The Great Escape

Imprisoned during World War II in a German POW camp, a group of Allied soldiers are intent on breaking out, not only to escape, but also to draw Nazi forces away from battle to search for fugitives. Outwitting their captors by digging a tunnel out of the prison grounds, the soldiers find the stakes much higher when escape becomes a reality. This real-life event was made into a movie called: The Great Escape.

In May 1940, Germany advanced into France, trapping Allied troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. Under air and ground cover from British and French forces, troops were slowly and methodically evacuated from the beach using every serviceable naval and civilian vessel that could be found. At the end of this heroic mission, 330,000 French, British, Belgian and Dutch soldiers were safely evacuated. It was a great escape and has been chronicles in the new hit movie: Dunkirk.

Frank Morris, a hardened con with a history of prison breaks, is sent to serve the rest of his life sentence at Alcatraz -- America's most infamously brutal and inescapable maximum security prison. Fed up with life at Alcatraz, Morris and two convict brothers meticulously plan the unthinkable: an escape from the island. Their escape was the stuff of legends and has stumped everyone as to how they could have survived. The story was told in the movie: Escape from Alcatraz.

As we continue our series Going Viral, we see that the early church is once again dealing with threats of arrest and violence. This time from a Roman assigned leader in Judea that Luke references as King Herod. Other historical documents called him Herod of Agrippa or Agrippa the Great.

About that time King Herod cruelly attacked some who belonged to the church, and he killed James, John’s brother, with the sword. When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too, during the days of Unleavened Bread. After the arrest, he put him in prison and assigned four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. So Peter was kept in prison, but prayer was being made earnestly to God for him by the church. (Acts 12:1-5)

Just as the church thought they had escaped further persecution with Saul out of the way, the Romans start to see these Christians as a problem for them. Herod kills James and captured Peter with the intent to kill him as well. But a Jewish holiday prevents him from executing Peter at that time, so he had him put in prison.

Notice that Herod did not want to take any chance that Peter would escape. He assigned 16 soldiers to guard him. Herod planned to execute him as soon as Passover was complete. But prayer was being made earnestly to God for Peter by the church. God heard the prayers of His people and set in motion the plans for The Great Escape.

On the night before Herod was to bring him out for execution, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while the sentries in front of the door guarded the prison. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. Striking Peter on the side, he woke him up and said, “Quick, get up!” Then the chains fell off his wrists. “Get dressed,” the angel told him, “and put on your sandals.” And he did so. “Wrap your cloak around you,” he told him, “and follow me.” So he went out and followed, and he did not know that what took place through the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. After they passed the first and second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went outside and passed one street, and immediately the angel left him. (Acts 12:6-10)

Peter thought he was dreaming, having a vision of his escape. One moment he was in his prison cell sleeping between 2 guards and the next he is outside of the prison realizing that it was not just a dream.

Look at what had to happen for Peter to escape. First, he was bound by chains, but they simply fell off when he stood. Next, it is possible that his clothes were not within reach while he was chained. Often they would keep prisoners nearly naked so that if they tried to escape it would be easier to find them quickly. But his clothes were available for him to put on, including his sandals.

All of this was done without waking the 2 guards that slept in the cell with him. Then they had to exit not one, but 3 locked doors that were guarded. Remember, 16 soldiers were guarding Peter and not one of these men saw him escape.

At daylight, there was a great commotion among the soldiers as to what could have become of Peter. After Herod had searched and did not find him, he interrogated the guards and ordered their execution. Then Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there. (Acts 12:18,19)

Verse 18 said that there was a great commotion among the soldiers. You think? I bet those soldiers were about to mess their pants they were so afraid. They all knew that they would be blamed for the prisoner’s escape. They were panicking, they were sweating bullets, they knew that their goose was cooked. And sure enough, Herod interrogated the guards and had them all executed.

It all makes for a great story, but what does this have to do with us? It was obviously important enough to Luke that he spent the better part of a chapter telling it. So what can we learn from it?

Bad things Happen to Good People

First, I think it is important that we understand that bad things do happen to good people. God never promised us that the Christian life would be easy and that we would live at peace just because we believed in Jesus, asked for His forgiveness, and decided to let him be the Lord, the boss, of our lives.

Following God does not exempt us from the perils of life. James was obviously a very devout follower of Jesus as one of the original twelve disciples of Jesus and one of the Apostles of the church, yet we see that Herod killed him with a sword. James and his brother, John, were known as the Sons of Thunder. They must have been very vocal and loud at that. Church traditions say that James was a very loud proclaimer of the Gospel of Jesus and that his unashamed proclamations drew the attention of the Roman leader.

Jesus had predicted that James would suffer for his faith way back when he and John had requested that they be granted honors when Jesus came into His Kingdom (Matthew 20). Jesus told them that they would have to drink from the same cup as him: the cup of death.

Some have tried to suggest that James died by the sword because he was one of the disciple with a sword when Jesus was arrested. Jesus told them that whoever lives by the sword would die by the sword. But John’s Gospel tells us that it was Peter who drew the sword and Peter eventually died by crucifixion.

God Hears Our Prayers

Secondly we see that God hears our prayers. The church was praying earnestly for Peter. What does that mean? Many of the wealth and prosperity preachers will tell you that earnest prayer is when you pray in faith that God will do whatever you ask. They believe that nothing bad will ever happen to those who have faith: they will never be sick, will always have great wealth, will have the desires of their heart, etc. That is false teaching.

God does not do what we ask just because we have faith. Yes, faith is the assurance, the reality, of what is hoped for, it is the proof of what is not seen (Hebrews 11:1). And, yes, we are told that those faithful followers of God won His favor because of their faith. But what about the many faithful followers of God that suffered for their faith?

Throughout the Bible we can see that there are times when great men and women of faith had to deal with problems, illness, and even death. Faith is not a tool to get what we want. Prayer is not a wish list that we read to God. Faith doesn’t work like Jeannie’s bottle, waiting to grant our every wish. What about James or Stephen? Did they not have as much faith as Peter? Yet Peter lived while James and Stephen were killed.

Prayer is a means of communicating our heart to God and allowing Him to communicate His to us. James 5:16 says, “The urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.” While God may not answer yes to every prayer, we are still to pray earnestly. If we don’t pray, we never give God a chance to answer our prayers. James 4:3 says, “You have not because you ask not.”

God hears our prayers and He is faithful to answer. It is fine to make our requests known to God, but we need to understand that sometimes His answer will be no. God knows what is best for us and what will bring Him glory. It has nothing to do with us having enough faith to be wealthy or healthy. It has everything to do with being faithful to God regardless of what He chooses to do in and through us.