GROUP FELLOWSHIP NOTES:    SPRING 2006  MARCH 7/9

‘THE SPREADING FLAME- How they brought the good news ....... to Rome’

(4)  ACTS 12: 1-24‘BACK-LASH -  BIG TIME!’

GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY:  ‘Acts has clearly shown us God’s sovereignty in the spread of the gospel around the world: over and over it is God who initiates it.  In this chapter we see God’s sovereignty over both the lives of his servants, James and Peter, and over the life of the Jewish King Agrippa!

1.GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY OVER THE LIVES OF HIS SERVANTS

The different fates of the apostles James and Peter

PERSECUTION AND MARTYRDOM: We mustn’t forget that the triumphant spread of the gospel across the world is not without cost to the disciples of Jesus.

(1)HEROD AND JAMES:  12.1-2

Who was James? What do we know about him?

Why was he arrested and executed?

What does this tell us about the price of popularity and power?

(2)HEROD and PETER: 12.3-17

Peter in prison! (How Peter spent Easter AD43)

Talk about Peter’s imprisonment

the security in which he’s held

the peace he displays

the surprise he feels

the ease with which he was released

the conclusion to which he came

Why Peter?       -  Who released him?

People at Prayer 12.5, 12-17

Talk now about the Christians at Jerusalem

How do you think they felt?

Where did they meet?

What did they do?

For what do you think they prayed?

Just how is the humanity of the Christians seen? (What amuses and appeals to you about the account in 13-16?)

In what ways do the events of these verses encourage us?

(3)HEROD, THE APOSTLES and GOD:

In what way do the events of this passage demonstrate God’s sovereignty?

How do you account for the different fates of James and Peter?

Are we prepared to accept the sovereignty of God over our own lives and those of our loved ones?

2.GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY OVER THE LIFE OF SECULAR RULERS: 12.20-24

the death of Herod Agrippa

(1)THE PERSECUTOR WHO PERISHED (20-23)

How does this account illustrate:

the enjoyment power gives?

the peril of pride?

What did Agrippa forget? What lessons?

(2)PREACHING THAT PREVAILED (24)

-Persecution fails to stop the spread of the gospel!

CONCLUSION:  What truths do you take away from this passage?

BACKGROUND:

THE YEAR IS AD 43:

the year the Romans conquered Britain under Claudius

the year Barnabas brought Saul of Tarsus to work with him amongst the new Christians at Antioch.

THE HEROD mentioned is Herod Agrippa the First:

‘Herod’ was the family name (taken from Herod the Great by a succession of Jewish kings under Roman rule.

Four separate ‘Herods’ are referred to in the New Testament

Herod the Great: mentioned in account of Jesus’ birth and who tried to kill him.

Herod Antipas: one of his sons.  This ‘Herod’ put John the Baptist to death and later tried Jesus.

Herod Agrippa, the First: the Herod who here arrests James and Peter

Herod Agrippa the Second who took part in Paul’s trial under Festus at Jerusalem (Acts 25-26)

HEROD AGRIPPA I and the Jews: 

Herod Agrippa I was the most popular of all the (rather unpopular) Herods since his grandmother (Marianne) was a descendant of the revered Hamonaeon royal family – who were the great heroes of the successful Jewish revolt  against Greek occupation. And history records that Agrippa I set out to actively keep the favour of the Jewish people.  This probably accounts for the arrest of James and Peter, (leaders of the Jerusalem church that was dangerously getting involved with Gentiles!).  He died in AD 44 (aged 54) just as ‘Acts’ records.

HEROD AGRIPPA’S DEATH and JOSEPHUS

Josephus, the Jewish historian, has left us an independent account of Herod’s death that is remarkable for its corroboration of Luke’s.  The incidents he records probably took place on the Emperor’s birthday on August 1st 44 AD – only weeks after James’ death and Peter’s release!

Josephus writes that Agrippa, at Caesarea:

“exhibited shows in honour of Caesar, inaugurating this as a festival for the emperor’s welfare. And there came together to it a large number of provincial officials and others of distinguished position. On the second day of the displays, Agrippa put on a robe made of silver throughout, of altogether wonderful weaving, and made his way to the theatre at daybreak. Then the silver shone and glittered wonderfully as the sun’s first rays fell on it, and its resplendence inspired a sort of fear and trembling in those who gazed upon it. Immediately his flatterers called out from various directions, using language which bade him no good, for they addressed him as a god, and invoked him with the cry: ‘Be gracious to us! Hitherto we have reverenced you as a man, but henceforth we acknowledge you to be of more than mortal nature.’ He did not rebuke them, nor did he repudiate their impious flattery. But soon afterwards he looked up and saw an owl sitting on a rope above his head, and immediately recognised it as a messenger of evil as it had on a former occasion been a messenger of good; and a pang of grief pierced his heart. At the same time he was seized with a severe pain in his belly, which began with a most violent attack.... He was carried into the palace .... when he had suffered continuously for five days from the pain in his belly, he died, in the fifty-fourth year of his age and the seventh of his reign’.

(Antiquities 19.8.2)