His captors had taken every precaution. There was a heavy iron gate to the street; four squads of four soldiers each were specifically assigned to guard him. In an inner cell, Peter, Jesus' disciple, was chained securely to two soldiers, between whom he lay, shoulder to shoulder. See Acts 12:1-11 . As if that were not enough, there were two keepers before the door to his cell in the prison. The writer in Acts vividly portrays the care King Herod took to secure his prize prisoner.
Yet Peter escaped them all. The story of his midnight escape from prison inspires awe even today. The elements of his confinement seemed impenetrable. Yet the doors opened of themselves before the dazed apostle. He wasn't really sure it was happening; at first, he thought he was dreaming.
The walls, gate,
soldiers, could not keep
the angel out.
Is this ancient account relevant to us today? It sure is. Who hasn't yearned to drop encumbering chains of fear, confusion, despair, or leave the prison of a physical illness, financial difficulty, or challenge at work. We may even feel, as Peter did, the threat of imminent death. But the particular manner in which Peter made his escape may seem so miraculous that we can't quite make the connection to our own situation.
One day, I was studying this story, determined not to let a single word pass without closer scrutiny. First, I noticed that Peter was asleep. Then, despite his listless slumber, "the angel of the Lord came upon him ...." Suddenly, a crucial fact stood out. Peter couldn't get out, but the angel could get in! The thick stone walls, the iron gate, the soldiers, could not keep the angel out. Because the angel wasn't a person or a physical form! It was a pure and inspired thought from God, appearing within Peter's consciousness. Such elevated thoughts recognize no obstacles, no interference; they break through barriers, no matter how stubborn, invincible, or impregnable these barriers appear to be. In Science and Health Mary Baker Eddy describes angels as "God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality." Science and Health, p. 581.
The angel-thought even broke through Peter's sleep. With what? "... a light shined in the prison." That divine intuition effortlessly brought light; it was radiant with spiritual inspiration. God's angels bring an immediate and practical recognition of a reality not discernible to the physical senses (asleep or not), right where a difficulty seems to be. Light is an attribute of God. As the Psalmist so beautifully states of Him, "Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment." Ps. 104:2 . A New Testament writer says, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." I John 1:5. Christ Jesus demonstrated this darkness-dispelling light, healing thousands.
The light of spiritual truth wasn't about to leave Peter asleep. Science and Health explains: "Sleep and apathy are phases of the dream that life, substance, and intelligence are material." Science and Health, p. 249. The angel woke him up; we might say it roused him to a clearer awareness of the divine presence with him. Could he sleep through that light? No.
Also, the angel "smote Peter on the side." Why, I wondered? This angel wasn't a man-form with wings striking a body-blow to another man. It was a benign and loving message from God, bringing liberation. Perhaps Peter needed a deep inner stirring. Herod was planning to execute him, possibly the very next day. This murderous jealousy, fear, resentment, and hatred would have slain, and so silenced, the disciple's apostolic message of God's mercy and power. Was Peter believing the threat? Was he convinced that they could make it happen? Had he resigned himself to a brutal end?
His master, Jesus, had faced and triumphed over these threats. Referring to Jesus' enemies, Science and Health states, "They endeavored to hold him at the mercy of matter and to kill him according to certain assumed material laws." Ibid., p. 27. The discussion continues on the next page, "The determination to hold Spirit in the grasp of matter is the persecutor of Truth and Love."
Perhaps the angel had to strike a solid blow to raise Peter above deeply imbedded beliefs of life in matter: that he was a helpless victim of brutal oppression and cut off from God's protection. That he was a mortal about to die. As I read this account, I saw the blow as not physical at all. It was entirely mental. It was the rousing call of the universal and absolute truth of being—revealing each individual's unbroken unity with Life, God, and the protection derived from this.
Maybe Peter needed to be roused from a feeling of helplessness.
Peter's experience echoed that of the patriarch Jacob. Jacob wrestled with an angel until the angel touched the hollow of his thigh. See Gen. 32:24-30 . Science and Health states that "... an angel, a message from Truth and Love, appeared to him and smote the sinew, or strength, of his error, till he saw its unreality ...." Science and Health, p. 308. Even so, it may be that Peter was aroused to a higher recognition of his spiritual identity and the immunity from danger this true individuality afforded both to him and to his mission. The angel got in! It was accepted into his consciousness and counteracted the claim of evil to deceive, oppress, imprison, and slay him.
Then the inner thought bade Peter "Arise up quickly." (Don't linger in the dream.) "Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals.... Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me." How could the chains of mass superstition, ignorance, and fear not fall from the man? He no longer believed them.
How could the dedicated servant of Christ be shackled to any such feeble philosophy?
It's worth noting that the light filling the prison didn't waken the soldiers in the cell and in the adjacent areas. Why? I asked myself. As long as thought is antagonistic to Christianity and Christian workers or willing to lend its labors to oppression, eyes are closed to the divine possibilities. The light was a divine radiance, totally mental, perceivable only to the spiritually receptive.
The spiritual illumination, or God-sent message, that so effortlessly reached Peter's thought worked a profound transformation on his immediate circumstances. He recognized his freedom, though he didn't fully comprehend at once what had happened. No wonder he was dazed. Obediently he followed the angel out—out of the cell, past guards and wards, through the open gate, unchallenged. As the full significance of what had happened became clear, he realized that God, sending his angel, had delivered him from death.
Peter could not be imprisoned by mortal concepts of what he was, and neither can we. In a time of need, we, too, can hear the liberating angel message, no matter how long or how deeply we seem to have been imprisoned in our own dream of life in matter—whether it's called pain, fear, loneliness, grief, or poverty. Our night also can be illumined by the healing glow of truth.
I had a memorable encounter with God's angel-direction some time back. While on vacation in late July, one day I heard the mental direction, "Pray for your husband's employment." I had done so on many occasions before, but this had an urgency and authority about it that I could not ignore. I prayed! And I heard the same message every day through August into early September. Each day inspiration came on some new aspect of what I was to learn about employment, from the way my husband viewed the company (I'd heard many complaints in that area) to notions about personalities and company and corporate policies both for his company and companies in general. As the divine leading came to me, I prayed to lift my concepts of service, gratitude, economics, equity, justice. I also included all humankind in my prayers. I was amazed at the insistence of the daily command. I also wondered what it was all about, but I persisted. Suddenly, one day in early September, no message. I stopped this particular line of prayer, trusting that the work was complete and must bear fruit.
In November, rumors began to fly that my husband's company might be planning another series of layoffs—something that had occurred several times before. By December, someone heard that the corporation might offer an early retirement package. In January, they did. And my husband qualified for the package by a few weeks.
I prayed to lift my concepts of service, gratitude, economics.
In March, as we sat down with the top personnel manager to discuss our options, he confided that in late July, he had been ordered by top corporate officials to write the retirement program. He had worked on it and nothing else, daily, into the first week in September, when he received approval for it. He said that it was the most generous and fair retirement package the company had ever offered—and that it was the last that would be offered! He was very proud of it.
I sat there thanking God for His daily direction. I was awed and grateful beyond measure for Love's tender provision. Many seasoned and faithful employees were blessed by this program.
The more we attend to His angel messages, the more we are able to hear. By listening to and practicing the truths we hear, we steadily abandon the imprisoning beliefs and limitations of materially-based thinking and living. A growing sense of our God-bestowed identity, freedom, and peace is made clear. God does give His angels charge over us to keep us in His ways.
