The Death of James

The death of James, the brother of John occurred during the time of Passover in the spring - in April sometime, because the Passover is often referred to the days of unleavened bread because the Jews were forbidden to eat any leavened bread at this time.  

King Herod Agrippa I, ruler over Judea, was the grandson of King Herod the Great whom Jesus was crucified under.  Herod Agrippa I, like his grandfather also sought political power by pleasing the Jews under his power who hated believers in Jesus Christ. 

1  Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. 2  Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. 

James, the brother of John, was one of Jesus' disciples  who became the first apostle to be martyred.  While he wasn't the first believer to be martyred, such as we had seen with Stephen, it would not be the last. 

In a streak of violent persecution against Christians, James was beheaded under the rulership of Herod Agrippa I with the sword, meaning he was beheaded.  This kind of death shows us that James was killed under civil rule because Jews were only allowed to stone someone to death, and only if he violated the Law of Moses.

This began a series of persecution against the Christians and we find ourselves in a similar situation like that of Jesus who was hated by the Jews, and it pleased Pilate and King Herod the Great to have Jesus killed to keep the peace within their domain of their authority.  

3  And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread.

7  Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands. 8  Then the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals”; and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.”

The night  before Peter was to stand before Herod for sentencing, he was asleep between two soldiers, who were also asleep with two sleeping guards outside his prison cell. 

Suddenly an angel of the Lord appears before Peter in his cell and told him to put on his sandals and his cloak, with instructions to follow him.

12  So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. 

The angel of the Lord had led Peter down a specific road, so through that God was leading Peter to where he needed to go.  That road led to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark because that is where his company of believers were there praying for his release.

13And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14  When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate.

Upon hearing the knock, Rhoda, who many claim was a servant in the house of Mary, came to the gate to answer.  She recognized the voice to be Peter.  In her excitement, she ran back into the house to tell everyone that Peter was there, forgetting that she had not opened the gate for Peter to enter.

The pray-ers inside the house didn't believer Rhoda, claiming it had to be his angel, but she kept insisting that Peter was outside.

Peter kept knocking on the door, in fear of exposure, until the pray-ers got up and finally opened the door, seeing Peter in the flesh.  They were astonished!

17  But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren.” And he departed and went to another place.

For fear of exposure, Peter, with his hands, motioned for everyone to quiet down, and then told them how the Lord had delivered him out of the prison.

Peter proceeded to tell these believers to go tell James, the earthly brother of Jesus, who was a prominent leader within the Church, and to tell other believers - for Peter knew he had to place the leadership in someone else's hands for a while, because he knew he needed to quickly leave Jerusalem and hide out for a while.

Barnabas and Saul Returned to Antioch