Acts 12:7-10

And behold the angel of the Lord came upon him.

The tender offices of angels towards the saints of God

It enhances the moral dignity of the Christian that he should have such exalted beings in constant attendance upon him. It seems to bring God nearer to us, to bridge over the measureless void between the finite and the infinite, to feel that in sickness or in sorrow, or in mental darkness, they are present with us who have just come from God’s presence. The hand supports us which a moment before had been tuning to lofty melody the harps of God. They bring themselves to our doors, that we may have a bright and hallowing presence in our houses and among our children; they are witnesses in the place of our holy assemblies; they stand as weeping friends stand by the bedside of the departing righteous, while in the end of time they shall arrest the ministers of desolation in their worldwide havoc, saying, “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of God on their foreheads.” So near, so loving, so constant are the tender offices of angels towards the saints of God. No worship do we offer them; they will have none. They ask only to be loved by us as guardian friends, to be honoured by our consistent walk, to be thought of as humble servants of the Lord Jesus, “sent forth to minister unto them who shall be heirs of salvation.” (D. Moore, M. A.)

Angel visits in the night

1. When we climb to some mountain height, and look forth upon the broad landscape in the blaze of the bright moon, it seems as if our earth were the universe, and the sun were a single globe of fire hung in the heavens to give it light. When we stand upon the deck of the ship in mid ocean it seems impossible that there can be anything else but the sun and the sea. When we look up to the silent sky at night, it seems as if the bright array of stars were only campfires kindled on the plains of heaven to guide some wanderer through the solitudes of earth. When we go down into the depths of the cavern it seems as if we were alone in the universe, and when we mingle with the multitude it seems as if man and earth were everything. All these natural and uninstructed impressions conspire to narrow the range of our thought, and shut us up to the occupations of man alone. It is, therefore, a salutary disclosure that we are not the only actors in the busy scenes of daily life. There is no solitude where we may not have the unseen companionship of beings that think and feel and work more mightily and constantly than ourselves.

2. And these invisible partners of our toil, and sharers of our spiritual life, have sometimes stepped forth from behind the curtain to show us that we may have witnesses of our conduct when we think ourselves most alone. And these celestial visitants have shown themselves better acquainted with human history, and better able to do our work, than we ourselves. They have defeated great armies, overthrown populous cities, sent forth and arrested the pestilence. They have rested under the shadow of oaks at noon, as if weary, eaten bread, as if hungry, received hospitality, as if coming in from a journey, guided and protected travellers, rolled away the stone from the tomb, kindled the fire of the altar, clothed themselves in garments that shone like the lightning, and appeared in so common a garb as to be taken for wayfaring men needing lodgings for the night. It gives us a higher and truer estimate of our own place in the great commonwealth of intelligent beings, to find that we are objects of intense interest to the inhabitants of other worlds. It enlarges the range of our thought, and lifts our desires and aspirations above all earthly and perishable things, to know that our present habitation is only one little province of a universe of worlds; and that this mighty empire is bound together by ties of intelligence, cooperation, and sympathy, to its utmost extent.

3. The deliverance of Peter shows that these mighty visitants have little regard for the pomp and splendours of earthly state. Suppose a prophet had said the day before that on that night a mighty being from the central province in God’s great empire would visit Jerusalem, and only one man in all that city would be honoured by receiving that celestial messenger--could any have guessed that that man would be found in prison? There were many other persons besides Peter, many other places besides a prison for an angel to visit. But the angel did not show himself in the palace of the king. He did not enter the temple. He did not address himself to the pilgrims at the feast. The one man, whom that mighty servant of God had come to see, was shut up in stone walls, asleep on a stone floor, bound with iron chains, etc. If the very chain with which Peter was bound were now kept in Jerusalem, every intelligent traveller would wish to see it. And not necessarily from any superstitious regard, but from the feeling that Christian faith and suffering consecrate everything they touch. If the cell were preserved any intelligent traveller would think it something to remember and to tell of, that he had entered that cell. So much consecration do rude homes and vile dungeons derive from the faith and toil and suffering of the servants of God. Let love to Christ become the law and the life of everything we do, and then the place where we toil, and the home where we rest, will become as attractive to angels as the dungeons where the martyrs suffered.

4. Peter slept so soundly that only the sound of the angel voice, and the touch of the angel hand could awake him. A man with a good conscience can sleep on a very hard bed, and in the midst of very great danger. The anxieties and perils of life and the dread of death would not weary and wear us out so much if we went to our daily duties with such high and happy faith in God as martyrs have shown in the prison and the flames. If we fully believed that God has given his angels charge over us to keep us in all our ways, we could fulfil our day of duty without fear, and we could gratefully accept such sleep as God gives to his beloved when the night comes. I know the doctors say that sound sleep comes of a good digestion. And while I do not deny that, I know another--that a good digestion depends greatly upon a good conscience. To be in the best health of both body and mind, we must be at peace with God. And it makes very little difference how humble or exalted the chamber in which we lie down to rest, if we have done our duty well, and trust wholly in Him who giveth His beloved sleep. The sleep that renews the life, and restores the soul, and gives a foretaste of heavenly rest, is the sleep which God gives to them that love Him. The time is not far distant when the sleep of death will steal upon us all. What strange and bewildering joy it will be to be waked from that last sleep by the touch of an angel’s hand! What surprise it will be to the soul to find itself able to obey that command, “Rise up quickly,” and to follow the angel guide to the paradise of God!

5. The care with which Peter was kept was a confession that even Herod was afraid of him. And we have much reason to be obliged to the king for making the guard so strong; just as the sealing of the stone and the setting of the watch over the sepulchre of Jesus, only helped and confirmed the demonstration of His resurrection; just as we may well thank the proud and passionate Voltaire for saying he was tired of hearing that twelve men established Christianity throughout the world, and he would yet live to hear it said that one man had banished Christianity from the face of the earth. We may count ourselves debtors to the remorseless criticism which has exhausted the resources of learning and industry in the endeavour to shake our confidence in the sacred records, for all its efforts have only served to lay bare the everlasting foundations on which our faith rests. We may be thankful for the bigotry which determined to crush out the spirit of Christian liberty.

6. Peter was accustomed to see miracles; and yet I do not wonder that he was bewildered and thought he had seen a vision that night. If we try to imagine the circumstances, we shall the better understand his feelings. At last he has time to think. The bewildered man begins to come to himself. He recognises the place. And so God’s angel shall come in the appointed time to deliver the disciple of Jesus from the prison of the flesh. And oh, how much more glorious than the change which so bewildered the mind of the apostle! We try in vain to express in words the blessed bewilderment of the happy soul in the first moment of waking from the sleep of death to the life of heaven. It is here that we sleep and dream. The great reality of life is yet to come. Here the soul is bound, like Peter in the prison, with two chains--one the burden and sorrow of life, the other the fear of death. Faith in Christ alone delivers us from the double bondage. Faith in Christ alone can prepare us to be waked by the touch of the angel of death, and to see ourselves surrounded with a greater light than shone in the prison of the apostle when his angel deliverer said to him, “Arise, follow me.” (D. March, D. D.)

The ministry of angels

I. With James they were employed to convey his soul to glory.

II. With Peter they were instruments to deliver him from bonds.

III. With Herod they were agents of God’s vengeance.

The iron gate.

Difficulties giving way

This incident may be used to illustrate certain important truths.

I. That matter is the servant of spirit. Matter is found in diverse forms. But we can only win the use by conquest. Take iron as a sample. It is stored up in the earth. Its discovery an era. From that moment man rose in power. What countless uses are now made of iron! And as with iron, so with other materials: everything has its use. There have been great discoveries in the past, there may be greater in the future. But mark our responsibilities. We are the heirs of all the ages. If “much given,” “much required” (Luke 12:48). Such is the law; always, matter should be made subordinate to the good of man: the lower should serve the higher.

II. That difficulties give way before men that are moving in the path of duty. The ministry of angels still goes on. They are for us, and not against us; and often, in ways unknown to us, they may be employed for our good. Be this as it may, the release of Peter shows us how we too may obtain deliverance. First, we must put ourselves under the guidance of God, and at His call we must go forward bravely, without faltering (Psalms 37:5). Difficulties are a test. They show what spirit we are of. Difficulties are a challenge; they appeal to our manhood; courage mounteth with occasion. Difficulties are an education. It is not ease, but effort that makes men. “Our antagonist is our helper,” said Burke.

III. That, walking under the guidance of God, our path shall ever be toward what is higher. Peter and the angel. So ever--Onward; from darkness to light; from restraint to liberty; from the presence of the evil to the companionship of the saints; from fear of death to glory, honour, and immortality in the city of God. How striking the contrast in the case of Herod! His pride had a terrible fall. An angel was sent to him; but in judgment. The oppressor is dealt with differently from the oppressed. Dr. Watts says: “Death to a good man is but the passing through a dark entry, out of one little room in his Father’s house into another which is fair and large, lightsome and glorious, and divinely entertaining. Oh! may the rays and splendours of my heavenly apartment shoot far downward, and gild the dark entry with such a cheerful gloom as to banish any fear when I shall be called to pass through.” (William Forsyth, A. M.)