36 ¶ Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither
goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but
thou shalt follow me afterwards. 37
Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down
my life for thy sake. 38 Jesus answered
him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.
Peter is sincere, of that there is no question. But, our
heartfelt sincerity often turns to betrayal and a proof of our weak faith when
times are difficult. Peter promises that he would lay down his life for Christ and
he will have that opportunity later but Christ knows Peter will deny Him now. Job
swore that he would trust God even to death but he insisted he would proclaim
his own righteousness and the injustice of his circumstances to the bitter end.
Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him:
but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
Saul had been lifted up from being a shy but obedient man to
being king of Israel but he let God down. See 1Samuel 9 and onward.
David was the ruler of Israel whom God chose as he was
looking for, “a man after his own heart,”(1Samuel 13:14) and while David never
turned away from God to worship other gods he did let God down tremendously
with his not doing his duty and his resulting sin with Bathsheba. See 2Samuel
11and 12.
God’s person, His man or woman, can let Him down in a big
way. Peter here is making a promise that Jesus knows he will not keep at this
time as he will deny he even knows Christ although God will give him strength
when he will later be called to martyrdom.
Speaking to Peter (notice the thou for singular you as
opposed to you for a group) Jesus
will say;
John 21:18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou
wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when
thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird
thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. 19 This spake he, signifying by what death he
should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.
Then, later, Peter will say;
2Peter 1:12 ¶ Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you
always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established
in the present truth. 13 Yea, I think it
meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in
remembrance; 14 Knowing that shortly I
must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.
15 Moreover I will endeavour that ye may
be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
Notice the context here and in what happens
later. To deny Christ in this context is to deny you know Him. It is under
pressure in a specific context, social or otherwise, that the weak Christian
does not want to be recognized as a follower of Christ. It is in trying blend in with the crowd for
some measure of acceptance and keeping your head down or as they say in the
military, keeping a low profile, to
keep from being noticed as a Christian. Perhaps you will adopt the same vulgar
speech as your coworkers, laugh at the same filthy jokes, drink the same drink,
adopt the same amusements and entertainment to be accepted and you just don’t
want anyone to recognize you as you warm your hands over the Devil’s fire like
Peter. But, more on that later.
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