It may be easy for us to point an accusing finger at Peter. His thrice repeated denial of His Master might appear to us as that from which we would recoil and as a sin of which we would never be guilty. But let us remember that this was Peter’s thought too — that whoever would deny the Saviour he would never do so. When the time came, however, he was as weak as water. And so it would be with us also if placed in similar circumstances. They little know the power of temptation and the weakness of the creature who speak otherwise. The Lord was to teach Peter many lessons and was to overrule this sad lapse on Peter’s part for his own good and for the good of the Church down to the end of time.
First, Peter had to learn much about himself. We are not to question the sincerity with which he spake when he said, “Though all men forsake Thee, yet will not I.” But it was in his own strength he made the assertion. He felt in himself that he was strong and able to resist every temptation to act otherwise. He little knew his own weakness, his own readiness to fall. The Apostle Paul was to learn by trying experience that when he was weak then he was strong. Peter had to learn the same lesson in a deeper trial than that of Paul. He had to learn, as the Saviour said to the three disciples earlier, that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. The power of indwelling corruption is stronger than we know. Let him, then, that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
Second, Peter had to learn more about the power of Satan, the arch-enemy of souls. “Simon, Simon,” the Saviour had warned him, “Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not and when thou art converted strengthen the brethren.” This prior warning went unheeded but Peter was to experience the realisation in his own soul of what the Saviour had warned him against. He was to learn the power of temptation as he had not hitherto known it. He was to be tried in the fire and he was to come forth, not emboldened in sin like the wicked, but chastened and melted and broken in heart for his sin.
Third, Peter had to learn that there are special seasons through which it is not easy even for the children of God to pass unscathed, and certain circumstances which give temptation an overwhelming power. The time and circumstances of Peter’s denial were such. As to the particular time of his temptation — the Saviour indicated the nature of that season when He said to His enemies: “This is your hour and the power of darkness.” This was no ordinary season — it was a never-to-be-repeated season. Never were the attacks of the Wicked One to be so virulent as in the time of the Saviour’s deepest sufferings and betrayal. Consequently, to stand in such an hour required not only grace but superabounding grace. Carnal strength could not meet the needs of such an hour. As to the situation, Peter had entered into the palace of the high priest among the enemies of the Saviour. This was a place of especial danger. By entering there he exposed himself to danger. It is not an easy task to profess Christ in the midst of His enemies. It led to Peter’s denial — his refusal to acknowledge that he was a disciple of Jesus Christ.
The Saviour looked on Peter. How much there can be in a look! How much there was in the look of Christ. In Christ’s look there was no approval of Peter’s sin, rather the reverse. Yet it was a soul-melting look so far as Peter was concerned, for he went out and wept bitterly. Peter’s sorrow was commensurate with his sin. Peter did not need a rough chiding from the Saviour to bring home to his conscience what he had done. One look from Christ was enough. There was also in that look, love, compassion and forgiveness.
He who denied his Master thrice was afterwards to confess thrice that he loved Him — and so it should be. How often do we deny the Saviour. How often do we fail to confess Him. What need there is then that Christ would look upon us as He looked upon Peter so that we might be melted under a sense of His love and of our ingratitude. How good it would be also if we were brought, also like Peter, to confess truly: “Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee.”
Let us be ballasted with grace, that we be not blown over, and that we stagger not.
Samuel Rutherford