Acts 12:12-15

Now they have passed the gate and come to the first street. The angel disappears. Peter diagnoses his environments and locates himself, and goes at once to the house of Mary, where the saints are all praying through the long night for his release, and now utterly incredulous at the report of the enraptured damsel, Rhoda, responsive to Peter's knocking at the door, and certifying that truly their prayer is answered and their beloved preacher is out of prison and standing at the gate. How frequently are we surprised overwhelmingly at the answer of our own prayers! The incredulous saints respond to the damsel: “Thou art crazy; it is his angel.” The human spirit is not an angel, neither is it ever so called. Hence the conclusion that they thought Peter was dead, and his spirit had appeared, is untenable. We have the simple solution of the problem in the well-known fact that the Jews all believed in guardian angels, and so do I. I do believe they accompany me in my peregrinations over the earth, fortifying me against evil, and even saving my life in the good providence of God. “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them.” They were present at creation's birth, and answered the anthem of the stars which sang together when all the sons of God shouted for joy. The angel of the Lord slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrian soldiers encamped at Lachish when Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem, thus delivering the city responsive to the prayers of Isaiah and the tears of Hezekiah. The Jews believed that the guardian angel sometimes appeared as a substitute for the person. Hence they thought it was Peter's guardian angel.