Words about the WORD - Russell E. Scott - Albany Church of Christ

A DOOR THAT NO MAN CAN SHUT                                                                                                                         (Acts 12:1-17)                                                                                                                                               

There are times in our lives when we are confronted by obstacles that we cannot surmount or overcome in our own unaided strength; situations or circumstances in which we have no solutions or answers to; times when we have nowhere else to turn, but to the Lord.                 Abraham Lincoln once said, “I have been driven to my knees on several occasions by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and the wisdom of those around me seemed insufficient.”

Herod had Peter securely locked up in prison (Acts 12:1-5).                                                                Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great who had all the male babies killed two years and under when Jesus was born, was the king of Palestine. When he saw that it pleased the Jews when he put James to death, he intended to do the same to Peter after the Passover.            Emphasis is placed on how securely Peter was locked up in prison (vv. 4, 5a). Herod had assigned 16 soldiers to guard Peter in rotating shifts of four squads. One squad equaled four soldiers. Two soldiers were chained to Peter on each side at all times (v.6). A third soldier stood guard outside the cell door, while a fourth soldier stood guard between the inner cell and the outer gate. Herod had probably heard about the hard time the Jews had keeping Peter in prison on an earlier occasion (cf. Acts 5:17-29). Herod was now going to show them how it is done.

Herod had closed all the doors but one (v.5, 12).                                                                                     There was one door that Herod could not shut, the one that opened upwardly to heaven.                 That is one door that no man can shut, not even Herod. Regardless of our circumstances, that upward door to heaven is always open. You may feel like you are locked up in a prison of your own today, (a prison of despair, frustration, discouragement, fear, financial distress, health issues, family or marital problems, spiritual illness, etc.).                                                                              From a human standpoint, your situation or circumstances may seem as impossible as Peter’s. All the doors seem to be locked up around you. You may feel that there is no way out. But there is one door that no man can shut – that door that goes straight upward to heaven (vv. 5, 12).

See Philippians 4:6-7; James 5:13; 1Peter 5:7. We often rob ourselves of peace because we do not take it to the Lord in prayer: “… O what peace we often forfeit, o what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”  

                                                                                                                        By Russell E. Scott