The two most prominent of the disciples at the last Passover supper, whose courses are thrown together in the whole Gospel of John (Peter and John), were converted in different ways. John heard the word of John the Baptist. "Looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!" John 1:3636And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! (John 1:36). He is ravished by the beauty of Jesus, and attracted to His Person. A little word is let out from John Baptist's heart, and John follows Jesus. John Baptist began his ministry (and rightly so) with the terrible denunciations of coming judgment; but the last two notes in John 1:3636And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! (John 1:36), as to the Person of Christ, attracted their hearts, and God allows one of those men to tell you "it was about the tenth hour." Do you think God is indifferent to the day and the hour when a soul was brought to Him? No; of one it is written here in the eternal Word of God.
Now when Peter was converted, it was different. Andrew went to Peter, and brought him to Jesus, and he said, "We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ." The results were very different in their paths. You never find that the Lord had to tell John to follow Him, though He had to say to Peter, "Follow thou Me." There are the same distinctive marks in the character of their ministry. John was a true Kohathite, bearing the golden vessels of the tabernacle, the Person of Christ. Peter never went beyond the Messias made Lord and Christ. It is remarkable how his conversion gives a character to his ministry in his epistle and service, as John's so markedly did so in his; though on the other hand, the call of God does all. Still, the character may be much altered afterward, which is encouragement to us. The men who gathered to David to the Cave of Adullam had but sorry characters, yet they had fine characters when the kingdom was set up. Why? Because they remained with David. So the power of the Lord keeps us in His presence and that will mend our characters.
"Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be of whom He spake. He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto Him, Lord, who is it?" John 13:23-2523Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. 24Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. 25He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? (John 13:23‑25). John then, drawing more closely, gets the mind of Christ, and this because he was leaning on His bosom. He did not draw near to get the mind; but because he was near he got the mind of the Lord. "He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me." John 14:2121He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. (John 14:21). No matter how ignorant we may be, if we love Christ, we will get the intelligence of His mind, and He will manifest Himself unto us. Like Mary in John 20—she had no intelligence but she had a heart that could well nigh break itself for Christ, and she got the manifestation of Himself as well as His commandments. To such hearts as these He manifests Himself. Is your heart resting on His bosom? Is your ear open to hear His word? And are you so near that He communicates to you His mind?
Why do we go to another to solve a question? Because we feel that he is nearer to the Lord than we are.
In Judas there was the habitual allowance of sin, and this was the groundwork of his fall; it hardened his conscience. The Lord could not reveal His mind to the others until Judas had gone out. The presence of the traitor hindered the manifestation of His glory.
"A new commandment give I unto you" (v. 34). There are in other languages two words for "new"; but in English we have only one. Suppose you see a man with a coat of an entirely new fashion and cut, that never was seen before; we say, This is a new coat; that is, of an entirely new kind. But suppose you see an ordinary coat, but of new cloth; there is many a coat like it, still in that sense it is new. It is in the first sense that this word in verse 34 is used: "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you." And this love is that which rose beyond and above every littleness and stupidity and failure of His disciples.
Do you seek to love each other as He did, in such a way that it will rise above every pettiness, every bitterness, every hindrance, as Christ loved you? Divine love is never thrown back, and never changed by the unworthiness of its object; it is superior to everything. Like a stream whose banks may for some distance be smooth, hut when they become crooked and rocky, the same stream flows on and on, unchanged in its course and its quality; such is His love.
In Peter's case we find a solemn yet blessed lesson—that a fall never happens to a Christian without a previous warning, and without some dealings from the Lord. If Peter had taken the warning, he might not have fallen. May we be of those who know His voice, and bow to the washing of the Word, knowing the blessed object He has in this action of His love.