Acts 12.1-19 contains a thrilling story of an angel helping Peter escape from prison.  James the brother of John had been killed already, and Herod intended to kill Peter also, because “it pleased the Jews.”  Herod must have had some fear of an escape – there were four squads of soldiers, two chains, and sentries guarding the doors of the prison.

An angel shows up late at night, and “a light shone in the cell.” Peter was kind of groggy because the angel had to tell him everything after whapping him on the side to wake him up. “Get up.” “Get dressed.” “Put on your sandals.” “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”  This sounds like the instructions that parents give to their child when they are about to leave someone else’s house.

The chains fell off, the guards didn’t notice them passing by, and the iron gate leading to the city “opened of its own accord.”  And ‘poof’ the angel is gone, just as Peter wakes up.  Miracle upon miracle.

Peter goes to his friends’ house and knocks on the door; they had all been praying for his safety.  Like in a television sitcom or a Marx Brothers film, Rhoda recognizes Peter, goes to tell the group, and leaves Peter knocking at the door!  Eventually they let him in and he tells the marvelous story.

Peter departs to another place, the group rejoices, and the next morning Herod has all the sentries killed.

My friend Glen VanAntwerp has a delightful way of re-telling Bible stories to catch the underlying funny bits. My favorite was the Israelite response under Jehoshaphat when three armies – the Moabites, the Ammonites and the Meunites – were approaching Jerusalem in 2 Chronicles 20.  Jehoshphat the King stands up before the people with an impassioned prayer that ends “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” 

The people stood there until the Prophet Jahaziel tells the word of the Lord – “Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s.  Go down against them tomorrow and the Lord will be with you.”

Glen sets the scene for the Israelites the next day – The marching band and the singers are up front, and everyone else strolling out with a nice lunch and blankets to sit on.  While they are singing, the three invading armies are sizing each other up.  The two bigger armies talk to each other about how much better it will be to only share the loot two ways instead of three, so they greedily attack and wipe out the small army.  Then the two big guys look at each other and decide it will be better to just share the loot one way – they attack each other and wipe each other out.

So the Israelites arrive at the field of Ziz, see the slaughter, and fill their picnic baskets up with gold, silver, and unexpected wealth to go along with their lunch leftovers. “And the fear of God came on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the LORD had fought against the enemies of Israel.”  (2 Chronicles 20.29)

The covenant promises that God made to his people in Deuteronomy 28 – blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience – are answered repeatedly in 2 Chronicles 11-12.  The outcomes usually seem to take a while, but in this passage events unfold quickly.

After King Solomon, the kingdom was split in two.  Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, reigns in Judah.  In verses 13-17 of chapter 11, he is aided (seemingly without his planning or knowing) by immigrants from the Northern kingdom: Levites and “those who had set their heart to seek the LORD God of Israel.”  The result of this influx of God-followers is that the kingdom of Judah is strengthened, Rehoboam is secure, and “they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon.”  Blessing Number 1 follows obedience.

Unfortunately, “when the rule of Rehoboam was established and he was strong, he abandoned the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him.”  Two years later, the Egyptian king Shishak came with a great army and plundered all Judah, including Jerusalem.  The prophet Shemaiah relayed the angry message of God:  “You abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak .” Curse Number 1 follows abandonment.

At the words of the prophet, King Rehoboam and the princes of Israel humbled themselves and proclaimed, “The LORD is righteous.”  God was pleased with the turning back, and prevented annihilation.  “So King Rehoboam grew strong in Jerusalem and reigned.”  Blessing Number 2 follows  humbled hearts.

Ben Patterson, in his book Deepening Your Conversation With God, and Paul Miller, in his book A Praying Life, both make the point that the vigor of our praying depends on our view of God and what He has to offer.

 Patterson quotes C.S.Lewis (The Weight of Glory) to make the point:

“[If] we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.  We are far too easily pleased.”

In Daniel 3, King Nebuchadnezzar constructs a huge idol and commands all his people to worship it.  Anyone who didn’t would be thrown into a fiery furnace.  Daniel’s three friends famously refused in Daniel 3.16-18:

                “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.  If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is  able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image you have set up.”

The resulting actions include an enraged king, a super-heated furnace; guards ignited when they throw the three friends in the furnace, an angel rescue, and a miraculous display of God’s power.

The Battle of Dunkirk (June 1940), as described by Winston Churchill was “A miracle of deliverance, achieved by valor, by perseverance, by perfect discipline, by faultless service, by resource, by skill, by unconquerable fidelity…”   And all those qualities were present. 

But Duncan Boughton told me another feature.  At the beginning of the massive evacuation, a simple message was received from the trapped forces, to the effect that “the situation is very bad and we look to be overrun, but even if…”, interpreted as a resolute standing firm in the face of another God-less king. 

And so the Dunkirk deliverance included angel rescues in the form of hundreds of small boats and vessels braving stormy waters, inspired and helped by the hand of God.

 

Psalm 111.4  “He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered”

What wondrous works, you say?  Think Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, sunset on a clear day, waves lapping on shore, and your favorite other natural marvel.

Think of Old Testament wondrous works that the psalmist would be aware of: Creation, the Flood, calling Abram the nomad, Joseph and his multi-colored coat saving the family, the plagues in Egypt, Joshua and the battle of Jericho, David and Goliath, Solomon’s wisdom, Elijah defeating the priests of Baal, Daniel saved in the Lions’ Den, Isaiah prophecies pointing to the coming Messiah.

Jesus’ New Testament works are often told and well-remembered: healing, teaching, proclaiming the good news, calling people to repent and believe, willing death on a cross, glorious resurrection.

The natural marvels are recorded around the globe for us to see.  The events, even from ancient times, are documented in the Bible, the living word of God.  The attestations to the veracity and authenticity of this ancient book are unsurpassed, so that the Bible itself is one of God’s miracles.  God’s self-revelation is a marvelous creation which has survived these many millennia precisely because God wanted his wondrous works to be remembered.

Psalm 105 calls the congregation to remember all the great things God had done for the descendants of Abraham.    Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and Aaron are all mentioned, plus most of the plagues, the cloud by day and fire by night, the quail explosion, manna every morning, and water from a rock.

Verses 37-38 are right at the critical juncture of leaving Egypt:

                “Then he brought out Israel with silver and gold,

                 and there was none among his tribes who stumbled.

                 Egypt was glad when they departed,

                for dread of them had fallen upon it.”

The account in Exodus 12.33-36 paints a picture of the conflict in the hearts of the Egyptians.  They were positively disposed toward the Israelites, because “the LORD had given the people favor in their sight.” So they gave away whatever the Hebrews asked for. 

At the same time, they were afraid of the Israelites’ God, and “were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste for they said, ‘We shall all be dead.’”

So God was operating on both sides of the Egyptians’ mental conflict.  As the psalm says, the dread had fallen upon them.   The Israelites walked away, encouraged and enriched, because God was at work.

Moses sent twelve spies to Canaan in Numbers 13.  He gave them a charge in verse 17-20 and they reported back, after a 40 day trip, in verses 25-33.  Here is a brief summary of what the spies were to look for and what they found:

–          See what the land is  –  it flows with milk and honey

–          Are the people strong or weak  –  stronger than us

–          Are there few or many people  –  more than us

–          Is the land where they dwell good or bad  –  the land is good

–          Are their cities camps or strongholds  –  fortified and very large

–          Is the land rich or poor  – the land is good

–          Are there any trees  –  yes

–          Bring back some fruit  – these grapes are huge!

–          Be of good courage  – but there are giants out there!

Then Caleb said, “let’s go take the land; we can do it.”

The Ten faithless spies said, “Oh no, we can’t! Those giants are BIG!”

And the people cried all night.  The next morning they grumbled, wanted a new leader, and wished they would have died in Egypt or in the wilderness rather than die trying to move into Canaan.

Then Joshua said, “The land is good.  Don’t fear those people, because God is on our side.”

And the people wanted to stone Joshua.

But the LORD intervened.  His Shekinah Glory showed up in the tent and he threatened to wipe out the nation and start over with Moses as the new Abraham. Moses interceded and God forgave.  But, as punishment for rejecting the land, (a) the Israelites would be in the wilderness forty years (one year for each day of the spy mission); (b) all adults over age 20 (except Caleb and Joshua) were doomed to die in the wilderness, as they wished; and (c) the ten faithless spies died of a plague.

So, the promised land was exceedingly fine but the inhabitants were big and numerous.  Those who trusted the LORD knew He was able to clear out the Canaanites; those who did not trust Him could not see past the giants. Trust, faith, and sight are linked together.

 

One of the first evangelists must have made a big impact just by showing up in the Gentile city where he ministered.  In Luke 8.26-39 we meet the man in his previous state – a naked, demon-possessed, chain-breaking, desert tombs dweller. 

Just as in the previous verses (Luke 8.22-25) where Jesus had shown mastery over nature (specifically a raging storm on Lake Galilee) here we see his ability to control other feared forces.  After Jesus sent the demons into pigs who then charged into the lake to drown (thus combining three things the Jews knew to avoid: deep puddles, pigs, and poltergeists), the delivered man was “seated at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.”

The townspeople saw the former demoniac and were afraid.  The people from the surrounding country were so filled with fear that they asked Jesus to leave.  The saved man begged to go with Jesus but the Master gave him a different mission, to “return to your home and declare how much God has done for you” – a version of the Great Commission!

The people to whom the Man of the Tombs witnessed were formerly afraid of his wild, uncontrollable nature.   Then they were afraid of the one who could control the Wildman. And now, the calm, changed man was proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.”  Just as it is today, some of the Saved with the roughest backgrounds make the best evangelists.

We can’t know for sure, but I suspect this man kept up with Jesus’ life, responded to the Gospel, and made disciples wherever he was.

 

It is easy to miss a startling pronouncement of man speaking with God, hidden in verse 89 of Numbers 7.  Eighty-nine verses means it is a long chapter; turns out it is also one of the most repetitive.  The scene is set in verse 1 – “On the day when Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle…” and the focus turns to finishing touches and transportation.

The chiefs of the twelve tribes bring wagons for the Levites to use when loading up the tabernacle for a move.  These wagons were all the latest model year and boasted dual ox-power for unprecedented speed and durability. The Levites who were sons of Gershon and Merari got all the wagons; the sons of Kohath may have been a bit jealous because they had to carry all their stuff on their shoulders.

Wagons weren’t the only gifts the chiefs brought. For twelve days, each chief in turn brought exactly the same set of items: plate, basin, dish, flour, oil, incense, and assorted animals for the various offerings.  Besides the name of the chief and the tribe the description is exactly the same for each leader.  Each description takes 6 verses.  The summary in verses 84-88 is slightly different but mathematically impeccable as it states the total received was twelve times as many of everything as was listed for each individual.

After reading the same thing 13 times, you need to wake up because something astounding happens in verse 89: “And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the LORD, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and it spoke to him.”

Previously in the Pentateuch we had heard that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments carved in stone, that Moses had communicated with God on the mountain, that God had led them with fire and smoke. But this is the VOICE of GOD speaking within the tabernacle. All of a sudden the wagons, the Levites and all the repetitious stuff brought by the chiefs were very important – they were going to transport or touch or be in the same room with and be made holy by association with the Holy LORD of creation! 

You may like to spruce up the house when the family comes to visit.  Think how much more the Israelites would want to keep up the tabernacle, knowing that God was a regular visitor.

And as a we-won’t-know-until-we-get-to-heaven note: I wonder if the voice Moses heard sounded like Jesus’ voice?