Summary
Unexpected Surprise
Acts 12 tells the story of Peter's miraculous rescue from prison, and at every turn the deliverance arrives as a shock—to Peter, to the praying believers, and to Herod's guards. Peter had been chained between two soldiers, with two more at the door, awaiting execution the morning after Passover. There was nothing he could do to free himself. When the angel of the Lord struck off his chains and led him past the guards, Peter was so certain it was a vision that only after the angel left did he "come to himself" Acts 12:11 and realize he was actually free.
As soon as Peter understood what had happened, he went straight to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many believers were gathered praying through the night Acts 12:12. Their immediate, sustained turning to the Lord is a model for the church. James had just been executed; Peter was next; and rather than wring their hands, they prayed. When someone asks for prayer, the faithful response is to pray then and there—not to file it away as a mental note. Pray even when there seems to be no human hope, and especially when there is none.
The scene at the gate is one of the great moments of holy comedy in Scripture. The servant Rhoda heard Peter's voice, was so overjoyed that she ran in to announce him, and forgot to open the door. Inside, the very people who had been praying for Peter's deliverance told her, "You are out of your mind"—and when she insisted, they said, "It is his angel" Acts 12:15. Meanwhile Peter kept knocking, exposed in the street where Herod's soldiers would soon be hunting him. They had been praying earnestly, yet they could not believe God had granted exactly what they asked. Their astonishment was born not of faith but of unbelief. It is worth asking: do we pray expecting God to answer, or are we surprised when He does? And when the answer is "no"—as it had been with James—God is still glorified, even in martyrdom.
The deeper picture in Acts 12 is the gospel itself. Peter was bound, helpless, condemned, with no possibility of self-rescue. That is precisely the confession the Church makes every Lord's Day: "We are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves." Sin is not a difficulty we overcome with effort; it is a chain and a death sentence. But the absolution that follows is just as definite: Almighty God in His mercy has given His Son to die for us, and for His sake forgives us all our sins. "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" John 8:36. "For freedom Christ has set us free" Galatians 5:1. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" Romans 8:1.
Like Peter, we so often cling to the chains that have already been struck off. We act as if salvation depended on being faithful enough, loyal enough, or worshipful enough—as if heaven itself will be an unexpected surprise we barely manage to slip into. It will not. The gate to heaven has been opened by Christ; the chains of sin have been released by Christ; you have been washed in baptism and filled with His Holy Spirit. Wake each day remembering that those chains no longer bind you.
The real surprise, then, is not whether God will deliver His people—He has promised it and accomplished it in Christ. The surprise that awaits each believer is the wonder, beauty, and glory of standing in the full presence of the Lord. That is the Unexpected Surprise that surpasses all expectation, the good news for today and always.
Video citations
- "Unexpected Surprise" June 2, 2019 — We are smack dab in the middle of a really exciting story of rescue and deliverance out of a miracle of God And as I was studying this text and I was trying to think of a great way to open this…