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The Story of Redemption
Joy and praise filled the hearts of the fasting, praying believers,
that God had heard and answered their prayers, and delivered Peter
from the hand of Herod. In the morning the people gathered together
to witness the execution of the apostle. Herod sent officers to bring
Peter from prison with great display of arms and guard, in order
to ensure against his escape, to intimidate all sympathizers, and to
exhibit his own power. There was the guard at the door of the prison,
the bolts and bars of the door still fast and strong, the guard inside,
the chains attached to the wrists of the two soldiers; but the prisoner
was gone.
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Herod’s Retribution
When the report of these things was brought to Herod, he was
exasperated, and charged the keepers of the prison with unfaithful-
ness. They were accordingly put to death for the alleged crime of
sleeping at their post. At the same time Herod knew that no human
power had rescued Peter. But he was determined not to acknowledge
that a divine power had been at work to thwart his base designs. He
would not humiliate himself thus, but set himself boldly in defiance
of God.
Herod, not long after Peter’s deliverance from prison, went down
from Judea to Caesarea and there abode. He there made a grand
festival, designed to excite the admiration and applause of the people.
Pleasure lovers from all quarters were assembled together, and there
was much feasting and wine drinking. Herod made a most gorgeous
appearance before the people. He was clad in a robe, sparkling
with silver and gold, that caught the rays of the sun in its glittering
folds, and dazzled the eyes of the beholders. With great pomp and
ceremony he stood before the multitude, and addressed them in an
eloquent oration.
The majesty of his appearance and the power of his well-chosen
language swayed the assembly with a mighty influence. Their senses
were already perverted by feasting and wine; they were dazzled by
his glittering decorations and charmed by his grand deportment and
eloquent words; and, wild with enthusiasm, they showered upon
him adulation, and proclaimed him a god, declaring that mortal man
could not present such an appearance or command such startling