Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. ‘Quick, get up!’ he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.
Then the angel said to him, ‘Put on your clothes and sandals.’ And Peter did so. ‘Wrap your cloak round you and follow me,’ the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
Then Peter came to himself and said, ‘Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.’
When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognised Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, ‘Peter is at the door!’
‘You’re out of your mind,’ they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, ‘It must be his angel.’
But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. ‘Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,’ he said, and then he left for another place. (Acts 12.5-17, NIV.)
Acts 12 recounts several key events in the early Christian church:
The Death of James and Imprisonment of Peter: King Herod Agrippa I, seeking favour with the Jews, had James, the brother of John, executed. Seeing that this pleased the Jews, he also imprisoned Peter with the intention of putting him on trial after the Passover.
Peter's Miraculous Escape: While Peter was in prison, the church earnestly prayed for him. On the night before Peter's trial, an angel appeared to him, miraculously freeing him from his chains and leading him out of the prison. Peter initially thought it was a vision until he found himself outside the prison gates.
Peter's Visit to Mary's House: After his miraculous escape, Peter went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many believers had gathered to pray. When Peter knocked at the outer entrance, a servant girl named Rhoda recognised his voice but was so overjoyed that she forgot to open the door immediately. When she eventually did, the believers were astonished to see Peter.
Herod's Death: Meanwhile, Herod Agrippa, angered by Peter's escape, ordered a thorough search for him but couldn't find him. Shortly afterward, Herod gave a speech to the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they praised him as a god. However, because he did not give glory to God, an angel struck him down, and he died a gruesome death.
The Spread of the Word of God: After Herod's death, the word of God continued to spread and grow. Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, completing their mission of delivering aid to the church there, and took John Mark with them on their journey.
It was at this time that King Herod laid violent hands on some of the Church members. James, John’s brother, he executed with the sword, and when he found this action pleased the Jews he went on to arrest Peter as well. It was during the days of unleavened bread that he actually made the arrest. He put Peter in prison with no less than four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover. So Peter was closely guarded in the prison, while the Church prayed to God earnestly on his behalf, (verses 1-5, JB PHILLIPS New Testament).
Two nights after being found guilty for Bible Smugglimg into Communist Europe, God gave me a dream showing me the exact day of my release, it was hard for me to accept! - The official sentence for bringing Bibles was five years, and because I was preaching the Gospel in the prison, that was another five years. I could have been there ten years! In the West, your sentence is routinely shortened, but whilst I was in that communist prison I saw how sentences were routinely increased. One man who was released at the end of his term, was re-arrested outside the prison gate and given another long sentence! I know, they put him in my cell! I did not want to spend ten years of my life in prison, in a foreign country! I wanted to be free, to do the work of God! I knew the stories of Peter, Paul and Silas, who were in prison – and how when they prayed, God opened the prison doors. If He could do it for them, He could do it for me!
In the dream, I saw myself out of prison and speaking in the largest auditorium in London at Easter. But that was impossible. But when things are impossible, this is when I begin to pray. I cannot accept things ‘can’t’ happen, ‘can’t’ be done. My father taught me, ‘no’ is spelled ‘Y-E-S’! After I had been in prison for eight months, I managed to smuggle my Bible from the basement, where my luggage was stored, to my cell – don’t ask me how – after all, I was a ‘professional’ smuggler! I was the only one in the prison with a Bible – ‘that filthy book’ as the communists called it. Starting with the Book of Psalms (because they were written by my namesake), as I hungrily read, God confirmed the dream in writing, through Scripture! Realising my birthday was only four days before Easter that year, I decided to be ‘cheeky’ and ask the Lord to release me four days early on my birthday! God again confirmed in writing, through Scripture! If God says it in His Word, He does it!
I learnt how to pray in that prison, I learnt to know God better there than in any Bible College or church meeting. I found a new reality, a new relationship with Him. All my life, it has been a journey, step by step. It was first in my teenage cry for God, then in my throat cancer, then in my prison that God touched my life and gave me a new power. Without that year in a communist prison, I would not have the ministry or the Authority I have today in the Russian-speaking countries.
[Peter] went to the house of Mary, the mother of John surnamed Mark where many were gathered together in prayer. As he knocked at the door a young maid called Rhoda came to answer it, but on recognising Peter’s voice failed to open the door from sheer joy. Instead she ran inside and reported that Peter was standing on the doorstep. At this they said to her, “You must be mad!” (verse 15, JB PHILLIPS New Testament).
So often we are not expecting answers to our prayers. I have wanted all my life to understand the power of prayer which will be answered. Anyone can pray. In a crisis, even unbelievers will pray and cry out for deliverance. It is easy to cry for help. But it is more difficult to establish a relationship with God in prayer. The disciples asked Jesus, ‘Lord, teach us how to pray!’ That is what I have asked all my life! – And I am still learning.
We can all have this relationship with God. If you are sick, or crippled, in despair, alone, whoever you are, wherever you are – God WILL hear you, God will answer your prayer like He answered mine. That miracle was so big, because of the media publicity, it changed my life. I was asked to travel all over the world, people wanted to know my story, because I have a God who answers prayer. – I know how to worship Him, how to praise Him. I have never been the same because of that experience. It’s not about religion, it’s not about ceremony – in that prison I found a new reality, a new relationship with Him. I know my God is alive, every day, every morning I get out of bed, Jesus is alive, Good Morning, Jesus!
Why did I come out of that prison? I wasn’t there ten years, I wasn’t there five years – I was only there one year – everybody was amazed – everybody in the prison gathered round me, ‘Why are you being set free?’ I told them, ‘Because I have a God who answers prayer, a God who delivers!’
I want you to know the Lord like I do, so that when you call on Him, He WILL answer you. After all these years I still have contact with some of those prisoners, they still go on with God. Why? They saw the reality, my God is alive, He answers prayer. Keep on asking. He’s not just a God in Heaven, but here on earth!