On the fourteenth of Nissan they began the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and so it was during this Feast of Passover that Peter was arrested. Friedrich Nietsche was the philosopher who coined the idea that God was dead, and that Christianity was a despised religion of weaklings. Theirs was not the joy that saw into the presence of God. Bruce relates the story of Sundar Singh, a Tibetan Christian who was likewise freed miraculously from a prison. b. Arrayed in royal apparelgave an oration: Dressed in impressive clothes, Herod spoke before an audience eager to please him. So they said, It is his angel. Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. We know that God could have delivered James by a miracle even as He delivered Peter. Full of the truth himself, he speaks with the utmost simplicity to Cornelius, who with his household hears the blessed word. WebActs 12 James Killed and Peter Imprisoned. "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him." I say, "the church; " for there need be no doubt, I think, that such is the true form* of what is given us in verse 31. 18Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. Of this we heard nothing in the divine history of the day of Pentecost; and I think that scripture is abundantly plain that there could have been nothing of the kind then and there. The people of Tyre and Sidon, anxious to ensure a constant food supply from Herods territory, had tried to win his favour with a show of extravagant flattery. There is no show of doing great things; nor do we read of daring in any way: what is there of Christ in the one or the other? It is thought that her house was pretty much the headquarters of the church in Jerusalem. They'll find out I'm here], he declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. 2 He killed James the brother of John with the sword, 3 and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Caiaphas, high priest in Jerusalem 18-36 AD. He apparently became a believer only after Jesus resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:7; cf. It is a fallacy then to suppose that Cornelius had no better than merely natural religion. So John often speaks of it; and the very one that tells us most of the divinely given character of true faith who most of all lets us into its secret power and blessedness, even eternal life as bound up with it, that same John is the one who more than any other furnishes instances of a mere humanly produced faith. And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. It was probably James, the brother of Jesus, who was a prominent figure in the church at Jerusalem. Nevertheless the God that vindicated the honour of the crucified Jesus did not forget the martyred Stephen; and though there was an outburst of persecution, which scattered abroad throughout the region of Judea and Samaria all the believers that were in Jerusalem except the apostles, devout men were not wanting who carried Stephen to his burial. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there. Upon an agreed day Herod put on his royal robes and seated himself on a throne and made a speech to them. 6 And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were [ b]keeping the prison. 5:13, [2 Sam. Long-standing tradition identifies James, the son of Alphaeus, as James the Less. Jesus replied to them, You do not know what you ask. He put on a garment made wholly of silver, and of a contexture truly wonderful, and came into the theatre early in the morning; at which time the silver of his garment, being illuminated by the fresh reflection of the suns rays upon it, shone out after a surprising manner, and was so resplendent as to spread a horror over those that looked intently upon him; and presently his flatterers cried out, one from one place, and another from another (though not for his good), that he was a godA severe pain also arose in his belly, and began in a most violent manner when he had been quite worn out by the pain in his belly for five days, he departed this life. (Antiquities, XIX.8.2). By the hand of Herod Agrippa I, James became the first apostle to be martyred. One of the Twelve Disciples of Jesus, together with his brother John and Simon Peter part of the inner circle of Jesus. is stricken by an angel, and dies miserably. "But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews that dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ." Of Hebrew origin; Joannes, the name of four Israelites. But Jesus promised no special protection for even His closest followers; He warned them to be ready for persecution (Matthew 10:16-26). So James is now following his Lord in martyrdom, the brother of John. We do not read about James again until after the death of James the son of Zebedee in Acts, chapter twelve. Yet, this aggressive tendency did not keep Christ from drawing James into His inner circle. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. It was not so with Cornelius. The angel said to him, "Gird yourself and put on your sandals." When Herod had sought for him and did not find him, he examined the guards and ordered them to be led away to execution. But God will take care of it when we come to it. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Killing with the sword was the punishment which, according to the Talmud, was inflicted on those who drew away the people to any strange worship, Sanhedr. . Oh, what a blessing it is to have and know such a Saviour! There are, of course, imperfect expressions, inasmuch as the truth itself is but partially apprehended; but one is glad to see views so decidedly in advance of ordinary evangelicalism, with equal decision against more churchism. And if anybody should try to take them, they can call down fire from heaven and consume them. They were in the church already. He wished to gain fresh influence, not to lose his old: why not, by this new method, if possible, turn things to his own account? Philip is found at Azotus, and passing through he preaches elsewhere. Here we find not even the apostle Paul was above it. The martyrdom of James, and the imprisonment of Peter. He had James, the brother of John, executed. On the day of Pentecost they were baptized first, and then they received the gift of the Holy Ghost. By the death of James, the number of the apostles was reduced to eleven; and we do not find that ever it was filled up. The profound moral work of God proceeded in that converted heart. *Is it not distressing to find, in this thoughtful production of one in much above the traditions of men and the bias of party, the palpable omission of the grandest and most momentous distinction of the church, namely, the presence of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven? 2 Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. In fact, James thought that his brother Jesus was mad, and at one time sought to rescue Him from the crowd. From that we learn that this was the headquarters of the Christian Church. These later sons of Mary explain why Jesus was called her firstborn son (Matthew 1:25; Luke 2:7). At the passover, when the Jews came from all parts to Jerusalem to keep the feast, they irritated one another against the Christians and Christianity, and were then more violent than at other times. He would have His people, where they give, to have a voice. WebJames Killed and Peter Imprisoned. 1 Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. At the same time there is the pity that belongs to one who knew the grace of God, and saw the end of all in His judgment. He was murdered by his own father but he had a son called Herod Agrippa. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. Another thing too let me again and again remark: the gift of the Holy Ghost never means those mighty wonders of power which had acted on the greedy and ambitious mind of Simon Magus. Philip acts at once, with alacrity hears the eunuch read the prophet Isaiah, and puts the question whether he understood what was read. If the Jews had been responsible for James death, it would have been by stoning. During his lifetime James was not a supporter of Jesus. In this passage we come on the first mention of the man who was the real leader of the Christian Church in Jerusalem. They also had the audacity to approach Christ (with their mother Matthew 20:20) and ask Him that they might sit on His right hand and left hand in His kingdom (Matthew 20:20-28; Mark 10:35-44). 4:11; Philem. He at this time ruled over all his father's dominions. Thus Cornelius was aware that God had sent the gospel to the Jews; but there was precisely where he necessarily stopped short. It is always thus in the ways of God. James is the given name for three prominent men in the New Testament. Undoubtedly they could not have believed the gospel, had there not been the quickening operation of the Holy Ghost; but we must distinguish between the Holy Ghost giving life and the Holy Ghost Himself given. Sinclair Lewis died a hopeless alcoholic in a clinic near Rome. d. They came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord: The soldiers, the chains, the guard posts, the iron gate were all nothing when God was with Peter and prayer was behind him. WebHow the Lord had brought him out; Peter gives God the glory, though an angel had been the means of his delivery. The following extract from the late Dr. Carson's Letters in reply to Dr. John Brown's Vindication of Presbyterianism will show how far an able and excellent man went astray in defending Congregationalism through not knowing that his argument was based, not on God's word, but on man's corruption of it. This did not at all flow from his ordination. If he must have meant something more than this; if his own faith and his own sanctity were living and real, the effect of the Holy Spirit's operation; then, inasmuch as he makes no distinction as regards this point between himself and those whom he addresses, we must suppose that he looked upon them also as real saints and believers. This contrariety doth cause me to expound it of the Gentiles." (1-5) He is delivered from prison by an angel. Changes will take effect once you reload the page. i. Significantly, there was no attempt to replace James, as there was to replace Judas (Acts 1). Another contrast is that of James and John. a. Herod the king: This was Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great, who ruled in the days of Jesus birth (Matthew 2:1-16). Because it is not connected with events in the chapters immediately before and after it, however, it may seem rather isolated and unimportant for Acts as a whole. 256, 257). Acts 12:2 The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) He made an appearance to his half brother and after that point his half brother James and His half brother Jude became pillars in the early church. After his salvation, he went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and while there, saw also James the Lords brother (Galatians 1:18-19). WebJames Killed and Peter Imprisoned. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Where man chooses for human things, we have the Lord recognising it. Only seven words in the Greek, translated by eleven in English, recount the martyrdom of the first apostle; and such restraint by the sacred historian shows how different are the words of inspiration from those of ordinary writers. Note what the Christians were doing. In that day, if a guards prisoner escaped, the guard was given the penalty due to the prisoner in this case, death. When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. Confidence in man, in self, was overthrown to its foundations all that his life had been zealously building up. The Holy Ghost came down upon them suddenly, with no previous sign whatever, except that which was suitable to the Holy Ghost when sent down from heaven the mighty rushing wind, and then the tokens of His presence upon each were manifested. ". And he was eaten by worms and died. Lit., having shaken downward with his hand, in order to bespeak silence and attention. So from experience we know there is many a man that you cannot doubt to be truly looking to the Lord, yet far from resting in the peace of God. 3 And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. This has caused much confusion as to the identity of the Book of James. Contrariwise, we see that which outwardly looks exceedingly weak; but this was the man that was in another day to say that he gloried in his infirmities. It was at the feast of the passover, when their celebrating the memorial of their typical deliverance should have led them to the acceptance of their spiritual deliverance; instead of this, they, under pretence of zeal for the law, were most violently fighting against it, and, in the days of unleavened bread, were most soured and embittered with the old leaven of malice and wickedness. When they would gird themselves, and the purpose of it is they would wear these long robes kind of things. Here it is not this, but simply the indiscriminate. Neither one nor other ever entered into the thoughts or feelings of Simon. This was because James died as a faithful martyr, but Judas revealed his apostasy in betraying Jesus. As Wesley said, "So one of the brothers went to God the first, the other the last, of the apostles. The others in the inner circle, Peter and John, both wrote books in the New Testament. Peters miraculous deliverance from prison 1. He killed James the brother of John with the sword. ii. 3 When he saw that this met with approval among the He would direct attention to the fact, that the ordinary greeting of St. Paul, at the beginning of each epistle, is to the 'saints and faithful brethren' constituting the Church of such a place, fellow-heirs with himself of eternal life; and that throughout these compositions, the members of the Church are presumed to be in living union with Christ, reasonings and exhortations being addressed to them, the force of which cannot be supposed to be admitted, except by those who are led by the Spirit of God; in short, that the members of the Corinthian or the Ephesian Church are addressed as Christians; and a Christian is one who is in saving union with Christ.". However, something happened around the time of the Christs crucifixion and resurrection. For according to the Roman law, if you were guarding a prisoner and he escaped from you, then you received the sentence that would have been given to the prisoner. He examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death: The execution of the guards was customary. I can understand difficulties in the minds of believers; and no one would wish to force or hurry the convictions of any; nor would it be of the slightest value to receive even a truth without the faith that is produced, and exercised, and cleared by the word of God. Ever since the conversion of Paul, we have heard no more of the agency of the priests in persecuting the saints at Jerusalem; perhaps that wonderful change wrought upon him, and the disappointment it gave to their design upon the Christians at Damascus, had somewhat mollified them, and brought them under the check of Gamaliel's advice--to let those men alone, and see what would be the issue; but here the storm arises from another point. c. James the son of Zebedee and brother of John (Matt. When Peter had knocked at the door of the entrance a maidservant called Rhoda came to answer the door. Thus on the great Gentile occasion, as before on the Jewish at Pentecost, the medium of man completely disappears. As we advance farther in the inspired history, we find additions made to these simple elements of social fellowship; the organisation of the Christian society becomes more complex and systematic; questions of polity and order occupy no small portion of the apostolic epistles; and we have every reason to believe, if not from Scripture alone, yet from the unanimous voice of authentic history, that towards the close of the apostolic age Christianity had almost everywhere crystallised itself into a certain, definite, and well known form of ecclesiastical polity" (pp. . James the son of Alphaeus is one of the unknown apostles. Acts 11:18), Herod took advantage of an opportunity to please his subjects by mistreating some believers and by executing the Apostle James, the brother of John (cf. b. (v) Herod the Great had another son called Aristobulus (see Aristoboulos G711) ; his mother was Mariamne, a princess who was descended from the great Maccabaean heroes. (1.) Our website uses cookies to store user preferences. Jerusalem passes as the center of the church's activity and now moves to Antioch, and all of the missionary activity in taking the Gospel into all of the world centers out of the church in Antioch. to 1 B.C. Web12 About that time King Herod Agrippa[ a] began to persecute some believers in the church. "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." b. Note, Those make themselves an easy prey to Satan who make it their business to please men. Acts 12:23), and moved his headquarters to Jerusalem. So far from it, as we shall find by and by inActs 10:1-48; Acts 10:1-48, the Holy Ghost was given while he was yet speaking, before they were so much as baptized. Philip, besides being one of the seven, was an "evangelist," as we are told expressly in another part of this very book (Acts 21:8). Ac 12:2 He killed James the brother of John. Isn't it interesting how much emphasis we often put on faith. There now broke out upon the Church, and especially upon its leaders, a new wave of persecution instigated by King Herod. James sheds his blood, as Stephen had before; for this Peter was destined by man, but the Lord disappointed him. WebActs 12:2 The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 2 He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God." On the night before Herod was going to bring him before the people, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound by two chains; and guards kept continuous watch before the door. And he killed James the brother of John: How different is such an event recorded in history by divine inspiration from what one might expect. 2 He killed James the brother of John with the sword; 3 and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. In conclusion, either James the brother of Jesus or James the son of Zebedee could have written the book of James. 3 When Herod saw how much this pleased the Jewish people, he also arrested Peter.
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