Acts (11)

And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Luke 24.27

Be sure to view the video introducing our study of Acts 12 (Lesson 11) by clicking here.

Read and meditate on Acts 12.20-24.
Note the posture and tactics of those who believe political solutions are the ones that matter most. You look for someone to butter-up so you can suck-up to someone you utterly despise. Aren’t we glad that politics isn’t the modus operandi of the ongoing work of Christ?

For reflection
1.  Herod was rather easily contented, don’t you think? He’s angry at people and (probably) threatening an embargo of food against them, but he beams in the light of what he has to know is a phony acclamation: “The voice of a god!” Don’t we face a similar challenge today, when so many people think that they are God, and can do whatever they think is best? How should this lead us to pray for people who think this way?

2.  Did Herod really think so highly of his oratory? If so, it goes with the profile of one who callously does violence against good and decent people, then callously commands the death penalty against those who had done no wrong, and callously threatens the wellbeing of people with whom he’s in a snit. Only God can change the hearts of such people, if their hearts are to be changed. We might want to give up on any “Herods” in our life, but then, shouldn’t we remember Saul of Tarsus? Explain.

3.  Herod deliberately and unashamedly claimed to be a god in this situation. And so an angel – never very far away, as it turns out – struck him with an illness and infestation that ultimately (not right then) took his life. This is not about “getting Herod, the jerk” for what he did to James and Peter and others. It’s about God, and Who is God and who isn’t, and what’s due God, even by those who think the world owes them deference, respect, and honor as some kind of deity. Meanwhile, the Word of God continues, unhindered (v. 24). Why should that not surprise us?

4.  This episode dramatically punctuates the story line of Acts: Christ is replacing the kingdom of darkness and the Lie with His own Kingdom, the Kingdom of life and light. The power of the eternal, spiritual realm is overcoming with good all the wickedness and evil of the temporal, material domains of men (Rom. 12.21). Herod comes under the judgment of God for claiming to be a god, and in him is embodied the ultimate demise of the Roman Empire, as Luke will foreshadow in Acts 17.1-9 and Augustine will explain, 400 years later, in City of God. Should we believe that Christ’s Kingdom is continuing to advance in our own day? Why?

5.  The world is a sad, scary, and uncertain place. The tragic death of Herod should cause us to weep: there but for the grace of God go you and I. Yet the ongoing work of Christ, His Word and Spirit at work in and through His Church, met us and brought us the gift of life. Let us weep tears of joy. In what ways is the Word of the Lord continuing and increasing in your life? In your Personal Mission Field? Your community?

Summary
Only God is God. All others are pretenders. We can trust the Lord to assert His uniqueness, authority, and power, albeit not always as dramatically as in this chapter. Still, Luke is trying to shape the way we think about the times in which we live and the Kingdom-and-glory calling of God that is upon us (1 Thess. 2.12). What should we learn from Acts 12 to help us in fulfilling our calling as witnesses for Christ?

Closing Prayer
O God, who is like You?
You, who have shown me great and severe troubles,
Shall revive me again,
And bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
You shall increase my greatness,
And comfort me on every side.
Also with the lute I will praise You—
And Your faithfulness, O my God!
To You I will sing with the harp,
O Holy One of Israel.
My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You,
And my soul, which You have redeemed.
My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long;
For they are confounded,
For they are brought to shame
Who seek my hurt.

Psalm 71.19-24

T. M. Moore

Each week’s studies in Acts are bound together into a free PDF that you can download for personal or group use (click here). Each week also features a video related to the studies of the week, which you may find helpful as you work through our studies in Acts.

Acts is the record of Christ’s ongoing work as King and Lord. This is the work of bringing the Kingdom of God to earth as it is in heaven. Read more about the implications of this work in our new book, The Kingdom Turn (click here).

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