Peter’s Deliverance (Acts 12:6-19)

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Prayers of Acts: Peter’s Deliverance from Prison (Acts 12:6-19)

Prepared and preached at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, April 26, 2026

The story I am about to share is difficult at first, but listen to the end:

“John Patton, the missionary to the New Hebrides [South Pacific, New Hebrides is now called the Republic of Vanuatu].

He went to the New Hebrides after two missionaries from Scotland had gone there before, some years before. And within hours of landing, they were eaten. They were killed and eaten by cannibals.

And so John Patton decides to go. And he takes a wife with him. And she gives birth to a daughter. She was pregnant on board the ship.

And then within a few months of arriving, she gives birth and both she and the child die. There is a description of him lying on the grave of his wife and daughter and sobbing for days and days. He is on the other side of the world from his family.

He is alone on this island in fear of being killed and eaten by cannibals. And then he goes back to Scotland some years later. And he will remarry and go back again.

There’s a night that he describes in which he’s in the house, and on this occasion it’s before he remarried, and he’s in the house and he’s alone. It’s a hut. And he’s alone.

And he’s surrounded by cannibals with torches of fire. And a year later, the chief of those cannibals is converted through John Patton’s ministry. And Patton asked about that night, what is it?

What is it that kept them back from coming and killing him and eating him? And the chief said, I could see hundreds of big men with shining garments and swords.”

Do we believe God answers our prayers?

Do we believe in angels?

We are in our year-long sermon series on prayer. Today, we look at one of my favorite passages.

My theme today is:

Peter is released from prison through an encounter with an angel.

  1. The context:
    1. In Acts 12:1-6, James, one of Jesus’s disciples, is arrested and martyred.
    2. Following that, Jesus’s disciple, Peter, is arrested and imprisoned.
    3. Acts 12:5 (ESV) So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.
    4. Notice that “earnest” prayer. I love that.
    5. Continual or intense. Intently, earnestly (1 Pet. 1:22; Sept.: Jon. 3:8).[2]
    6. “Earnest” could be translated as “zealous” or “fervent.”
    7. Is there something that we want to pray for earnestly?
    8. What are we petitioning the Lord for in an earnest way?
    9. Is it the salvation of our children? Is it that our grandchildren know the Lord (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:8-9)? Is it the financial need, or the job search, or the medical problem? It is okay to pray for all these things.
  2. The people pray.
    1. Acts 12:6–10 (ESV)
    2. 6 Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. 7 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. 8 And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” 9 And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him.
    3. In verse 6, we see that Peter was asleep.
    4. Would you be asleep in a prison?
    5. He is asleep between two soldiers. More soldiers were guarding the doors, and he was sleeping. The prisons were probably not that comfortable.
    6. It was customary back then to have your right hand chained to a soldier’s left hand; however, it appears Peter was chained on both sides to a soldier.
    7. Peter could be content because he knew and followed the Scriptures: Peter was content with the situation. He had faith and knew everything would be okay. This could be because he knew he would die an old man (John 21:18-19), or he was just not anxious (Phil. 4:11).
    8. Peter knew other principles: “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; for Thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell in safety” (Ps. 4:8).
    9. Peter wouldn’t be asleep for long.
    10. In verse 7, a light shines in; Peter is still asleep; however, now the guards are asleep too. Note, these are Roman guards. These are the best of the best, and they are sleeping!
    11. An Angel comes in and knocks him to wake him.
    12. The chains just fell off. Imagine that. How neat is that? Imagine being in a dark, dirty prison, and now it is all lit up by an angel, and your chains fall off.
    13. The angel tells him to put on his sandals and cloak.
    14. One of my sources suggested that Peter may have thought of this every time he laced his sandals and put on his cloak.
    15. Wow! What a thought, but think about this: this is a life-altering, life-changing experience. Would you forget it? An angel wakes him up.
    16. In the following few verses, Peter thinks this is a dream. He didn’t think it was real. They got up and went through some gates, including the one in the city. The gate opened by itself, and then the angel departed. The gate opened by itself. Realize that garage door and gate openers were not sold at Lowe’s in their day. This was God’s doing, and this is amazing. The angel just disappeared. Puff, gone.
    17. In verse 11, Peter realizes this is real. Peter had been thinking this was a dream the whole time. Peter did not think that this was real.
    18. I find that somewhat interesting. Peter witnessed the resurrection. He witnessed all the miracles of the resurrection. Remember Acts chapter 10, he witnessed that vision, but he did not think this was real. He could have thought this was simply another vision of what God wanted him to do. But he did not think it was real.
  3. Peter at the house (Acts 12:11-17).
    1. Acts 12:11–17 (ESV)
    2. 11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
    3. 12 When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. 13 And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. 15 They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” 16 But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. 17 But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.
    4. Peter knocks on the door.
    5. A servant girl named Rhoda comes to answer; she hears Peter’s voice, and before she lets him in, she goes and tells the people he is there. They don’t believe her. However, she insists. They then say it is his angel. Peter keeps knocking, and eventually, they let him in.
    6. Peter tells them what happened and to tell James and the rest.
    7. They were praying for his release, and when he showed up, they did not believe it was him.
    8. Do we ever pray for something and not believe God will follow through?
    9. The story ends with Peter going to another place, and Herod killing the guards.
  4. Applications:
    1. Remember the Lord is in control.
    2. Remember the Lord is NOT limited. He can answer our prayers however He wishes. The Roman guards were no challenge to God’s plan. Whatever our obstacles are, they are no threat to the Lord.
    3. Sometimes we think our needs are too small for prayer. That is not true.
    4. Sometimes we think there is no way that God can answer our prayer; that is not true.
    5. Sometimes we think it is selfish to pray for our needs, but that is not true. Read Phil. 4:6-7.
    6. Sometimes we think our loved one will never turn to Christ. Don’t limit God.
    7. Notice the Lord answers their prayer, but they don’t believe it. This shows that God’s answer does not always depend on our faith.
    8. What are we petitioning the Lord for in an earnest way?
    9. Is it the salvation of our children? Is it that our grandchildren know the Lord (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:8-9)? Is it the financial need, or the job search, or the medical problem? It is okay to pray for all these things.

I recently read a book by Jennie Allen called, The Lie You Don’t Know You Believe.

This part reminds us to keep our eyes on Jesus.

Keep your eyes on Jesus. As we pray, keep our eyes on our creator.

Jennie Allen writes:

When my kids were little, we wore out a picture book by Max Lucado titled You Are Special. In it, a wooden puppet named Punchinello, along with his fellow wooden puppets, all get dot and star stickers based on their performance in their little community each day. Anyone can put a sticker on them at any time.

Really fantastic puppets who do amazing things get gold stars, while plain, not-so-fantastic puppets who make lots of mistakes get boring, dull gray dots.

Sadly, Punchinello is always covered in gray dots, and he starts to believe the lie that he’s worthless, that he’ll never get a gold star, and that he’ll never measure up to all the puppets who have so many stars.

One day Punchinello meets a puppet who has no stars and no dots. In awe, he inquires how this is possible. “Oh,” she says, “it’s because I go to see the woodcarver every day.”

Punchinello goes to see the woodcarver, Eli—the same woodcarver who once carved him. As he sits and talks with Eli, he realizes that despite what the other puppets think about him, Eli has a far different take.

Eli thinks Punchinello is amazing.

Eli thinks Punchinello is fantastic.

Eli thinks Punchinello is special.

Eli adores Punchinello because Eli made him.

The longer Punchinello sits with Eli, the more he realizes that Eli’s opinion is the only one that counts. Curiously, when Punchinello leaves, a gray dot falls off.

The story is the perfect demonstration of this great passage in Philippians where Paul says, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”

Do you see it? Punchinello did the very thing I’m inviting you to do: He left the kingdom of this world to inhabit the Kingdom of God.

That’s the call of the gospel.

That’s the call of Jesus.

It’s to be Punchinello walking into the Maker’s woodshop, remembering who we are. Remembering who made us. Remembering how to come home.[3]

So, as we pray, remember your Creator. Remember who you are.

Eyes on Jesus…

Prayer

[1] Derick Thomas, Renewing Your Mind

11.22.2024; From Renewing Your Mind: Rescued by an Angel, Nov 22, 2024

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/renewing-your-mind/id110916650?i=1000677860818&r=714

This material may be protected by copyright.

From Renewing Your Mind: Rescued by an Angel, Nov 22, 2024

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/renewing-your-mind/id110916650?i=1000677860818&r=623

Sept (Septuagint)

[2] Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000).

[3] Allen, Jennie. The Lie You Don’t Know You Believe: How to Find It, Fight It, and Live Free (pp. 84-85). (Function). Kindle Edition.

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