“Before the rooster crows you
will deny Me three times,” Jesus to Peter in Matthew 26: 75
Matthew now returns to Peter where he left
him in verse 58, sitting outside in the courtyard (v.
69). While Jesus stands strong in His
trial against false accusations, Peter is about to have a trial where the
accusations against him are true.
Peter again denied knowing Christ but this time with an oath: “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Again John adds that Peter was also confronted by “a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off” (John 18:26). These were more like conversations than quick exchanges and John emphasized different parts of the conversation than Matthew.
Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man,” (vv. 72-74). With each new denial, Peter intensifies his response. In the third denial Peter curses and swears, saying the equivalency of, “May God strike me dead if I am lying.” Blomberg notes in his commentary that, “graciously God forbears” (p. 405) and does not strike Peter dead. And immediately the rooster crowed (v. 74). The very next moment, “the Lord turned and looked at Peter” (Luke 22:61). Imagine that look! And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly (v. 75).
Fortunately this is not the end of the story. Along the shores of Galilee after His resurrection our Lord restored Peter (John 21:15-17). Peter, who denied Jesus to a lowly servant girl, went on to preach Jesus as “Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36) to the very ones who crucified Him. There are two reasons why Jesus restored Peter. First, the cross of Jesus Christ is sufficient to forgive. No sin, no matter how hideous or untimely, is beyond the reach of Christ’s forgiveness.
God even forgave Manasseh who sacrificed his sons to a false god (see 2 Chronicles 33:6). God humbled and restored him and Manasseh “knew that the LORD was God” (2 Chronicles 33:13). The cross is so thorough, so complete, that even men in the Old Testament believed on God and it was counted as righteousness (see Romans 4:22-24).
Several years ago I shared the gospel with a young man in Albania. “God cannot love me,” he said. He explained that as part of a street gang he did horrible things of which he could not speak. I told him that nothing anyone could do was beyond God’s forgiveness. He nervously lit a cigarette and contemplated what I said, never having heard this before. Although I never knew if he repented, I do know he heard the gospel of the grace of God on that day.
“All my favorite people are broken; believe me, my heart should know...All my friends are part saint and part sinner.” (Karin Bergquist of the band Over the Rhine from their song, “All My Favorite People”)
A servant girl came up to him
(Peter) and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I
do not know what you mean,” (vv. 69-70). The
MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Matthew 24-28 points out, “…the
citizens of Jerusalem…felt themselves superior to their less sophisticated
neighbors to the north. To refer to someone as a Galilean was
to suggest he was backward and unprogressive.”
Peter now moves location, maybe to stay anonymous or maybe
to move closer to where Jesus is so he can learn what is happening. Regardless, Peter went out to the
entrance and another servant girl saw him. Instead of speaking to Peter directly, she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth,”
(v. 71). John adds that then another
bystanders, hearing the servant girl, confronts Peter, “You also are not one of
his disciples, are you?” (John 18:25).Peter again denied knowing Christ but this time with an oath: “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Again John adds that Peter was also confronted by “a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off” (John 18:26). These were more like conversations than quick exchanges and John emphasized different parts of the conversation than Matthew.
Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man,” (vv. 72-74). With each new denial, Peter intensifies his response. In the third denial Peter curses and swears, saying the equivalency of, “May God strike me dead if I am lying.” Blomberg notes in his commentary that, “graciously God forbears” (p. 405) and does not strike Peter dead. And immediately the rooster crowed (v. 74). The very next moment, “the Lord turned and looked at Peter” (Luke 22:61). Imagine that look! And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly (v. 75).
Fortunately this is not the end of the story. Along the shores of Galilee after His resurrection our Lord restored Peter (John 21:15-17). Peter, who denied Jesus to a lowly servant girl, went on to preach Jesus as “Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36) to the very ones who crucified Him. There are two reasons why Jesus restored Peter. First, the cross of Jesus Christ is sufficient to forgive. No sin, no matter how hideous or untimely, is beyond the reach of Christ’s forgiveness.
God even forgave Manasseh who sacrificed his sons to a false god (see 2 Chronicles 33:6). God humbled and restored him and Manasseh “knew that the LORD was God” (2 Chronicles 33:13). The cross is so thorough, so complete, that even men in the Old Testament believed on God and it was counted as righteousness (see Romans 4:22-24).
Several years ago I shared the gospel with a young man in Albania. “God cannot love me,” he said. He explained that as part of a street gang he did horrible things of which he could not speak. I told him that nothing anyone could do was beyond God’s forgiveness. He nervously lit a cigarette and contemplated what I said, never having heard this before. Although I never knew if he repented, I do know he heard the gospel of the grace of God on that day.
The second reason
Jesus restored Peter is that Peter’s heart belonged to the Lord. Jesus knew this and said to Peter the night
before his denials, “after you have turned again [i.e., repented], strengthen
your brothers,” (Luke 22:32). Does your
heart belong to the Lord? If so, confess,
grieve and receive. The cross is sufficient to save. We “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23) and we all
need a Savior. And God does not use perfect people; He uses broken people. Go ask Peter.
No comments:
Post a Comment