The Inevitable Harvest: The Word Versus the Worms Text: Acts 12:24
Introduction: Two Kingdoms, Two Destinies
The twelfth chapter of Acts presents us with a stark and violent contrast. It is a tale of two kings, two kingdoms, and two ultimate destinies. On the one hand, you have the kingdom of man, embodied in Herod Agrippa. This is the kingdom of pomp, political calculation, and raw, persecuting power. It is the kingdom of steel, prisons, and the sword. Herod, to please the Jews, stretched out his hand to vex the church. He killed James, a pillar, and seeing that it played well with the crowd, he proceeded to arrest Peter, intending to make him the next public spectacle after the Passover.
The kingdom of man always appears formidable. It has the guards, the gates, and the gravitas. It makes speeches, receives adulation, and sits on thrones. And when the church is praying in a back room, and one of their leaders is dead and another is on death row, it is very easy to think that the kingdom of man is winning. It is easy to look at the headlines, to see the political machinations, to feel the cultural pressure, and to conclude that the church is a beleaguered, shrinking thing.
But then Luke, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, pulls back the curtain. He shows us the other kingdom. This is the kingdom that operates not by the sword, but by prayer. It is the kingdom that advances not through political maneuvering, but through angelic intervention. Peter is sprung from a maximum-security prison, not by a stealth operation, but by an angel who tells him to get his shoes on. And what of the great king Herod? After all his bluster, after soaking in the blasphemous applause of the people, "The voice of a god, and not of a man!", an angel of the Lord strikes him down. The man who wielded the sword is undone from the inside out, eaten by worms. A grisly, ignominious end. The kingdom of man is a hollow, rotting thing. It is a corpse in kingly robes.
And right after this account of a king turning into worm food, Luke gives us this glorious, triumphant, one-sentence summary. It is the great "But" of the chapter. It is the final verdict, the declaration of who the real winner is. All of that was just the setup. Here is the punchline.
The Text
But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.
(Acts 12:24 LSB)
The Great Reversal (v. 24a)
The verse begins with that crucial conjunction, "But."
"But the word of the Lord..." (Acts 12:24a)
This "but" is a pivot upon which all of human history turns. Herod had his moment. He had his soldiers, his prison, his executioner, and his cheering crowds. He made his move against the church. He killed one apostle and imprisoned another. From a worldly perspective, his side had all the momentum. And then he was struck down and eaten by worms. But. The story does not end with the rotting king. The story does not end with the silence of a dead apostle. The story continues, because the central character in the book of Acts is not Peter, or Paul, or even the church. The central character is the Holy Spirit, and the central actor is the Word of God He proclaims.
Notice what Luke does not say. He does not say, "But the church, after a period of mourning and regrouping, managed to hang on." He does not say, "But the apostles, though discouraged, found a new strategy for outreach." He says, "But the word of the Lord..." The Word is personified. It is the active agent. The Word is alive. It is not a static collection of doctrines; it is a living, energetic, world-conquering force. This is the Logos, the very Word that spoke the universe into existence in Genesis 1. It is the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. And it is this Word, preached by the apostles, that is on the march.
This is a profound lesson for us. We often think in terms of our plans, our programs, our budgets, and our effectiveness. We measure the health of the church by the metrics of the kingdom of man. But the Scripture directs our attention elsewhere. The fundamental question is not, "Are we growing?" but rather, "Is the Word of God growing among us?" Is it being faithfully preached, is it being gladly received, is it taking root, and is it bearing fruit? Because if the Word is doing its work, the church will grow as a necessary consequence. The cart is the multiplication of disciples; the horse is the growth of the Word.
The Unstoppable Seed (v. 24b)
And what was this Word doing? It was engaged in a relentless, organic, agricultural process.
"...continued to grow and to be multiplied." (Acts 12:24b)
Luke uses two distinct but related terms here, and we must not miss the nuance. The Word "grew" and it "multiplied." The first word, "grew" (auxano), is the word for agricultural or biological growth. It is the word used for a plant sinking its roots down and sending its stalk up. It speaks of internal development, of maturation, of increasing in strength and substance. The Word was not just spreading thin; it was growing deep in the hearts of the believers. They were understanding the gospel more profoundly. The implications of the death and resurrection of Jesus were taking deeper root in their lives, producing sanctification, courage, and joy. The Word was growing up.
But it was not only growing up; it was also being "multiplied" (plethuno). This speaks of numerical increase. It is the language of harvest. One seed falls into the ground and produces a stalk with many more seeds. This is the external, evangelistic expansion of the gospel. The Word was not only maturing within the church, it was spreading outside the church, creating new believers and new churches. The Word was growing out.
This is God's pattern. The Word grows deep, and then the Word grows wide. A church that is not growing in its understanding and application of the Word will soon find its evangelism is shallow and ineffective. But a church where the Word is growing deep will inevitably see the Word multiply. It cannot be helped. A healthy apple tree produces apples. A healthy church where the Word is flourishing produces converts. It is the natural, supernatural result.
And all this was happening in the face of intense opposition. They had just had one of their key leaders publicly executed. And what was the result? The Word grew and multiplied. This is the great paradox of the kingdom. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Every time the kingdom of man tries to stamp out the fire of the gospel, it only succeeds in scattering the embers, starting new fires everywhere. The devil is a fool. He thinks a tomb can hold the Lord of life, and he thinks a sword can stop the Word of God. He is always wrong.
Conclusion: The Kingdom of Weeds and the Kingdom of Seeds
So what is the takeaway for us, here and now? We live in a time when the kingdom of man is putting on its Herod face again. It is arrogant, blasphemous, and increasingly hostile to the crown rights of Jesus Christ. It makes its proud speeches and demands that we call it a god, or a goddess, or whatever pronoun it has invented for itself this morning. And it has its swords. It can cancel you, it can fine you, it can legislate against you. And it is easy to become discouraged.
But we must remember the lesson of Acts 12. The kingdom of Herod is the kingdom of worms. It is a kingdom of decay, destined for the ash heap of history. It looks impressive on the outside, but it is being eaten away from within. It has no future. Its final destiny is to be consumed.
We belong to the other kingdom. We are citizens of the kingdom of the Word. And the Word is a seed. It may look small and insignificant compared to the thrones and armies of men. But it has life in it. And when it is planted, it grows. When it is watered, it multiplies. It is inexorable. It is inevitable. It is invincible. You cannot stop it. You can persecute it, but it will only multiply. You can kill its messengers, but you will only scatter the seed further.
Therefore, our task is simple. We are not called to be political strategists. We are not called to be clever marketers. We are called to be farmers. Our job is to plant the seed, which is the Word of God. We are to preach the Word, in season and out of season. We are to teach the Word to our children. We are to saturate our own hearts and minds with it, so that it might "grow" deep in us. And then we are to scatter that seed everywhere, trusting the Lord of the harvest to ensure that it "multiplies."
Herod is dead. Caesar is dead. Every proud persecutor of the church is a pile of dust. But the Word of the Lord that they tried to silence is still here. It is still growing. It is still multiplying. And it will continue to do so until it has filled the whole earth, until the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. Amen.