Dear Friends,
It is one of the great and precious truths of the Word of God that God not only knows how to redeem His people, but also how to restore His people when, by their self-willed behaviour, they would turn to their own ways and follow out their own paths that ultimately lead them to heartache and poverty of soul.
One of the Bible's outstanding examples of this is the fall and consequent restoration of that man, Simon Peter. Peter very much furnishes us with a loud warning bell, “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall;” and yet, at the same time, sets before us an anchor of hope that “God will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able.” Peter's denial of the Lord that night in the judgment hall of Israel's High Priest is, in many respects, unique: nevertheless, we completely miss part of the purpose of its being recorded in the Bible (which is, our admonition) if we fail to look to it and learn from it by way of principle.
Now, the strange things about Peter that night and some thing which we, perhaps, overlook at times is this: that, in reality Peter was never really in any danger when he began to be questioned about his relationship with Jesus Christ by those who were assembled in Caiaphas's palace. This fact emerges very clearly in the apostle John's account of the incident where he speaks about that “other disciple.” That man who was “known to the High Priest,”and who “went in with them” to the High Priest's palace, and who “spake unto her that kept the door” and brought Peter in also. It seems more than clear that the “other disciple” was none other than John himself, for it is a favourite title for himself throughout his gospel, and Peter and he were ever close to one another, even right into the early chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. But, you see the situation? Here was “another disciple” of this man Jesus of Nazareth present in that judgment hall that night. This “other disciple” was known to the High Priest, and yet, was able to move with perfect freedom in his palace. And not only that, but he is in a position to even ask a favour of the young porteress who kept the gate, and have that favour granted in the admittance of his fellow-disciple Peter.
As far as danger was concerned that night, then, Simon Peter's danger was Simon Peter! And the fact of the matter is, humanly speaking, Peter should never have been near Caiaphas's hall, for his physical presence in that place simply bespeaks his spiritual condition that will finally show itself when he denies the Lord for the third time with oaths and curses.
Just when the malady began is hard to say; but most certainly the deadly symptoms were beginning to show themselves with Peter's failure to reconcile his mind to the thought of a suffering Messiah in the land of Israel. The idea of such a Christ was totally alien to the Judaistic theology that he held in common with most. And as the Saviour began to speak about “going up to Jerusalem” to be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles to be “crucified,” Peter was repelled in his innermost heart and deemed it virtuous to withstand Jesus to the face “Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee.” You get it again, on the mountain of transfiguration, where the Lord speaks with Moses and Elijah concerning “his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.” As soon as that ominous note sounds in Peter's ears he is immediately caught up with the thought of building three booths three shelters for, he says, “it is good for us to be here.” Indeed, as far as Peter was concerned at that time, it was good for them to be anywhere other than on that road to Jerusalem where Christ had set His face steadfast as a flint to go.
The process continues in many forms and reaches one of its highest heights earlier on in that night of denial when Peter draws his sword and slashes off the ear of Malchus, the servant of the High Priest. If this Messiah is not going to take up the sword to establish and defend His kingdom, then, Peter is going to have to do it for Him! It would have been well for Peter if he had remembered the words of Jesus just spoken when he had found the disciples incapable of “watching” with Him “one hour”; “Watch and pray, that ye may enter not into temptation.” In the battle of the flesh, Peter was a tyrant as he swung that sword in the face of the Roman band (600 men) and the Temple police force, but in the battle of the spirit, he had proved himself a soldier who had slept at his post. And as Peter stood outside the door of Caiaphas's palace that same night he was still fighting that battle that Christ had never ordered him to enter into. He was still adamant that the Christ must set Himself up as the Deliverer of the nation of Israel, and so, must be kept back from this cross on Golgotha at all costs.
How blinkered poor old Peter was at that particular time in his life. Could the Lord not have delivered Himself from those men if He had desired to do so? Indeed, yes! He has done that on several occasions because as John has told us, “His hour was not yet come.” But, on that night when He entered Gethsemane His “hour” had “fully come.” That same omnipotent power, of course, is still on display in that garden of Gethsemane, for it is the word of omnipotence that causes those Roman soldiers and the others to go back and fall to the ground. In Gethsemane, the Lord Jesus has come to stand as the sacrifice, but He is the Sovereign sacrifice! But, Peter has failed to fully comprehend that display of sovereign power, and must needs protect the King of kings with a sword of steel! “Shall we smite with the sword?” he cries out with the others; but he doesn't wait for any answer from Christ! Oh, no, not Peter; Peter has established his line of reasoning, and it is Jesus who had deviated from the accepted Messianic path.
And so, he follows him “afar off,” as it says in the gospels. As one gospel writer puts it, “he went in to see the end.” Surely his sword would be called for yet; surely Jesus would yet call down fire from heaven on these Roman occupiers of Israel and usher in the day of liberation; surely it was only a matter of time before Christ would emerge in His true role and lead His army forth. But, my friends, as the minutes ticked away into hours, and no display of carnal power was forthcoming from the Saviour, then Peter's false hopes vanished and the vestiges of true hope had been so dulled with the false that strength was wanting, and denial had her perfect work.
The lesson of Peter's behaviour; the warning bell, if you like, is a very clear and distinct one. There is hope and strength and peace of heart and mind only in those things which the Lord has given us to believe. False hopes are like the false foundations that they rest on and will eventually crumble and fall, and great will be the fall of them. The fall of Simon Peter is very solemn, and, like several other similar accounts in scripture, is written for our learning and our admonition.
Yet, if the fall of Peter is solemn, and sounds a bell in our hearing, then, surely, the restoration of Peter is precious and gives experience to the psalm, “He restoreth my soul.” The steps of the denial are marked out very clearly in all the gospels as Peter, once, twice, three times, denies any knowledge of, or acquaintance with, the Lord. But, the steps of the restoration of Peter are no less clear if we take the “combined” account of all the four evangelists. And, can we say this? The Lord's means of restoring Peter are so like the Lord in all His ways who “worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will.”
The first thing you get, of course, is the crowing of that cock. There is nothing unusual about a cock crowing, of course; it is daybreak; they have had the Lord Jesus on trial all that long night through, and now, it is the break of day, and the cock cries out. It fact, it was so common-place that no one even apparently noticed it; except Peter, of course, for to Peter it was the loud prophetic sound in the deed he had just committed. Matthew tells us that when the cock crowed, then “Peter remembered the words of Jesus.” How telling! The providence of the cock crowing was significant to Peter only in the light of the words of Christ already spoken. That lesson must never be lost: all providences are to be interpreted in the light of God's word, not the opposite way round. And then, says Luke, when the cock had crowed, “Jesus turned and looked at Peter.” What a look that must have been, as the Lord who has now been beaten and spat upon turns and looks into the face of Simon Peter the mighty in the flesh who has been more than willing to be zealous for his own view of things, but who now stands at the fire with those soldiers as though he were more one with them than with his Saviour.
Those events, then even before the Lord has left Caiaphas's judgment hall, are the first steps in Peter's restoration, for, with that look we are told, “Peter went out and wept bitterly”.
The way back to the Saviour is invariably paved with heart-searching and repentance. But, that isn't the end of the matter, for there is to come one of the most precious scenes of reconciliation that the Bible ever sets before us. You get it in the last chapter of John's gospel: The disciples have gone fishing, for, as far as they can ascertain, the Saviour has been crucified and His body buried away in the bowels of the earth. Suddenly, however, they see Him walking by the seashore, and when He has given them instructions how they will land a catch, they begin to recognise Him, and eventually they and their catch come to the shore. Now, it says in verse 9, “As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.” An insignificant remark we might think; but, not so. My friends, one question comes streaming out of that verse, and it is this: Who built that fire? The disciples? No, no, for they are in the ship, or making their way to the fire. But Jesus built that fire! And Jesus built that fire to good purpose, for our Lord “reconstructs” the scene where Peter denied Him by the fire in Caiaphas's hall three times. And as there had been a threefold denial by Peter at that fire, so there will now fall from his lips a threefold profession of love and allegiance “Thou knowest that I love thee” once, twice, three times over.
But still the story isn't told, my friends. Soon after the Day of Pentecost, the storms of persecution begin to gather for the young Church of Christ, and the first two saints to appear before the Jewish Sanhedrin in Jerusalem are Peter and John. Where do they appear? “They appear ”in the midst” of the Jewish court and in the High Priest's judgment hall. And, this time, they are in much danger, and again, the questions are issued regarding this man Jesus of Nazareth: and again, Peter's voice is heard to echo around those walls. But what a contrast from that former time: “Then Peter,” it says, “filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them …” What words came forth: this “Jesus of Nazareth” is owned and exalted to the heights of heaven itself; He is “the stone which was set at nought of you builders,” but is now become “the head of the corner;” and let them all know assuredly that there is “no salvation in any other,” and “none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”
Is that Peter! Yes, that is Peter: “ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,” and “Who like he His praise should sing?” Now he has a better sword “A right Jerusalem blade” - and this sword he may continuously swing in the furtherance and defence of the Kingdom of grace. The Lord knows how to restore His people.
Yours sincerely
W.J. Seaton
This Page Title – Self-willed Behaviour - A Path to Heartache and Poverty of Soul. The Wicket Gate Magazine "A Continuing Witness". Internet Edition number 101 – placed on line November 2014 Wicket Gate contact address – Mr Cliff Westcombe cw@wicketgate.co.uk If you wish to be notified when each new edition goes on line please send an e-mail to the above address Magazine web address – www.wicketgate.co.uk |