Simon Peter: May 2010
Table of Contents
Simon Peter
When work on an issue begins, sometimes the theme is clearly defined; other times a general subject is considered, but in the process of gathering material, the aspect of the subject to emphasize becomes clearer. When this issue began, the theme in mind was the Apostle Peter. When it ended, it was Simon Peter. Many of us relate to Peter, because of the lessons he had to learn due to his natural character as self-confident and impetuous. That seems to be reflected in the name “Simon.” What the Lord called him to be was “Peter,” and through the lessons recorded for us, we see him gradually become more Peter-like in character. Sixteen times the Scriptures refer to him as Simon Peter, and not once is he called the Apostle Peter. So the writers of the articles emphasize the lessons through which he passed more than how he was used after he learned some of his lessons. Paul once had the character of an “insolent overbearing man,” but in God’s school he learned to be “gentle . . . as a nurse would cherish her own children.” We, too, are in God’s school learning our lessons, for, like Peter and Paul, we need our characters changed.
Simon Peter’s History
Simon Peter’s history is deeply instructive and portrays a view of every Christian, from the first step in acquaintance with Christ to the state in which the Holy Spirit can, without hindrance, show forth His power. During this interval, the full energy of grace is unfolded, bringing the soul into the knowledge of Christ and of Christian privileges. We see also the breaking down of soul necessary to enable the believer, after having lost confidence in self, to realize his privileges and follow the Lord in the path marked out by Him.
Peter’s history in the Word of God divides itself naturally into two parts, one of which we find in the Gospels and the other in the Acts of the Apostles. The first part corresponds with the truths mentioned above; the second is filled (though not without failure on the part of the instrument) with the activity of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of Peter, and with that divine power which sustains him as a witness for Christ amid obstacles and conflict.
The First Contact
The way in which Peter comes in contact with the Lord in Luke’s Gospel is worthy of note. Simon’s wife’s mother (Luke 4:38-39) was taken with a great fever which rendered her helpless. Jesus heals her and fits her to serve Him. It is often thus that the soul meets Christ for the first time. It comes in contact with Him by means of the blessings bestowed by Him on others. When the moment comes for Him to reveal Himself to our own hearts, we find that He is not altogether a stranger. The Lord uses this preparatory knowledge to shorten the work by which our consciences are awakened to a sense of sin and our hearts to a sense of grace. In this Gospel, Simon Peter knew Jesus from having seen Him at work in his house.
The Fisherman
The son of Jonas was a fisherman by trade; he possessed what was requisite for catching fish — a boat and nets. He had used them to obtain what he wanted, and he had worked all night for this purpose, but without any result. Thus the natural man, employs his faculties and the means placed at his disposal to obtain something which will fill and satisfy his heart. But it is in vain; the net remains empty. His labor yields nothing which can answer the deep need of his soul. Simon and his companions, having taken nothing, quit their boats and wash their nets. They set about washing them, for they had taken up nothing but the mud from the bottom of the sea, and when this is done they will recommence fishing. Is it not thus with a man of the world? He renews his labors to attain a desired goal every day without success.
But when man’s powerlessness has been made evident, Jesus appears, seemingly not occupied with Peter. He teaches the multitudes, but in the midst of His ministry His heart is with Simon, and He does not lose sight of him. Entering into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, He prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. He separates Peter with Himself from the crowd, and thus Peter hears all the Lord says. Jesus had been no stranger to Peter previous to this; now he listens to His word, and his position of isolation with Him contributes to render him the more attentive. Still, from verse 5 we may infer that the conviction of the authority of the Word was all that he retained.
After this, we find the Lord more specially occupied with Peter. He said to him, “Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.” Peter had done that all night, but until then it had been done by the will of man; now it is at the word of the Lord. Peter believes this word and submits to it. The first result of God’s Word is to produce faith, and faith accepts its authority and obeys. The Lord has spoken; that is enough for faith. But Jesus addresses Peter in a yet more powerful way and shows him in whose presence he is, thus reaching his conscience. He, the Creator who disposes of everything, collects the fishes in broad daylight, when there had been none at night, and fills Peter’s nets with them. He fills the human vessels with blessings such as they are unable to contain without breaking and which surpass the needs of the disciple. His companions arrive with a second ship, which sinks likewise, so abundant are the riches given by the Lord of glory.
The Sinner
Peter sees (vs. 8) all this blessing; it places him for the first time in the presence of Him who is the Source and Administrator of blessing. Thus it is not only the word of Jesus which strikes him, but Jesus Himself, and the glory of His person. A revolution takes place in his soul. The blessing, instead of producing joy, causes conviction of sin and fear, because it brings him into the presence of the Lord of glory. On the other hand, the sense of his condition, while giving him the terrible certainty that Jehovah ought to repulse him, yet casts him at the feet of Jesus as his only resource. But the God who has been sinned against pardons. God is known in His love.
It is blessed for the sinner to know his real condition, the judgment which is his due, and the holiness of the Lord. “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man.” Peter judges himself to be a sinner and unfit for the presence of God. He trembles before His holiness and righteousness. As yet he only knows half instinctively what grace is, and he is ignorant how God can be just in justifying him that believes in Jesus, but he is at His feet, and he does not flee away, because if there is any hope, it is there. As long as he was occupied in washing his nets, he knew neither God nor himself, but now he knows both, and it is a remarkable thing that he does not judge what he has done, but what he is. Many souls acknowledge that they have to repent of their guilty acts and judge them, but they have not been brought to see the source of these acts. Underneath the sins there is “a sinful man.” The sense of God’s presence opens our eyes, shows us what we are, and makes us see that our only refuge is with the One who could condemn us.
The Follower
Fear had laid hold of Peter, but the Lord never allows fear to exist in His presence. He speaks and banishes the fear, because He is the Lord of grace. He allows everything else to remain — weakening in no wise the effects of the work in the soul — but He removes the fear. No, the Lord does not depart from him. He says, “Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.” He says, as it were, If I had not met you to save you, I could not save others by your instrumentality. He does more than make Simon Peter happy; He bestows a fresh blessing on him, promising him service, so that, instead of remaining a sinner, Peter becomes a servant, able to leave all and follow Jesus.
Peter Going to Jesus on the Water
Peter’s first act had been to cast himself at Jesus’ knees, acknowledging his sinful condition. Later he sets out to meet Him walking on the water (Matt. 14:22-33). This order is important to notice. To go forth to meet the Saviour follows conversion and precedes service. Peter, having as yet only the promise of being made a fisher of men, was already impelled to go to meet Him. He turned to look at the One who descended from the mountaintop, and this was but the beginning of the glorious revelations he was to receive as to the person of Christ.
Peter’s knowledge at first is very superficial. He says, “Lord, if it be Thou,” but it suffices for the start. Everything depends for him on the identity of the person, and if it be He, His word is sufficient to make Peter leave the ship. He says, “Bid me come unto Thee on the water.” It was a serious thing to leave the place of apparent security to walk where there was no way, but the word of Christ was sufficient for him. He knew its power. At His word he had let go of the net; at His word he sets forth. It enables him to walk on the water even as it had brought him to know the Saviour. In asking this favor, Peter had no thought of making an experiment or showing off his cleverness in overcoming obstacles; what he wanted was to go to Him. Christ attracted him, and for the moment he thought not of wind or waves. If the natural heart ignores the path which leads to Christ, faith finds a way amid difficulties of all kinds, in the night as in the storm, and makes use of them to get nearer to the Lord. Faith leads him to leave the boat, the only apparent shelter, not esteeming it to be the true place of safety, and to reach Jesus, whose presence is worth more to him than getting to the other shore.
First Faith and Love
We often begin well; the first faith and the first love, the simplicity of a heart filled by an object, sustains us, and then we allow the eye to be diverted from its object. Satan had sought to trouble the disciples by making them afraid of Jesus (vs. 26), but they soon learned from His lips to be of good cheer. Then the enemy alarms them with difficulties. What folly to listen to him, for do not difficulties lead us to Christ? Poor unbelieving creatures that we are! In our trials, as in our needs, the only thing we forget is the very thing we ought not to lose sight of — divine power. Peter also, after having set forth, began to think of the violence of the wind and to look back on his own strength, forgetting that he had before him a power of attraction stronger than the power of gravity that would infallibly bring him to Jesus. And he begins to sink.
Who has not, like Peter, been on the point of sinking? Have we all not shared the same fate? But a cry bursts from the lips of the disciple, “Lord, save me”; he does not say, “Depart from me,” for the believer knows the Saviour and that His character is to save. Peter calls for help just as he is on the point of attaining his object, and Jesus has only to stretch forth His hand to draw him to Himself. One moment more of faith, and the disciple would not have sunk. Shall we still doubt? Let us trust Him who is able to save us to the end, for the storm will not cease until the Lord and His own are definitively united.
H. L. Rossier, adapted
Simon Peter’s Lessons
In Luke 5, the Lord wanted to be a little apart from the mass of the people to avoid the pressure of the crowd and to be better able to speak to them. For this reason He stepped into Peter’s boat. Note the moral grace that shines here. “He . . . prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land.” Though Lord of all creation — possessor of heaven and earth — He nevertheless, as the lowly, gracious man, courteously owns Simon’s proprietorship and asks, as a favor, that he would thrust out a little from the shore. This was morally lovely, and we may rest assured it produced its own effect upon the heart of Simon.
The Draught of Fishes
“Now when He had left speaking, He said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.” There was power, as well as grace, in the Lord’s word! Simon was about to be well paid for the loan of his boat. As a result, neither their nets nor their ships were able to sustain the fruit of divine power and goodness. “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” If Simon is to be called Cephas, he must be thoroughly broken up and brought to the end of himself. If he is to be used to catch men, he must learn, in a divine way, man’s true condition. If he is to teach others that “all flesh is as grass,” he must learn the application of this great truth to his own heart.
But Jesus could never depart from a poor, brokenhearted sinner. “Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.” Here was the divine response to the cry of a contrite heart. The wound was deep, but the grace was deeper still. Simon was not only convicted, but converted. He saw himself to be a man full of sin, but he saw the Saviour full of grace; nor was it possible that his sin could be beyond the reach of that grace. Oh, no, there is grace in the heart of Jesus, as there is power in His blood, to meet the very chief of sinners. “When they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed Him.”
Following Christ
How refreshing it is to contemplate Peter’s thoroughgoing style! His start was of the right sort. “He forsook all and followed” Christ. There was no halting here, no vacillating between Christ and present things. Boats, nets, fish, natural ties — all are unhesitatingly and unreservedly surrendered, not as a matter of cold duty or legal service, but as the grand and necessary result of having seen the glory and heard the voice of the Son of God.
Thus it was with Simon Peter, at the opening of his remarkable career. All was clear and unequivocal, wholehearted and decided, so far as the start was concerned, and we must bear this in mind, as we pursue his after history. No doubt we shall find mistakes and stumblings, failure, ignorance, and sin, but, underneath, and in spite of all this, we shall find a heart true to Jesus — a heart divinely taught to appreciate the Christ of God.
Blunders
This is a grand point. Blunders may well be borne with, when the heart beats true to Christ. Someone has remarked that “the blunderers do all the work.” If this is so, the reason is that those blunderers have real affection for their Lord, and that is precisely what we all want. A man may make a great many mistakes, but if he can say when challenged by his Lord, “Thou knowest that I love Thee,” he is sure to come right in the end, and not only so, but, even in the very midst of his mistakes, the heart is much more drawn to him than to the cold, correct, sleek professor, who thinks of himself and seeks to make the best of both worlds.
C. H. Mackintosh, adapted
Walking on Water
In the first part of Matthew 14, you have the sympathy of the Lord’s heart and then, as He feeds the multitude, the power of His hand displayed. He then went up into a mountain to pray. The disciples, dismissed at even, were sent on their way to Capernaum, “tossed with waves” and “toiling in rowing,” as Mark 6:48 informs us. The distance they had to go was only about ten miles, but they had been nine hours covering a little over three miles. We make little progress if we do not have the Lord with us.
Sympathy and Power
The Lake of Tiberias is well-known for its sudden and violent storms, and they were caught in one. But in all their difficulties and dangers the Lord had His eye upon His own. He was above in intercession, and in the fourth watch He comes to them. He never forgets His own in their difficulties. “Touched with the feeling of our infirmities,” He is “able to succor” (Heb. 2:18), able to sympathize (Heb. 4:15), and “able also to save . . . to the uttermost” (Heb. 7:25). He does all three in this scene. That He is able to “succor” is evidenced in divine power as He is seen “walking on the sea” to their rescue — His sympathy finds vent in His answer, “Be of good cheer; it is I, be not afraid,” while His power to save is touchingly seen in His action towards Peter, as he cries in distress, “Lord, save me!” Such is our Jesus, as He now sits in glory, and these earthly incidents give us blessed glimpses of Him.
Faith and Love
Now, as they are toiling, storm-tossed and miserable, what music is in the voice that comes to them above the raging of the wind and waves, saying, “It is I; be not afraid.” And as they heard the tones of His voice, Peter, ever energetic, fearless and full of affection, says, “Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water.” Look at the energy and the love of that man’s heart. It is very refreshing. You have the Master going over the stormy deep, and then, in answer to the word “Come,” you see the disciple imitating his Master, and Peter, upheld by divine power, “walked on the water, to go to Jesus.” Only faith and love will act thus. It is an action the Lord admires.
Whatever motives might have been in his heart, they certainly seem all to his credit. Evidently he wanted to be near the Lord, and that was right. Caution and self-consideration would have kept him in the ship with his brethren. Affection and faith led him to leave all that nature leans on. Men with less zeal and energy would have saved themselves possible failure and discomfiture, and said, “We will just wait where we are till He comes on board.” Peter, assured that it was his beloved Master and charmed to see Him thus superior to the water on which He trod so firmly, counting also on His love liking to have him near Him, says in his heart, “I’ll go and meet Him, if He will let me.” True to his natural character of unrestrained impulsiveness — for Peter was no hypocrite — he says, “Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water.” Getting for his answer the single word “Come,” he at once obeys. And “when he was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.” He was entirely right. He had a divine warrant for his action in the word “Come,” and divine power he knew could not be wanting, since he was now in the presence of Him who must be God to walk the waters so majestically as He did.
The Eye on Jesus
And yet we find that he broke down. Quite true, but why? Because he foolishly left the ship? No, for it says, “He walked on the water, to go to Jesus.” For the moment he was like his Master. Why then did he sink? Because he took his eye off Jesus. As long as he kept his eye on Him, all went well; the moment “he saw the wind boisterous,” down he went. The wind was as high and the billows as rough before he abandoned the ship. The moment, therefore, he left the deck, it was a question either of Christ sustaining him or of drowning. Had he kept his eye where he first fixed it, on the person of the Lord, all would have gone well, but the moment he let the circumstances of his surroundings intervene between him and the Lord’s blessed face, he began to sink. It must always be so. So long as I have God between me and my circumstances, all is well. The moment I let the circumstances come in between my heart and God, all is wrong, and “beginning to sink” may well describe the situation.
Faith can walk on the roughest waters when the eye is on the Lord. “Looking unto Jesus” must always be the motto of the soul and the momentary habit of the heart, if this blessed pathway of superiority to circumstances is to be rightly trodden. Peter’s failure carries its lessons for us, but I believe the Lord greatly valued the love that led him to do as he did. I think the point of the passage is not so much that he broke down at last, but that he was really immensely like his Lord till he broke down. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me,” said another servant in a later day.
The Power to Save
But to return: “When he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me!” Why did he sink? Was the water a bit more unstable when boisterous than when calm? Certainly not. You could not walk on the stillest pond a bit better than on the stormiest wave that ever surged, without divine power. The power of Christ can sustain you and me in the most difficult circumstances, and nothing but the power and grace of Christ can sustain us in the easiest circumstances. Then, as Peter cries out, the Lord “caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” Peter had faith, though it was little.
The exquisite grace of Christ in this passage is incomparable. Peter quite failed to get to his Lord, but the Lord did not fail to reach him in plenty of time. His very failure had brought him to his Saviour’s feet, and in the moment of his deep distress he finds himself in his blessed Saviour’s arms. His appeal, “Lord, save me,” was heard and answered at once. We too can bear witness to the tender pity and compassionate love of that same precious Jesus, for He is “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever.”
The Son of God
As soon as the Lord got into the ship the wind ceased, and John 6:21 adds, “Immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.” How beautiful! How calm everything is as soon as we get into the presence of the Lord! And now they worship Him, saying, “Of a truth Thou art the Son of God.” Peter had learned Him as Messiah in John 1, he had learned Him as Son of Man and Lord over the fish of the sea in Luke 5, and now, as he sees more of the moral glories of His person, he gets another most precious lesson, that this One who is the Messiah and the Son of Man is also the Son of God.
W. T. P. Wolston, adapted
“Blessed Art Thou, Simon” “Get Thee Behind Me, Satan”
The two parts of this title stand out in sharpest contrast with each other, even though they were spoken to the same man by the same Speaker — the Lord Jesus Christ — and are found only six verses apart in Matthew 16.
“Blessed Art Thou, Simon”
Simon Peter was pronounced “blessed” after he had given expression to the wondrous truth concerning the Person of the Lord Jesus. The world at large and even the privileged Jewish people did not understand who He was. “He was in the world . . . and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” But there was a little band attached to Him — attracted to His Person — although even to them it was only by revelation from the Father that they could see who the glorious One was.
The crowd had speculated as to who He was — a Jeremiah, Elijah, John the Baptist or one of the prophets. When the Lord asked His disciples who He was, Peter answered, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” whereupon the Lord calls him “blessed,” for he was privileged to receive that revelation from the Father.
Happy Peter! happy disciples! to be able, by faith, to see in the lowly Jesus, the Christ — God’s Anointed — the Son of the living God (vs. 16). Oh that our hearts may take in more of His beauty, His glory! He will fill the range of our enlarged vision in heaven; may He become increasingly precious to us here — here where He is still despised and where men restrict His glory to that of a mere man — one of the prophets.
“Get Thee Behind Me, Satan”
When we come to verse 21, the Lord “began . . . to show unto His disciples . . . that He . . . must . . . suffer many things . . . and be killed.” This was indeed a blow to them; they saw in Him God’s Son and God’s King, but they were slow to take in His sufferings and death. They looked for Him to take the kingdom and reign, but instead He must first suffer. The sufferings must precede the glory; the cross must come before the crown. It was natural for them to shrink from rejection and suffering for their Lord and Master, for if He was to be rejected and suffer in this world, they must receive the same: “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.”
Such thoughts provoked Peter to dare to rebuke the Lord and to say, as in one translation, “Be favorable to Thee, Lord, this shall in no wise be unto Thee” (vs. 22). Blessed Lord! He knew the source of such thoughts; Satan had come to Him before, in the wilderness, to turn Him out of the pathway of dependence and obedience as a man; now he was using a chief apostle to urge the Lord to shun the path of reproach and suffering. The Lord instantly recognized in Peter’s words another effort of Satan and promptly said to Peter: “Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art an offense unto Me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” (vs. 23).
Poor Peter — only shortly before he was called “blessed”; now he is rebuked as being the instrument in the hands of Satan. Once the receiver of divine revelation as to the Son, he now is the mouthpiece of the enemy. But such is man; he is not to be trusted. It is natural to the human heart to shrink from reproach and suffering, and also to seek honor in and from this world. How easily Peter’s mind was on the things that are of men.
And we, who have greater light than Peter had at that time, are so easily influenced by the things that are of men that we shrink from a little reproach for Christ and seek some of this world’s honor or favor. Sometimes we sing:
“Farewell, farewell, poor faithless
world,
With all thy boasted store;
We’d not have joy where He had
woe —
Be rich where He was poor.”
And how easily we drop back from the expressions of our lips! Sometimes we may be like Peter, when he enjoyed divine revelation, and rejoice in Christ Jesus our Lord, and at other times we may be engrossed with the things “that be of men.”
Bad Advice
Sadder yet! We may speak of the glories of the Son of God and encourage others at one time, and at another, if not in the current of God’s thoughts, give advice to fellow followers of a rejected Christ that will be the advice of Satan himself. How easily we are influenced by the “things that be of men” and may be, by act or word, the instrument of evil persuading some young Christian (or older one) to seek worldly gain, position, honor or some of the applause of the very world that Christ died to, and died to deliver us from. May we be more careful in our thinking, that it may not be of this world’s philosophy — “the things that be of men” — and may we be on our guard against giving the advice of Satan to a follower of a rejected Christ.
On the other side of this point, may we be careful about receiving such advice. May “the things that be of God” so influence our thinking that when we receive advice to seek the world’s advancement, popularity, wealth, station, or such like, we may discern the voice of the enemy. This should not be construed to mean that an employee may not accept a better position in his work, but even in doing that he should first seek the Lord’s guidance and weigh the consequences. One may well ask himself if he can carry out the duties of the better position heartily as to the Lord — whether there would be certain demands which he could not meet with a good conscience. The higher we get in the world, the closer we get to the prince of it. Many who went on happily with the Lord when in humbler stations have been caught in the world’s vortex when in higher places, to the Lord’s dishonor and their loss. We are responsible for our conduct and must watch against the influence of the world, even though it may come from the lips of one who at another time may have thrilled our hearts as he spoke of heavenly things and the glories of the Son of God.
The Lord follows His word to Peter with a word to all the disciples: “Then said Jesus unto His disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it” (vss. 24-25).
P. Wilson
Sifted As Wheat
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 22:31-32). 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 2:10: “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
Service and Food
After Peter’s many experiences, it would seem as if he were now qualified for service. He went forth, followed by six other disciples, to fish in the Sea of Tiberias. What characterized this undertaking was that Peter took the initiative himself of setting to work to obtain the results of his labor. It was in vain, and the night waned before he and his companions had seen their efforts crowned with any success. Peter employed the same means as on a corresponding occasion, previous to his conversion. How often when God entrusts us with active service, we set about it like men in the flesh, and our work is barren. It is important to understand that in ministry, all, absolutely all, must be of God and nothing of man.
The Right Side
The scene changed as soon as Jesus stood on the shore; His presence ushered in the dawn of a day of blessing. His presence was what was most needed. As long as they had toiled without Him, their efforts were fruitless. It was daybreak when this scene took place. There is a special moment determined of God for service, and the disciples, unmindful of it, had lost their time during the whole night. They found the fish on the right side of the ship, in a special place known only to Jesus, and Peter had to trust to this knowledge before his activity could be crowned with success. The disciples cast their net at His word, having nothing else to depend on, and they captured 153 great fishes; their fishing in this place closed with a number determined and known only by the Lord. From this moment they had something else to do; they brought the result of their labor to Jesus (vs. 10). They did not fish for themselves or for others, but for the Lord alone.
Oh that our hearts might all learn this lesson! Does our life consist in one long night of human activity directed by the will of man, or is it like an aurora illuminated by the Lord’s presence? Do we see our nets filled because we work in dependence upon Him?
As to the food, Jesus stood on the shore and said, “Children, have ye any meat? They answered Him, No.” Doubtless they thought that this stranger, whom they had not yet recognized, was in need of food. But the question forced them to avow that until now all their labor had given nothing to Christ. Then came the words, “Cast the net.” It was as if He said to them, “If you would give Me something, you must receive it from Me.” From that moment John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, could no longer be mistaken, for to him the Lord was One who gave, and to whom nothing was given.
Labor
Here another point comes out; the disciples themselves had nothing to eat. Labor does not feed; it causes hunger. Even fruitful labor, a miraculous catch of fish, left the disciples a prey to hunger. How many souls there are in the present day of activity who remain barren in spite of their work, because they delude themselves as to the profit accruing to their spiritual life from their activity! It was not on the sea amid all the surrounding effort and agitation but on the shore where all was still that the disciples heard the Lord saying unto them, “Come and dine.” The meal was not initially prepared with fish taken from their net, but provided by the Lord Himself, who distributed it to them. They fed on the result of Christ’s work — what He alone had done for them.
May it be so with us, beloved. When we have brought the result of our service to the Lord that He may do as He thinks best with it, let us sit down, invited by Him to feed on Him in the retirement of the shore. Let us return to the holy Word which reveals Christ, not only for others, but above all for ourselves. Having eaten, Peter was led on a step farther in his service and enabled to feed the lambs and sheep of the Lord.
H. L. Rossier
Restoration
Three steps mark the Lord’s restoration of Peter: His prayer, His look and His word (Luke 22:31-34; Luke 22:61-62; John 21:15-19). Thus reinstated in His Master’s confidence and once more granted a commission in His service, Peter was ready, when the Holy Spirit came down from heaven, to act his own special part in the great enterprise of grace that we call Christianity. No man is competent to serve our Lord Jesus Christ who has not trodden Peter’s path. First, one must be born anew by the quickening agency of God’s blessed Spirit, having his sins forgiven in virtue of the Saviour’s atoning blood, and his self-confidence so shattered that henceforward no power may operate within him but that of the divine Spirit.
W. W. Fereday
Jesus Calls Us
Jesus calls us o’er the tumult
Of our life’s wild, restless sea;
Day by day His sweet voice soundeth,
Saying, Christian, follow Me!
Jesus calls us — from the worship
Of the vain world’s golden store;
From each idol that would keep us —
Christian, dost thou love Me more?
In our joys and in our sorrows,
Day of toil and hours of ease,
Still He calls, in cares and pleasures —
Dost thou love Me more than these?
Jesus calls us! By Thy mercies,
Saviour, may we hear Thy call;
Give our hearts to Thy obedience;
Love and serve Thee best of all!
Author unknown