53 - John 13:38
’Verily, verily I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.’ -John 13:38.
What extraordinary things are these that were falling on the ears of the disciples? ’One of you shall betray me; thou, Peter, shalt deny me thrice.’ And this at the very time when they supposed themselves at the end of their trials and humiliations, and when they were expecting the immediate establishment of Messiah’s kingdom of glory, and when they were already contending among themselves as to the division of the honours and privileges of that kingdom. Strange tidings these! obscure sayings, parables, needing some interpreter.
One of the earlier evangelists tells us of some words that preceded this announcement. The Shepherd is to be smitten; the sheep shall be scattered; all ye shall be offended because of me. They all protested against the suggestion of such a possibility; Peter most strenuously of all: ’all others may, I shall never be offended, never lose faith in thee.’ Then the Lord: "Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." ’Satan thinks of you all as he did of Job; he says that your faith is good for nothing; all that is necessary is a sufficiently severe trial, and you will be manifest in your true characters; once thoroughly sifted, all will appear chaff, no true grain at all. He may be right in his conceptions of your nature; but be overlooks one thing - I have prayed for thee, Peter; a grain of true faith shall abide in thee, and in its time it shall spring up and bear unexpected fruit; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.’ Satan continues to clamour for opportunities of testing the followers of Christ, real and ostensible. He is persuaded that the church of our own day is scarcely anything but chaff, and he is industriously organising the means of thoroughly sifting it, little thinking that the few grains which may resist his sieves will be abundantly more productive, in the hand of the great Sower, than all the chaff-like multitudes that people our churches could ever have been. He has various sieves. These modern Christians have learned the art, he thinks, of resisting the attacks of outside infidels; let men of note within the church, men of letters, yea, let bishops even come forward to point out, with fair words and smooth speeches, with much subtlety and simulation, flaws in the Scripture; let them teach that Christianity does not require us to believe in the inspiration of the Bible, in the miracles, in the prophecies, in the sacrificial death of Christ, in his freedom from error, etc., etc.; and of a surety, myriads who would have been shocked to hear these things from professed antagonists will hasten to revise their creed. Then let those who cannot be disposed of by this sieve be tested by the sieve of the Romanisers; here again let the assault come not from without, but from within, disguisedly and with many blandishments; and see if many who would have been shocked by the naked arguments of Romanists will not listen to the smooth words of cunning men in their own church. And are these the only sieves by which the churches are now being sifted? Nay, verily, there are many more. Many are the anti-christs of our day, and they all loudly proclaim themselves the genuine followers of Christ; each says, Lo, here is Christ, he has been lost for ages, and I have found him: a new Christ is found for us every day.
"I will lay down my life for thy sake," said Peter; "I am ready to go with thee, both into prison and to death." Ah, it often seems so to the professed friends of Christ when they are gathered around the table to commemorate his dying love; but when they find themselves shortly after in the presence of Pharisees and rulers, of men of the world, scoffers, and religious infidels, their pace slackens, they follow Christ afar off, they keep at a safe distance, and, if need be, will deny the Lord in various ways. Was it necessary that the apostles and evangelists should incorporate the story of their shameful desertion and denial of Christ in the very Gospels which were to constitute the Church’s charter of salvation? How natural would it have been for them to say, ’It is not expedient that these things should be made so very public; it was a momentary fall; is it not of the greatest importance that the Church should have our characters in reverence and esteem?’ These considerations would have influenced them, if the Spirit of truth had not taken up his abode in them, and taught them what to say and what to write.
Christ knew all; yet what wonderful words of love fall from his lips all this evening! The hours that remain before Judas shall come, and the others take to flight, hardly suffice for him to bring forth all the marvellous treasures of his grace, and invest them with the riches of his kingdom. They wanted the kingdom and its spoils, and little thought that in these parting words of Jesus were embosomed the honours, dignities, powers, and possessions of his everlasting kingdom, to be appropriated when faith should be mature. Not as the world giveth, gave He. And all this he did, knowing perfectly the sad and shameful developments of their nature to which they were hastening. But he also knew what was beyond. He did not keep his eye fixed on the pit in which they were to plunge; but on the better bank beyond, where they should soon stand, gathering to their hearts the previously neglected wealth of his words.