Peter Pledges Loyalty to Jesus at the Tableby CBPepper
22:32Luke 22:32
But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
At the last supper Jesus warned self-confident Peter that Satan wanted to sift the disciples and that Peter would deny Him, yet He had prayed that Peter's faith would not fail completely but that he would be restored. When thou art converted means after turning back from that fall, being humbled and changed from self-trust to trust in God, and then fulfilling the charge to strengthen fellow believers. Christ's intercession did not spare Peter the anguish of falling but sheltered him from being overcome, staying with him in foreseen sin and suffering and keeping him from despair. After repentance Peter was fitted to feed and establish others with patience and tender sympathy, turning his painful experience into help for the tempted and erring. The same word is spoken to every believer who is sifted, assuring that none are left alone in conflict with the adversary and that only after conversion and humble dependence on Christ can one truly strengthen others.
Setting and Wording
The words were spoken at the last supper while Judas was devising plans to betray Him, just after He had told the disciples that all of them would be offended because of Him that night. Peter ardently affirmed that although all others should be offended he would not be, boasting that his loyalty exceeded theirs and that he was ready to follow even to death. His avowal that he was ready to go both into prison and to death came from a grieved, loving heart which Christ who reads the heart discerned, yet it was spoken in self-confidence and presumption and was little valued at the time.
He knew Peter would deny Him and with the others be offended and forsake Him in His humiliation, rejection, condemnation and death. He foresaw the severe testing of agony in Gethsemane, betrayal, condemnation in the judgment hall, mocking and reviling, crucifixion, and the ruin of worldly ambitions and fondest hopes. In mercy He brought about an earlier crisis by presenting testing truth that turned back self-seeking followers actuated by selfish motives, so that in the hour of darkness their renunciation and example would not add bitter heart-burdening sorrow to true disciples and carry others away with them.
The prayer that faith fail not means it would not fail completely. Peter's threefold denial with cursing and swearing to protect his own safety after following at a distance did not make his case hopeless, for he could be restored, forgiven and brought back to faith. When thou art converted means after turning back from failure and being transformed. Peter's later return to faith and strengthening of his fellow disciples fulfilled these words.
Ardent zeal is not conversion. Outward zeal, much love in words, and long earnest praying and talking without humility, self-knowledge and God-trusting faith is not conversion, even when boldly asserting readiness to suffer and die and even cutting off the high priest's servant's ear in Gethsemane, for Peter still denied with cursing and swearing while Satan sifted him as wheat. Conversion came only when the sad, sorrowful reproving look broke his heart to bitter repentance, his boastful confidence gone, realizing weakness and trusting God for strength instead of self, after which he was prepared to strengthen his brethren.
He withdrew by Himself to intercede with the Father just before His death, knowing He would soon leave them alone to face a cold and cruel world of bitter hate, unbelief and persecution. Leading Peter, James and John up a rugged path after a day of traveling and teaching to a lonely mountainside at night, stepping a little aside from them, bowed under heavy dew with shadows of night gathering thickly about Him, He poured out heart-longings with strong crying and tears for strength to endure the test in behalf of humanity and for His disciples. He prayed through whole nights in cold, lonely places that in the fearful test ahead their faith would prove steadfast and that His sufferings and death would not utterly overwhelm them with despair, an act of tender love reaching forward to encourage, strengthen and shield His companions even while His own approaching agony was before Him. His prayerful care contrasts with their self-reliance and failure to stay awake and pray even one hour during His agony, whose weakness made Him fear they would not endure the coming test.
In Gethsemane His prayer turned instead to His own tempted and agonized soul as He faced the final test with the sins of the whole world resting upon Him, His human nature longing to escape it. He faithfully warned Peter of danger and coming defection of character, warning and preparing and continuing to educate and correct him for the severe trial ahead, without forcing him. Peter met that warning with self-confidence instead of humility, acting jealous and like a spoiled child, submissive until the trial came but then having a painful struggle in carrying out his own way, showing His work of changing character continues through rebukes and trials.
Satan's Sifting and Christ's Prayer
Satan desired to have the disciples to sift them as wheat in order to destroy their faith, seeking to test Peter severely and to lead him astray by exploiting his forward, impulsive nature. The word spoken to Peter belongs to every believer, proving none are left alone or deserted in battle with the adversary. One under spiritual attack can endanger others by example, yet by repentance and return can instead benefit the brethren.
The sifting was permitted by God, and every true child of God undergoes such sifting. Christ prayed for Peter's faith to endure through that permitted trial and looked after him in it. The denial exposed natural character under pressure, but sincere repentance brought strength where there had been weakness and prepared him to strengthen fellow believers.
The sifting comes as a net woven for the feet, through temptation to strive for supremacy and through cultivated and hereditary traits that blind to defects, and it exposes cherished pleasures that draw the mind from God and must be sacrificed. Satan anxiously watches for downfall that he may exult, and the danger threatens one not standing in God's light and favor, too mixed with the world, cold in love, separated by will and independence, unwilling to be led and instructed, and shaking faith in the truth. Those under attack are not forsaken in trial, for the Spirit still strives with them and the contrite heart is known and accepted, so they are not to be discouraged nor heed the strife of tongues but to keep the way of the Lord until brought forth as gold purified from dross with lasting lessons.
Christ prayed that faith would not fail amid Satan's efforts, and that prayer was Peter's only hope sheltering him from being overcome. His watchful, all-powerful intercession stands between Satan and the soul, defeats Satan's efforts against those who trust, is fitted to the needs of each tried and tempted person, and teaches how to stand. Had Satan been allowed his way Peter would have made complete shipwreck, yet the prayer kept faith from failing completely and made restoration possible.
His prayer gives courage to remain steadfast in temptation and hardship by trusting Jesus near, to resist the forces that would turn the mind from God and gain victory over the world, and to look to Him in faith rather than give way to discouragement, darkness and despair. He looks on with pity and tenderness and is able to save those who come, so His tender concern and intercession sustain the tempted and troubled soul under attack. His love and help are grounds for confidence rather than despair even after sin and mistakes.
His prayer is a love that fails not nor forsakes, for He did not spare Peter the anguish of the fall but did not leave him alone to its bitterness, staying with him in foreseen sin and suffering. The sure outworking of evil still unforsaken in self-trust could not be prevented, for to self-trust trial is defeat, yet the message was meant to shed a ray of hope in the swiftly falling darkness of denial. He does not abandon those for whom He gave His life though they leave Him and are overwhelmed by temptation, and their safety in real spiritual conflict rests on His care and divine help.
The earnest intercession, offered while His divinity was veiled in humanity, presents petitions before God and in greatest need brings comfort and dispels despair, embracing disciples and all who would believe even to the end of time. He bears the failing disciple's sin, offers His own righteousness, and pleads with wounded hands as the ground of the plea, so that one stumbled can be won back and restored to help others. He remembers and pardons the humble and contrite, serving as Advocate through the Holy Spirit pleading the power and efficacy of His Word.
He pities those in severe temptation who struggle to know what to do, stands close to them against Satan, looks on with pity and tenderness able to save those who come, and His continuing intercession is their safety in severe conflict. Peter's experience is the example of how He deals with tempted people, who should be met with gentle, strengthening help rather than condemnation.
Peter's Fall and Restoration
Peter did not recognize his own weakness but believed his spirit was right, and his confidence in himself concealed that weakness from him. He answered the warning in self-confidence and presumption, boasting that his loyalty exceeded that of the other disciples and that he was ready to go with Jesus both into prison and to death. That self-trust and self-sufficiency led him to reject the warning, though strength lies not in what poor finite beings suppose they can do but in what Christ will do for them, requiring strong persevering faith and entire trust in Christ as Leader. He needed to be changed before he could endure Christ's rejection, humiliation, condemnation and death, needing to receive the warning, ask for help, and rely on Christ rather than his own strength so that loyalty under trial would honor Christ by revealing His character.
His lack of self-knowledge led him into grievous temptation, for when fear and caution were gone self-confident carelessness took their place and he separated from God. Left to feel his own weakness, he followed at a distance and, to protect his own safety, denied three times with cursing and swearing. Had Satan been allowed his way Peter would have made complete shipwreck of faith, while had he learned Christ's lessons and remained right with God he would have stood firm. Whatever he once was and whatever he had once done successfully for Christ did not prevent this separation, and privilege only made the resulting sin more aggravating and offensive to God, leaving him working in self-thinking, self-planning and for self with Christ eclipsed by thoughts centered on poor self.
After denying, Peter remembered the warning and prayer spoken in the upper chamber and his own claim that he would never fall away though all others did. Jesus turned upon him a sorrowful, reproving gaze conveying sorrow, love and pardon, showing mercy and forgiveness and knowledge of his heart. That look melted him and brought him to see his own ingratitude, falsehood and perjury and the depth of his fall, moving him to bitter grief and repentance at a time when he could not help himself. Remembering how well Jesus knew his heart, he wept bitterly and repented of his great sin.
Remembering the prayer gave him hope and steadied him in remorse in swiftly falling darkness, keeping him from despair. Though he fell through self-sufficiency and grievously sinned, Christ did not forsake him, and His watchful care and intercession sheltered him from being overcome. The promise that after turning back he would strengthen his fellow disciples showed that Jesus foresaw the sin yet did not abandon him, and the sin-pardoning Saviour accepted his repentance and made restoration possible so that faith would not fail completely.
That change was his conversion: his boastful confidence was gone, his heart broken by Christ's sad look, he realized his weakness and trusted in God for strength instead of in himself. Ardent zeal is not conversion, for outward zeal, much love in words, and long earnest praying and talking without humility, self-knowledge and God-trusting faith still leaves one unconverted, as when Peter boldly asserted he would suffer and die and cut off the ear of the high priest's servant yet soon denied with cursing and swearing while Satan sifted him as wheat. The impulsive, proud boaster became distrustful of self, humble, patient under reproof, courageous through the Holy Spirit yet modest, firm as a rock and no longer wavering. Only after being thus broken to repentance, gaining patience and victory over temper through prayer and persevering effort, was he prepared to strengthen his brethren.
His conversion was proved when he stood in the same room before Annas and Caiaphas and the same men before whom he denied his Lord, and before the Sanhedrin, and resolved to remove the stain of his apostasy by boldly honoring the name he had once disowned. There, unafraid of imprisonment and death, he magnified Christ and bore faithful witness, making amends for former cowardice. Though he faced prison and death he no longer wavered in allegiance, and thereby helped his fellow believers stand firm.
His zeal, boldness and energy remained after conversion and were needed for the cause of Christ, often delivering the apostles from difficulty and silencing enemies. God had joined him with the mild, patient John to balance him, whose winning patience, forbearance and deep devotedness gained many. Before the fall John's checks when ardor and zeal led too far could not reform his impetuous character, but after he denied his Lord, repented and was converted, only a mild caution from John was enough to check him.
His remorseful return humbled him and gave meekness and tender sympathy, awareness of his own weakness fitting him to teach and help those who had fallen. Remembering his weakness he could pity the tempted, sympathize with the weak and erring, caution the presumptuous, and care tenderly for followers. His renewed experience after repenting and giving himself afresh to his Saviour fitted him to warn and strengthen his brethren.
Christ permits His children to fall because some lessons are never learned except through failure, and Peter was a better man after his fall, humbled and repentant and better prepared to care for Christ's flock. If the heart has not been hardened by disregard of great light, temptation and fall bring repentance, humble fervent prayer saves the soul from death, and confession and restitution hide a multitude of sins, making the restored one able to help others, purified by temptation and trial as fire purifies gold seven times purified.
Jesus made Peter His co-laborer while still imperfect and holding wrong ideas and incorrect views of what constitutes Christian character, so that he would constantly learn from divine teaching to correct them. Peter needed to learn to be jealous over himself and distrustful of himself with jealous watchful care, and he did not learn that lesson until he was overcome by the devil and denied his Lord. Like John he improved every opportunity to learn, unlike Judas who had the same opportunity but was a hearer only and not a doer and ended in betraying his Lord, and being converted represses unfavorable traits, develops Christlike dispositions, and molds character after Christ's example, which alone brings one to the highest standard.
Peter became an entirely converted man, and Christ's forgiveness of his apostasy and trust in him to feed the flock and care for it gave him honor, influence and esteem among the believers. That trust gave him no supremacy over his fellow disciples.
Charge to Strengthen Brethren
After turning back and being restored, Peter regained his place and was entrusted with the people for whom Christ gave His life, commissioned to care for followers by strengthening fellow disciples and believers and encouraging and establishing them in faith. His failure did not bar him from that place, for Christ anticipated both the denial and the restoration. Once genuinely turned back to God, he was to use what he had learned so others could avoid the painful experience he had passed through.
That charge to strengthen brethren stands together with the charge to feed sheep and lambs, meaning to serve as shepherds of God's flock by educating people to understand the Word, helping every soul build on a sure foundation with the Word as counsellor. It remains the type and pattern for instruction given today by ministers, physicians and evangelists to those seeking truth, because Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. For Peter it meant caring for those young in faith with patience and perseverance, teaching them the Scriptures and preparing them for usefulness and duty, and feeding the lambs was necessary to his own growth in Christian life. The work is to be done by helping and supporting, not by forcing into hardship or driving toward Satan's ground.
It is to be done with patience, sympathy and forgiving love and tenderness, as Christ dealt tenderly with Peter despite failure, with humiliation and repentance marking the transformation prayed for and preparing him to shepherd the flock. Gospel workers and teachers are to speak with the spirit and life of Christ, presenting the gospel in its simplicity so that it becomes to hearers the power of God unto salvation, with the reward of seeing students won to Him. The call pointed to a wide and effectual future work for those who would come to faith, both laboring for the conversion of unbelievers and strengthening believers in the faith of Christ, not only seeking to save those without the fold but shepherding the sheep. It could be fulfilled only after self-renunciation and entire reliance on divine power, for not until Peter learned his weakness through sin and suffering and repentance could he know the believer's need of dependence on Christ, that amid the storm of temptation one walks safely only in utter self-distrust relying on the Saviour.
Peter's repentance and conversion after denial made him fit to feed sheep and lambs and to strengthen disciples who were tempted and tried. The prayer and commission show Christ's care for human souls, valuing them so greatly that He gave His life for them, while obedience prepares for immortality and a soul lost through sin is the greatest loss. That work of supporting others must come before God can use the gift of speech. Conversion is shown by valuing people, serving those in need, and replacing criticism and desire for greatness with love and kindness. It brings real reformation of life, with Christ's mind replacing an unholy spirit, love extending to all who believe, and words and conduct becoming gentle rather than sharp or dictatorial, visible in the purity of the heart's influence on family, church and others.
Promise for Every Believer
The word spoken to Peter is spoken to every believer, for the prayer that faith fail not belongs to a wider intercession for all disciples and followers through the end of time. Even now He sees souls in their greatest need and comes to their aid as heavenly Intercessor, embracing the disciples and all who would believe through their word. That earnest intercession was offered while divinity was veiled in humanity, presenting petitions before God so that in greatest need His help brings comfort and dispels despair.
It proves they are not left alone, helpless, or deserted in battle with the adversary of God and man. Though they face deception, persecution, and other trials they are not left helpless but are sustained amid the struggle. Those facing trials while seeking to save others may rely on Him not to leave or forsake them and to give them help.
The same prayer is fitting for anyone being severely tempted and tested as Peter was when Satan sought to sift him like wheat. It applies to tempted and troubled souls, giving reason to look to Him in faith rather than dwell on darkness and despair. It applies to a soul in despair whom Satan tries to convince that faith is shipwrecked, urging that person to come to Christ as personal Saviour in hope grounded in His love and prayer. It also warns that one under spiritual attack can endanger others by example, yet if he repents and returns his faithfulness can instead benefit his brothers, as applied to Philip.
His care for Peter is an example of tender sympathy and protection for young people facing temptation. His words are fitting for young people facing many temptations, for He has tender sympathy for them and rejoices when Satan is prevented from controlling the human mind and will. His prayer gives hope for the Wessels children that although some do not yet receive Him they may come to the truth if they do not resist the Holy Spirit. The prayer that faith fail not is likewise applied to a sister and her children when faith is in danger of failing.
He stands as living Saviour and Advocate interceding for those under Satan's power, as assurance that one caught in spiritual bondage can be delivered through Him. He has not surrendered the tempted soul to Satan but intercedes and seeks to draw near with grace, light, and love. That intercession leaves opportunity to be softened by grace and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
There is need to pray for new believers so their faith will not be confused or fail, and to encourage them as they grow. Prayer may ask for another person's faith not to fail, as encouragement to keep faith and speak faith even when circumstances seem impossible.
Keeping faith firm means staying separate from the world because mingling drains strength, and living near to God in close communion with Him. It means being diligent to make calling and election sure and holding fast to what has been attained, holding the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, since all else will come to nothing. It means overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of testimony in a cause that will triumph, striving not for earthly riches or honor but for eternal life and an unfading home in glory, following One who became poor so that through His poverty believers might be made rich. It means being willing to be despised and trodden down here before soon being exalted to a heavenly treasure, pressing to the mark of the prize, having faith in God, enduring trials, being patient in tribulation, and praying much to keep victory over the powers of darkness.
What was prayed for Peter belongs to every child of God. Each will be sifted as wheat, severely tempted and put in the furnace, yet faith will not fail and not one grain will fall to the ground. The sifting does not consume but refines as gold seven times purified, for because He lives believers shall live also, and He abiding in the soul will not allow it to be overcome, watching His precious gold.
Call to Converted Service
Those who lean on their own ability and are lifted up in self must be converted, turning back to the Lord in humility and learning to depend on Him instead of themselves, and only after that turning are they to strengthen their brethren. Conversion must come first because it alone gives power to strengthen others, for it is a living experience in the things of God and a living relation to heaven by which a living testimony can be borne to help others. Those so converted will long for the truth to go where it has not gone and send it forth as a burning lamp and as light to all, especially in the closing days of earth's history, and workers for God need this daily conversion and wholehearted consecration in order to increase the faith of others and awaken their zeal.
The faith required is a working power that converts the soul, and only when thus converted can believers strengthen their brethren. That converting comes through obtaining grace and knowledge in Jesus Christ, disciplining the soul and seeking grace daily, living in earnest and making truth a living reality. Such a life gives clearer conceptions of the sacred character of educational work for this time, appreciation of the position occupied, and power to arouse flagging zeal and earnest devotion in others. Conversion means turning fully to God in the few remaining hours to work, putting the Lord God of Israel first above wife and self, honoring Him and doing His will at all hazards by wholehearted, self-denying, self-sacrificing service. The converted count all things loss and dross to win Christ, enlist whole heart and soul in the work, and strengthen fellow believers by winning souls, following public labor with personal effort, visiting and instructing by the fireside where people are, laboring as co-workers with Christ and with brethren to save precious souls with sympathy and love instead of coldness, impatience, unsympathetic selfish enjoyment and seeking the easiest places for self.
After conversion — when self and a wicked spirit die and heart and character are changed — a person can serve the Lord by strengthening others in humility, obedience and service in Christ's spirit, a change that prepares him to help rather than hinder the work. Abiding in Christ and growing in grace shape the character needed for that help, and conversion turns one from a hindrance into a help to fellow believers through surrender of the will and learning Christ's disposition rather than nurturing criticism, distrust or pride. A person must be converted before he can truly strengthen others, for a changed character free from self and shaped by truth is needed before abilities can be safely used in God's service, lest those abilities lead others away from truth and Christ. Strengthening must therefore follow personal conversion, since a man spiritually blind, whose spirit is not right with God and who does not know himself, is not fitted to help his brethren until he humbles his heart before God, prays much, is converted, and comes to see things in altogether a different light, for laboring for others while still in darkness sows seeds that will bring a harvest he will not be pleased to reap.
Until converted, even strong arguments cannot make a person's work acceptable, because the religious experience and communion with God needed to help others are still lacking. Peter had to be converted before he could strengthen his fellow believers, and the same lesson holds for Christian service and for acceptable work for Christ, since teaching the truth without that change does not qualify a person for ministry. Some ministers as well as people are not converted and need to be torn to pieces and made over new, for watchmen upon the walls of Zion bear sacred responsibility and by unfaithfulness endanger the safety of the flock, endanger the cause of truth and expose it to ridicule, so that in weak, tottering, unconverted condition their work among the churches is worse than lost. It would please God more for such unconverted ministers to stop trying to help others and labor with their hands until converted, and only then are they able to strengthen the church and their fellow believers.
Like Peter a person must be truly converted before Christ can pardon him and work with him, having practical knowledge of the truth and its sanctifying influence on heart and life by which to point sinners to Christ so souls are converted and brethren strengthened. Prayer going up from a heart cherishing iniquity will not be heard, and no strength will be given from heaven while the vessel remains corrupted and fouled with sinful indulgence. Present spiritual position without conversion is perilous and leaves no future blessedness if remained in, and conversion turns one from that fallen, loveless, dead condition into a laborer together with God in warning and saving a world that needs to be warned and saved. One who has only just accepted the truth, or remains entangled in error and fanaticism, is not yet ready to guide others lest error be mixed with truth to harm the flock, but must first be freed from error and learn what is needed to be right with God.
When the husband is converted and sets his heart and house in order, he can be useful in the church and strengthen his brethren, and after conversion parents who turn to God are to teach their children and others the lessons learned from Christ and help others see the truth and come to the light. The hope held out is that after being converted a person will work to strengthen and save others and try to save his associates. The same call came to a worker in the sanitariums who had yielded to temptation, to become converted and then strengthen his brethren, for conversion must come first and while in sin he is not fitted for the work. His sin remains grievous in the sight of a holy God even when leading brethren have gone astray and turned aside to follow strange paths, and their sin does not lessen his, for he was not compelled to sin because other men sinned but knew they were robbing themselves of the experience God desired them to have, and each must answer to God for himself.
Strength lies not in what poor, finite beings suppose they are able to do but in what Christ will do for them, as seen when Peter answered in self-confidence and presumption that he was ready to go both into prison and to death, yet fell and denied Christ after Jesus had prayed that his faith fail not when Satan desired to sift him as wheat and had charged him when converted to strengthen his brethren. There is need therefore for strong, persevering faith and entire trust in Christ as Leader, whose watchful, all-powerful intercession keeps faith from failing completely, defeats Satan's efforts against those who trust Him, and makes restoration possible after a fall, teaching the need to recognize defects and depend on His power and grace rather than self-confidence. That prayer does not remove the need for cooperation, for when Satan seeks to sift through temptation to strive for supremacy and through cultivated and hereditary traits that blind ministers to their necessities and defects, ministers must act their part in faith, keep themselves in the love of God under every circumstance, cherish a constant sense of weakness, pray earnestly and watch unto prayer, and be converted to become humble as little children. Confidence that faith will never change or truth never be yielded gives no security, for carelessness and recklessness open the way for the foe to take possession, and only humble faith keeps the feet secure.
Peter's confidence in himself concealed his weakness and left him vulnerable, so he needed to receive Christ's warning, ask for help and rely on Christ rather than his own strength, and Christ could have kept him watchful and steadfast so that loyalty under trial would have honored Christ by revealing Christ's character in his life. Holding fast to faith under trials and provocations, when Satan watches for advantage, means resisting impulsive, un-Christlike actions and relying on Christ. Conversion then equips a person to give instruction and words of hope to disheartened souls and to teach others the lessons learned from Christ. Jesus intercedes for the failing disciple and does not abandon him to Satan's sifting but pleads for him, bears his sin and offers His righteousness with wounded hands as the ground of the plea, so that one who has stumbled can be won back and restored to help others, and Peter's recovery after Christ prayed that his faith would not fail gives reason to rejoice in God's mercy and in the hope made possible by Christ's resurrection.
The same words spoken to Peter are spoken to His workers, and His prayer keeps their faith from failing when temptation comes to hold to their own plans and position instead of leaving larger work to others fitted for it. In suffering He gives grace to endure and remain faithful whatever the affliction, so that faith does not fail, hope remains bright and zeal is not quenched but kindled by God's messages of warning and mercy into holy activity continuing until judgment is victorious. That unfailing faith places work on a higher plane by doing human best and then trusting the Lord to do what cannot possibly be done, holding fast even while troubled by the shortcomings of those who know the truth yet are not sanctified through it. Faith must not fail when the supply of tithes, gifts and offerings appears insufficient, for lack or shortage in the treasury does not justify diverting means set apart to sustain the gospel to another purpose.
At the last supper Jesus warned self-confident Peter that Satan wanted to sift the disciples and that Peter would deny Him, yet He had prayed that Peter's faith would not fail completely but that he would be restored. When thou art converted means after turning back from that fall, being humbled and changed from self-trust to trust in God, and then fulfilling the charge to strengthen fellow believers. Christ's intercession did not spare Peter the anguish of falling but sheltered him from being overcome, staying with him in foreseen sin and suffering and keeping him from despair. After repentance Peter was fitted to feed and establish others with patience and tender sympathy, turning his painful experience into help for the tempted and erring. The same word is spoken to every believer who is sifted, assuring that none are left alone in conflict with the adversary and that only after conversion and humble dependence on Christ can one truly strengthen others.
Setting and Wording
The words were spoken at the last supper while Judas was devising plans to betray Him, just after He had told the disciples that all of them would be offended because of Him that night. Peter ardently affirmed that although all others should be offended he would not be, boasting that his loyalty exceeded theirs and that he was ready to follow even to death. His avowal that he was ready to go both into prison and to death came from a grieved, loving heart which Christ who reads the heart discerned, yet it was spoken in self-confidence and presumption and was little valued at the time.
He knew Peter would deny Him and with the others be offended and forsake Him in His humiliation, rejection, condemnation and death. He foresaw the severe testing of agony in Gethsemane, betrayal, condemnation in the judgment hall, mocking and reviling, crucifixion, and the ruin of worldly ambitions and fondest hopes. In mercy He brought about an earlier crisis by presenting testing truth that turned back self-seeking followers actuated by selfish motives, so that in the hour of darkness their renunciation and example would not add bitter heart-burdening sorrow to true disciples and carry others away with them.
The prayer that faith fail not means it would not fail completely. Peter's threefold denial with cursing and swearing to protect his own safety after following at a distance did not make his case hopeless, for he could be restored, forgiven and brought back to faith. When thou art converted means after turning back from failure and being transformed. Peter's later return to faith and strengthening of his fellow disciples fulfilled these words.
Ardent zeal is not conversion. Outward zeal, much love in words, and long earnest praying and talking without humility, self-knowledge and God-trusting faith is not conversion, even when boldly asserting readiness to suffer and die and even cutting off the high priest's servant's ear in Gethsemane, for Peter still denied with cursing and swearing while Satan sifted him as wheat. Conversion came only when the sad, sorrowful reproving look broke his heart to bitter repentance, his boastful confidence gone, realizing weakness and trusting God for strength instead of self, after which he was prepared to strengthen his brethren.
He withdrew by Himself to intercede with the Father just before His death, knowing He would soon leave them alone to face a cold and cruel world of bitter hate, unbelief and persecution. Leading Peter, James and John up a rugged path after a day of traveling and teaching to a lonely mountainside at night, stepping a little aside from them, bowed under heavy dew with shadows of night gathering thickly about Him, He poured out heart-longings with strong crying and tears for strength to endure the test in behalf of humanity and for His disciples. He prayed through whole nights in cold, lonely places that in the fearful test ahead their faith would prove steadfast and that His sufferings and death would not utterly overwhelm them with despair, an act of tender love reaching forward to encourage, strengthen and shield His companions even while His own approaching agony was before Him. His prayerful care contrasts with their self-reliance and failure to stay awake and pray even one hour during His agony, whose weakness made Him fear they would not endure the coming test.
In Gethsemane His prayer turned instead to His own tempted and agonized soul as He faced the final test with the sins of the whole world resting upon Him, His human nature longing to escape it. He faithfully warned Peter of danger and coming defection of character, warning and preparing and continuing to educate and correct him for the severe trial ahead, without forcing him. Peter met that warning with self-confidence instead of humility, acting jealous and like a spoiled child, submissive until the trial came but then having a painful struggle in carrying out his own way, showing His work of changing character continues through rebukes and trials.
Satan's Sifting and Christ's Prayer
Satan desired to have the disciples to sift them as wheat in order to destroy their faith, seeking to test Peter severely and to lead him astray by exploiting his forward, impulsive nature. The word spoken to Peter belongs to every believer, proving none are left alone or deserted in battle with the adversary. One under spiritual attack can endanger others by example, yet by repentance and return can instead benefit the brethren.
The sifting was permitted by God, and every true child of God undergoes such sifting. Christ prayed for Peter's faith to endure through that permitted trial and looked after him in it. The denial exposed natural character under pressure, but sincere repentance brought strength where there had been weakness and prepared him to strengthen fellow believers.
The sifting comes as a net woven for the feet, through temptation to strive for supremacy and through cultivated and hereditary traits that blind to defects, and it exposes cherished pleasures that draw the mind from God and must be sacrificed. Satan anxiously watches for downfall that he may exult, and the danger threatens one not standing in God's light and favor, too mixed with the world, cold in love, separated by will and independence, unwilling to be led and instructed, and shaking faith in the truth. Those under attack are not forsaken in trial, for the Spirit still strives with them and the contrite heart is known and accepted, so they are not to be discouraged nor heed the strife of tongues but to keep the way of the Lord until brought forth as gold purified from dross with lasting lessons.
Christ prayed that faith would not fail amid Satan's efforts, and that prayer was Peter's only hope sheltering him from being overcome. His watchful, all-powerful intercession stands between Satan and the soul, defeats Satan's efforts against those who trust, is fitted to the needs of each tried and tempted person, and teaches how to stand. Had Satan been allowed his way Peter would have made complete shipwreck, yet the prayer kept faith from failing completely and made restoration possible.
His prayer gives courage to remain steadfast in temptation and hardship by trusting Jesus near, to resist the forces that would turn the mind from God and gain victory over the world, and to look to Him in faith rather than give way to discouragement, darkness and despair. He looks on with pity and tenderness and is able to save those who come, so His tender concern and intercession sustain the tempted and troubled soul under attack. His love and help are grounds for confidence rather than despair even after sin and mistakes.
His prayer is a love that fails not nor forsakes, for He did not spare Peter the anguish of the fall but did not leave him alone to its bitterness, staying with him in foreseen sin and suffering. The sure outworking of evil still unforsaken in self-trust could not be prevented, for to self-trust trial is defeat, yet the message was meant to shed a ray of hope in the swiftly falling darkness of denial. He does not abandon those for whom He gave His life though they leave Him and are overwhelmed by temptation, and their safety in real spiritual conflict rests on His care and divine help.
The earnest intercession, offered while His divinity was veiled in humanity, presents petitions before God and in greatest need brings comfort and dispels despair, embracing disciples and all who would believe even to the end of time. He bears the failing disciple's sin, offers His own righteousness, and pleads with wounded hands as the ground of the plea, so that one stumbled can be won back and restored to help others. He remembers and pardons the humble and contrite, serving as Advocate through the Holy Spirit pleading the power and efficacy of His Word.
He pities those in severe temptation who struggle to know what to do, stands close to them against Satan, looks on with pity and tenderness able to save those who come, and His continuing intercession is their safety in severe conflict. Peter's experience is the example of how He deals with tempted people, who should be met with gentle, strengthening help rather than condemnation.
Peter's Fall and Restoration
Peter did not recognize his own weakness but believed his spirit was right, and his confidence in himself concealed that weakness from him. He answered the warning in self-confidence and presumption, boasting that his loyalty exceeded that of the other disciples and that he was ready to go with Jesus both into prison and to death. That self-trust and self-sufficiency led him to reject the warning, though strength lies not in what poor finite beings suppose they can do but in what Christ will do for them, requiring strong persevering faith and entire trust in Christ as Leader. He needed to be changed before he could endure Christ's rejection, humiliation, condemnation and death, needing to receive the warning, ask for help, and rely on Christ rather than his own strength so that loyalty under trial would honor Christ by revealing His character.
His lack of self-knowledge led him into grievous temptation, for when fear and caution were gone self-confident carelessness took their place and he separated from God. Left to feel his own weakness, he followed at a distance and, to protect his own safety, denied three times with cursing and swearing. Had Satan been allowed his way Peter would have made complete shipwreck of faith, while had he learned Christ's lessons and remained right with God he would have stood firm. Whatever he once was and whatever he had once done successfully for Christ did not prevent this separation, and privilege only made the resulting sin more aggravating and offensive to God, leaving him working in self-thinking, self-planning and for self with Christ eclipsed by thoughts centered on poor self.
After denying, Peter remembered the warning and prayer spoken in the upper chamber and his own claim that he would never fall away though all others did. Jesus turned upon him a sorrowful, reproving gaze conveying sorrow, love and pardon, showing mercy and forgiveness and knowledge of his heart. That look melted him and brought him to see his own ingratitude, falsehood and perjury and the depth of his fall, moving him to bitter grief and repentance at a time when he could not help himself. Remembering how well Jesus knew his heart, he wept bitterly and repented of his great sin.
Remembering the prayer gave him hope and steadied him in remorse in swiftly falling darkness, keeping him from despair. Though he fell through self-sufficiency and grievously sinned, Christ did not forsake him, and His watchful care and intercession sheltered him from being overcome. The promise that after turning back he would strengthen his fellow disciples showed that Jesus foresaw the sin yet did not abandon him, and the sin-pardoning Saviour accepted his repentance and made restoration possible so that faith would not fail completely.
That change was his conversion: his boastful confidence was gone, his heart broken by Christ's sad look, he realized his weakness and trusted in God for strength instead of in himself. Ardent zeal is not conversion, for outward zeal, much love in words, and long earnest praying and talking without humility, self-knowledge and God-trusting faith still leaves one unconverted, as when Peter boldly asserted he would suffer and die and cut off the ear of the high priest's servant yet soon denied with cursing and swearing while Satan sifted him as wheat. The impulsive, proud boaster became distrustful of self, humble, patient under reproof, courageous through the Holy Spirit yet modest, firm as a rock and no longer wavering. Only after being thus broken to repentance, gaining patience and victory over temper through prayer and persevering effort, was he prepared to strengthen his brethren.
His conversion was proved when he stood in the same room before Annas and Caiaphas and the same men before whom he denied his Lord, and before the Sanhedrin, and resolved to remove the stain of his apostasy by boldly honoring the name he had once disowned. There, unafraid of imprisonment and death, he magnified Christ and bore faithful witness, making amends for former cowardice. Though he faced prison and death he no longer wavered in allegiance, and thereby helped his fellow believers stand firm.
His zeal, boldness and energy remained after conversion and were needed for the cause of Christ, often delivering the apostles from difficulty and silencing enemies. God had joined him with the mild, patient John to balance him, whose winning patience, forbearance and deep devotedness gained many. Before the fall John's checks when ardor and zeal led too far could not reform his impetuous character, but after he denied his Lord, repented and was converted, only a mild caution from John was enough to check him.
His remorseful return humbled him and gave meekness and tender sympathy, awareness of his own weakness fitting him to teach and help those who had fallen. Remembering his weakness he could pity the tempted, sympathize with the weak and erring, caution the presumptuous, and care tenderly for followers. His renewed experience after repenting and giving himself afresh to his Saviour fitted him to warn and strengthen his brethren.
Christ permits His children to fall because some lessons are never learned except through failure, and Peter was a better man after his fall, humbled and repentant and better prepared to care for Christ's flock. If the heart has not been hardened by disregard of great light, temptation and fall bring repentance, humble fervent prayer saves the soul from death, and confession and restitution hide a multitude of sins, making the restored one able to help others, purified by temptation and trial as fire purifies gold seven times purified.
Jesus made Peter His co-laborer while still imperfect and holding wrong ideas and incorrect views of what constitutes Christian character, so that he would constantly learn from divine teaching to correct them. Peter needed to learn to be jealous over himself and distrustful of himself with jealous watchful care, and he did not learn that lesson until he was overcome by the devil and denied his Lord. Like John he improved every opportunity to learn, unlike Judas who had the same opportunity but was a hearer only and not a doer and ended in betraying his Lord, and being converted represses unfavorable traits, develops Christlike dispositions, and molds character after Christ's example, which alone brings one to the highest standard.
Peter became an entirely converted man, and Christ's forgiveness of his apostasy and trust in him to feed the flock and care for it gave him honor, influence and esteem among the believers. That trust gave him no supremacy over his fellow disciples.
Charge to Strengthen Brethren
After turning back and being restored, Peter regained his place and was entrusted with the people for whom Christ gave His life, commissioned to care for followers by strengthening fellow disciples and believers and encouraging and establishing them in faith. His failure did not bar him from that place, for Christ anticipated both the denial and the restoration. Once genuinely turned back to God, he was to use what he had learned so others could avoid the painful experience he had passed through.
That charge to strengthen brethren stands together with the charge to feed sheep and lambs, meaning to serve as shepherds of God's flock by educating people to understand the Word, helping every soul build on a sure foundation with the Word as counsellor. It remains the type and pattern for instruction given today by ministers, physicians and evangelists to those seeking truth, because Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. For Peter it meant caring for those young in faith with patience and perseverance, teaching them the Scriptures and preparing them for usefulness and duty, and feeding the lambs was necessary to his own growth in Christian life. The work is to be done by helping and supporting, not by forcing into hardship or driving toward Satan's ground.
It is to be done with patience, sympathy and forgiving love and tenderness, as Christ dealt tenderly with Peter despite failure, with humiliation and repentance marking the transformation prayed for and preparing him to shepherd the flock. Gospel workers and teachers are to speak with the spirit and life of Christ, presenting the gospel in its simplicity so that it becomes to hearers the power of God unto salvation, with the reward of seeing students won to Him. The call pointed to a wide and effectual future work for those who would come to faith, both laboring for the conversion of unbelievers and strengthening believers in the faith of Christ, not only seeking to save those without the fold but shepherding the sheep. It could be fulfilled only after self-renunciation and entire reliance on divine power, for not until Peter learned his weakness through sin and suffering and repentance could he know the believer's need of dependence on Christ, that amid the storm of temptation one walks safely only in utter self-distrust relying on the Saviour.
Peter's repentance and conversion after denial made him fit to feed sheep and lambs and to strengthen disciples who were tempted and tried. The prayer and commission show Christ's care for human souls, valuing them so greatly that He gave His life for them, while obedience prepares for immortality and a soul lost through sin is the greatest loss. That work of supporting others must come before God can use the gift of speech. Conversion is shown by valuing people, serving those in need, and replacing criticism and desire for greatness with love and kindness. It brings real reformation of life, with Christ's mind replacing an unholy spirit, love extending to all who believe, and words and conduct becoming gentle rather than sharp or dictatorial, visible in the purity of the heart's influence on family, church and others.
Promise for Every Believer
The word spoken to Peter is spoken to every believer, for the prayer that faith fail not belongs to a wider intercession for all disciples and followers through the end of time. Even now He sees souls in their greatest need and comes to their aid as heavenly Intercessor, embracing the disciples and all who would believe through their word. That earnest intercession was offered while divinity was veiled in humanity, presenting petitions before God so that in greatest need His help brings comfort and dispels despair.
It proves they are not left alone, helpless, or deserted in battle with the adversary of God and man. Though they face deception, persecution, and other trials they are not left helpless but are sustained amid the struggle. Those facing trials while seeking to save others may rely on Him not to leave or forsake them and to give them help.
The same prayer is fitting for anyone being severely tempted and tested as Peter was when Satan sought to sift him like wheat. It applies to tempted and troubled souls, giving reason to look to Him in faith rather than dwell on darkness and despair. It applies to a soul in despair whom Satan tries to convince that faith is shipwrecked, urging that person to come to Christ as personal Saviour in hope grounded in His love and prayer. It also warns that one under spiritual attack can endanger others by example, yet if he repents and returns his faithfulness can instead benefit his brothers, as applied to Philip.
His care for Peter is an example of tender sympathy and protection for young people facing temptation. His words are fitting for young people facing many temptations, for He has tender sympathy for them and rejoices when Satan is prevented from controlling the human mind and will. His prayer gives hope for the Wessels children that although some do not yet receive Him they may come to the truth if they do not resist the Holy Spirit. The prayer that faith fail not is likewise applied to a sister and her children when faith is in danger of failing.
He stands as living Saviour and Advocate interceding for those under Satan's power, as assurance that one caught in spiritual bondage can be delivered through Him. He has not surrendered the tempted soul to Satan but intercedes and seeks to draw near with grace, light, and love. That intercession leaves opportunity to be softened by grace and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
There is need to pray for new believers so their faith will not be confused or fail, and to encourage them as they grow. Prayer may ask for another person's faith not to fail, as encouragement to keep faith and speak faith even when circumstances seem impossible.
Keeping faith firm means staying separate from the world because mingling drains strength, and living near to God in close communion with Him. It means being diligent to make calling and election sure and holding fast to what has been attained, holding the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, since all else will come to nothing. It means overcoming by the blood of the Lamb and the word of testimony in a cause that will triumph, striving not for earthly riches or honor but for eternal life and an unfading home in glory, following One who became poor so that through His poverty believers might be made rich. It means being willing to be despised and trodden down here before soon being exalted to a heavenly treasure, pressing to the mark of the prize, having faith in God, enduring trials, being patient in tribulation, and praying much to keep victory over the powers of darkness.
What was prayed for Peter belongs to every child of God. Each will be sifted as wheat, severely tempted and put in the furnace, yet faith will not fail and not one grain will fall to the ground. The sifting does not consume but refines as gold seven times purified, for because He lives believers shall live also, and He abiding in the soul will not allow it to be overcome, watching His precious gold.
Call to Converted Service
Those who lean on their own ability and are lifted up in self must be converted, turning back to the Lord in humility and learning to depend on Him instead of themselves, and only after that turning are they to strengthen their brethren. Conversion must come first because it alone gives power to strengthen others, for it is a living experience in the things of God and a living relation to heaven by which a living testimony can be borne to help others. Those so converted will long for the truth to go where it has not gone and send it forth as a burning lamp and as light to all, especially in the closing days of earth's history, and workers for God need this daily conversion and wholehearted consecration in order to increase the faith of others and awaken their zeal.
The faith required is a working power that converts the soul, and only when thus converted can believers strengthen their brethren. That converting comes through obtaining grace and knowledge in Jesus Christ, disciplining the soul and seeking grace daily, living in earnest and making truth a living reality. Such a life gives clearer conceptions of the sacred character of educational work for this time, appreciation of the position occupied, and power to arouse flagging zeal and earnest devotion in others. Conversion means turning fully to God in the few remaining hours to work, putting the Lord God of Israel first above wife and self, honoring Him and doing His will at all hazards by wholehearted, self-denying, self-sacrificing service. The converted count all things loss and dross to win Christ, enlist whole heart and soul in the work, and strengthen fellow believers by winning souls, following public labor with personal effort, visiting and instructing by the fireside where people are, laboring as co-workers with Christ and with brethren to save precious souls with sympathy and love instead of coldness, impatience, unsympathetic selfish enjoyment and seeking the easiest places for self.
After conversion — when self and a wicked spirit die and heart and character are changed — a person can serve the Lord by strengthening others in humility, obedience and service in Christ's spirit, a change that prepares him to help rather than hinder the work. Abiding in Christ and growing in grace shape the character needed for that help, and conversion turns one from a hindrance into a help to fellow believers through surrender of the will and learning Christ's disposition rather than nurturing criticism, distrust or pride. A person must be converted before he can truly strengthen others, for a changed character free from self and shaped by truth is needed before abilities can be safely used in God's service, lest those abilities lead others away from truth and Christ. Strengthening must therefore follow personal conversion, since a man spiritually blind, whose spirit is not right with God and who does not know himself, is not fitted to help his brethren until he humbles his heart before God, prays much, is converted, and comes to see things in altogether a different light, for laboring for others while still in darkness sows seeds that will bring a harvest he will not be pleased to reap.
Until converted, even strong arguments cannot make a person's work acceptable, because the religious experience and communion with God needed to help others are still lacking. Peter had to be converted before he could strengthen his fellow believers, and the same lesson holds for Christian service and for acceptable work for Christ, since teaching the truth without that change does not qualify a person for ministry. Some ministers as well as people are not converted and need to be torn to pieces and made over new, for watchmen upon the walls of Zion bear sacred responsibility and by unfaithfulness endanger the safety of the flock, endanger the cause of truth and expose it to ridicule, so that in weak, tottering, unconverted condition their work among the churches is worse than lost. It would please God more for such unconverted ministers to stop trying to help others and labor with their hands until converted, and only then are they able to strengthen the church and their fellow believers.
Like Peter a person must be truly converted before Christ can pardon him and work with him, having practical knowledge of the truth and its sanctifying influence on heart and life by which to point sinners to Christ so souls are converted and brethren strengthened. Prayer going up from a heart cherishing iniquity will not be heard, and no strength will be given from heaven while the vessel remains corrupted and fouled with sinful indulgence. Present spiritual position without conversion is perilous and leaves no future blessedness if remained in, and conversion turns one from that fallen, loveless, dead condition into a laborer together with God in warning and saving a world that needs to be warned and saved. One who has only just accepted the truth, or remains entangled in error and fanaticism, is not yet ready to guide others lest error be mixed with truth to harm the flock, but must first be freed from error and learn what is needed to be right with God.
When the husband is converted and sets his heart and house in order, he can be useful in the church and strengthen his brethren, and after conversion parents who turn to God are to teach their children and others the lessons learned from Christ and help others see the truth and come to the light. The hope held out is that after being converted a person will work to strengthen and save others and try to save his associates. The same call came to a worker in the sanitariums who had yielded to temptation, to become converted and then strengthen his brethren, for conversion must come first and while in sin he is not fitted for the work. His sin remains grievous in the sight of a holy God even when leading brethren have gone astray and turned aside to follow strange paths, and their sin does not lessen his, for he was not compelled to sin because other men sinned but knew they were robbing themselves of the experience God desired them to have, and each must answer to God for himself.
Strength lies not in what poor, finite beings suppose they are able to do but in what Christ will do for them, as seen when Peter answered in self-confidence and presumption that he was ready to go both into prison and to death, yet fell and denied Christ after Jesus had prayed that his faith fail not when Satan desired to sift him as wheat and had charged him when converted to strengthen his brethren. There is need therefore for strong, persevering faith and entire trust in Christ as Leader, whose watchful, all-powerful intercession keeps faith from failing completely, defeats Satan's efforts against those who trust Him, and makes restoration possible after a fall, teaching the need to recognize defects and depend on His power and grace rather than self-confidence. That prayer does not remove the need for cooperation, for when Satan seeks to sift through temptation to strive for supremacy and through cultivated and hereditary traits that blind ministers to their necessities and defects, ministers must act their part in faith, keep themselves in the love of God under every circumstance, cherish a constant sense of weakness, pray earnestly and watch unto prayer, and be converted to become humble as little children. Confidence that faith will never change or truth never be yielded gives no security, for carelessness and recklessness open the way for the foe to take possession, and only humble faith keeps the feet secure.
Peter's confidence in himself concealed his weakness and left him vulnerable, so he needed to receive Christ's warning, ask for help and rely on Christ rather than his own strength, and Christ could have kept him watchful and steadfast so that loyalty under trial would have honored Christ by revealing Christ's character in his life. Holding fast to faith under trials and provocations, when Satan watches for advantage, means resisting impulsive, un-Christlike actions and relying on Christ. Conversion then equips a person to give instruction and words of hope to disheartened souls and to teach others the lessons learned from Christ. Jesus intercedes for the failing disciple and does not abandon him to Satan's sifting but pleads for him, bears his sin and offers His righteousness with wounded hands as the ground of the plea, so that one who has stumbled can be won back and restored to help others, and Peter's recovery after Christ prayed that his faith would not fail gives reason to rejoice in God's mercy and in the hope made possible by Christ's resurrection.
The same words spoken to Peter are spoken to His workers, and His prayer keeps their faith from failing when temptation comes to hold to their own plans and position instead of leaving larger work to others fitted for it. In suffering He gives grace to endure and remain faithful whatever the affliction, so that faith does not fail, hope remains bright and zeal is not quenched but kindled by God's messages of warning and mercy into holy activity continuing until judgment is victorious. That unfailing faith places work on a higher plane by doing human best and then trusting the Lord to do what cannot possibly be done, holding fast even while troubled by the shortcomings of those who know the truth yet are not sanctified through it. Faith must not fail when the supply of tithes, gifts and offerings appears insufficient, for lack or shortage in the treasury does not justify diverting means set apart to sustain the gospel to another purpose.