If your father promised someone a bicycle for his birthday, it would make a great deal of difference to you whether the promise was made to you or to your brother. And if one of the teachers at school set a certain lesson or made a certain rule, you would want to know whether the lesson or the rule was for the whole school, or for a certain class only.
Well, it was like that with Peter; he had been listening to the Lord Jesus for some time, and at last he asked, “Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?”
If you take your Bible and read through the twelfth chapter of Luke’s gospel, you will see that in the first verse it says, “He began to say unto His disciples first of all,” and then follows what Jesus said to them.
Then in verse four, Jesus says, “I say unto you My friends,” and what comes after that was certainly meant for Peter, and for us too, if we are friends of the Lord Jesus.
Again, in verse twenty-two and the following verses, we have what He said to His disciples, those who were learning from Him; and there is no mistaking that it is to His own sheep that He speaks when He says, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
But presently Peter begins to wonder, for Jesus says, “And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not.”
Then it was that Peter asked his question, “Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?”
When Peter was an old man he did not call these words of the Lord Jesus a parable, he called them a promise. He had learned that although Jesus will come back again so suddenly that to those who are not ready His coming will be as a thief in the night, yet God is so merciful and long-suffering that He wants everyone to be ready; He longs for all to repent and turn to Him. And so Peter writes, “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord WILL COME as a thief in the night” (2 Peter 3:8-108But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2 Peter 3:8‑10)).
If Jesus comes just now, as you are reading, are you ready? Oh! do make sure about this, for the words, “Be ye ready also,” are said to you.