Peter’s history is very interesting, but much too full of detail to enter upon except in part.
Simon, and Andrew his brother, were among the first called to follow the Lord. They were fishermen, partners with James and John, and plied their boats on the Sea of Galilee. To Simon the Lord gave the name Cephas, which means a stone, as does also Peter. He was foremost among the twelve Apostles. His name always comes first in the lists of them, and it is believed that he was older than the others.
Peter, James and John were occasionally singled out by the Lord: they alone saw Him raise the daughter of Jairus; and they were asked to watch with Him in Gethsemane, and, alas! they slept instead. We may feel inclined to be disappointed with Peter when we think of this and other events in his life, and yet it was to such as he that the Lord said, “Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations.” Would we say that to one that we knew would forsake us at the sorest moment of trial? But Jesus, who knows all, knew that they loved Him, and what it may have cost them to follow Him so far. That Peter was not afraid of the Lord is evident from the frequency of his remarks to Him, and it is interesting to notice how often he is addressed by name by Him.
In thinking of failing Peter and his denial of the One he loved, we must remember that he had not the Holy Ghost dwelling in him as he had after the day of Pentecost and that hence he was weak. The Lord said, “Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me” (Acts 1).
When Peter was so undaunted in the presence of the persecuting Jews in Acts, he was asked “by what power or by what name, have ye done this?” Filled with the Holy Ghost (the power), he replied, “by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead has this been done.” Ah! he was not ashamed to confess Him then; neither ought we to be who have the Holy Ghost.
Peter was the Apostle to the Jews, or of the circumcision, and he wrote to them. We have no scriptural proof that he was ever at Rome, but church history asserts that he suffered a violent death there during the reign of Nero. Certain it is that he knew he was to end his life thus, “even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shown me,” he says. Moreover, the description of his end (John 21:1818Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. (John 21:18)) seems to point to crucifixion—any way, he glorified God in it (v. 19).
To Peter were given the keys of the kingdom of heaven—to open or shut, to bind or loose. You may notice in Acts how remarkably he used them. He opened the door by baptism on the day of Pentecost to 3,000 Jews; he wrought the first miracle by “loosing” the lame man; he “bound” Ananias and Sapphira; he opened the door to Cornelius, the first Gentile convert, and explained to the Apostles how God had granted the Holy Ghost to the Gentiles. Of his subsequent life we have few details.
Yes, leave it with Him,
The lilies all do,
And they grow
They grow in the rain,
And they grow in the dew
Yes, they grow:
They grow in the darkness, all hid in the night
They grow in the sunshine, revealed by the light
Still they grow.
ML-10/10/1976