Welcome to Acts 12. This week is in 6 parts and some are short enough to give much thought to. Get your imagination working and see if you can experience the words in the chapter this week. The Word is like bread to our souls.
Let’s pray:
Lord Jesus, thank You for these accounts of the life of the early church. Thank You for showing us what it meant and still means to live for you. Help us not just read it as action but read it as if we were in this situation ourselves. Thank You, Lord. Lead us, please.
Please read Acts 12:1-5
Peter’s Arrest and Escape
1 Now at that time [a]Herod [Agrippa I] the king [of the Jews] arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to harm them. 2 And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword; 3 and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to have Peter arrested as well. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread [the Passover week]. 4 When he had seized Peter, he put him in prison, turning him over to four squads of soldiers of four each to guard him [in rotation throughout the night], planning after the Passover to bring him out before the people [for execution]. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but fervent and persistent prayer for him was being made to God by the church.
Footnotes
[a] Acts 12:1 I.e. Herod Agrippa I was the grandson of Herod the Great. Since he was of Hasmonean descent he was partly Jewish.
The Passover and Unleavened Bread
Leviticus 23:4-8
4 ‘These are the appointed times of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times: 5 The Lord’s Passover is on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight. 6 The Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord is on the fifteenth day of the same month; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation (calling together); you shall not do any laborious work [on that day]. 8 But you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord for seven days; on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work [on that day].’”
Next year, 2024, on our calendar this starts April 22nd and goes through the 30th. Knowing this now will give you time to prepare to celebrate it in a way that is faithful and applicable for Christ’s people today. April 22 is Passover, April 24th is First Fruits, which we know as Resurrection Day.
You can read about First Fruits in Leviticus 23:9-14. All of those events are in the same week. Passover, First Fruits, and the feast of unleavened bread.