Thou Art Peter by MARY C. MC REYNOLDS

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 18, 1915

“Thou Art Peter”

By MARY C. MC REYNOLDS

MARY C. MC REYNOLDS

“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” The words of Jesus to Peter foretold the work of the shepherd, who was to feed the sheep and lambs of the early church. While Peter immediately left the ship and followed Jesus, there was much to be done for Peter before he could preach the Pentecostal sermon and be intrusted to bring thousands into the fold in a few days.

Knowing his impulsive nature, his strong self-assertiveness, Jesus kept Peter close to himself. One of the inner circle, Peter followed his Lord daily, sharing his hunger, his weariness, his work. “Line upon line” he absorbed the messages of heaven, until he felt confident that he was ready to go with Jesus even to death. But Peter must learn his own weakness, and the great lesson so hard for all, “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

Out of Peter’s very strength and assertiveness had come that positive declaration, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” With what longing did Jesus yearn over Peter! How he desired to see Peter fully converted without drinking the bitter cup! Tenderly and earnestly Jesus had cautioned Peter and his associates on that memorable night in Gethsemane: “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Had Peter’s heart been fully ready to learn, he would have heeded the caution and fortified himself in prayer. But Peter slept. Had he not a sword for protection?

Ah! Peter, so self-confident, so rash, so headstrong, always the spokesman, and yet so slow of heart to understand that warning, “Satan hath desired to have you, . . . but I have prayed for thee.” When Peter realized little of his need for prayer, his Saviour prayed for him. Happy that son or daughter who, not realizing the need for prayer, has the faithful mother or father that keeps the erring child before the same Heavenly Father to whom Jesus cried for help. Lodged by the throne, those prayers and tears are not forgotten, and many a straying one is brought back by the angel commissioned to guard the weary, wandering one.

In his effort to defend his Master, Peter added another grief to the great heart of Love. So, too, Peter, added another lesson to the long list. With the vision of the miraculous healing of the servant’s ear still before his mind, Peter “forsook him, and fled.” Surely Jesus will conclude that the labor has been lost, and all the love expended in vain. No, he reads the heart; it must be broken, and then all that pent-up love will gush forth in strength and loyalty, and Peter will be faithful, even as he declared, “to death.”

A few hours later, when Peter had thrice denied his Lord, and those loving, sorrowful eyes sought him out, far back in the judgment hall, then he remembered the warning, “Thou shalt deny me thrice,” and Peter “went out, and wept bitterly.”

Out of that broken heart there sprang forth the stream of the water of life to sustain the sheep and the lambs who were to pass through the trying experiences of the days of persecution. In those tears are born tenderness, love, and consideration. Out of the night of Peter’s experience he came forth subdued, refined, ennobled, and enriched by the indwelling of the Spirit of his Master. He had the training, and when the angel bade the women, “Go tell his disciples and Peter,” that apostle was ready to preach the resurrection message in its fullness when the “power” should be given.

“When the day of Pentecost was fully come,”—only a few days, but what a change in Peter! His spirit was blended perfectly with “the eleven” and in harmony with his Master. Lifting up his voice, he poured forth that powerful sermon that convicted hearts and brought three thousand souls into the fold of the believers.

Delivered from himself, Peter worked mightily for the spread of the message, and miracles witnessed to his spirit. To guard the infant church from the invasion of hypocrites, Peter was given divine discernment, as manifested in his reproof of Ananias and Sapphira. Recognized as a leader in the early church, Peter confined his work largely to Jerusalem and the Jews, witnessing boldly for the risen Lord in the very hall where he had denied his Lord but a few months before, and before many of the same men who had heard his denial. Stronger and more bold than any of Peter’s own self-assertions was the Spirit that then spoke and worked through him.

Years full of faithful service followed, and about the time of Paul’s imprisonment in Rome the faithful Peter had the privilege of following Jesus—as he had failed to do before—even unto the very cross, upon which he, like his Master, sealed his life work with his blood.

Let those who, like Peter, have struggled with the waves, smitten a brother, forsaken and denied their Lord, now return, and like Peter, fall on the Rock and be broken, yielding to God their lives filled with loving, loyal service.

Loma Linda, Cal.