James was the second casualty, after Stephen, who died for his faith in the Lord. The unbelieving Jews received the news of his death with so much excitement that King Herod immediately proceeded to have Peter remanded. His plan was to wait till Easter was over, and then execute Peter as well. But then Christians prayed; and the result was what Act 12:7 recorded. The Lord sent an angel to carry out a rescue mission just in time, the very night preceding the day Peter would face the hangman.
“Whenever the light of God shines, something extra-ordinary happens…The light of God can penetrate the grossest darkness. That light shines so powerfully that darkness can never overpower it. “
The salient thing to note in this meditation is the light that shone in the prison. Whenever the light of God shines, something extra-ordinary happens. That light shone upon one Saul of Tarsus who we later know as Paul. The light arrested him from his mischievous mission. From then on Paul never looked back; he became a prisoner of the Lord. But when that light shone upon Peter who had been a prisoner of man, the chains fell off and he became the Lord’s free man. The light of God can penetrate the grossest darkness. That light shines so powerfully that darkness can never overpower it. Tying it to yesterday’s meditation, the word of God is the light of God. By it we can be set free from all entanglements of the wicked ones.