How good and precious it is that we have at all times the Lord to look to, for if our eye had always to be fixed upon self, not only should we not advance, but we should be thoroughly discouraged by the thought of the evil within us. We would confine ourselves to the idea of the evil, and thus deprive ourselves of the strength which can overcome it.
The nature of the flesh and the blindness of man’s heart are worthy of remark. What foolish things come between God and us, to hide from us that which we ought to see! How strangely, too, do the thoughts of the natural heart follow their natural course (even when the Lord is near us) and deprive us of the consciousness of the most striking things! We find this presented in this case of Peter.
“Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not” (Luke 22:31-3231And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. (Luke 22:31‑32)). He does not say, “Thou shalt not be tempted; I will hinder Satan from sifting thee”; no, He does not do it. We see here that God often leaves His children in the presence of their enemy, but, even while they are thus in the presence of the enemy, He watches over His own, as we see in Revelation 2:1010Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. (Revelation 2:10): “The devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”
Peter might have said to the Lord, “Thou canst hinder my being thus sifted,” as Martha and Mary thought Jesus could have hindered the death of Lazarus, and, truly, He who can give the crown of life can shelter us, but He does not do so, but allows that we may be tried. Satan desired to have Job to sift him like wheat, and God permitted him to do so, and this happens to us also. We often say within ourselves, Why has He dealt thus with me? Why has He put me in such or such a crucible? Ah, it is Satan who desired, and God who permitted it. Things often occur which we cannot understand; such things are intended to show us what the flesh is.
Satan’s Desire, the Lord’s Care and Peter’s Power
When God is about to use a Christian in His work, He takes the one who has gone the farthest in the path of trial. Thus here it is said, “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you.” The danger is presented to all, but He adds, speaking to Peter, “I have prayed for thee,” for thee in particular, for Jesus distinguishes him from all the rest because he had taken a more prominent position than the others, and he was thus more exposed, though they were all sifted at the death of Jesus.
The Lord then says to Peter, “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” He was not going to spare any of His disciples the sifting, but Peter was to be the most severely tried and, therefore, the best to strengthen his brethren. Notwithstanding all this, Peter is full of self-confidence. “I am ready to go with thee both into prison and to death.” But Jesus replies, “The cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest Me.”
The flesh acting in Peter had only power to carry him up to the time of trial, and there it failed, for Peter denied the Lord Jesus, even in His very presence. He might have seen his Saviour, if his heart had not been turned away from Him. Jesus was looking at him, and yet he denied Him to the maid, saying, “I know Him not.” He had been warned, but the Lord would not allow him to be kept by divine power at that moment, because he needed to learn by experience what he was in himself.
If we notice all that Christ did, we shall see how He was watching at this time over Peter; His grace, so to speak, went out to meet him and took care of him all through the temptation. The first thing that Jesus tells him is that He has prayed for him. It is not that Peter’s repentance led to Jesus’ intercession, but the intercession of Jesus brought about Peter’s repentance. “I have prayed for thee,” and “Jesus . . . looked on Peter.” As to Judas, he denied the Lord, and, when his conscience was awakened, he killed himself. No sooner was the crime committed than all confidence fled, and he went and killed himself. But, here, the effect of the prayer of Jesus was to preserve faith at the bottom of Peter’s heart, so that, when Jesus looked on him, he was broken down.
The first thing to notice is that the Lord had prayed for Peter, and the second, that He always remembered His disciple, and as soon as the cock crowed, Jesus looked on him, and Peter wept bitterly. It is in this way the Lord deals with us: He prays for us and allows us to go into temptation. If He conducts us when in it, He also bids us to pray that we enter not into temptation, but God permits all this because He sees the end of it. If Peter had been conscious of his own weakness, he would not have dared to show himself before the High Priest. This trial was the natural consequence of what he was in the flesh, but it was God’s purpose to use him, and even to put him in a prominent position in His work. The cause of his fall was self-confidence; the flesh was actively present.
The Sifting
God did everything well for him, and Peter saw what was the power of Satan’s sifting. The other disciples, not having the same fleshly strength, fled at once. They had not so much confidence as Peter, but God left him to struggle against Satan, and Jesus prayed for him, in spite of his fall, that his faith should not fail. The moment Peter fell, the eye of Jesus was turned upon him. That look did not give peace, but confusion of face; Peter wept; he went out, and it was all over. He had learned what he was. There was his failure; the sin was committed and could not be undone; it could be pardoned, but never blotted out [of Peter’s memory]. Peter could not forget that he had betrayed the Lord, but Jesus made use of this fall to cure him of his presumption.
It is the same with us. We often commit faults which are irreparable, from too much confidence in the flesh. When there is no possibility of correcting one’s faults, what is to be done? The only resource is to cast oneself on the grace of God. When the flesh is too strong, God often permits us to fall, because we are not in that precious state of dependence which would preserve us.
The Conscience and Heart
When God tries the heart in this way, He sometimes leaves it in Satan’s hands, but He never leaves the consciences of His children in the enemy’s hands. Judas’ conscience was in Satan’s hands, and, therefore, he fell into despair. Peter’s heart was in his hands for a time, but his conscience never. Therefore, instead of despairing, like Judas, the love of Jesus, expressed in a look, touched Peter’s heart.
Then grace acts in the heart; it gives the consciousness of sin, but, at the same time, the love of Christ reaches the conscience, deepening the consciousness of sin, but if this is deep, it is because the consciousness of the love of Christ is also deep. Perfect as was the pardon of Peter, he could never forget his sin. Not only was he fully forgiven, but his conscience was in the Lord’s hand when the Holy Spirit revealed the fullness of the heart of Jesus to him. His conscience had been so fully purified that he could accuse the Jews of the very sin he had himself committed under the most solemn circumstances. “Ye denied the Holy One and the Just” were his words. The blood of Christ had fully cleansed his conscience, but if the question of his strength in the flesh was raised, all he had to say of himself was, I have denied the Lord, and, were it not for His pure grace, I could not open my mouth.
Love and Self-Confidence
Jesus never reproached Peter with his sin in those conversations He had with him. There is never the question, Why hast thou denied Me? No; He does not once remind him of his failure. On the contrary, He acts according to that expression of love of the Holy Spirit, “I will remember their sins no more.” Jesus had forgotten all. But there was one thing He had to show Peter; it was the root of the sin, the point where he had failed. Satan’s temptation along with his own lack of love had been the cause of his fall and had destroyed his self-confidence, but now, his conscience being touched, it was needful that his spiritual intelligence should be formed. Peter had boasted of more love to Jesus than the rest, and Peter had failed more than all.
Then Jesus said to him, “Lovest thou Me more than these?” Where is now Peter’s self-confidence? Jesus repeats three times, “Lovest thou Me?” but He does not remind him of his history. Peter’s answer is, “Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee.” He appeals to Jesus and to His divine knowledge; “Thou knowest that I love thee.” This is what Jesus did for Peter, and that after his fall.
Confidence in Jesus
Jesus had foretold his failure, and here He asked him, “Lovest thou Me more than these?” Peter can say nothing, save that he has learned his weakness and that he has loved Jesus less than the other disciples. The relationship between Jesus and Peter is all of grace; he had no resource except to confide in Jesus, and now he could be a witness for Him; he had felt the power of a look of Jesus.
Peter seems to say, I confide in Thee; Thou knowest how I have denied Thee; do with me what seems good. Then, we see Jesus sustaining His disciple’s heart, lest Satan should rob him of his confidence. He said, “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” What enabled him to strengthen his brethren? His denial had so taught him what the flesh was that he would no longer bind himself to anything; he knew that he had nothing to do save to trust God. Whatever his own incapacity to resist Satan, he could appeal to the grace of Him who knows all things. The knowledge that he could confide in Jesus was that which made him strong. It was after reminding Peter of the utter incapacity of the flesh that the Lord confided His sheep to him, “Feed My lambs,” and it was not till then that he could strengthen his brethren.
The flesh has a certain confidence in itself, and this is often the folly into which we fall. It is then necessary for us to learn ourselves by conflict with Satan; every Christian has to learn what he is through the circumstances in which he is placed. God leaves us there to be sifted by Satan that we may learn our own hearts. Had we enough humility and faithfulness to say, I can do nothing without Thee, God would not leave us to this sad experience of our infirmity. When we are really weak, God never leaves us, but when unconscious of our infirmities, we have to learn them by experience.
The End Result
All this should teach us to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt us in due season. We must learn to yield ourselves to His mighty hand, till He exalts us. May God give us to know Him alone. If we had only to learn what we are, we should be cast down and sink into despondency, but His object in giving us a knowledge of ourselves and of His grace is to give us an expected end. One can say then, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
J. N. Darby, selected