An Unforeseen Enemy & Unstoppable Force
5/19/25 Bible Thought (Acts 12)
The book of Acts is again and again a consistent testimony to the faithfulness of Jesus to build His church no matter the opposition. In Acts 12, we see a new Herod causing problems for the church. He kills James the brother of John (one of the original 12) and also imprisons Peter (Acts 12:1-3). However, the chapter ends with a wonderful note, “But the word of God increased and multiplied” (Acts 12:24).
Between these two events we see a great enemy of the church rear its ugly head. The sin that was ultimately at the root of Herod’s actions was pride. In fact, the reasoning given for his destruction at the hands of an angel is, “Because he did not give God the glory” (Acts 12:23).
The people cried out in praise to Herod, and he gladly accepted it. Even his imprisonment of Peter came as a result of him seeing that it was pleasing to the people. Herod wanted to make a name for himself and ultimately, he did.
He is remembered as one of the greatest examples of Proverbs 16:18,
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
The consistent testimony of Scripture is that God opposes the proud. The apostle Peter once wrote,
“Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’” (see also Jas. 4:6; Pro. 3:34).
Nebuchadnezzar, another king, also found this out firsthand as well. After boasting about the kingdom that he’d built (Dan. 4:30) he was made to eat grass like a wild animal in the field for seven years. When his mind returned, he exclaimed,
“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are right and his ways are just; and those who walk in pride he is able to humble” (Dan. 4:37).
Pride is an enemy of God, for it makes oneself a competitor against Him. Likewise, pride is an enemy of the church and Acts 12 shows us that no enemy of the church will prosper.
The goal then is for us to live our lives with accurate views of who we are. Not thinking too highly, or too lowly. Some people, attempting to avoid pride, fall into false humility. They’ll claim they aren’t good at things they truly are good at, which is a form of lying. Truly, if God grants us gifts, talents, or abilities to do things and then we tell others under a façade of humility that, “We’re really not that good” then we spit in the face of the One who gave the gift.
Rather, we should have a humble view of ourselves where we recognize that we are merely recipients of His gifts of grace in our lives. For example, those who are gifted musicians ought not to say they aren’t good in order to be “humble” but rather they ought to give the glory to God that is due His name for His gifts, rather than taking glory for themselves.
Tim Keller probably said it best, “Pride is that which claims to be the author of what is really a gift.”
Whatever we have, whether gifts, position, or anything else that comes from His hand, let’s remember that the glory is due to the Giver of the gift. Then, we can work with Jesus to build up His church through the gifts we’ve been given, rather than fighting against what He’s building with pride.