Casualties of a Miracle

“And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judaea to Caesarea, and there abode.” (Ac 12:19 AV)

At first glance, one might think this unfair of the LORD to allow this to happen.  It was the providence and miracle of God which freed Peter and others from the prison.  The keepers were merely doing their job.  They did not arrest Peter.  They had no judgement of their own.  Their sole responsibility was to keep the prisoners in their cells at all cost.  Under Roman law, if a prisoner escaped, it meant the life of the keeper.  But how could they possibly overcome the power of God in all this.  They couldn’t.  They were an innocent bystander who happened to be there when God chose to perform a miracle.  Or, were they?

Jesus Christ specifically states that if we are not with Him, we are against Him.  There is no neutral ground to be had.  There is no safe place for the indecisive.  The keepers of the prison may very well have formed no opinion of Jesus as yet.  Or, perhaps they didn’t think enough about it to formulate an opinion.  Perhaps they felt that staying neutral was the better part of valor.  Perhaps they felt it was not their place to formulate and opinion because it may influence how they do their jobs.  Either good or bad.  Whatever the case, they became casualties of Herod’s wrath and the law of the Romans because God chose to miraculously intervene.

God in not obligated to consider all the ramifications of His hand upon a situation.  He, as Creator, has every right to do as He pleases.  If He chooses to free the men of God from jail in a miraculous manner and it costs others their lives, so be it.  Everyone will die eventually.  The point is not when, where, or the circumstances of a person’s death.  The important thing is what they do with Christ.  Maybe the keepers did know Christ and their death, although it may have seemed unjust, was a release for them.  No longer do they have to serve a pagan king.  They are free from ungodly demands.  Either way, whether saved or not, God can do what God desires to do.  The important thing is to be on the right side.  The important thing is to make sure we are right with God!