Peter Misselbrook's Blog
Feb 24 2014 - Striking Scripture Verses

One of the wonderful things about the Bible is that you are always discovering more within it. I am now in my 60s and my parents read the Scriptures to me and told me their stories from my earliest years. I, in turn, have been reading the Scriptures myself for all of my adult life. For the last decade or more I have been in the habit of reading my way through the text of the Greek New Testament on an annual basis. One might think that there was nothing left to be discovered. But there is always more.

Yesterday I was preaching at a church in Somerset. The church has been working their way through the wonderful story of the growth and expansion of the church in the Book of Acts. I had been asked to preach on Acts 12:18-25 on the theme of “God’s unstoppable word” (see 12:24). I must confess to an initial feeling of disappointment. The verses beforehand – Peter’s delivery from prison by an angel – seemed far more exciting. The verses following – the beginning of Paul’s missionary journeys – seemed far more instructive. But I began to prepare my message from the verses given me and found, as so often, that there was much to learn from these verses.

In particular, as I began to look more closely at the passage assigned to me and its context within Acts 12, I was struck (if you will forgive the pun), with the odd wording of 12:7, “Suddenly an angel of the Lord … struck Peter on the side and woke him up.” The verb use of the angel’s action is πατασσω (patasso); it’s onomatopoeic – reminiscent of the thwack of the cricket bat against the ball. It’s not a gentle word. Why did the angel “strike” Peter? Why not lay a hand gently upon his shoulder and shake him awake before leading him out of prison? Why not whisper gently in his ear? To strike him on the side seems to be an unnecessarily violent action.

But then I turned to the verses from which I was to preach. King Herod was so angry that Peter had escaped the gruesome death he had been planning for him that he had the guards executed in Peter’s place. Later, in Caesarea, he sought to recover his wounded pride and sense of power by appearing in all his royal finery before a submissive crowd and giving what was no doubt a self-exalting speech. The crowd in turn shouted out “This is the voice of a god, not a man.” Then we read, “Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died” (12:23).

I had never before noticed the way in which the wording of 12:23 echoes so precisely that of 12:7, right down to the use of the same striking verb. Luke surely wanted to draw attention to the link between these two events. The angel of the Lord struck Peter to wake him from his sleep and deliver him from the death Herod had planned for him. The angel of the Lord struck Herod to wake him from his folly and deliver on him the fate he had planned for Peter.

God has a way of turning the evil plans and actions of people back upon themselves. We see it at the cross: those who sought to destroy the Son of God served only to accomplish God’s purposes by putting him to death. Through his death he conquered death and brought forgiveness and salvation to all who turn to him. God always has the last word: “But the word of God continued to spread and flourish” (Acts 12:24).

And God always has more to say to us from his word if we only have ears to listen to him.

Lord, show me more of the greatness of your saving power today.

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Peter Misselbrook