Acts 12:18-19 18Now when day came, there was no little commotion among the soldiers about what had become of Peter. 19And after Herod searched for him and after not finding him, after questioning the guards, he ordered them executed, and then after going down from Judea, he spent time in Caesarea .
When the guards awoke in the morning, they found empty chains behind locked doors. No one escaped Roman prisons, especially if they were chained to guards. The story has a sad ending for the guards. They were just doing their duty of guarding a famous prisoner under significant chain, lock, and key. They could do nothing against the power of God. They did not know the Almighty God was involved in the disappearance of Peter. They looked everywhere but came up with no answers. It was bad news for whoever had to tell Herod of the situation. Luke makes it sound like Herod himself was involved in the search. If Herod went to the prison is unclear, but this situation went all the way to the top, to the king. Peter’s escape was a big deal to the biggest people in the land. A Roman law stated that a guard received the same penalty as the prisoner if the prisoner escaped. Thus, the guards all lost their lives when they could have done nothing about the situation.
This situation would have been highly embarassing to Herod. The Jewish leaders would have heard about the situation. Herod was trying to please the Jews by getting rid of the Christian leaders, but here he did the opposite and lost the leader. Herod had a palace and headquarters in Caesarea, but he could have left Jerusalem to avoid the political fallout of the situation. With Herod out of the situation, the believers in Jerusalem could carry out their mission of preaching the gospel. However, it was a sad time to lose James to martyrdom and Peter to another location. New leadership would emerge through James, the half-brother of Jesus.
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