His Life and Testimony.
W. B.
"Thou art Simon, the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone [or Peter]" John 1:42.
1.
1895 277 The gift of life — in effect, "partaking of the divine nature" — is the beginning of blessing for one who is dead in trespasses and sins, and is the common blessing of all who believe on the Son of God (John 3:36). We may be in different degrees of advance in it, but we are one in the possession of it; and there is a moral necessity that this should be a primal blessing. Without life there could be no enjoyment; of the kindness and love of God in the gift of His Son, and of communion with them: no love for Christ or obedience to Him, and no affection for each other: our christianity would be mere formalism. It is true that, while we are here, Satan, by stimulating the flesh, works to prevent the expansion of life in us. Hence, that the path of life is through tribulation is a truth that was constantly insisted on at the beginning. That it is not so now is to our loss. Still, where there is life, the chastening hand of God goes on with the lesson (Heb. 12).
Are we not conscious, however, that this truth, so contrary to nature (Job 19:21), is carried more effectually home to our hearts by a history, like that of David or of Peter, than by the simple declaration of it? The blessing of having inspired biography is seen in this, that we have living men in the hands of the Living God, Who "searcheth all hearts and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts"; so that we get, if needed, the workings within them as well as that which comes out; and there is no colouring: all is divinely and infallibly perfect. In no other biography can this be. The mind that records the incidents of a life knows but little of their source, and invariably tinges them with its own thoughts and feelings. Inspired biography also is given to man not for his blessing only, but for God's glory; and this calls for becoming reverence in studying it, and forbids all self-confidence in dealing with it. Let the student in reading it never forget the Author.
If this be true of inspired biography generally, it is so in a very especial way in that of Peter. What more accelerated the ruin of the church than reasonings on the answer of the Lord to him on his confession (Matt. 16:18-19)? And how has the tendency to dwell on his failures to live out that confession obscured the personal greatness to which the hand of the Lord raised him! It is surely not to interest the mind or gratify curiosity that we see him rebuked, humbled, disgraced, broken-hearted, withstood to the face and blamed. There must be some spiritual truths that concern us some principles of eternal moment which the Spirit would teach us; and infinite wisdom has chosen this way of revealing them. We must read all with faith — faith that acknowledges the need on our. part of the truth to be found in it, and that counts on God to enable us to profit by that truth.
It is readily admitted that we shall not find much of doctrine in biography; but scripture is profitable not for doctrine only, but for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Do we not need faithful dealing as to conduct, as well as knowledge of doctrine? Have we not consciences? We have, of course, sound doctrine in Peter's writings; but they are intensely practical. They grapple with us as to "what manner of persons we ought to be in all holy conversation, and godliness;" and we are conscious that he realised what he wrote, that there is no mere "trafficking in unfelt truth," that his whole heart and soul were engaged in all that he was inspired to write.
And who so able to strengthen his brethren as one who had experimentally proved his need of divine strength, and, when he wrote his Epistles, was a blessed example of the sufficiency of it? Now, in the simplest language he makes known to us the power that can keep us, the mighty power of God through faith, so that all adverse powers and adverse circumstances, however great and many, may be regarded by us without amazement or timidity. If there are some saints who have fallen on easy times, there are still many in the flock of God who are accounted as sheep for the slaughter; and who of us can say, We need him not? Every recorded incident of his life gives weight to his writings, and the study of his writings gives an interest to his life.
As Simon Bar-jona, a man among men, his character would be in many respects attractive. He valued their good opinion, and men are pleased with this. Outspoken and impulsive, of an ardent temperament, and at times very impetuous, we are startled by the contradictions of his course. Uncalculating as he was as to the results of his conduct, the flesh in him was not imperious and cruel, as in Saul of Tarsus; yet when conscience awoke, there was no difference: they alike judged themselves as sinners, though Saul might add — "of whom I am chief."
In John 1:42 we have the interesting record of the beginning of that work in his soul which, being carried on in patient grace, eventually made him the honoured servant and martyr of the Lord Jesus Christ his Saviour. The gracious reception which the Lord had granted to Andrew, and the blessing which he had received, constrained him to do the work of an evangelist before he was chosen as an apostle. Simon was his own brother; and he sought him first, and succeeded in leading him to Jesus, Who said to him — "'Thou art Simon, the son of Jona; thou shalt be called Cephas." These words, so closely personal, telling him how his present condition and future history were perfectly known, Simon received in silence; but when next he saw the Lord, he was obedient to His every word (Luke 5.)
From earliest times minds have been exercised as to what is implied in the name Cephas, as thus bestowed on Simon. From his own writings and conduct there would appear to be nothing to favour the exalted claims to official importance that have been made for him because of it. On more than one occasion we read of the apostles reasoning among themselves as to which of them should be accounted the greatest; but there is not a hint that Peter claimed to be this, or that the question was ever settled in his favour. In his writings, all that have obtained like precious faith with him are addressed as "living stones;" and as to office in the church he pointedly describes himself as a "fellow elder" with other elders (1 Peter 5:1, R.V.). The truth would appear to be, notwithstanding all that has been written about it, that the change from Simon Bar-jona to Cephas — a change of nature answering to the change of name being implied thereby — was unspeakably more precious to him than from the position of a fisherman to that of an apostle. It carried with it moral qualities; it implied the partaking, by grace, of life of which he writes so fully in 1 Peter 1:23 to 2:5; and it is clear from the case of Judas Iscariot that apostleship does not necessarily do this: but we need not further anticipate thoughts on Matt. 16
One thing however it is important to observe. When God gives names to men, His power makes good what His grace bestows, as when He changed the names of Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah. So when Jesus, Who is God blessed for ever, ordained the twelve, and sent them forth to preach, He gave to Simon the name Peter — a stone — and to James and John the name Boanerges — the sons of thunder. Of the ministry of James we have no record. That it was in power, we may infer from Herod seeking to ingratiate himself with the Jews by killing him. Of Simon, whose weakness even to denying his Lord is narrated in every Gospel, we know that, by grace, he became His boldest and most uncompromising witness, establishing and strengthening his brethren also, to set their faces as a flint in following Christ, their blessed example. To John, a quiet and retiring man, was given a testimony of extraordinary power, suited "for the last time": the grandest and most sublime unfolding of the glory of the Son of God by one who had seen it, and knew that "his witness was true." And this was accompanied by authoritative and awe-inspiring vindication — as became a "son of thunder" — of the sacredness of His Person against every attempt of deceivers to profane it.
2.
"Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Luke 5:8.
1895 292 That in the sight of God everyone is as his spirit is (not to the exclusion of overt acts) is a truth which the word of God will not suffer to be passed over or set in the background. "God is the God of the spirits of all flesh." "He formeth the spirit of man within him." "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes: but the Lord weigheth the spirits." "The righteous God trieth the hearts and reins" (i.e. the thoughts, the will, and the affections and emotions), and, when earthly life is closed, the spirit returneth to God Who gave it. This, and much more, we have in the O. T. In the New, our Lord's description of the state of the rich man after death in Luke 16 can leave no question to one not hardened against the truth, that it is vain to try to draw off the eye of the spirit from its true condition before God by surrounding it with the things and circumstances of this world. At death they are left, and can be no longer a shield, and man then is as his spirit is; for the Lord said, "In hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments." The past was remembered; all in which he had lived and found his pleasure was left for ever; and the judgment of that past was yet to come.
In life, the spirit of the man which is in him knoweth the things of the man, and he alone of men knoweth them (1 Cor. 2:11). As Elihu said, "There is a spirit in man: and the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding." And there is not only this knowledge in the individual spirit of the man, but there is conscience — "his thoughts meanwhile accusing, or else excusing, one another." Thoughtful men therefore shrink from the spirit, charged with all this knowledge, being brought defenceless into the presence of God. As Dr. Johnson said, "I have made no approaches to a state which can look on death as not terrible."* What a bright contrast to this is Peter's testimony. The calmness with which he speaks of his approaching martyrdom, a cruel one, is much to be noted. It was but the putting off his tabernacle (2 Peter 1). This was not making light of death. If any man ever experienced the power of death as wielded by the devil, the terror that he can bring by it, and his own abject weakness in the presence of it, it was Peter. But when he wrote his Epistles, Christ had, by death, brought to nought him who had the power of death, and taken away its sting. But we are anticipating. It would be well to follow the narrative of his life, remarking this only, that it has pleased God to single him out to make known His ways of grace in souls. The other apostles had each a history; but we have more of his innermost exercises and experiences than of any of them.
{* It was a great thing for Dr. Johnson that he was so often exercised about his state, and that the natural powers of his mind found no remedy for the confusion and terror of his spirit. When he came to die, it is said that he yielded subjection to God's testimony to Christ, and the sufficiency of the propitiation which He had made, dwelling much on His one sacrifice for sins, and his fears were calmed.}
It is not too much to assume that he was on a level, religiously, with the mass of the Jews of his time. This we may infer from the need of the vision of the great sheet let down from heaven, and from his words to Cornelius (Acts 10). How morally low that level was he exposes in a remarkable passage in his first Epistle. Writing to those who by birth were Jews ("of the dispersion" 1 Peter 1:1) he says: "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ." He says nothing of open wickedness, for all might have been respectable, as became a religious people proud of their descent and privileges; yet how great, how costly the ransom! The prophet had long before said to their fathers, in the words of Jehovah: "This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men." The Lord Jesus applied these words to those in Israel in Simon's time whose worship was "vain;" and was he an exception? The divine order of the congregation and assembly in Israel presented in types God's provision for drawing near to them, and thus, while a means of blessing for them, was a witness against the rites and ceremonies of idolatry, which Paul energetically denounced as "vain" (Acts 14:15, R. V.). Peter uses the same word in describing the manner of life of the Jews. It was as "vain" as that of the worshippers of Jupiter and Mercury: their hearts, even in their outward approaches to God, were at as great a distance from him.
But what a measure of the evil of man's heart is this! There are degrees of moral turpitude, but heart distance from God cannot be in degree. It is alike in the most amiable and refined, as in the most shamefully wicked; and if persisted in, notwithstanding all God's dealings, must end in eternal separation from Him. The congregation of formalists, however pious their utterances, is a "congregation of the dead;" and the solemn confession "at last" of such will be — "I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly" (Prov. 5:14).
Such then was Simon before his brother brought him to Jesus. In his conduct at the Lake of Gennesaret we may trace a change of no small significance. He was weary after a whole night of toil; yet he willingly put himself and his ship at the Lord's service, desirous, doubtless, not only that the people should hear the word of God, but that he and his partners should hear it also. All this was beautiful in its season. A personal sense of the grace of Christ has attracted his soul; still the question of conscience was as yet not raised, much less settled; and, until the soul is brought into the presence of God, it never is. There may be true-hearted service and happy association with others in it, a real wish for the people to have the gospel, and some self-sacrifice for this end. But for the conscience, the soul must be alone with God; for conscience is individual, it has no partner. It is well to notice also, that it was not in service that Simon got this question of conscience raised and settled. The preaching was over. Will he — contrary to all experience and reason — be obedient to the word of the Lord, simply and only because it is His word — "Launch out now into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught?" A merely rational consideration of the circumstances would lead to hesitation; but, by grace, there was none. "Master," he said, "we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net." At once the miracle which followed was used to make manifest in Whose presence he was, and "he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." To a natural man there must be something inexplicable in this. There is no cry for mercy; but the claims of the holiness of God are vindicated at all cost. How could it be associated with such evil as he now saw in himself? Yet he drew nearer to Jesus than ever he had done before! Truly "He was called Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins;" but was Simon one of His people? Israel had long since forfeited this relationship. "Ye are not my people, and I will not be your God," was the sentence pronounced by Jehovah (Hosea 1:9); and Simon took no such ground. Vile, impure, polluted in the springs of his being — a sinful man — he owned in his own case the righteousness of the sentence "lo-ammi." That sentence the Lord in "His abundant mercy" at once reversed in the assuring words: "Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men," i.e. be fully associated with Him in His service of love.
How pointless much of Peter's testimony becomes (as 1 Peter 2:9-11) when these truths are disregarded! The great beauty of this application of Hosea 2:14–23 to those of Israel who had like faith with him (yet the marked contrast in their earthly position — not "sown in the earth," but "strangers and pilgrims" in it) is not perceived. Undoubtedly believing Gentiles share in this grace (Hosea 1:10 and Rom. 9:26); but it is a question whether a Gentile can so fully enter it as a Jew.
Repudiated Israel shall yet find in Jehovah a HUSBAND, for "He will betroth her to Himself for ever" (Hosea 2:19); and to Peter, with those to whom he wrote, it was given to anticipate this in their own experience. "And he forsook all and followed Jesus:" as Paul says, "espoused to one husband." There were failures, we know; but from this time he was a separated man to his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to grow in the knowledge of Him — knowledge which dawned on his soul in the ship at His knees, and found sweet expression in his last written words — "To Him be glory both now, and to the day of eternity" (2 Peter 3:18). This was his object in life and death. Is it ours?
3.
"Fear not." Luke 5:10.
1895 308 The blessing of God on Andrew's faithful testimony — "We have found the Messiah" — led Simon to Jesus, and we may readily believe that at that time a work of grace was begun in him. At Gennesaret, as we have remarked, there was a further dealing of the Lord with him. This poor Galilean fisherman was to learn from the beginning the personal interest which the Messiah took in him, an interest that never wearied, and the blessed character of which, and its results, are disclosed for our profit in his writings. Throughout his course, in all his temptations, trials, weaknesses and failures, he proved the sufficiency of Him to Whom his brother had led him. He found the difficulties of a true christian life insurmountable but for His unchanging faithful care, and he sums up in a sentence (the last from his inspired pen) his desires for us: "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." It is not enough that we should be "established in the present truth." To escape the many and various entanglements of the world we must be diligent in cultivating a personal acquaintance with Christ, and see to it that by "adding to faith, virtue" etc. (2 Peter 1) our knowledge of Him is not barren or unfruitful. "Diligence" is, with Peter, a favourite word — "earnestness;" and if we trace this in his style, we see it in himself. He wrote experimentally, and while he does not question the faith of those whom he addresses ("they have obtained like precious faith with him)," or cast a doubt on their love for Christ ("Whom not having seen ye love)," he yet warned them, as beloved ones, to "beware lest being led away by the error of the wicked they should fall from their own steadfastness." Christ must be sanctified as LORD in their hearts (1 Peter 3:15, R.V). They must give to Him the supreme place there, for it is in the heart the conflict will go on to the end. Whoever has possession of that has the whole moral being. A like tone of "earnestness" pervades both Epistles, as it characterized his life to its close (see 2 Peter 1:12-13-15); a solemn testimony against the indifference, and love of ease of some.
Few, perhaps, have experienced greater difficulties, from within as well as from without, than Simon Peter. By nature of an easy and accommodating disposition, when grace wrought in him he took things very seriously, though it cost him not a little. His inconsistencies are a witness to this, and his grief over them yet more so.
At the very beginning of his spiritual life he had a severe but very needful experience. He was happily serving the Messiah and obeying His word when he was terribly cast down by the discovery of his own sinfulness. All appeared to be over when he had scarcely begun. Not that his service and obedience were not precious in the eyes of the Lord; but they were not to be a cover for his condition as a sinner, nor to be a balm for a wounded conscience, nor to give rest when the spirit was afflicted and broken because of sin. How many there may be, even now — who are happily serving the Lord as he — exposed to the same danger of appropriating to themselves, in a way favourable to self-complacency, the work of grace wrought of God in them! and, even more than this, are led to believe that it affords them a ground of confidence in view of the judgment of the great day. In this they greatly err, as Simon's case in the ship at Gennesaret might show them. He lost all peace in a moment. In the wisdom of God, inward quickening brings exercise, especially of conscience. The work of Christ for the sinner will alone give peace: or, as with Simon, His word based on the work.
There is a danger on the other hand, and it is a more perilous one, of slighting altogether the necessity of a direct work in the soul if any are to be saved. "Numbers are acted upon by rousing appeals to the affections, and taught that there is nothing in their nature to prevent their reception, there and then, of the truth that saves. They are taught that they need no new power, no further operation to enable them to believe." But scripture must be contradicted by all who affirm that the sinner is not dead in his sins as well as guilty of them, and, that to live to God he must be "begotten of God according to His abundant mercy"; "born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever." What is this, but a new operation, of which Peter could write as one who had experienced it (1 Peter 1:3-23)? Of course to a mind not subject to the word this truth is attended with difficulty. Are sinners, then, to say they have no responsibility, for what can they do if they are dead in trespasses and sins? Their first responsibility is not to deny what the word of God plainly declares concerning them. If they will own that they can do nothing, there will be no pretension; and they will find in genuine confession of their helplessness the abundant mercy of God and His sufficiency. Two short sentences as to this are well worthy of quotation. "Realities find their answer in God"; "Things as they are, seen and acknowledged, is a primary element in our individual dealings with God." Peter knew and confessed that the faith he had, he "obtained," and so with those to whom he wrote (2 Peter 1:1). He was singularly happy in the human instrumentality used of God in his conversion.
The one great truth which filled Andrew's soul was, that Jesus was the Messiah, and in a plain and artless way he set this truth before his brother. In his own case, John the Baptist pointed him to Jesus — "the Lamb of God." It was a Person that was then preached to him, whatever he may have heard from John before. And it was a Person he spake of, and a Person to whom he brought Simon; and it was as brought to the adorable Person — Jesus, that Simon learned his need of Him, and that an indissoluble link was formed in his soul with Him. This is not the time to open up this line of truth; but who will deny that that which pre-eminently characterized gospel preaching at first was, that it was the gospel of Christ? A Concordance will show how often it is thus called. We little know how much we lose when our Christianity is little more than a system of doctrines, however pure and perfect. We need, oh! how deeply, the work of Christ too, all He has done, all He is doing, all He will do for us; but beyond this, we need Himself, His adorable Person, to dwell in our hearts by faith: Himself, the sovereign gift of God, Whose infinite worth He alone can know; Himself, in whom every moral excellence was displayed in a world where there was none; Himself, as One Whose perfect walk when here we should closely study, that we may follow Him in every step; One Who is the test of all real truth, of all sound doctrine, whether it be concerning God or man, sin or righteousness, this world or heaven, life or death, time or eternity; One
"In Whom, most perfectly expressed,
The Father's self doth shine:
Fulness of Godhead, too, the Blest,
Eternally divine."
This adorable Person must be received for salvation; but it was for Simon to learn, at the outset, that a work immeasurably greater than that of subduing his naturally hostile will, and of opening his heart to receive Christ, was necessary, if he were to be saved. Others with him were awed by the miraculous draught of fishes; but he was more than awed, he was prostrate in humiliation and grief. For one just drawn, by grace, to Jesus, it was a great and bitter cry — "Depart from me, O Lord." But how could the Lord, consistently with His glory, abide the presence of such a man as he? Simon had no answer to this. If the Lord had been silent to him, he would, indeed, become like to them that go down to the pit, to them who say "Depart from us" for a very different cause (Job 21:14). But the Lord was not silent; He never is to such as Simon. "Fear not," were words of authority and power which only He could speak Who, on the cross, would put away to the last spot the deep stain of sin that made the sinner unfit for His holy presence. Simon believed Him, and all was peace. Would that every Christian had this deep concern for the glory of the Lord Jesus. Simon had his moments of forgetfulness and failure, but few have wept more bitterly than he because of them.
4.
"Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee" Matt. 16.
1895 326 It may at first sight seem a small thing for Simon to submit, in his own ship, to have his course and work directed by Jesus, and that in a matter in which he might reasonably claim to have had considerable experience. In letting down his nets for a draught, he set aside all confidence in his own judgment and that of the fishermen with him. Granted, that it was no great matter; the smaller the occasion, the more manifest the principle. Happy the believer who can take his stand from the first on this high round of the ladder of faith, and conduct his business, not as a man of the world, but by the word of the Lord. It will keep him out of much mire. Of course, such a believer in Jesus for every thing, small or great, cannot pledge others to this practical, everyday, obedience of faith: Simon did not. He simply said — "I will let down the nets," whether his partners would join him in it, or not. There was no looking to them, or waiting for them. His faith was personal. He knew the mind of Christ and obeyed, looking to Him alone for the blessing of obedience. It was a very real beginning. From that time his path was clear. He had Christ to follow and around him precious souls to win.
There was a long interval between this, his first act of obedience to his Lord and Saviour, and his last; and much happened in the interval that showed he was a man of like passions with us, a man tempted as we are, and with the same evil tendencies of the flesh; but the grace that enabled him to say at first — "Master, at Thy word I will let down the nets" — gave him strength o say at last — "Shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me." In his old age, he was called to stretch forth his hands, and another must gird him and carry him whither he would not, even the executioner to a violent and cruel death. Again, it was the mind of Christ, and he obeyed: a touching and noble close. The life and testimony of such a man is worthy of serious consideration in these days of moral laxity. It strengthens us in self-renunciation and in striving against sin, recalling to our hearts the constraining power of the love of Christ that overcomes even the love of life.
And sin was to him a grievous thing. His testimony against it in his second Epistle is, with the exception of that of Jude, the most powerful in the word of God. It is an appalling account of the ruin it has brought already on angels and men. What will their final doom be? And his own judgment of it in himself was unsparing. There is a depth of feeling against it in his cry — "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord" — which only He could fathom to Whom it was addressed; and Simon was prepared by grace to receive with unquestioning faith the answer of the Lord to his cry. Happy, if rare, posture of soul, when His word, and His alone, decides the momentous question as to its state for eternity! We say — if rare because souls, now, in like spiritual condition, are, for the most part dealt with by men, it may be sincere, God-fearing men, but men who are not free from their own thoughts, and who, however earnest and devoted, are a hindrance to the anxious one getting the mind of Christ. When Simon's eyes were really opened Godward, he was blind to every thing of man, and sought to see only as Christ gave him to see.
Now, as Lord of all, Jesus preached peace before He made it through the blood of His cross. In the case of the man "sick of the palsy" in Matt. 9 — "Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee." In that of the woman (Luke 7), "Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace." To Zacchaeus in (Luke 19), "This day is salvation come to this house. And to the robber (Luke 22), "Verily, I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Jesus' word, before the cross, gave immediate joy to the contrite ones. And it is very clearly taught in these and other instances that, while salvation is one, and the joy of it common to all who receive it, yet, as ministered by the Lord, the enjoyment of it is various. Individuality is preserved, while with it there is the heartiest sympathy and communion, each with the joy of others. Thus, with Peter, the word of Christ had cast out fear; to the man, it gave good cheer; to the woman, peace; to Zacchaeus, salvation; to the robber, the assurance of heaven that day with Christ.
Yet beautiful and blessed as was the preaching of peace to sinners before the cross, the sufferings and death of Christ, as the alone ground of it give to it unspeakably greater value. This Peter, at first, not only did not understand, but, yielding to nature, refused. In reply to the touching words of Christ, that He "must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day," he said, "Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto thee." And it is the more remarkable that he should say this so soon after he had received, by revelation of the Father, a new knowledge of the person of Jesus (Matt. 16:13-22). Various were the opinions of men as to Him, but Peter confessed Him openly to be "the Christ, the Son of the living God." This divinely imparted knowledge of the person of Christ was much more than relief of conscience, yet both failed to keep Peter from falling a victim to self. The mention of the cross detected his weakness. His thoughts and feelings were no higher or more true than those of unregenerate men. Shame on us, Christians, when this is the case with us!
All the disciples, with the exception of Mary of Bethany, appear to have been more or less ignorant that the path of Jesus, the Messiah, should be through death to His glories. The prophets had prophesied of this, as Peter says (1 Peter 1:10, 12); but until the Lord in resurrection opened their understanding to understand the scriptures, they were foolish and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken. They looked for His redeeming Israel by power, as He assuredly will one day, but not for His first giving His life as the ransom. Ignorance, however, is one thing; it is quite another for Simon presumptuously to counsel the Lord as to His path, — to bid Him spare Himself, avoid the cross, be indifferent to the will and glory of God, and the salvation of sinners, and set aside the whole purpose and end of His coming into the world. At that moment Peter, who began so well, was led by Satanic guile — the only wisdom that unregenerate men are capable of — and became an adversary of His Lord. There was nothing of God in his thoughts or words. Though deeply taught, neither his peace of conscience nor his knowledge availed him at this moment to adopt simply the mind of Christ. The severe rebuke the Lord administered is recorded, because it was not for him only, but for many after him — "Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art an offence to me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men."
And are we in danger of being beguiled by this serpent-wisdom, so congenial to the natural mind, we who have so much more spiritually than Peter then had? The conviction presses on us — that we are. The preaching that gives life and peace and resurrection blessings, but ignores or conceals death with Christ, "death," as Peter says, "unto sins and life unto righteousness" (1 Peter 2:24), approaches dangerously near to his thoughts. It hides the cross, saves self from bearing it, and makes a true following of Christ most unimportant. Has not the cross of Christ a voice to us as well as for us? Did not the Lord immediately after rebuking Peter say, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me"? If self be not denied, we fall into the error of Balaam, who preached the perfect standing of Israel, but corrupted their state. Let us carefully, earnestly, distinguish them; but perish the doctrine that would divorce them! Paul wept over those who in their walk were enemies of the cross of Christ, and indulged self. He, we fear, would have many to weep over now. If self, by grace, be not denied, it conquers. In the most deeply taught, it will still come before Christ; and no rebuke is too severe for that. His woundings are better than the world's kisses: so may we hear His rebuke. Peter, after it, was taken by Jesus up the holy mount (Matt. 17).
5.
"When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren" Luke 22:32.
1895 340 The poverty of Simon Peter's thoughts of Jesus, whom he sincerely confessed as Lord, and had forsaken all to follow, came out again and again at first, for he was not a silent man. He was slow to distrust his own thoughts, and instead of learning even ventured to teach, as if the Christ, the Son of the living God, must be beholden to him for guidance. In nothing is human folly more painfully conspicuous than in the effort to bring mere mental power to bear on the things of God, and on the person, work, and word of Christ; while, in the case of a true disciple, in nothing is the supremacy of Christ in patient goodness and grace more displayed than in His way of dealing with this presumption. If the disciple will not be at His feet, like Mary, hearing His word, He will meet, as He did with Peter, his presumption and insubjection by bending clown in unspeakable grace to his feet, to cleanse them by a renewed application of His word, "by the washing of water by the word." No action since the cross is more wonderful than that which is presented symbolically in John 13, though it would appear that Peter did not then understand it, for he was more presumptuous than ever after it (John 13:37). He must learn to what the cross applied (Gal. 2:15-21), before his knowledge of Christ could enable him to strengthen his brethren.
The sophistry by which Satan seeks to corrupt the thoughts of Christians (see 2 Cor. 11:3), by mingling his own with those which God has given in His word, is, by the self-confident, little suspected. It is too subtle for them to unravel. It doubtless seemed to Peter compassionate to say, "Be it far from thee, Lord; this (the cross) shall not be unto thee"; but it was the thought of the serpent concealed under a guise of would-be pious sentiment. Its true source was from beneath, and so the Lord in faithfulness dealt with it. It is not the unrighteous man only that has to "forsake his thoughts." A Christian's thoughts, if not brought to the text of the word, however masked under a show of piety, will prove a fulcrum for Satan's lever. The best have had a fall through this.
In a most important sense Peter's "conversion," according to the divine fulness of the word, was not accomplished quickly. The words, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren," appear to point to a deeper subjective work in him than was accomplished at the time when they were spoken. He was a changed man; but the flesh in him was not changed, and he had not learned as yet to put no confidence in it, or, as he afterwards expressed it, how its desires "war against the soul" (1 Peter 2:11). In this sense his "conversion" was slow, though in a very blessed sense he was converted in the ship on the lake of Gennesaret. The light which then reached his conscience was the light of God, and the love which attracted his heart was the love of God, both manifested in Jesus Christ his Lord. There was thus no presence he loved so well as the presence of Him Who had spoken peace to his troubled soul. Still, if he could "catch men" (that is, do evangelistic work), he was not at once competent to strengthen his brethren. Nay, even at Antioch he wavered in this as has been noticed (Gal. 2:11-13). All believers are converted, and God can use them in blessing to the unsaved because of His sovereign grace. He will at all times meet the felt need of Himself in any soul, and that by all manner of instruments; but to strengthen them, when saved, to a true practical confession, is another thing. This, Peter was not all at once fitted to do.
The conversion of Saul of Tarsus was, in this respect, very different. The glory of the light from heaven made him blind to everything which he had hitherto seen and valued. The physical fact was a significant illustration of the true state of his soul (Acts 9, Acts 22, Acts 26). He had been, before this, confident that he was a guide to the blind, a light of them which were in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, and a teacher of babes. Now, for three days without food, every thing in which he had moved and had his being was before his soul and found to be worthless, absolute darkness, without one ray of comfort for him. Satan's wiles, in masking the deadly character of all he so highly valued and trusted in, deceived him no longer. The wise man became a fool, the religious man was no better than a blasphemer, the Hebrew of the Hebrews and the Pharisee — the son of a Pharisee, the chief of sinners. Then it pleased God, to whom he turned in this darkness ("Behold, he prayeth" Acts 9), to reveal His Son in him; and the strongholds were pulled down, the reasonings, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God were cast down, and every thought was brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. His life, his light, his all, henceforth was Christ. Once he appeared to waver, and from the kindness of human motives permitted himself to he led by men, sincere, God-fearing men, but men who had not the mind of Christ as to the thing concerning which they gave him counsel (Acts 21).
This worked, as it was sure to do, disastrously. Paul did not strengthen them. He was taken, confined in the castle and lost to them. In touching grace the Lord stood by him in his innermost solitude and comforted him (Acts 23:11); and, though for years a prisoner, he greatly strengthened his brethren. His richest Epistles were written with a chain upon him, a memento perhaps of the past, but not one that brought a shade of sorrow: all had worked for good. The Lord was the same, and still was by him, unfolding all His treasures of wisdom and knowledge, delivering him from every evil work, and preserving him to His heavenly kingdom.
Here then we have a precious instance of a "converted" man, able to strengthen his brethren, not a quickened man only. In this sense of the word, we venture to say, that Peter's "conversion" was slow, for there were for a time such palpable inconsistencies in his course that must have tended to weaken rather than establish his fellow-disciples. The beauty of his confession in John 6 ("Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life") is remarkably striking; for the words in that chapter conveyed the clearest reference to the cross; they established fully the necessity and efficacy of His death, and that Peter must receive Him thus; yet after this he said openly to the Lord, "That be far from thee." The truth is, although the doctrine was clearly presented, it was not apprehended until the resurrection and the coming of the promised Comforter, the Holy Ghost. Then he could strengthen his brethren. Before the cross he might, as following afar off, screw up courage enough to go into the palace of the high priest; but the "I" of those beautiful words, "I will lay down my life for thy sake," saved its life by denying his Lord. That "I" — the "old man" — never does "know the man," and only confesses Him when it costs nothing.
Still the strong affection of Peter for the Lord — work of omnipotent grace — is beautifully evidenced in Matt. 14. He there anticipated a walk that could only be accomplished by a strength outside and apart from himself, a path that would prove his destruction if Christ did not sustain him every moment (Matt. 14:28-31). He longed to be near Him, and to walk as He walked. Jesus was walking upon the sea, and Peter said to Him, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water." Jesus said, "Come," and Peter left the help of the ship to walk upon the waters to come to Him. Was there a trace of the old self-confident "I" in this? or was it not a shining out from all previous clouds and mists of that new and incorruptible I, born, "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God"? When had such an opportunity of strengthening his brethren been given, or such a path attempted before? Who, of all the disciples, had ever manifested such a singleness of eye, looking beyond everything seen and every one loved, absorbed with desire to be with the Lord? That Peter, oft-times so unready to receive the riches of His grace and truth under the most favourable circumstances, should walk on the waves to reach Him, is a real and precious encouragement to weak believers to set aside every thing of nature to be in His blessed presence. But Peter was going before his faith. The difficulties, and not the Lord, came before him, the strength of the wind and the peril of the waters; and he began to sink. Alas! this would not strengthen his brethren. His cry of distress — "Lord, save me" — was a proof that all dependence on himself was a hopeless ground of confidence, but at the same time discovered where strength could be found.
The grace of the Lord was sufficient. His strength was made perfect in weakness. He immediately stretched forth His hand and took hold of him, and Peter walked on the waters with his Lord, a happier when a more humble man. It is to be remarked, that this is not the only instance in which Peter got his wish, though not his way.
6.
"Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven" Matt. 16:17.
1895 356 That Satan debased the mind of Eve in order to corrupt her whole moral being and bring in death will not be questioned by any who receive implicitly the inspired narrative of the fall. The evil work was the outcome of a mind alienated from God. She was deceived before she was defiled. "The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." This was the truth, if not the whole truth; for the alienated mind is the ready instrument of the serpent for spreading his poison, and Eve was the first of many who, under the guidance of that master mind, use their natural endowments in his service. "She gave to her husband, and he did eat." One may imagine how sweetly and plausibly she did it; for Adam, though not deceived, hearkened to her voice and fell. It is a sad and solemn opening of the history of man, the first picture in that long drawn scene in which we have been, and are, actors, and in which superior intelligence is no protection from moral ruin.
To this degradation of the understanding the scriptures bear the clearest testimony. It is true that the mind of man is a marvellous creation. That he by it is capable of subduing the earth and of making it, and what is in it and connected with it, subservient to his wants. "He can cut out rivers among the rocks and his eyes see every precious thing. He can bind the floods from overflowing, and the thing that is hid he can bring forth to light" (Job 28); but he has lost the knowledge of God by sin, and all desire for that knowledge. "There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God." The guilt is not in the capacity, but in the will. "Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil." The Gentiles "did not like to retain God in their knowledge." The prophets declare of Israel, "There is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land." "For my people are foolish, they have not known me." And, even in the church, Paul testifies in his day there were some who had no knowledge of God. We may even go farther, and, seeing the difference between Abraham and Jacob, both men of faith, learn that there are grades in the divine life. Abraham, by walking in the obedience of faith, had the name of the Lord revealed to him from the beginning of his course; Jacob, by failure in his conduct, only at the close, (Gen. 17:1; Gen. 35:11). Is not this true of Christians?
Matt. 16 opens with this subject — the debasement of the mind. The professed guides in Israel, the Pharisees and Sadducees, asked of Jesus a sign from heaven, as though He had given them none. His answer made evident the worthless workings of their mind. "O ye hypocrites! ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not (or rather — ye cannot) discern the signs of the times?" Even the disciples were slow to understand the Lord, for they were of little faith, and it is by faith only that any can reach His thoughts. But passing on from these, the ignorance of men — i.e., of men generally — is now made manifest. "Jesus asked his disciples, Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?" Whatever difference there might be in their mental powers, they were alike incompetent to reach the truth of His person. They could discuss it, as the natural mind has from that day to this, and so we read "Some said that he was John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets." They differed in their opinions, but were alike wrong. "Flesh and blood" could thus avail nothing. It was powerless to open up the truth that could meet its hopeless state. Sin has unmanned man. "Evil is in him, inherent in his very nature, his faculties and instincts. It is in that ineradicable pride which separates him from God, invites him to vanity and ostentation, to all which can nourish his self-love: in that practical negation of God whose place he desires to usurp; in that idolatry which has for its end the deification of himself, and his errors, his passions and his vices." (Didon.)
Simon Peter, in the sovereign grace of God, had escaped from this darkness into which Satan had plunged the race, and none more deeply than the Jews, outwardly the nearest to God, and possessing the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. When "the scornful men who ruled in Jerusalem were seeking refuge in lies, and hiding them under falsehood," he and others of Galilee left all to follow Jesus, knowing little of the grandeur of the step, the vastness of its results, the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that were in store for them. That they had been drawn out of the mass of the nation was the gracious work of the Father; for no one cometh to the Son, except the Father Who hath sent Him draw him. John, Andrew, Simon, Philip, Nathanael, and others were not led by opinions, mere notions of their own which they might change or give up, as some in Jerusalem unto whom Jesus would not commit Himself (John 2:23-24); they were plants which His heavenly Father had planted (Matt. 15) to root in Him, and to find in Him not only all that their needy souls required, but to have dispensed to them by the Father the unsearchable riches of His Christ; here in measure and still to be more and more unfolded throughout the ages to come. How little we realise of the Father's love in the first drawings of our souls to His beloved Son, and in every bit of truth concerning Him which we afterwards receive! How He alone, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, can strengthen us by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith, that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height: and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge (Eph. 3)!
It is no doubt a gradual process, but as the Father testifies of Him we see how a soul, like Peter, is strengthened to take deeper root in Him, and to make a truer confession of Him. When Jesus said, "But whom say ye that I am? he answered and said, Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." Blessed, indeed, to have the mind and thought of the Father as to Jesus, and to know the Father in knowing Him.
What blessing can be compared with it in time or in eternity? Happy Simon Peter! so the Lord testified; though an unlettered and ignorant man, as the heads of his nation judged him to be (Acts 4:13). Ponder, yea deeply ponder, the unhesitating, clear, full, precious testimony he rendered to his Lord when challenged. He speaks with absolute certainty; not as one who has to veil his imperfect knowledge under obscure terms, or to make abortive efforts to explain. It is too important a question, when the Lord puts it, for one of His own, however "ignorant and unlearned," to hesitate about. Let unconverted men debate and reason, the Father reveals, and that to babes.
At such a time as this, the warning written by the late Mr. Bellett may be useful — "Let not this evangelistic age, dear sister, give you the work of Christ alone. It tends that way. Without His work all would be nothing. But let not doctrinal acquaintance with His work turn from personal acquaintance with Himself … Faith sits and sings
All human beauties, all divine.
In my Beloved meet and shine.'"
Again (from J. N. Darby), "It is the joy and blessedness of the saint who has eyes to see, that He (Jesus) was down here a man amongst men, but it is God whom we see there. I find both, and if I lose either, I lose everything."
Deeply interesting and suggestive also is the fact, that we get not a word about the church until the truth of the person of Christ is revealed by the Father, and then the Son names it at once (Matt. 16:18). It is His own church, and it has never entered into the heart of man to conceive of love so intense in devotedness, so tender in sympathy, so costly in sacrifice, so lofty in purpose, as His love for the church. If we would have the comfort of this really and abidingly in our hearts, we must surely know, not the love only but, with reverence let us say it, the Lover.
"Jesus, lover of my soul."
Blessed, then, is every one to whom the Father hath revealed HIM.
7.
"Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" Matt. 16:18, R.V.
1895 374 The first testimony used of God in blessing to Simon was exceedingly simple. The preacher gave what he had, what God had made his own; he did not attempt anything beyond his measure of faith — "We have found the Messiah." This is strikingly characteristic of the testimony of all in John 1, and such testimony be it little or much is always precious, stamped as it is with divine certainty. It certainly went no farther than Jewish expectation — Messiah, the object of prophecy; Messiah on earth, a sure foundation for faith in Israel's worst condition (Isa. 28:16), but not Messiah fully revealed in the intrinsic glory of His Person. It was this full revelation that, by the express teaching of the Father, was to be the sure foundation of Christian blessing as distinct from Judaism. Peter's faith and confession must be ours if we are to enter into God's present truth, and know the present truth, and learn the present work of Christ, the building of his church — "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Immediately on this unique confession further truth was given. Jesus answered — "I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter (Petros, a stone); and upon this rock (petra) I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."
The Person of the Christ, the security of His church! What exalted revelations to an unlettered man, who had so recently confessed himself a sinful one! Can we wonder at the certainty with which he presents these truths in his Epistles? He does not rise to the higher things found in the writings of Paul; but, for the suffering and the weak in the church, where is there any testimony more calculated to strengthen with strength in the soul than his? The heart needs it more than ever; for the gates of Hades, unless by faith seen to be overcome, are mighty with all the power of death, that is, the devil (Heb. 2:14). Many a trembling saint has found it so when nearing the grave, for in present ministry little is done for delivering souls from bondage through fear of death, for clearing the perception of the life given them as beyond the enemy's power by the resurrection of Christ from the dead and for enabling them to know, enjoy, and confess their risen and heavenly standing in Christ. Heaven is doubtless extolled in sermons and hymns; but for many it is in the distant future when every thing here fails. Jews, as it were, now seeking earthly things, and Christians hereafter, they have but little "to counteract the strong currents of their natural delight and desires."
But for the Jews, even the godly, let it be remembered, the gates of Hades were not overthrown; none could anticipate the Christian "desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better." There is a touching pathos in the lamentation of Hezekiah when commanded to set his house in order, for he shall die and not live — "I said, in the cutting off of my days I shall go to the gates of the grave… I said, I shall not see Jehovah, even Jehovah in the land of the living; I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world… From day even to night thou wilt make an end of me" (Isa. 28:10-11). Yea, from the fall in Eden until the risen Christ began to build His church, who among men was not exposed to bondage through the fear of death? (See Ps. 6:5, Ps. 88:10-12, Ps. 115:17). How intense was the grief, how great the despondencies, almost amounting to despair, of the disciples during the time the Lord lay in the grave! Thomas was the most outspoken, but not even John knew the scripture that He must rise again from the dead. And, when the women, who were early at the sepulchre and found not His body, came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive, their words seemed to the rest as idle tales (mockery). Indeed, so real was the power of death over their spirits, that when "the Lord Himself stood in the midst of them, and said unto them, Peace be unto you, they were terrified and affrighted, supposing they beheld a spirit" — that the pains of death still held Him (Luke 24).
Surely the gates of Hades are mighty, a terrible reality; and their total overthrow by the resurrection of Christ is a glorious fact for faith, setting the soul at liberty from all fear of them. Satan has no longer the power of death; he never could go beyond it. God alone can do that — can quicken the dead.
Let us observe then Peter's doctrine. He takes up the words of Isa. 40 — "All flesh is as grass." Man must wither — is soon cut down; notwithstanding all the gracious dealings of God with him, he has never profited by them. What can he plead then, in arrest of judgment after such a verdict? "There is a time to die." But he has the word of God (the only thing in the world from God which liveth and abideth for ever), and in the gospel it is preached to men. Souls are thus drawn to Christ, to Christ victorious over the gates of Hades; and being thus drawn, are partakers, by grace, of life in Him in which Satan has nothing. Hence Peter speaks of all believers as "living stones," equal with himself; and as builders, even as he, on and by "THE LIVING STONE," beyond the gates of Hades (1 Peter 1:23, 1 Peter 2:5). Life, then, is his theme — life in a world of death, yet beyond all that death can do — life with its holy peace and undying hope. He does not go on to Paul's truth of Christ and the church, His body, and His bride, as in the Epistle to the Ephesians, but is full of that hope of resurrection beyond all fear of the gates of Hades that enabled him, and would enable us, to follow in the steps of Christ even to martyrdom. He, who in the high priest's palace cowered before a servant maid, when partaking, as "a living stone," of the power of Christ that had overthrown all the power of the enemy, was one of the first to rejoice that he was counted worthy to suffer shame for His name (Acts 5:41). That name had been revealed to him by the Father; and to uphold the dignity of it against all adversaries, he was willing to die. Is this less incumbent on us, if "living stones"? Surely not.
As viewed by Peter, then, the church is a spiritual building, concerning which the natural man can know nothing; for neither the Spirit nor the things of the Spirit can he recognise (1 Cor. 2:14). It is builded by Christ Himself of those who are saved by faith, through grace, by like precious faith with Peter. It is setup outside Judaism and the world, and is the object of the hatred of both. Christ, "the living Stone," being its foundation, "disallowed of men, but chosen of God and precious," they share in His preciousness before God, and in His rejection by men. It is true that the public body, known as the church, has in order to escape suffering, yielded to Judaism and the world; yet there are those who have desired humbly and patiently to follow the steps of Christ Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth; Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously." However, weak and feeble, they rejoice that they are not separate stones in their individuality. Neither are they as stones arranged, according to the mind of man, in companies, like heaps large or small, and often mingled with the unsaved: but are component and integral parts of a habitation of God through the Spirit, for the will and worship of God — His assembly, beautiful in His sight as the work of His Son, however scorned in the sight of men. It is the remark of another and worthy of repetition — "A tache of gold, or a loop of a curtain in the tabernacle, formed an integral part of the tabernacle of God, and was looked upon and judged as such, not according to its own individual worth." It was the presence of God in the tabernacle that gave value to every part of it, however minute. So is it with those who are truly gathered to the name of Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 18:20). W. B.