Acts 12:25

And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark.

And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem. It is impossible to determine with certainty whether they came to Jerusalem before, during, or after Herod's proceedings against James and Peter. Critics are divided between the first and last suppositions. But the natural inference from the language of the historian is that they arrived before it, in which case it must have been just before it; and as their mission would be soon fulfilled, they probably kept themselves quiet, and left as soon as Herod departed for Caesarea.

When they had fulfilled their ministry, [ teen (G3588) diakonian (G1248)] or 'service;' referring to the contribution from Antioch for the distressed brethren at Jerusalem, which they went there to deliver (Acts 11:29).

And took with them John, whose surname was Mark. Being nephew to Barnabas (Colossians 1:10), the proposal to take him was probably in consequence both of his own application and of the opinion which his uncle had formed of him (see the notes at Acts 15:37).

Remarks:

(1) The artless simplicity with which the minute details of this remarkable chapter are related attests their historical accuracy. At the same time (to use the words of Humphry) 'it is highly dramatic, resembling the plot of an ancient tragedy; the principal incidents being-the death of one apostle, the deliverance of another, the recognition of Peter by Rhoda, his restoration to the anxious disciples, the chagrin of the baffled persecutor, his exaltation, speedily followed by the catastrophe of his death, with the triumphant close, "but the word of God grew and multiplied."' But the subsidiary incidents are no less stirring-the delay of the divine interposition in behalf of Peter, up to the last watch of the last night of the last of the days of unleavened bread; the keeping up of the prayers of the Church for him to the very last; the arrival of Peter at the door of the house where many, at the last hour of the night, were in the act of prayer for him, and yet the difficulty of convincing them that it was he; the angelic ministration by which this deliverance was performed in every step of it, and the celestial ease with which, at a touch, chains fell off, guards were passed, and iron gates flew open of themselves; the shifting of the scene to Caesarea, and of the reader's interest, from the persecuted Christians to the persecuting king; his successful negotiation with the deputies from Tyre and Sidon, his elation, his pompous appearance, his royal apparel, and his oration to them from his tribunal before the people; their acclamation to him as a god, the immediateness of the divine vengeance taken upon him for his impiety, the loathsomeness of the disease with which he was smitten, and the rapidity with which he came to his miserable end. While these diversified incidents have all the stirring interest of a deep-laid tragedy, they carry with them such an air of quiet naturalness and entire simplicity, that the unsophisticated reader is unable to doubt that he has before him a piece of authentic history.

(2) As this book records the extension of the Gospel by distinct steps from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria, and from thence to the uttermost part of the earth, so it exhibits the hostility to the Gospel-first, of the Jewish ecclesiastics (Acts 3:1; Acts 4:1; Acts 5:1); next, of them and the people combined (Acts 6:1; Acts 7:1; Acts 8:1); and finally, of both these and the king at their head. The chief priests and elders and scribes stirred up the people, and the king pandered to the malignant passions of both, for his own ends. But He who "stayeth His rough wind in the day of the east wind" (Isaiah 27:8) vouchsafed, in pity to His infant cause, a breathing time between each of these hostile assaults. After the first dismissal of the apostles from the Jewish council, and the fresh descent of the Spirit upon the assembled believers, in answer to prayer, their numbers greatly multiplied, their love and liberality flowed forth, the presence of the Lord in the midst of them was manifested with terrible vividness, an awe of them seemed to rest upon the whole community, and the astounding miracles of the apostles upon the sick of the surrounding towns could not fail to spread the name and fame of their cause far and wide, (Acts 4:1; Acts 5:1.) The subsequent miraculous liberation of the apostles from prison and their growing boldness in proclaiming the Gospel, the election of deacons (by which the different interests of the believers were adjusted and their love preserved), and finally, the power and success of a new witness for the truth in the person of Stephen, so strengthened the Church that, when the people joined with their rulers in putting Stephen to death, and Saul proceeded by terrible measures to extirpate them, root and branch, even this, so far from succeeding, only scattered the seed; nor did their numbers even in Jerusalem seem to diminish.

Believers were soon found in plenty, not only in Samaria and throughout Judea, but in Africa and along the Mediterranean coast, in Phenicia and Antioch; and at Antioch the first church of the Gentiles was planted, whence went forth the Gospel, by successive missionary deputations, to Gentiles far and wide. And the dread inquisitor, Saul of Tarsus, was himself converted; and by his preaching, even at the hazard of his life, gave glorious earnest of what he was yet to achieve for the Gospel of Christ. Cornelius also, and his party, being solemnly and formally admitted into the Church without circumcision, preparation was then made for Jesus becoming, on the widest scale, a light to lighten the Gentiles as well as the glory of His people Israel. Thus was the Church prepared to abide the third and, apparently, most formidable onslaught upon it-by priests, people, and king combined. And how unscathed did it come forth from this furnace! James, the brother of John, was indeed 'chased up to heaven' by it; but as for his murderer, "the angel of the Lord chased him, and destruction came upon him at unawares." "This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty" (Psalms 35:5; Psalms 35:8; Job 27:13).

(3) One cannot but be struck with the close resemblance which the martyrdom of James by one Herod bears to that of the Baptist by another. Both fell a sacrifice to their fidelity to the cause to which they had consecrated their lives; both were distinguished by special marks of their Master's regard; and yet no interposition was made by Him in behalf of either, and both were slaughtered ruthlessly-the one certainly, and the other probably, in private-and no details of the death of either have been left on record. It is indeed recorded by Eusebius (E.H. 2: 9), on the testimony of Clement of Alexandria, who gives it as a credible tradition, that the officer who led him forth to be tried, struck with his testimony, confessed himself a Christian, and was led away with Him to execution, asked his forgiveness, got from him the kiss of peace, and along with him sealed his testimony with his blood. It may be so, and certainly such things did happen more than once at a later period; but it cannot be implicitly relied on. At all events, such dark passages in the divine administration are not few in number. "Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known" (Psalms 77:19); but "as for God, His way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: He is a buckler to all those that trust in him" (Psalms 18:30). See the notes at Mark 6:14, Remark 4, p. 158.

(4) If the permitted slaughter of James, after that of Stephen, had any effect in shaking the faith of the disciples at Jerusalem, the marvelous interposition in behalf of Peter would at least convince them that his death was owing neither to want of power to deliver him, nor to want of interest on high in their struggling cause. And as they reflected on the position occupied by the two apostles, they would probably persuade themselves that the work of James on earth was perhaps done, that his place could be more easily supplied than that of Peter, and that this great instrument had been spared a little longer because "the Lord had need of him." And so they might sing-alike of the death permitted in the one case and in the other averted - "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints" (Psalms 116:15).

(5) The efficacy of prayer receives singularly vivid illustration from this deliverance of Peter. The prayers of a few parties of persecuted Christians meeting in private houses-of which this of Mary's, though probably the principal, was but one-entering into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth, sent down the angel, whose touch snapped the chains of Peter, eluded the vigilance of four quaternions of soldiers, enabled him to thread the guards, threw open the iron gate, and set the apostle in safety. But the delay of this answer to their prayers to the very last moment is quite as instructive as the glorious response given to it at the last. Of course, this was to try their faith and patience in prayer; and it did so try them, that though they kept on praying, and the night before the expected execution continued all night in prayer to God, their reception of the report that Peter was at the door showed how low their hopes of his deliverance had come. Indeed, we often pray for what we can hardly credit the bestowment of, when it comes in answer to our prayers. Yet this argues not so much downright unbelief as that kind of it incident to the best, in this land of shadows, which perceives not so clearly as it might how very near heaven and earth-the Lord and His praying people-are to each other. Truly, the lesson of that parable of Jesus, to the end "that men ought always to pray, and not to faint," is hard to learn; insomuch that "when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth" (any belief that He is coming at all)? See the notes at Luke 18:1, and Remarks on that section.

(6) How beautiful is the picture of Peter-the night before his expected execution, and up to the moment when deliverance came to him from heaven-sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains, while the keepers before the door kept the prison! The slaves of a scepticism that is blind to the glory of everything supernatural obtrude upon us their pitiful theories of a flash of lightning loosing Peter's chains, or of the jailor, false to his charge, setting him free; while a later school of them, tired of such trifling with common sense, do violence to all ancient historical testimony, and all true internal evidence, by endeavouring to disprove the genuineness and credibility of the record itself. And these are the writers who lay claim to the exclusive possession of 'critical feeling!' But the time is coming when such criticism will be consigned to oblivion; nor would it be noticed here but for the wave of rationalistic scepticism which, sweeping across from Germany to England, has, by a variety of circumstances, had the effect of unsettling the faith of some able and earnest men.

(7) How strikingly and variedly is the ministry of angels brought out in this chapter. 'It suffices not the angel (says Lechler, quoting from another author) to rescue the person of the apostle: he faithfully and carefully condescends to every want of the sleeping Peter. First, he awakens him, then he speaks to him as a mother who dresses her sleepy child; girdle, shoes, cloak-things which to an angel might be trifling-he hands to him (as it were) and helps him to put on. Nothing of his effects should be left behind, that his departure may not be like the flight of a criminal.' Turning from Peter to Herod, and from Jerusalem to Caesarea, we find angels engaged in another kind of ministration-smiting the vain-glorious tyrant with a loathsome disease at the moment of his greatest elevation, and hurrying him to his grave. "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him" (Psalms 34:7); whereas "He taketh the wise in their own craftiness; and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong" (Job 5:13).