Peter's denial of Christ

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

This is an interesting article about understanding the meaning and

implications of Peter's denial of Christ 3 times on the eve of the

Crucifixion.

Regards, Semira

 

 

http://www.velocity.net/~edju/PeterWept.htm

 

Excerpt:

Peter, Jesus said, always went where he wanted to go, and this was

the enthusiasm of the young man in Peter. He wanted to go see what

they were going to do to Jesus, and as he stood by the fire and

heard the accusation that he was a follower of Jesus, he saw within

himself a love for himself that was greater than a love for Jesus.

The pressures of the situation came to bear upon the self-love in

Peter's heart and the pressures for self-preservation caused the

words to shoot forth from his heart in a mixture of cursing and

swearing and oaths: " I don't know the man. "

 

Jesus was being led away to die to fulfill His own words, and that

situation confronted Peter with his inability to fulfill his own

words: " Jesus, I will die with you. "

 

As Peter stood by that fire, the three denials that came from his

mouth broke the young man in him. The crowing of the cock broke the

waywardness in him, the independent spirit in him. He had wanted to

follow Jesus there, but suddenly he wished he wasn't there. His love

for Jesus came face to face with his love for himself. In other

smaller situations, Peter probably did what he wanted and went where

he wanted with out any effect on his thinking. But in this

situation, he had a love for Jesus that wouldn't allow him to just

leave and go somewhere else. He couldn't just leave, but he couldn't

stay, and his independent spirit broke, the sheep scattered, and

Scripture says,

 

 

(Mat 26:75 KJV) And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said

unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he

went out, and wept bitterly.

 

 

Excerpt:

Three times Peter had denied the Lord. Now, in John 21, three times

Peter tells the Lord he loves him, but this time it is different.

Because of what Peter had gone through within himself, he could now

hear the words of Jesus to him:

 

 

 

(John 21:18 KJV) Verily, 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.

19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God.

And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

 

 

Peter had followed Jesus to the high priests house after declaring

he would follow the Lord anywhere. But there he denied Him, and how

emotional it must have been for Peter to hear the last two words of

these verses: " Follow me. "

 

What we are going to pass through is the result of the travail of

His soul, and HE.....IS....SATISFIED. We are His seed who have had

our times of denials and tears and of sorrow and of brokenness and

now it is time. It is time for us to walk as He walked, not in signs

and wonders, but in faithfulness to Him whom He has formed in us. If

you have not experienced what I have described, you are walking in

the confidence of Peter. You are walking in the self-love of Peter.

You are walking in the self-preservation of Peter, and the dangers

of your denying Him are great. I believe it is a time when our faces

should be on the floor, humbling ourselves before Him that we might

settle the issue to really follow Him. The only way to follow Him

now is to be like Him now.

 

Jesus is saying, " Do you love me? What is saying to us in those

words? His words to us can be summed up in these verses:

 

 

(John 15:12 KJV) This is my commandment, That ye love one another,

as I have loved you.

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life

for his friends.

14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not

what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things

that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you,

that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should

remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he

may give it you.

17 These things I command you, that ye love one another. 18 If the

world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but

because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the

world, therefore the world hateth you.

20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not

greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also

persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours

also.

21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake,

because they know not him that sent me.

22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but

now they have no cloak for their sin.

23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.

24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did,

they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me

and my Father.

25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is

written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from

the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the

Father, he shall testify of me:

27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from

the beginning.

(John 16:1 KJV) These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should

not be offended.

2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh,

that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not

known the Father, nor me.

4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come,

ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not

unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.

 

Ed Tarkowski