Acts 12 :: Showdown

Acts 12 in the Message and TNIV translations

Why do the nations rage

and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth rise up

and the rulers band together

against the Lord

and against his anointed one.

Psalm 2:1-2

Back in Acts 4, the church prayed these words from Psalm 2 as they celebrated the release of Peter and John.  You could see the showdown coming.  Finally, in chapter 12, Herod went too far, and God demonstrated that you don't want to get into a duel with him.

This chapter paints some vivid word pictures.  Peter's secret-agent angel who makes chains fall off and locked doors open by themselves, and walks Peter right past the guards without them noticing -- the original Jedi mind trick!  Rhoda the servant who, in her excitement, leaves Peter standing outside the door.  Even in the midst of life-and-death situations, there is some comic relief!  Then comes the dark comedy: Herod, sitting on his throne, wearing his royal garb and basking in his own glory, struck down by God for accepting praise reserved for God alone (ironically, the very thing for which Jesus was crucified).  I'm just speculating here, but maybe he had worms and that was the physical cause of death.  It's poetic justice, and Eugene Peterson does a great job of drawing it out in the Message translation of the text: "Rotten to the core, a maggoty old man if there ever was one, he died."  As his heart and soul became increasingly corrupt, his physical body was literally being eaten out from the inside, and in God's timing he falls apart.  No purple robe or king's throne would ultimately hide the truth.  He tried to save his "life"--his power, his influence and affluence--and he lost it all.

True Christianity has never been a political movement.  Jesus himself was emphatic about this despite a lot of pressure to the contrary and the persistent misconceptions of his own disciples.  However, Christianity by its very nature is a threat to rulers and authorities who want to hold God's place in the hearts and lives of people.  They have always attacked Christ and Christians, even to this day, and they have always lost.  Christianity brought down Herod, then the Roman Empire, then a whole list of tyrants and governments over 2,000 years of human history--not militarily or politically, but by capturing the hearts and souls of men and women.  Christianity still advances today in countries where it is illegal to be a follower of Christ, maybe even punishable by death.

I had to pause today and pray for brothers and sisters around the world who are paying a heavy price for their faith.  And I pray that I have even a fraction of the courage and conviction they have.  Always remember who wins the showdown.