God's Glory Church

Irod of Herod Herod falls not far away

This week we prayed together with Sasha Pasichnyk and Ihor Didenko for Ukraine, and Ihor reminded me of a story from the Bible that I want to reflect on with you. This story is recorded in the Acts of the Holy Apostles in chapter 12.
“At that time, King Herod raised his hands to harm someone from the church. He killed Ivan’s brother Yakov with a sword. When he saw that the Jews liked it, he planned to capture Peter as well. Those were the days of the Unleavened Bread. He seized him and put him in prison, handed him over to four groups of soldiers to guard him, wanting to bring him to the people after Easter. So, Peter was kept in prison. Zealous prayer went up from the church to God for him!” (Acts 12:1-5) Translation by Turkonyak.
At that time, the church faced very serious oppression and persecution. If the apostles were persecuted only by religious leaders, then the secular authorities with the entire repressive apparatus joined in. The grandson of Herod the Great, King Agrippa, took up the case. He began the persecution on a large scale and began to kill not ordinary believers, but immediately the apostles. Herod executed Jacob, and then threw even the apostle Peter into prison.
Perhaps many will immediately have a reasonable question: why did Herod raise his hand against Jacob? Was he more sinful than his own brother John, or the other apostles? I think not. Then what happened? Why did a man who zealously served God and the church die at the hands of an unclean ruler? Because the church at that time was most likely busy with its own survival and neglected the power of prayer.
Why do I say that? Because a little further on, we see that when Herod arrested the apostle Peter, the believers reconsidered their priorities and began to pray fervently for his release.
Therefore, the first truth that I want to draw your attention to is this:
Evil raises its hands when the church does not raise them in prayer.
Did the believers in Jerusalem have any special connections to negotiate with Herod? There was no. Or maybe they had the money to pay the king’s ransom and thus free Peter? Also no. Or maybe they had skilled lawyers who could have won the trial and freed the apostle? Also no. What did they have, how could they influence this situation? They had a connection with God, who has power over all earthly powers.
Perhaps it seems to you that today, when there is a war in our country, you cannot influence what is happening in any way. I want to tell you in secret that it certainly seemed so to the believers in this story. They didn’t have connections, they didn’t have a lot of money and even weapons to try to repel Peter. The only thing they had was faith in God and faith in the fact that He is able to do supernatural things.
This is exactly what happens now when the church prays. If you follow the news, you probably noticed that…
More and more rockets, which are forcibly sent to Kharkiv Oblast, decide to stay in their native home, in Belgorod. There’s their house, there’s their explosion…
And few have paid attention to how the roles of men and women have changed during the war. Because everyone is used to the fact that men are the ones who protect. But few people know that being a woman in Ukraine is… knocking down a drone with a can of tomatoes.
But then why did it happen that Herod calmly executed Jacob and almost killed Peter? The only answer I see in this story is that the church did not pray for his deliverance. Maybe she prayed, but not zealously. She may have prayed, but each believer is different.
Someone will ask, does God not hear us when we pray each at home? I think I hear, but even our Lord taught that the prayer of consent can do a lot. And that when two or three agree in prayer, then the answer will surely come. I will not derive any formulas today, but there is something that I see in the Holy Scriptures – important answers and miracles happen where believers unite for fervent prayer. This happened many times in the history of Israel, and we read about it already in the New Testament.
“When Herod was about to lead him out, that night Peter slept between two soldiers, bound by two iron chains; and the guards in front of the door guarded the prison. And now the angel of the Lord stood in front of him, and the light shone in the room. Pushing Peter to the side, he raised him up, saying: Get up quickly! And iron shackles fell from his hands. The angel said to him: Gird yourself and put on your sandals. Do it. And he said to him: Put on your clothes and follow me. When he got out, he followed him, not knowing whether this was real, what was happening through an angel, because he thought he was seeing a vision. After passing the first and second guards, they came to the iron gate leading to the city – it opened to them by itself. After leaving, they passed one street – and immediately the angel retreated from him. After coming to his senses, Peter said: Now I firmly know that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s hands and from all the hopes of the Jewish people. After thinking, he came to Maria’s house, the mother of Ivan, nicknamed Mark. Many people gathered here and prayed. When he knocked on the door of the courtyard, a slave named Rhoda came out to find out. Recognizing Peter’s voice, she did not open the door out of joy, but ran and said that Peter was standing under the door. They told her: You are crazy! She insisted that it was so. They said: This is his angel. Peter kept knocking. When they opened it, they saw it and were horrified. Waving his hand to them to be silent, he told them how the Lord had brought him out of prison. He said: Tell this to Jacob and the brothers. He left, went to another place.” (Acts 12:6-17) Translation by Turkonyak.
Now many probably think to themselves that you have slightly different circumstances – you have children, work, household chores, the electricity is turned off and many other problems. But I want to ask you: were all those who gathered and prayed at night for the liberation of Peter without children, without wives and husbands, or maybe none of them had worked all day before that? No. They had families, they had children to feed, they had unbelieving men and women, they all worked hard. And I’ll tell you a secret – they didn’t have electricity, they didn’t even have a central water supply. But at the same time they gathered in the evening and prayed. Yes, it was dark and maybe even chilly without heating. But they prayed. They prayed not for half an hour or an hour, but all night. Therefore, they saw a miracle that they could not even imagine.
And a little about our everyday life… Against the background of bombed out power stations and the absence of electricity, it is safe to say that Ukrainians can easily survive: war, pandemic and nuclear threats. The only thing that Ukrainians cannot calmly endure is the increase in the price of eggs.
Since the beginning of September 2022, the price tag for chicken eggs has increased from 29 hryvnias per dozen to 62 hryvnias. But despite such a significant price increase, we have something to be happy about. I was pleased with the recent statement of our native Antimonopoly Committee. It turns out that in connection with the increase in the price of eggs, there were no complaints about either the chickens or their owners. As the people say: “chickens are not to blame.”
Against the background of such a significant increase in the price of eggs, it is very likely that a new currency is emerging in Ukraine – egg dollars.
But our story does not end with Peter’s release. I will read this excerpt from Ohienko’s translation, from verses 18 to 23:
“When the day came, there was a great alarm among the soldiers that what had happened to Peter. And Herod, looking for him and not finding him, brought the guard to trial and ordered them to be executed. And he himself went from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there. And Herod was angry with the Tyrians and Sidonians. And they unanimously came to him and begged the king’s bedchamber, Vlast, and asked for peace, because their land was nourished by the king’s land. On the appointed day, Herod dressed in royal clothes, sat on the throne and spoke to them. And the crowd shouted: The voice of God, not human! And the Angel of the Lord struck him by surprise, because he did not give glory to God. And the worm ate him, and he died…” (Acts 12:18-23) Translation by Ohienko.
According to the zealous prayer of believers, God judged those people who did evil to His church. First, the soldiers who guarded Peter were executed, and a little later God’s judgment came to the life of Herod himself. This is history, you cannot rewrite it.
It is the same today. First, God’s judgment comes in the lives of Russian soldiers who die in this war, and then it will come in the life of the main Herod. And this is the second truth I see in this story:
Herod falls not far from Herod.
Every Herod in history will have a fall. God’s judgment will overtake him when everyone around him will praise and flatter him, as they praised Herod Agrippa before his fall. This is what the historian Joseph Flavius writes about it:
“Meanwhile, three years had passed since Agrippa had reigned over all Judea (44 AD). Once he went to the city of Caesarea (Caesaria)… Here he arranged games in honor of the emperor… On the second day of the games, early in the morning, the king appeared at the theater in silver-studded clothes… Now several sycophants from different parts began… to call him a god… Agrippa felt that a great pain was beginning in his bowels… Then he was quickly transferred to the palace… Then, after suffering for five more days, terrible with stomach pains, the king died.”
I will not tell you today exactly how the Lord will judge Putin and his entourage, but I will tell you that the judgment will definitely happen!
How long do you think, dear church, that Herod Agrippa ruled? He ruled for only three years. His rule over Judea lasted from 41 years until his death in 44 AD. Agrippa was the grandson of Herod the Great, who persecuted Christ and killed the children in Bethlehem. He was the father of Herod Agrippa II, the last king of the Herodias dynasty. He was called “Agrippa the Great”, but God humbled his greatness and punished him for all the evil he did to the church and believers.
And also, against the background of news about burials in Russia, a little humor from two Odessa Jews:
– Izya, would you like to live in the beautiful Russia of the future?
– Not sure, Seven. I don’t know Chinese at all.
And finally, I want to remind you once again of the two truths we talked about today.
First: Evil raises its hands when the church does not raise them in prayer.
Important answers and miracles happen where the church unites for fervent prayer. I want to challenge you to pray fervently and pray together. On Monday at the prayer room and then at home.
And the second truth: Herod falls not far from Herod.
Every Herod in history will have a fall. God’s judgment will overtake Putin, but it will happen when you and I pray fervently.