After initial opposition from the chief priests and then persecution initiated by a zealous young Pharisee, the followers of Jesus now at last come in for royal attention. Herod Agrippa I was thought of by the Jewish population as “their man,” trusted more or less by the Romans but also popular with his people. It was also strongly in Herod’s interests both to show his Roman overlords that he would not tolerate dangerous movements developing under his nose and to show his own people that he was standing up, as they would have seen it, for their ancestral traditions. Herod either saw, or wanted people to think he saw, the Christian movement as a political threat.

The True King Rules (Acts 12:1-25) – sermon by pastor Josh Provow from the series “The birth of the Church” on Acts of the Apostles.