The focus switches back briefly to Jerusalem. The church was undergoing a period of extreme persecution. James the brother of John was put to death, and this met with the approval of the Jews. Hoping to build on this success, Herod then arrested Peter. This happened about the time of the Passover, ie a similar time of year to the events of the first Easter. Peter was put under armed guard.
Herod may have thought things were going his way, but God had other ideas. This does raise the question of why did God let James die, but not Peter? The honest answer is we do not know. It should warns us against infantile ideas of faith. When Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were about to thrown into the fiery furnace, they said they knew that God was able to save them, but did not know if He would rescue them from the furnace (Dan 3:16,17). We cannot put God in a box, even a box labelled faith!
The church was praying earnestly for Peter. In the night an angel appeared to Peter and released him. Note that this is the second time Peter has been freed from arrest by an angel. Even so, Peter was not sure whether he was just dreaming all this. Eventually he realised it was really happening.
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