's Joseph. This is his nickname.
SPEAKER 2: People have-
David: Son of encouragement.
SPEAKER 2: Yeah, some people have more than one name, especially in the Greco-Roman world-
David: Yeah
SPEAKER 2: ... where some Hebrew names might be hard to pronounce.
David: Right.
SPEAKER 2: They would-
David: And so if we're thinking about the biblical story, we, we are thinking we're at the end of Genesis, and the famine has come, and Joseph has provided relief, and the people have come together, and what happens next? The enslavement of Israel to the powers of Egypt, and that's exactly what we see.
SPEAKER 2: Wow!
David: We see a king, an evil king, a new Pharaoh figure, uh, named Herod. He finds out that pleases the Jews to kill the followers of Jesus, and so he has killed James, one of the 12, the brother of John, with the sword.
SPEAKER 2: It's the second martyr.
David: Second martyr of Acts. And he sees that this pleases the Jews, and so he imprisons Peter and plans to do the same with him. And so we come to a new enslavement and exodus story, and we're going to see God do something very similar that He did in the Passover to rescue his, his new son, [chuckles] Peter. That's how we got here.
SPEAKER 2: That's-
Christine: ... really brilliant and really cool.
David: Yeah, Luke-
Christine: And-
David: Luke's a smart guy. [chuckles]
Christine: Yeah, he's doing a great job into cueing us in what I think God just does.
David: He just does it.
Christine: Like, it just-
David: Yeah.
Christine: This is just how life happens, because God's a brilliant storyteller, and he teaches us through patterns, and I love it. It continues, like, Herod is sort of a Pharaoh figure now, who's arresting and persecuting members of the church, which you said that's like Pharaoh oppressing the children of Israel.
David: That's right.
Christine: And he even murders one of them-
David: Mm-hmm
Christine: ... which it sounds like he's gonna be knocking out the three main pillars of the apostles if he-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... killed James, and is coming for Peter, John might be next.
David: John's next, yeah. But we're told that this is happening during Passover, the, the, the, the festival of unleavened bread.
Christine: Okay.
David: And so if you thought we were reading into it, [chuckles] we are not.
Christine: It's right there.
David: It's right here. This is during Passover, and his plan is that he has seized Peter, and he has, he has seized him with four squads of soldiers and set those four squads of soldiers over them, which a squad of soldiers is how many?
Christine: Four.
David: Four.
Christine: Mine says four squads of four soldiers.
David: Oh, okay.
Christine: So that would be four squared.
David: Four squared.
Christine: 16.
David: 16. I got numbers. I don't-
Christine: That's a good book, too.
David: It's a good book! And his plan was to bring Peter out, to bring him out, this is verse four, uh, to the people after the Passover. And this, even that word, bring him out, is the same word, the same Greek word, that the Septuagint uses to talk about the Exodus, exago.
Christine: Oh, interesting.
David: And ago. A- and so he's like, he's going to perform a counter Exodus, and he's going to bring... The new Pharaoh is gonna bring Peter out to his death and defeat, but God has a different Exodus in mind [chuckles] a different exago, a different way to bring him out. And you're gonna see that, if you just wanna know now, since I'm talking about it, verse 17, whenever the Lord rescues Peter, spoiler alert, it's the same word. He, when he says that he, the Lord had brought him out, it's that same exago.
Christine: Cool.
David: And so it's an Exodus again happening, which is just really cool. And beyond- just while I'm on the t- subject, or should we just go through it as we see more Passover patterns?
Christine: Yeah, I'd, I'd say just connect them all, 'cause it seems like you hit one with each verse. [chuckles]
David: I know, it's crazy. So is there anything else we wanna talk about, though, as King Herod, he's, he's laying violent hands on some who belong to the church, kills James, imprisons Peter during the Feast of Unleavened Bread? Is there anything else we wanna unpack here that's not maybe Passover related?
Christine: I think it'd be cool to compare Jesus's Passover with Peter's Passover.
David: Mm-hmm.
Christine: But we could maybe do that after we-
David: Okay
Christine: ... make the-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... Exodus connections.
David: Great. So that very night, before Herod was going to bring him out, this is verse six, Peter, who's bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers. [chuckles] And Christine's already laughing.
Christine: I love Peter.
David: He's just always asleep.
Christine: He's always asleep when something very big is happening. [chuckles]
David: Which were that, uh, that was, uh, Gethsemane? He fell asleep-
Christine: Gethsemane, the Transfiguration-
David: Oh, u- wait, when did he fall asleep during the Tra- did he fall asleep during the Transfiguration?
Christine: Well, it says once Jesus transfigured, once his disciples become fully awake-
David: Oh
Christine: ... they see his glory. So they're... 'Cause Jesus went up to pray-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... and-
David: Oh, boy
Christine: ... Peter, James, and John are like, "He's going up to pray," and probably for hours, I don't know.
David: Yeah.
Christine: But Peter's asleep there. He's asleep here. It's just, it's funny.
David: That is funny.
Christine: It's funny to me, but it's also admirable, 'cause this is, as far as he knows, his last night, and he's just zonked out, like, yeah.
David: That's true. I don't know if I'd be able to sleep the night before my martyrdom, but-
Christine: So he's at peace.
David: Good on him. Yeah.
Christine: Yeah. He's like, "I'll just see James soon-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... it's gonna be fine."
David: And even whenever in Acts 10, whenever he sees the vision, he's in a trance, which is a sleep-like-
Christine: He is in a trance
David: ... state.
Christine: Yeah.
David: Like a state of different consciousness, at least, and so it is funny. But there's also something less funny, more beautiful with that word sleep and how it connects to Stephen.
Christine: That's right. Luke, again, if we're talking about common word links here, Luke definitely says that, or implies that, Stephen dies-
David: Mm
Christine: ... from the stoning, but the word he uses is not died like the normal way you'd say it-
David: Right
Christine: ... but he went into a coma, or he fell asleep. Some translations in English will just say he fell asleep, which in that context means he died.
David: Right.
Christine: But Peter here is in a deep sleep, not dead, but just sleeping, and the same word is used.
David: Yeah.
Christine: So there's sort of a link there, where the way we saw Jesus's death be repeated or similar to Stephen's-
David: Mm
Christine: ... or the other way around, Stephen's death-
David: Stephen's death
Christine: ... maps onto Jesus's death. Similarly, Peter's escape is gonna map onto Jesus's resurrection-
David: Mm
Christine: ... 'cause it's out of a death-like sleep-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... and into life.
David: Oh, it's so cool. And so, yeah, so Peter's asleep between the two guards, and now that word's all loaded up for us. "And while the guards are in front of the door and were keeping watch over the prison, and suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared," which again, should ring Exodus, Passover alarm bells, where the angel of the Lord is very present on the day of Passover.
Christine: Yeah, at night.
David: And he's doing things to doors. [chuckles]
Christine: At night.
David: Yeah, at night, interacting with doors, and a light shone in the cell, and he tapped Peter [chuckles] on the side.
Christine: Did you say tapped?
David: I did.
Christine: This says-
David: What does yours say?
Christine: ... struck Peter.
David: [chuckles] Struck Peter.
Christine: That's how deep of a coma he was in.
David: Wake up, Peter! That's-
Christine: Again, it's like, "I'm trying to save you." [chuckles]
David: [chuckles] So funny.
Christine: Would you wake up, please?
David: So he, he, he strikes Peter on the side, taps him on the side, and wakes him up and says this, which maybe you'll recognize, is, "Get up quickly. And the chains fell off his wrists, and the angel said to him, 'Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.' He did so." What a strange thing to record. Like, hey, do I need, does, do we really need the Bible to tell us that the angel said to Peter to get dressed? Well-
Christine: Hmm
David: ... no, but we do need-... to know that he's quoting Exodus 12:11.
Christine: Yeah, this is Passover.
David: This is Passover.
Christine: Yeah.
David: They were-
Christine: 'Cause they had to eat in haste, didn't they?
David: They had to eat in haste. So they were told-
Christine: Ah
David: ... by, by God to eat the meal with their belts tied around their waists and with their sandals fastened.
Christine: That's so clever.
David: So they can escape, and Peter's escape is imminent. It's happening right now, so he's like, "Do the Passover thing, and let's go."
Christine: Yeah. You'd be doing this at home anyway.
David: Anyway. [laughing] Get dressed for Passover-
Christine: Why are you sleeping?
David: - 'cause this is right now. [laughing] That's so awesome. Oh, my gosh.
Christine: It's funny.
David: So yeah, again, more Passover connections, and so he did so, and then he said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," and Peter went out and followed him. He did not realize that what was happening with the angel's help was real. He thought he was seeing a vision.
Christine: Just love Peter.
David: Just love Peter. [laughing]
Christine: Again, it's like, it just helps me give myself grace-
David: Mm
Christine: ... when I, most of the time, just don't have a clue of what God is doing.
David: Yeah.
Christine: And he's literally being rescued by an angel, which doesn't happen every day-
David: No
Christine: ... or at least not as obviously as this.
David: Right.
Christine: And Peter's just kind of somnambulating his way [laughing] out of the prison with this angel leading the way, and he's like, "Maybe this is a dream," [laughing] which is just so funny.
David: Yeah, it is weird. I mean, the last time he was in a sleep-like state and God visited him, it- in, in Acts, it was a vision-
Christine: That's right
David: ... with, with the sheet-
Christine: Yeah
David: ... dropping down with the animals. So he's like, "All right, we're doing this again. I wonder what God's gonna show me."
Christine: Yeah. Maybe this is a Passover vision [laughing] or something.
David: Yeah. Well, or, you know, we had Ezekiel in our heads.
Christine: That is right.
David: And an angel takes Ezekiel out and shows him something.
Christine: Mm-hmm.
David: And so maybe now he's like, "Oh, I'm like-
Christine: Yeah
David: ... here goes more Ezekiel stuff."
Christine: I have to do the prophet thing-
David: The prophet thing.
Christine: Put on my clothes and-
David: Yeah, and go on a walk with an angel-
Christine: Yeah
David: ... and see what he's gonna show me. That actually makes a lot of sense. I can rationalize with Peter a little bit here. He's like, "Hey, I was doing a lot of Ezekiel stuff, and I guess that's my thing now, and so I'm getting woken up and taken on a angelic journey. Here we go. What are you showing me?" [laughing] And so he's like, he's going through this thing. He thought it was a vision. Verse 10: "After they had passed the first and second guard, they came before the iron gate leading into the city." Again, this is not another random detail. You could just skip this and be like, "And they left the city," but there's something happening here. As we've talked about, Peter is mapping on to Jesus in his Passover, just as Stephen mapped onto Jesus in his death, and we've talked about this even at a meta level, where we've gone, the Church is mapping on through Acts to Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection. They're being persecuted. They're being saved. They're growing. Persecuting, saved, growing, and that this is what the believer is called into, is to map one's life onto that of Jesus's.
Christine: Whether we live or die-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... we are the Lord's, and we follow where he goes.
David: Yeah.
Christine: Yeah.
David: And so enter into the persecution, enter into the death, and whether you're like Peter and you're actually saved from the peril, or you're like Stephen, and as you enter into death, you see the glory of the Lord in the heavens that you're about to enter into, you're saved one way or the other. [laughing]
Christine: I wonder if Peter had that in mind, too, that, "Well, this might be my last vision before-
David: Mm
Christine: ... before I'm taken."
David: Interesting.
Christine: 'Cause Stephen had a heavenly vision, and-
David: He did
Christine: ... Peter did, but not... You know, he had to go see Cornelius after that, and this might have been like, "Okay," 'cause we'll see later, the Church thinks that he's dead, too, first, when he shows up. 'Cause they're like, "Oh, it's probably his angel."
David: Whoa.
Christine: And so they ascertain that, "Oh, he died," and then he might be thinking, "Maybe I'm dead, [laughing] and I'm just seeing where I'm gonna go," or something like that.
David: Yeah.
Christine: He wasn't aware that this was bodily happening to him.
David: And I'm, I'm unfamiliar with this, so stab in the dark here, but I've, I've heard there is some church tradition around angels shepherding the spirits of deceased Christians to heaven.
Christine: That's correct.
David: And so, like, maybe Peter's like, "This is what's happening. I'm just on a journey with an angel, and I died." [laughing]
Christine: Well, Jesus says as much in his parable in- that Luke records-
David: Oh, that's right
Christine: ... about rich man and Lazarus.
David: Yep.
Christine: Lazarus, when he dies, the angels carry him-
David: That's right
Christine: ... to Abraham.
David: Yeah.
Christine: And so this, and Jesus talks about people having angels who protect them-
David: Yep
Christine: ... especially children, and so there is this idea, this concept, of, yeah, angels protect people. And so-
David: Here's Peter's angel.
Christine: Peter's-
David: He died.
Christine: Yep.
David: He's taking him.
Christine: Mm-hmm.
David: So that... Okay, we're understanding the vision a little bit more.
Christine: Yeah.
David: Like, why he-
Christine: We can give Peter a little more credit
David: ... We can give Peter a little bit more credit here. [laughing]
Christine: Yeah.
David: He's, he's doing some cool thinking, actually. But he goes to an iron gate, and as, as I was talking about, he's mapping his, his life onto that of Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection, and when Jesus died, he descended into hell, Hades, the realm of the dead, Sheol, and burst out of it in his resurrection. And in, and you might have to help me here, Christine, but I believe it's in the mythological world of Sheol and of Hades that people had, it was guarded and shut by iron or bronze gates. Is this, is, is it... I think I'm thinking about this right.
Christine: I think so. Well, it's, it's funny because, again, I'm just thinking of something that Jesus told Peter.
David: Oh, the gates of hell?
Christine: Yeah, like, "On this rock, I'll build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it."
David: Wow.
Christine: And he said that to Peter, who is now experiencing a pulling out, an exodus, out of past all these guards and even the iron gates and out into-
David: Wow
Christine: ... freedom.
David: Yeah. To kind of close that loop, when the Church talks about Jesus resurrecting out of Hades, it's this idea that he opens the gates, breaks the gates from the inside, those iron or bronze gates.
Christine: Jailbreak!
David: Jailbreak. Opens them up, and then they're free to enter into the land of the living, and this is what Peter is mapping onto here. And it's... And this is the story of Exodus, is they were in the land of death, and their bonds were burst apart, emancipated from their slavery, and brought into the land of God, the land of living, a new Eden.... and that's the story of salvation, and so that's what Peter is physically walking in through right now, is he was in prison, was in a sleep-like death, a death-like sleep, something- I don't know which one makes more sense, but one of those.
Christine: Christianity, it's a big old sleep. [chuckles]
David: Yep.
Christine: So. [chuckles]
David: And yeah, is- walks past the jailers. [chuckles]
Christine: Well, he has, yeah. So he is struck awake by an angel who's like, "Let's do the Passover thing, [chuckles] Peter." He- the first time he's free from irons is right off his wrists.
David: Yeah.
Christine: Like, the irons fell- fall from his hands, and then he is guided through all these barriers of guards-
David: Mm
Christine: ... and things that were supposed to keep him in. And so iron gates make me think of prison, which is what he was in.
David: Yep.
Christine: And so th- these are the iron gates of the city, but he's being released from prison. He's being released from a place of death, which reminds me of the Exodus, you know, with the sea parting. That was-
David: Yep
Christine: ... the sea part by a miracle, and here, the gates are opening by themselves-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... and-
David: Which the sea was a picture of the realm of the dead-
Christine: Exactly, yeah
David: ... the abyss, and God opened it up.
Christine: Yep.
David: Same thing.
Christine: Yeah, he made a way through death, so here, he's doing it again.
David: Crazy. And so it opened for them of its own accord, [chuckles] and they went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting." So as soon as the angel leaves, he then realizes that it's all real.
Christine: Yeah. Probably... I don't know if he's out in the night air, and he really comes to himself, or if he was allowed to be in a quiet state of being awake, but at least quiet or sleepy enough to keep his mouth shut [chuckles] 'cause he's verbally processing out loud, and maybe [chuckles] I don't know.
David: Yeah.
Christine: I'm just fantasizing here, but he again, like Luke, lets us in on his thought processes. "Oh, now I know that God... This is what God was doing."
David: Yeah.
Christine: 'Cause we saw in Cornelius's story, Peter's like, "Now I understand that I shouldn't call anything that God has made clean, unclean."
David: Right.
Christine: "And now I realize that the Gentiles are also part of God's people, and now I realize that God was sending his angel to rescue me." [chuckles] He's just very sweetly letting us know that now he knows what's going on.
David: It reminds me of the end of Luke's other book that we have, the Gospel of Luke, where the resurrected Jesus leaves his disciples, and then they realize who they were with.
Christine: That's true.
David: You know what I mean?
Christine: Yeah.
David: I don't know-
Christine: That is cool
David: ... if that's doing anything here, but it does remind me of it. Um-
Christine: That's pretty cool
David: ... where there's this heavenly visitor.
Christine: Mm-hmm.
David: And it's not until after he suddenly vanishes that they're like, "Oh, that's what was happening. Did we not feel our hearts burning within us?"
Christine: Well, and to map it onto the Exodus story, too, it's after they cross the Red Sea that they fear the Lord and his servant, Moses. Like, they see what God has done, and they're like, "Oh, wow, this is what the angel of the Lord..." And they fear God and Moses.
David: Ah, yeah.
Christine: So-
David: This is Peter's Exodus 15 song.
Christine: Like, aha moment.
David: Yeah.
Christine: Yeah.
David: Oh, that's cool. Oh, my gosh. Okay, so then verse 12: "As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose other name was Mark, where many had gathered and were praying. When he knocked at the outer gate- [chuckles]
Christine: [chuckles]
David: ... a maid named Rhoda came to answer."
Christine: Open the gates. [chuckles]
David: Yeah. I actually, I do- next, in my Bible, I have Psalm 24:7-
Christine: That's smart
David: ... written right by that. "Open the gates that the King of glory may come in!" But it is interesting. You have this- if he's mapping on to the story of Jesus, which I think we've shown he is, Jesus resurrects out of hell and breaks the iron gates, enters back into the land of the living, he realizes where he is, and then he ascends, like, and he takes his seat. And so it, it's just interesting that he's mapping all this on.
Christine: Yeah, but unlike Jesus's literal resurrection, Peter's mapped-on resurrection doesn't enable him to go through locked doors.
David: No!
Christine: So he's shut outside, knocking.
David: That's funny, [chuckles] because in L- yeah-
Christine: Jesus just shows up, and he's like, "Hi, guys," [chuckles] and they're like-
David: Even in Luke. Yeah-
Christine: Yeah
David: ... in Luke, yeah, he, he does. He just shows up. Yeah, he doesn't have to knock. [chuckles]
Christine: He doesn't have to knock.
David: Peter has to knock- [chuckles]
Christine: Yes
David: ... right now. Um, and-
Christine: And yet he knocks on our hearts.
David: Oh, yeah.
Christine: He won't barge in there without you inviting him.
David: He knocks on the outer gate, and a maid named Rhoda came to answer. On recognizing Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that instead of opening the gate, she ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, "You are out of your mind," but she insisted that it was so. They said, "It is his angel." Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking, [chuckles] and when they opened the gate, they saw him and were amazed. Okay.
Christine: [chuckles]
David: [chuckles] You're just dying laughing over there.
Christine: The Bible's funny sometimes.
David: It's very true.
Christine: It's... Oh, yeah, people are funny. You can't help but see the humanness of this whole encounter.
David: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Christine: I don't know. It's relatable in some ways, especially with the lack of faith part. They're praying for Peter to be released, and then s- someone's like, "He's free!" And they're like, "You're crazy."
David: Yeah.
Christine: "Let's keep praying. God, please free him from..." You know, and then they're like, "Well, he probably died." [chuckles] So it's like, "Are you..." I don't know.
David: So when they say it's his angel, w- what, what do you think is meant by that? Like-
Christine: I imagine they thought that Rhoda saw his angel, implying that it's, Peter was recently killed, and his angel is here to proclaim that or-
David: Like a, like a quote, unquote, "guardian angel" assigned to Peter-
Christine: Yeah, is that-
David: ... is what you mean by his angel.
Christine: Yes.
David: Okay.
Christine: His angel is the angel assigned to Peter.
David: Okay.
Christine: Yes, and-
David: And he w- and that, that Peter, that angel, a messenger, was coming to bring a message that Peter died.
Christine: ... possibly, or he is-
David: Or-
Christine: carrying-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... Peter to Jesus, one or the other. I'm not quite well-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... versed [chuckles] in-
David: No
Christine: ... how people understood that, but it's pretty certain that their suspicion or their guess that it's his angel means that they think he died.
David: Mm.
Christine: Like, Herod killed him at night.
David: Yeah. It is interesting, too, to think about what happens right after the Exodus 15 story, after the parting of the Red Sea and the celebration of God's people, there is doubt and bickering.
Christine: That's true.
David: And so it just continues to map onto that story, is that-
Christine: Yeah
David: ... they've seen miracles, they've heard of miracles. There's a miracle standing at their door, and yet, just like Israel in the wilderness, doubt and bickering.
Christine: Yeah, but Peter keeps on knocking. [laughs]
David: [laughs]
Christine: He's persistent. "Please let me in!"
David: And so they let him in, and they're amazed, and so he motions to them with his hand to be silent, and he described for them how the Lord had exago, brought him out, exodus-ed him out of the prison, and he added, "Tell this to James and to the brothers." Then he left and went to another place.
Christine: Hmm, kind of like Jesus. [chuckles]
David: Yeah, kind of like the angel with Peter. [chuckles]
Christine: Yeah. Yeah, well, he, he walks off the page for quite a bit. He doesn't show up until 15-
David: Mm
Christine: ... I think. So we don't even know where he goes. It's probably a good idea of him, since he did not have a commission to, like, go back into the temple as he did the last time an angel freed him from prison. This time, the angel just leaves him, so he's kind of left free to choose [chuckles]
David: Mm
Christine: ... what to do, and it seems like knowing that Herod was coming for him, he decides to not endanger the congregation that's gathering at-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... at the house of Mary, and go somewhere where he'll be less sought out. Maybe back to the tannery. [laughs] I don't know.
David: Maybe back to the stinky tannery.
Christine: Like, "I know where they won't look for me."
David: Yeah, right.
Christine: But-
David: In Stinky Simon's house.
Christine: [chuckles] So sad.
David: [chuckles]
Christine: But so sweet.
David: And so, yeah, you've, you've got a similar thing, where you've got this resurrection story, like with Jesus, and He then commissions Mary and others to tell the disciples, and then vanishes.
Christine: That's right.
David: And now you have Peter entering a similar resurrection story in the house of Mary and telling them to go tell the disciples, James and the brothers.
Christine: Yeah, which James here is a different James, obviously, than the disciple who was put to the sword. This is-
David: Right
Christine: ... James, the brother of the Lord.
David: Of Jesus.
Christine: Yeah.
David: Yeah, the one who we're gonna see again when we see Peter again-
Christine: That's right
David: ... in Acts 15.
Christine: That's right.
David: Yeah. Wow!
Christine: Yeah.
David: Okay, so then, when morning came, there was no small commotion [chuckles] among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. When Herod had searched for him and could not find him, he examined the guards and ordered them to be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. So a few interesting things here, is we're starting to see the downfall of Herod, which we're going to see totally-
Christine: Oh, yeah
David: ... very soon, as we see the downfall of Pharaoh after the parting of the Red Sea.
Christine: That's right.
David: And-
Christine: The plagues.
David: Yep, that's right. And so Herod is bringing death onto his own people, just as Pharaoh's obstinance and lack of faith led to the death of his own people.
Christine: Mm.
David: Now, Herod's doing that to his own soldiers.
Christine: Wow.
David: Uh, and-
Christine: That's a lot of soldiers and a lot of... I mean, that was top security he put Peter in-
David: Mm
Christine: ... which was like, isn't that a little overkill, holding a fisherman? But he was a prominent leader in Jerusalem at that point, so.
David: But at least 16 men put to death-
Christine: Yeah
David: ... right there.
Christine: Yeah, who had nothing that they could do-
David: No
Christine: ... 'cause they were, they were in a deep sleep as well.
David: And it was just the evil of a-
Christine: Yeah
David: ... tyrant leader-
Christine: Yeah
David: ... that led to their death. And then, I don't know if this is accurate or not. I didn't study this. I just saw it just now, so everyone take this with a grain of salt. But it is interesting that after this, he goes down, kind of [chuckles] like Pharaoh goes down in the water, but anyway, i- it says he goes down from Judea to Caesarea.
Christine: Oh, I see.
David: A- anyway.
Christine: Well, Caesarea's by the coast.
David: Yeah, he's heading toward the water. [laughs] There you go.
Christine: Yeah.
David: So then now, here we're going to see the, the demise of Pharaoh/Herod. "Now, Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, so they came to him in a body, and after winning over Blastus, the king's personal attendant, they asked for a reconciliation because their country depended on the king's country for food."
Christine: Remember that it's the famine, so yeah.
David: Again, yeah. The nations are coming to Egypt for food, and so he's being reiterated here as that Pharaoh figure. "And on an appointed day, Herod put on his royal robes and took his seat on the platform and delivered a public address to them. The people kept shouting, 'The voice of a god and not of a mortal!' And immediately, because he had not given glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died." So-
Christine: Gruesome.
David: Gruesome, but this language of being struck by an angel of the Lord is the language of plagues.
Christine: Oh, I thought you were gonna say Peter.
David: Who? Oh, [laughs] that's true!
Christine: 'Cause Peter was struck... It's the exact same Greek word.
David: Is it?
Christine: Yeah.
David: Oh, my goodness.
Christine: Peter, "An angel of the Lord appeared and struck Peter and woke him up," and that was verse 7 of chapter 12. And then in verse 23, "An angel of the Lord struck him down," him, Herod, "and he was eaten by worms."
David: Yep.
Christine: So a striking yields life out of death for God's people, and it leads to death-
David: Yep
Christine: ... for Pharaoh.
David: Which if we're mapping this onto the plagues, that's exactly what happened. The striking of the angel of the Lord on the land of Egypt, it didn't hurt the people of Israel. They were protected. They had life in that moment, and ultimately, freedom and resurrection out of slavery-
Christine: Mm
David: ... but it brought death to the land of Egypt, and ultimately to Pharaoh.
Christine: The ruler who claimed to be a god.
David: That's right.
Christine: Yeah.
David: Pharaoh was a ruler who claimed to be god, and so he was struck down through plagues, uh, because of his own hard heart and evil.
Christine: ... Yes, and if we're keeping in mind kind of the narrative memory we have of Acts so far if we're reading through it, we will recall a contrast here between Herod and Peter, because Peter does not accept an act that looks like worship.
David: That's right.
Christine: When Cornelius bows down to him, and he says, "Get up, I'm just a man myself." And here, Herod actually receives worship that is more like that. I mean, they're buttering him up because they want to be on his [chuckles] good side, and classic Greek oration, it's like, "Oh, this is- these are the words of a god." But Herod receives that and does not give glory to God and is struck down.
David: Mm-hmm. Yeah, so that's Peter's Passover, right?
Christine: It's really cool.
David: It is mapped on... So let's think about a few things. Why is it being mapped on? Why is this a story that's getting elevated and highlighted here and told? Why is it bringing in all the Passover language? 'Cause it, it, it can be really cool to notice these things, but ultimately, why does it matter? [chuckles] And what's being communicated with those connections is really important probably for us to talk about. So what- as you're thinking about the connections between Passover and Peter, and ultimately all of that being mapped onto Jesus, you know, what's surfacing for you about why these connections are existing?
Christine: Why they exist? I think it, again, shows what we've been saying all along about Acts, is that it is what Jesus is continuing to do.
David: Mm-hmm.
Christine: Luke recounts in his gospel what Jesus began to do, and this is what Jesus continues to do. And we mentioned that Jesus faced opposition, and He performed miracles, and His ministry grew, and the more it grew, the more opposition, and it led ultimately to His death, but His death led ultimately to His resurrection. And so we see His people experience those same things. And beauty is a good word for it because literarily, this is just a beautiful story.
David: Yeah.
Christine: And it shows how God cares for His people. There are angels here freeing people from prison. This is Peter's second escape from prison, and we talked about at the beginning of the Stephen episode about, like, is it worth fighting this new sect that's growing in popularity and following? Well, if it's from God, we better not oppose it-
David: Mm
Christine: ... or we'll be opposing God, and if it's from man, it will dissolve in time. And we just see Jesus' works gaining momentum, and His people spreading and gl- growing and maturing, whether they live or die.
David: Mm.
Christine: And so I like that continuation that this story provides, that not even the tyrant Herod could keep Peter chained, because God didn't want him chained. [chuckles] And so an angel comes and frees him, and on Passover, no less, which is kind of the defining story of God's people. We are brought out of slavery into freedom, out of death and into life, and that is what following Jesus-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... looks like.
David: Yeah, I completely agree. I think my brain's going in similar directions, that, that we are called into mirroring the life of Jesus, the death of Jesus, and therefore the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. It also makes me think that Luke is showing how Jesus is what He'll be called by Paul, I think, later, is the firstfruits.
Christine: That's right. Yeah.
David: And that this radical new Passover that Jesus has entered into and opened up for His people through His own incarnation, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, is not inaccessible or privatized [chuckles] to, to Him alone. Like-
Christine: Yeah, the grave is not a dead end anymore.
David: That's right. And so by allowing Peter, in the land of the living, to walk through a Passover in such a way that is fully incarnate, he never passes into the land of the dead.
Christine: That's right.
David: But he, he's fully on Earth doing these in a verifiable, witnessable, actual, historical way. It's showing people that this is a story that we can participate in, and that as we follow Jesus in His life, in His death, it is inevitable, sure, it's His firstfruits, that we will join Him in His resurrection and His ascension as well. And so it's, it's just a huge boost of confidence and faith for an early persecuted young church, that look what God can do, and look how His resurrection and victory over the grave, the iron bars of Hades, is something we can participate in, even here on Earth-
Christine: Yeah
David: ... as it happened.
Christine: The gates are broken-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... and it's open, and He can turn kings into worms. [chuckles]
David: Yeah, He can turn kings into worms.
Christine: So be humble. [chuckles]
David: Yeah.
Christine: Follow King Jesus. He is the new king in town. He is the eternal King-
David: Mm
Christine: ... forever, and everyone lives and dies by His bidding.
David: Yeah.
Christine: He is gonna judge the living and the dead, so come to Him, repent.
David: Yeah.
Christine: Be like Cornelius. Be like Peter, who can sleep soundly because he knows that his life is in God's hands, whether he, whether he lives or dies. It's-
David: That is interesting. Couple things that bringing Herod back into the story made me think of is, God can rescue from the dead, but He can also hand over to the dead.
Christine: That's right.
David: Right? The worms are a picture of the grave.
Christine: Yeah.
David: That's where you go to decomp-
Christine: Yep
David: ... and get eaten by worms.
Christine: Yep.
David: And so He, He can free, and He can hand over, and so He is- He's the judge of the living and the dead, as we said in the last episode.
Christine: Yeah.
David: He's king of everything.
Christine: Yeah, and that is what Passover was.
David: That's right.
Christine: Some were e- those who were in allegiance with the powers of death were handed that. Those who came under God's tent, under God's allegiance, were rescued, and the angel of the Lord [chuckles] made that distinction-
David: Mm
Christine: ... on that Passover night. And so it's-... yeah, it's the real-
David: Yeah
Christine: -and defining story. So-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... God makes a distinction. Be a part of the Kingdom of light.
David: Yeah. It also made me think about something we have mentioned a few times in our Acts series here, is that as the, the Kingdom of God spreads through the people of God, the powers of the enemy fall.
Christine: That's right.
David: We see that in, like, Simon the sorcerer, and the power he had over Samaria, and the rule of God that comes and replaces those stations of dominion, those thrones over nationalities, that the people of God then come and inhabit, and they bring the rule and reign of Jesus, um, as they bring Jesus into those new places. And so here we have an enslaved, almost dead fisherman [chuckles]-
Christine: As good as dead.
David: As good as dead-
Christine: Yeah
David: ... fisherman, dethroning a king like Herod.
Christine: Yeah, without raising-
David: Without raising a finger
Christine: ... a sword. Yeah. Yeah, which, uh, as you were talking, it made me think about David and his mighty men-
David: Mm
Christine: ... and the Son of David and his mighty men.
David: Yeah.
Christine: And how David, in 1 Samuel, had to kill a giant for others to, one, give their hearts to David, and then do the same things that he was doing. David begins what should've been a contin- well, he continues the giant slaying [chuckles] that should've been finished with Joshua's followers.
David: Right.
Christine: But David kills a giant, and then you have his nephews and his mighty men killing Goliath's brothers.
David: Yeah.
Christine: And David's mighty men are from all nations and tribes, but they're joining his band and doing exactly what he does. They are in allegiance with the Messiah of the day, and they do the same things that David does, which are very violent-
David: Mm
Christine: ... and effective. And here we have the Son of David, Jesus, who conquers the big baddie, which is death.
David: Yep.
Christine: And then you have his followers doing the same things that he's doing, from every tribe, and language, and people, and nation, and they are conquering the same way he conquered, and that is not with violence.
David: No.
Christine: Peter didn't have a showdown with Herod.
David: No, and the, and the church didn't take up arms against Herod to free Peter.
Christine: No, they were-
David: They prayed
Christine: ... praying. Yeah.
David: Yeah.
Christine: And then it's-
David: That's how we fight.
Christine: Yeah. Yeah, God has legions of angels that He can send.
David: And He does not need us to pick up a sword.
Christine: He does not need our swords. [chuckles]
David: No, He does not.
Christine: [chuckles]
David: He can do it-
Christine: He can do it
David: ... clearly.
Christine: Yes.
David: Uh, He has worms. [laughing]
Christine: He has worms.
David: [laughing] He can do whatever He wants.
Christine: He has sea monsters, He has-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... hornets, He has all the-
David: Yep
Christine: ... all of creation obeying His will. So-
David: Yeah, and I know we've mentioned it a few times here, but let's, uh, as we, as we close, let's, let's end on... And I know we've, we've picked out a few here, but let's end on how this story is mapped onto Jesus's Passover. Why don't you walk us through a few of them?
Christine: Oh, it's really fun. Yeah, so kind of beat for beat, and you can go to the Gospels to make the comparison, with a finger still on Acts 12, because Jesus's Passover and Peter's Passover are, again, so similar. We compared it to Exodus, which they're both mapping on, but Jesus's Passover involves, one, a Herod who kills John, his cousin, and then goes after Jesus. And in Peter's case, another Herod kills James, and then goes after Peter. We have Jesus being arrested because Herod was trying to please the Jews, and here Peter is arrested by Herod because he was trying to please the Jews. Jesus is-
David: Different Herods.
Christine: Different Herods, yes. They're a nasty bunch, but-
David: Yes
Christine: ... it's a different Herod. Jesus is affixed between two criminals-
David: Right
Christine: ... when He hangs on the cross, and here Peter is chained between two soldiers.
David: Wow.
Christine: And both Jesus and Peter are guarded by soldiers. Jesus is guarded by soldiers even when He's hanging on the cross.
David: Mm.
Christine: And when He dies, Jesus is placed in a tomb where He lies dead, and Peter is placed in a prison where he lies asleep, and he's chained in, like, a comatose, deep sleep that is similar to the death that Stephen undergoes. And then there's an angelic announcement of Jesus's resurrection, and in Peter's case, there's an angel who leads Peter out of death and into life. And then Jesus goes to Mary. He meets her in the garden, Mary Magdalene. And Peter, we saw, go to Mary's house, where the faithful are gathered, and-
David: Different Mary.
Christine: Different Marys.
David: [chuckles]
Christine: Yes, this is Mary, the mother of John, also called Mark. And then in Jesus's resurrection, there are women who announce the resurrection to a community that doubts [chuckles] the legitimacy-
David: [chuckles]
Christine: ... of their message, and it's the same with Peter. A woman, in this case Rhoda, announces the resurrection, quote, unquote-
David: Right
Christine: ... or the Passover, to a community that doubts her message. [chuckles] And when Jesus shows up, the- this community mistakes Him for a ghost. [chuckles]
David: Yep.
Christine: And in Peter's case, the community mistakes Peter's appearance for his angel.
David: Yeah.
Christine: So those are just really fun to-
David: It's so cool
Christine: ... go through and see that, oh, wow, the Bible [chuckles] is so intentional with the patterns it puts before us.
David: It is, and it's just highlighting, again, this idea that Jesus showed us the path to life.
Christine: Yeah, and it's through death.
David: And it's through death.
Christine: Yeah.
David: And He- a- and He's willing to let us join Him in that path, so much so that He lets Peter, asleep in a cell, get mapped onto the most glorious road to the throne ever paved.
Christine: It's amazing.
David: And He's like, "Come walk with me."
Christine: Yeah.
David: "This is the path, and I'll- and I will lead you on it."
Christine: Mm.
David: It's not like, "Go out there and, you know, die."
Christine: He is the Good Shepherd-
David: He's gonna shepherd you through it
Christine: ... who leads you through the valley of the shadow of death-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... but you have to fear no evil, 'cause-
David: Mm
Christine: ... He's with you.
David: ... beautiful.
Christine: Yeah, and when you think about, well, why didn't he save Stephen then?
David: Yeah.
Christine: Well, he did-
David: He did
Christine: ... didn't he? [chuckles] It was-
David: Stephen had a vision.
Christine: He had a vision of where he was going. He was not left there alone. There were- yes, there were godly people who came and took care of Stephen's body.
David: Mm.
Christine: But his soul was safe with-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... his Lord, so.
David: And so I think as we close then, to s- to say, like, okay, spoken gospel, speak the gospel. This is Passover. This is the gospel. [chuckles]
Christine: Yes.
David: Like, this is the good news that the world is imprisoned, enslaved to powers of sin, death, demons, sickness, all kinds of things, and Jesus comes to us, like the intimacy of his incarnation, in the intimacy of an angel coming and kicking you in the side and waking you up. [chuckles]
Christine: So intimate.
David: So intimate. He's right there with you, is what I'm trying to say.
Christine: [chuckles] Okay.
David: And leads, and leads his people out from the tyrants, out from the powers, and brings them into a new land of life. And not only that, he defeats the powers that are bringing death and murder and violence into the world, and hands them over to a defeat that he rescues us from, and that's the story of Jesus. He came to us, who were oppressed and needy, entered into the realm of our slavery, and defeated it and brought us out of it. Um, and is handing death itself and Satan himself and sin itself over to a final destruction, while he's bringing us into a final rescue and in the land with him.
Christine: Yeah.
David: It's the story of the Bible.
Christine: It is. It's beautiful. And just like God kept vigil for, uh, his people when they were leaving Egypt, his church also joins that. We get to join him in that and pray for people in prison, for our brothers and sisters-
David: Mm
Christine: ... who are in prison. We hopefully have faith that he hears those prayers, too. [chuckles]
David: Yeah.
Christine: And, and know that God can, and often does, bring us out, and ultimately, that's the promise. Death will be destroyed e- even if we do have-
David: Mm
Christine: ... to face death in a violent way. We know that it's a through street now because Jesus walked the path-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... before us, and so many of his people have walked that path now.
David: Yeah, it is... It reminds me of a question that when we had Josh on a few episodes here in Acts, a question he asked us is, he, he was like: "You know, I see this certain way that the Christians in Acts live, and it makes me go, 'How can I live like that?'" You know-
Christine: Mm
David: ... "I'm not, I'm not being martyred. It seems unfair, or I feel like a second-class Christian," or... And it's like, oh, you don't- you, you might not be Peter today. You might not be the one in prison, but you can be those in Mary's house, praying and keeping vigil for the persecuted, and both are important parts of the story. Because whenever you're Peter, you're Israel, right? You're Jesus. When you're in Mary's house keeping vigil, you're God in the story. [chuckles]
Christine: Wow, that's a way to-
David: I mean, Exodus 12:42 talks about what God did.
Christine: Yeah.
David: And, yeah.
Christine: He watched over them.
David: He watched over them.
Christine: Yeah.
David: And He, He allows us to enter every part of the story-
Christine: He does
David: ... which is like a grace that I do not avail myself of often enough.
Christine: Mm.
David: You know what I mean?
Christine: Yeah.
David: Like, I feel like I'm missing out on things now, as I'm meditating on this, that-
Christine: Mm
David: ... I'm like, there are people that God has given me the, the, the responsibility is one word, but like, the, the joy of watching over in prayer, that I'm not. And when he releases them from prison, I don't get to share in that joy as much, [chuckles] because I didn't participate in the vigil.
Christine: Yeah.
David: So-
Christine: Yeah
David: ... I'm like, "Man, I wanna-
Christine: Yeah
David: ... pray in Mary's house."
Christine: Yeah, which Peter missed out on one of those himself-
David: He did
Christine: ... when he fell asleep, 'cause Jesus was like, "Pray so you don't fall into temptation. I'm showing you how to fight temptation here, Peter-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... 'cause I told you, you'd deny me." And Peter's like, "Huh?" So it is beautiful, keeping watch and praying, and no hour of prayer is ever a waste, even if it feels, I don't know, painstaking or something.
David: Yeah.
Christine: It's communing with God and entering into a conversation he's already having-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... 'cause Jesus is always interceding, and it's beautiful. And it's just- yeah, it's comforting. Again, I'm- I've never been chained for my faith, but a lot of members of Christ's body have.
David: Mm-hmm, and are.
Christine: Yeah, and if they are a part of me, and I'm a part of them, then I am chained, too. And so when the hands are chained, the mouth can pray. [chuckles]
David: Yeah.
Christine: And that's a way of participating in the body of Jesus. It's not a single-man thing.
David: Yeah. It also makes me think of how the whole Exodus Passover story began. It starts with the problem of slavery-
Christine: Mm
David: ... but the solution that begins is God heard the cries of his people-
Christine: That's right
David: ... in Exodus.
Christine: Yeah.
David: It began with the people of God crying out to him in prayer.
Christine: Yeah, and God knowing their pain-
David: Yeah
Christine: ... and misery, and sending a deliverer.
David: Yeah.
Christine: Yeah.
David: So-
Christine: That's really cool.
David: Man, that's awesome. I wanna be praying in Mary's house.
Christine: Me too.
David: Okay. Well, thank you all for joining us [chuckles] for this episode of the Spoken Gospel podcast. We will end our time in Acts, sadly ending time in Acts, but also joyfully, 'cause it'll be a great episode, great time, in Acts 15 with the Jerusalem Council. So if you want to know why you should not drink blood, [laughs] stay tuned.
Christine: And can still eat bacon as a Gentile.
David: But you can eat bacon as a Gentile. Be sure to tune in. So thank you again for joining us, and we'll see you next time. [upbeat music]
Outro: Thank you for listening to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Spoken Gospel creates short films, devotionals, and podcasts like this one. Everything we make is free because of generous supporters like you. To see our resources, visit spokengospel.com or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Thanks for listening. See you next time. [upbeat music]
