Angels & Demons
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Sources & method

Source basis: Ranks, names, enemy titles, and encounters link back to scripture references; later tradition is not blended into the order. Sources

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Sources & method

Source basis: Ranks, names, enemy titles, and encounters link back to scripture references; later tradition is not blended into the order. Sources

Worlds
Visual stories Jerusalem03

Acts 12:5–11

The gate
opened.

Two chains.
A way into the night.

Enter the story
Interpretive illustration of a guarded prison gateway and its enclosed stone courtyard at night.
Four moments · At your paceInterpretive illustration

Kept in the prison

Two soldiers.
Two chains.

Peter is sleeping.
Beyond the prison, the assembly is praying.

Members of the assembly gathered in prayer by lamplight while Peter is held in prison. Interpretive illustration.
The assembly prays · Acts 12:5Interpretive illustration

Follow me

A light shone
in the cell.

Before: Peter asleep in a dim prison cell, bound between two soldiers. Interpretive illustration.
Before the light
The same cell in light: an angel stands beside Peter as he wakes, with fallen chains at his feet; the soldiers and walls remain in place. Interpretive illustration.
A light shone in the cell

Two interpretive views of the same cell: before the light, and the angel waking Peter.

Interpretive illustrations · Acts 12:6–7. The circle of light lets you explore the artwork.

The angel wakes him.
The chains fall.

“Put on your cloak
and follow me.”

Acts 12:8 · WEB

Peter follows.
He thinks he is seeing a vision.

Past the guards

The gate opened

It opened to them
by itself.

The iron gate into the city · Acts 12:10

Peter alone in an open Jerusalem street at night, after the angel has departed. Interpretive illustration.
One street. Then the angel departed.Interpretive illustration · Acts 12:10–11

Now I truly know

Interpretive portrait of Peter alone in a lamplit street at night, his hands free, realizing he has been delivered.
After the angel departed · Interpretive illustration

One street.
Then the angel is gone.

“Now I truly know that the Lord has sent out his angel and delivered me”

Peter · Acts 12:11, excerpt · WEB

Peter comes to himself.

Stay with the passage

The passage behind the story

These are interpretive illustrations. Acts describes the assembly praying, a light shining in the cell, an angel waking Peter, and the chains falling from his hands. The movable circle reveals a second painting of the same cell; its shape and movement are artistic choices. The gate opened by itself, and the open street pictures Peter after the angel departed. The passage does not describe the angel’s appearance or assign a rank.

Read the passageActs 12:5–11

World English Bible (WEB)

5Peter therefore was kept in the prison, but constant prayer was made by the assembly to God for him.

6The same night when Herod was about to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Guards in front of the door kept the prison.

7And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Stand up quickly!” His chains fell off his hands.

8The angel said to him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” He did so. He said to him, “Put on your cloak and follow me.”

9And he went out and followed him. He didn’t know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he saw a vision.

10When they were past the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

11When Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I truly know that the Lord has sent out his angel and delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from everything the Jewish people were expecting.”

Read the full chapter