The Shawshank Redemption. The Great Escape. Escape from Alcatraz. Papillon. Stalag 17.
Who doesn't love a great story of someone wrongly imprisoned busting out? OK, probably not the warden. But there is something in our souls that longs to hear these stories again and again.
I truly believe our love for these tales of escape are in our hearts because God has placed them there. We long to be free. And we can only find freedom in Christ.
Well, if you like a good prison break, then you need to sit down and read the book of Acts. Dr. Luke tells the story of three different escapes (Acts 5:17-21; 12:6-11; 16:23-28).
Each time, the prisoners got help from the outside. And that outside help was from the hand of God Himself.
We pick up this particular story as God is working countless signs and wonders through the apostles. Healing of diseases. Exorcising from demons.
The early church proclaims the grace and salvation only in the risen Jesus. The Sanhedrin had already tried to warn Peter and John to stop all this nonsense, but the two apostles blew them off (Acts 4:17-21).
At this point, the high priest and his cronies had enough (v17). Most likely, the high priest mentioned here is Annas (Acts 4:6). He was the patriarch of a family who held a kung fu grip on the high priesthood.
Annas had served previously in the role but it was now "officially" held by his son-in-law Caiaphas. Two of his sons would also hold that office.
Annas was the leader of the Sadducees. This was a small but very powerful sect of Judaism. These were the wealthiest of Jews that controlled the temple in Jerusalem.
The Sadducees don't buy all of that supernatural mumbo jumbo that others proclaim. No angels. No heaven. No resurrection. Let's face it, that stuff is only a crutch for the weak.
Annas and his toadies were "filled with jealousy." Luke's choice of verb is interesting. To this point, he describes early believers as being filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31).
But these members of the ruling religious elite were filled (Gr. πλεθω/pletho) with something else completely. Something darker. Jealousy.
Rather than celebrate the miracles God was doing in the lives of people through the First Church of Jerusalem, they burned.
What fills your heart when you see others succeed? Do you see them as stealing something that should be yours? Or do you celebrate their victory?
I'll be very transparent with you. In the past, I have struggled as I watched God grow other churches. For 15 years, I served in small, struggling church plants. I would watch other churches thrive while we struggled to survive.
As long as I took my eyes off of what Jesus was doing and felt sorry for poor, poor pitiful me, jealousy would fill my heart.
I thank the Lord that He revealed that to me and graciously allowed me to repent. But this is something I must always guard against.
So I ask you, what fills your heart?
So what did the jealousy-filled Sadducees do? "They arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison" (v18).
Ironic, isn't it? These religious leaders were prisoners of the jealousy bubbling up in their hearts so they throw the apostles in the pokey. The apostles may be behind bars, but Annas and his posse are the real prisoners.
Luke tells us that all of the apostles were tossed in the clink. Not just Pete and John like the last time (Acts 4:3). All twelve of them. And that included the new guy, Matthais (Acts 1:26).
This was actually a fulfillment of something Jesus had told them earlier (Lk 21:12). They locked them up "in the public prison." Think the county jail.
"But" (v19). You've gotta love any story about someone innocent put in the slammer that includes this wonderful little conjunction. In other words, they may be prisoners now BUT something is about to happen.
Do you have hope that Jesus in your darkest hour, Jesus is on the verge of doing something? Is there a supernatural "but" about to happen? It's in times like these that God loves to move. We see it over and over in the Bible.
"But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out" (v19). Luke doesn't give us many details but here's what we do know. It was nighttime.
God sent "an angel of the Lord." Notice that this is not THE angel of the Lord we see appearing at various times in the OT. There's a lot of evidence that THE angel of the Lord is actually the pre-incarnate Christ moving and acting.
This is AN angel of the Lord. God has used such unnamed messengers many times in the Gospels, especially at Jesus' birth. This unnamed angel unlocks the jail doors and leads out the twelve.
Jesus promised He would so this. In the synagogue at Nazareth, He said that His Father "sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives" (Lk 4:18; Is 61:1-2). Christ has come to free you as well. From your prison of sin.
The prison doors are open. Don't just sit there. Walk out! Walk free! This is why these prison break stories resonate in our hearts. We're all prisoners in our sinful selves. Jesus has come to bust you out!
This particular angel gives them instructions. God has sprung them from the slammer but He has an assignment for them. "Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life" (v20).
He doesn't tell them to hit the road and lay low. Get back to the temple. Get back in the spotlight. There's work to be done. There's a message to proclaim.
Christ has freed each one of us for a purpose. And that is to tell others about Him, "all the words of life” (v20).
And that's exactly what these twelve men did (v21). As the sun came up, they hit the temple courts and start teaching. Don't miss the obedience of the apostles.
It would have been real easy for them to say they needed the day off. They were immediately obedient to God's command. When Christ tells us to do something, let's not waste a second.
Forget "The Shawshank Redemption." God has a more breathtaking prison break for each of us. And I'm SO thankful He set me free to proclaim "all the words of this life.”
©2011
Jay Jennings
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