To be sure, men have tried to oppose God. They have defied Him, mocked Him, and blasphemed His Holy Name. You don’t have to look far to find modern examples of it. Sometimes they seem to escape any kind of justice, but believe me, no one succeeds who takes God on. There may be delay sometimes, before justice comes. There is even grace. For a while it may appear that one who sets himself or herself against God is actually winning. But God will always have the final say and those who oppose will always be judged.

I want to begin my sermon this morning with Proverbs 21:30. It says,

"There is no wisdom and no understanding and no counsel against the Lord."

Let me read that out of a couple of different translations:

"There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord. (NIV)

"No one, regardless of how shrewd or well-advised he is, can stand against the Lord." (TLB)

To be sure, men have tried to oppose God. They have defied Him, mocked Him, and blasphemed His Holy Name. You don’t have to look far to find modern examples of it. Sometimes they seem to escape any kind of justice, but believe me, no one succeeds who takes God on. There may be delay sometimes, before justice comes. There is even grace. For a while it may appear that one who sets himself or herself against God is actually winning. But God will always have the final say and those who oppose will always be judged.

Contemporary preacher and author, John MacArthur, on fighting against God:

"History is strewn with the wreckage of the broken lives of those foolish enough to fight God. The nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche despised Christianity as the religion of weaklings. Fighting God eventually pushed him over the brink, and he spent the last several years of his life insane."

"Novelist Sinclair Lewis, winner of the 1930 Nobel Prize for literature, also thought he could fight God. His novel Elmer Gantry mocked Christianity. Its leading character was an evangelist who was also an alcoholic and an unceasing fornicator. Lewis' fight against God cost him his sobriety, and he died a hopeless alcoholic in a clinic near Rome.

"Another Nobel-Prize-winning author, Ernest Hemingway, considered himself living proof that one could successfully fight God. He boasted of fighting in revolutions, tumbling women, and leading a life of sin without apparent consequences. His sins eventually found him out, however, and he put a shotgun to his head and killed himself. Fighting God cost him his life."(1)

MacArthur says of such men, "They pit their impotence against His omnipotence, shattering themselves like raw eggs thrown against granite."(2)

Acts 12 tells us the story of another man who tried to fight against God. King Herod was a first-century tyrant who thought he could abuse God’s people and take God’s glory for himself. For awhile he seemed to get away with it. But in the end he became yet another raw egg splattered against the granite.

I’m going to begin Herod’s story at the end, with the account of his death. It’s a picture of horrible, excruciating pain. The Jewish historian, Josephus, tells us that for five days Herod screamed and writhed in agony as some sort of parasite ravaged his body.

A modern day physician, Doctor Jean Sloat Morton has speculated based on the Greek word the Bible uses to describe the cause of Herod’s death. It’s not for weak stomachs. Dr. Morton writes:

"Herod's death was almost certainly due to the rupture of a cyst formed by a tapeworm. There are several kinds of tapeworms, but one of the most common ones found in sheep-growing countries is the dog tape, Echinococcus granulosus. The heaviest infections come from areas where sheep and cattle are raised. Sheep and cattle serve as intermediate hosts for the parasite. The dog eats the infected meat, then man gets the eggs from the dog, usually by fecal contamination of hair. The disease is characterized by the formation of cysts, generally on the right lobe of the liver; these may extend down into the abdominal cavity. The rupture of such a cyst may release as many as two million scolices. The developing worms inside of the cysts are called scolices, because the anterior region constitutes the major part of development at this stage. When the cyst ruptures, the entrance of cellular debris along with the scolices may cause sudden death."(3)

Here is what the Bible says about Herod’s end in Acts 12:23:

Now that we know what happened to Herod, and it is a horrid picture, let’s go back several months before his death and see what led up to it. There are some good lessons about the folly of fighting against God.

This was Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great. As you may know there was a first century dynasty of Herods and sorting them out can be a real chore. It can also be a study in treachery. Our guy Agrippa here had seen grandpa, who had 10 wives and 15 children, murder his own son, Agrippa’s dad. It was said of the paranoid Grandpa Herod, "It is better to be Herod's hog than to be his son."(4) Grandson wasn’t much better than grandpa. Here he is mistreating the Christians for political gain.

Some of the Jews of that day had a strong hatred for the Christians living among them. Herod seized on this as a political ploy to gain support. James the Son of Zebedee was beheaded or run through with the sword. It proved to be such a popular move that the tyrant determined that Peter would be next. Who knows? From there it might have been the other Apostles.

I think it is appropriate for us to stop here for just a moment and notice that:

That was probably how it looked to the Christians of that day. First there was the mistreatment of the brethren – which Herod did without apparent retribution from God. Then he killed James, one of the Apostles, the first of the 12 to die for the faith. Where would this end? Who would be next? Where was God?

I’m sure some must have wondered, "Is this what we get for serving God and doing right? Is wickedness going to win?" God seemed to do nothing at the time to stop Herod or punish him. Did this mean it was folly to serve God? Of course, we’ve already read the last verses of this chapter. We know he has an appointment with the worms. But they didn’t know that then, just like we don’t know our future today.

I’m convinced that if we knew the future like we know the whole story here, we’d ask fewer questions of God and trust Him a lot more.

But that’s just the problem, isn’t it? We don’t know the future.

When things look bleak, we have to trust God just like they did, even when it seems like the wicked are winning. Yet we do have accounts like this one in the Bible to show us that God is faithful.

There is a modern proverb (not in the Bible) that seems to fit here: "I don’t know the future, but I know the One who holds the future." And the better I get to know Him in His word, the more I see that He’s always there. He’s always in control. Justice is ultimately done. His work progresses on schedule. I trust Him for that. Do you?

Luke continues to describe the arrest of Peter.

This was no poorly attended midweek prayer meeting where only a few of the brethren showed up. This was fervent prayer for one of their own. Peter’s life was at stake. "Lord, we need you to intervene here. Please help us. Please spare our brother Peter!"

That brings up the second point we need to understand when there is opposition to God.

Not doubt. Not panic. Not fear. Prayer.

We’ve been pursuing a study on Sunday evenings on life after death. In the most recent lesson we’ve looked at the role of angels in the life of the believer at the moment of death and just the role of angels in general. I think some of us are getting a first glimpse of just how active God’s holy angels are on behalf of God’s people.

One intriguing passage we’ve looked at is in Daniel 10. I haven’t time to read the whole thing to you now but let me set it up for you. Daniel had seen a vision of great conflict that troubled him terribly. As a result he set about fasting and praying for understanding. He did this for three full weeks yet he received no answer at all from heaven and no indication that his prayer was even heard. Then at the end of the three weeks, an angel of God appeared to him. Daniel was shaken greatly by the appearance of the angel but the heavenly visitor strengthened him and then said these words in Daniel 10:11-15:

God heard him on the very first day of his prayer and fasting, though there was no indication of it to Daniel at the time. Then the angel explained the reason for the delay…

From these verses we see that though Daniel didn’t know it at the time, heaven took note of Daniel’s fasting and his prayer on the very first day he started it. God dispatched an angel promptly. But for three weeks evil forces hindered the angel’s arrival. (Sounds mysterious, doesn’t it?) Ultimately, because of the hindrance, it appears that Michael the Archangel himself was sent to break the stalemate between the angel assigned to Daniel and the evil forces opposing him.

There is a lot more going on in the spirit world when we pray than we see with our eyes. A war rages just beyond the limit of our physical vision. Sometimes we don’t understand the delays. This passage gives us a glimpse of the war. And the amazing thing is that we have a part in it. Our prayers are more than just hopeful wishes. They can actually activate angels.

Paul put it this way in Ephesians 6:12: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Perhaps if we thought of our prayers more in light of this war, as critical SOS messages sent out in the midst of a raging battle, we would pray more soberly.

If we are to withstand those who fight against God, we need to pray for the help of those powerful enough to help us. God sent an angel to help Daniel. He did the same for Peter.

When evil people fight against God and His people, heaven knows and heaven hears our prayers! Our petitions shake the spirit world and activate powerful beings in the army of God! Our response to evil people who oppose God should always be fervent prayer.

I’m inclined to chuckle a bit at the ridiculous picture Luke presents in this passage. Here is the church in fervent prayer to God for Peter. Peter is released by an angel and comes knocking on the door of the very house where they are praying. Rhoda says to the solemn assembly of praying Christians, "Hey everyone. Peter is at the door!" "Shut up, Rhoda," somebody says. Can’t you see we’re praying for Peter? You shouldn’t interrupt our prayers. Besides, you’d have to be out of your mind to believe that Peter is out there. Why everyone knows he’s in Herod’s jail. Now run along and quit bothering us. We need to continue our prayers for Peter."

How God must shake His head sometimes in amazement at the antics of His people!

What’s the lesson here?

They were praying but they were not expecting. God answered their prayers and it surprised them.

I take this passage as a gentle rebuke from the Holy Spirit. No, Peter didn’t jump on them for their lack of expectancy. Neither was there any other rebuke from God. But I would guess that this story was embarrassingly told a few times in the aftermath. "We were praying fervently for Peter’s release and when God released Him, we were so oblivious to the answer, we wouldn’t even let him in the door!"

We should expect God to intervene when our will matches His.

John the Apostle put it this way in 1 John 5:14-15: "And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him."

Be sure to note that "according to His will" clause, because sometimes our prayers don’t match His will. Though God delivered Peter in a very miraculous way, apparently it wasn’t His will to deliver James before him. Certainly there must have been some prayers for James when he was arrested. You might also recall that God didn’t deliver John the Baptist when he was incarcerated, either.

None of us knows the intricacies of God’s will beyond what has been revealed in the Bible. So we must pray in faith, knowing that He will answer our prayer when it matches His will.

That brings us to our final point:

So Peter departs from the group of praying Christians, perhaps to hide out for a bit and let the heat blow over. The soldiers who allowed Peter to escape are executed by their superiors. The king, having lost his opportunity to gain political points with the Jews, takes off for a little R & R down by the sea at Caesarea. The incident with Peter behind him, Herod moves on to other matters of his kingdom.

We don’t know the details of the issue behind this. Whatever it was, apparently Herod had restricted the flow of goods to Tyre and Sidon to the extent that they were in jeopardy. It may also be that Herod was threatening to send troops. To prevent this, the leaders of Tyre and Sidon sent a delegation to try to head it off.

The Jewish historian, Josephus, gives his version of this incident:

"[Herod] 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 sun's rays upon it, shone out after a surprising manner."(5)

In other words, Herod seized upon the opportunity to garner a little glory for himself among these superstitious (and desperate) people. Big mistake.

Sometimes God executes judgment on a tyrant swiftly, as we see here. At other times He waits until after the tyrant dies. Only God knows the reasons for this. Surely I don’t. But this I do know for sure: The judgment of one who fights against God will come. Be sure of it.

Sometime back I heard that a year in prison in the United States costs taxpayers $28,000. A year at Harvard University costs $18,500.(6) Though this statistic is dated, it illustrates a point that is still true.

There are great inequities in this life. Evil sometimes seems to be rewarded and goodness is sometimes exploited. Those who set themselves up to fight against God seem to get away with it. But don’t be discouraged. Judgment is coming. Justice is coming. Maybe now. Most surely later. The persistently wicked who continue to fight God will be swept away into the Lake of Fire.

Footnotes: Use your back button to return to your place

1. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, (c) Moody Press and John MacArthur, Jr., 1983-2002 (P.C. Study Bible version of MacArthur’s Acts commentary)
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Article on "Herod" from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright (c)1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers
5. Antiquities XIX, vii, 2
6. Children’s Defense Fund

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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