
BRIGHTON CHURCH OF CHRIST

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Sifted As Wheat
Jim McDonald
Jesus had predicted that Peter would deny him, but Peter didn’t believe he would. One never knows what he will do until he finds himself in the midst of the situation. Things happened so quickly in the next few hours after Jesus had sounded His warned to Peter. First, Judas appeared with the band of soldiers to take Jesus into custody. Second, Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Third, the soldiers seized Jesus and carried Him to the first of the many trials He would undergo that night and early morning.
Peter believed he was prepared to protect the Lord from mortal peril. When Jesus said earlier to him, “Simon, Simon, behold Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat but I made supplication for thee; and do thou, when once thou has returned again, establish thy brethren,” Peter responded, “Lord, with thee I am ready to go both to prison and death” (Luke 22:31-33). It was at this point that the Lord told Peter that before the rooster crowed the next morning, he would deny the Lord three times.
When the disciples saw what was about to take place when Judas appeared with the soldiers, and some of them had asked, “Lord, shall we smite with the sword?” Peter took matters into his own hands. He drew out his sword and thrust it toward one of the enemies and cut off his ear. Jesus rebuked him for his action, telling him, “Put up the sword into the sheath for all they that take up the sword shall perish with the sword.” He added, “The cup which my father hath given me to drink, shall I not drink it?” No doubt Peter was frustrated and felt stymied. He was willing to fight to preserve his Master’s life, but his Master forbade him to do that. What was he to do?
Each of the four gospels record that one of the disciples cut off the ear of a servant of the high priest. Two of the accounts (Matthew and Mark) record that “a disciple” did so without identifying the disciple. Luke also records the account, and like the other two, does not identify the disciple. However, he adds a significant detail that the first two omit: it is his account alone which tells that the Lord put forth His hand and healed the ear of the high priest’s servant (Luke 22:51). John records the account as well, but while John omits recording that Jesus healed the servant, he gave us another significant detail: he identifies that it was Peter who cut off the servant’s ear (John 18:10). This violence on Peter’s part would help explain why he was so adamant later in denying he knew who Jesus was.
If ever a man was in “the lion’s den” that night, it was Peter. John was known to the high priest and gained ready access to the house of that man when Jesus was carried by the soldiers into the high priest’s house to be tried. John not only tells that he was known to that high priest, he also records the name of the high priest’s servant whose ear Peter had cut off: Malchus. This latter detail may have been something which the Holy Spirit revealed to John. We know John was known to the high priest for the account tells us so. Therefore, when Jesus was taken into the high priest’s house and John knew Peter wanted to see what would take place, he spoke to the maiden who kept the door of the house and asked her to let Peter in (John 18:15-17). When he entered the house the servant girl asked Peter, “Are you one of this man’s disciples?” and immediately Peter responded saying, “I am not” (John 18:17). As the hours passed, Peter warmed himself at a fire the soldiers and servants had kindled and he was asked again, “Art thou also one of this man’s disciples?” Once more Peter denied by saying, “I am not.” But then it got “really hot” for Peter: “One of the servants of the high priest, being a kinsman of him whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did not I see thee in the garden with him?” This was simply too close for comfort. At this point Peter cursed and swore and said, “I know not the man” (John 18:20; Matthew 26:74).
At this point, two things happened. First, the rooster crowed and Peter heard it. Second, he turned and saw the Lord looking at him and remembered his confident boasting. Shame and remorse swept over him, and he went out and wept bitterly (Matthew 26:75). Satan had ensnared him; he had fallen into the trap Satan laid for him. He was not as strong as he thought he was.
Is there never a time in our lives in which we find ourselves in a similar situation as Peter, and fall into a snare which Satan had laid for us? Jesus said, “Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 16:41). One thing we must remember. When we put ourselves in a place or circumstance in which the temptation is going to be extremely strong, we are putting ourselves in the greater likelihood of falling into sin. Paul wrote, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which ye are able, but will, with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). We can resist evil, but it isn’t always easy — we must “endure it.” Don’t give Satan an advantage. As with Peter, Satan seeks opportunity to “sift us as wheat.” To avoid Satan’s snare, we must “Flee the appearance of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22).