Obedience To The Angel

As promised, we look at two other crucial and important actions, in that heavenly lit prison cell, where Peter is being held. I don’t know how this is going for you, but this one thing I know. The Lord is working His purpose out for many a sincerely believing servant of His, who has received, is receiving or will receive His miraculous freeing, from the binding chains of self. Many of us are being healed from the malady of spiritual sleep, when we are totally dead to Jesus, the Light of the World. We will hear more about this sleep, but first, the final two instructions of the angel to Peter.

Fact 3

The light shone in the prison, and when, in obedience to the call to move quickly, as Peter got up, the miracle continued. His chains simply fell off. And his chains fell off from his hands. The angel never touched the chains. He never commanded the chains to fall loose. It was as Peter obeyed and arose from his lying down position, that every single chain fell off Peter’s hands and freed him to do what was needed to be done.

Many a believer is bound by pressure chains, dehumanizing chains, fear-inducing chains, stress chains and many other types of binding chains, designed to hold one captive. When the self is our ruler and controller, we are easily held victim to the darkness of this world. Darkness in any form is not of God, for our Lord is not just Light, in our places of darkness, but He is also our Peace, in times of stress and worldly pressures.

Our minds are brought to remember ten men who were bound by leprosy. They lived in the darkness of all kinds of social maladies, loneliness, helplessness, anxiety and stress. These men were bound, hands and feet as it were, until one day they had an opportunity to be completely loosed.  Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem and while passing through a certain village, ten men who had leprosy stood from a distance and saw Him. Knowing that because of their condition, because of their constraining and confining chains, they could not get near to Jesus, they shouted out in a loud voice to Him. Jesus, Master, have pity on us! Luke 17: 13b. Having attracted Jesus’ full attention, when He saw them from a distance, Jesus shouted back from that same distance and told them to do something. Go, show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed. Luke 17: 14b. It is as they heard and promptly obeyed, that every single one of them was loosed from his leprosy chains. Every single one was made free from all the darkness he was living with.

Our Lord God is all powerful and He is still able, through whatever means He wishes, to perform His life-freeing miracle in you. Obedience is the one and only way to go. Do as He says.

Fact 4

Peter, now free of all chains, the angel continues to give instruction after instruction to Peter. Something about this has me curious, as Peter is being treated almost as a child. I’m thinking, Peter is not a little child whom you have to instruct, where getting dressed is concerned. Yet, listening to the angel, he sounds as though he is talking to a very young child. Listen again to what he says to Peter. Gird thyself and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. Acts 12: 8b KJV. Put on your clothes. Put on your sandals. Wrap your cloak around you. Follow me. I really was puzzled by these obvious instructions, and the more I listened to them, the more I did not hear them. Instead, I heard our Lord saying that our failure to follow, often comes because of the familiarity of the task.

There are times when we are called to do every day, personal actions, where we must follow the lead of our Lord. As simple and well-known as the actions are, listen and follow. Our Lord is looking at how very compliant and humble you are to obey and follow, even in that which is well-known and mundanely familiar.

Peter then follows the angel out of the prison. Free from all chains which had him bound, just a few minutes ago, and fully dressed for travelling, whereas, just a short while ago, he was dressed for remaining, Peter, is now outside the prison. Peter is no longer sleeping.

Where are you?