The whole Sabbath day Christ lay in the grave. But the resurrection morning comes, and Peter and John, told by Mary Magdalene that the Lord had been taken from the sepulcher, run to the grave, and Peter is outrun by John. I know some say that Peter was older than John, but I do not believe that was the reason John came first to the sepulcher. I believe the remembrance of the denial of his Lord was what made Peter’s footsteps slack. A bad conscience always tells on the Christian’s pace.
Reaching the sepulcher, the two disciples find it empty, for an angel had come down and rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulcher. To let the Lord out? Far be the thought! No, to let you and me look in, and see an empty tomb, and know that we have a risen, victorious, triumphant Saviour!
John did not at first go into the sepulcher, only looked in; but Peter went right into it–as a Jew defiling himself–in his desire to know the full truth. He departed, “wondering in himself at that which was come to pass” (Lk. 24:12).
Neither Peter nor John were held to the spot by the same attachment to the Lord as marked Mary, who had been the object of such a special deliverance on the Lord’s part. Out of her He had cast “seven demons” (Mk. 16:9), and personal love for her deliverer was her characteristic. The two disciples “saw and believed,” and then “went away again unto their own home.” Resting on visible proof, they believed, but their affections were not engaged as hers were.
If any doubts still lingered in Peter’s mind as to the fact of the Lord being risen, they were fully dissipated by the touching message which the “young man” gave the Galilean women to carry to him. The Lord Himself, knowing His servant’s sorrow, inspired the heavenly communication: “Go your way, tell His disciples, and Peter, that He goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see Him, as He said unto you” (Mk. 16:7).
In Luke 24, we read that two were going to Emmaus that same day, and “Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.” They returned at once to Jerusalem to tell the disciples the wonderful news. They had their joy confirmed, as they were met by the news, “The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.” What passed that day between Simon and the Lord I do not know. God has flung a veil over this interview between His erring servant and a Master incomparable in grace. This I know, that confidence between Peter and the Lord was perfectly restored as the result.
The advocacy of Christ had been all-prevailing in Peter’s case. “I have prayed for thee” found its answer in deep contrition after his failure, and then, at the first opportunity, confession was followed by full forgiveness, and restoration. We should always remember that contrition and confession, real and genuine, must be the prelude to forgiveness and restoration.
Two interesting interviews with His disciples follow the appearance of the Lord already referred to, at both of which Peter was present, but no reference was made by the Lord in either case to what had taken place in His servant’s history (see Jn. 20:19, 26). But the Lord would not allow the failure of the past, so well known by all, to slide into oblivion without His giving him, in the presence of his brethren, the assurance of His forgiveness and restored confidence.
The Lord had bidden the disciples go into Galilee with the assurance that there they should see Him. But the Lord kept them waiting a little. He would evidently test their hearts, as He does ours. In the presence of old associations, old interests, and old occupations, can they simply wait for the Lord to come? This really should be our position now, as outside the religious world, Judea, and finding themselves in Galilee, a despised place, was their position then. The disciple of Jesus has to occupy just a similar position now, as he waits for the return of his Lord.
The test, however, seems to have been too great for them, and when the ever-active Peter said to them, “I go a fishing,” the rest were not slow to reply, “We also go with thee.” It was very natural, but it was not what the Lord sent them there for. How easy, if our hearts are not full of Christ, to resume worldly relations, revive interests, and drop into habits we supposedly had escaped from, when we first came to Jesus.
But the dark fruitless night of toil passes, and, in the morning, One stands on the shore: “Have ye any meat?” They answered him, “No.” Again He speaks: “Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes” (v. 6). Years before, on the same spot, some of these men had a precisely similar experience. It was doubtless the recollection of this that led perceptive John to say to Peter, “It is the Lord.” Of course it was! Who else could it be?
The effect on Peter was immediate. “He girt his fisher’s coat unto him, and did cast himself into the sea.” His object is clear. He wanted to get near his Lord as quickly as possible, the most absolute proof of how thoroughly he was restored to the Lord.
“As soon as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land…Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine.”
After this mysterious scene the Lord publicly and fully restores Peter’s soul. And what sight could be more calculated to lead up to this than that which here meets his eye, “a fire of coals”? How Peter must have thought of that moment when he stood by “a fire of coals” and denied his Master. Now, as he sees not only the fire of coals, but the fish and bread, would he not be feeling–“See how the Lord cares for me”?
The Lord does not reproach him with his fault, nor condemn him for his lack of faithfulness, but judges the source of evil that produced it–his self-confidence. He fully restores Peter by probing his heart to its very core, and making it known to him, so that Peter is compelled to fall back on the very omniscience of the Lord to know that he, who had boasted of having more affection for than all the rest, had really any affection for Him at al1.
Three times Peter had publicly denied Him; three times the Lord asks him if he loves Him. Now Peter, broken down entirely, replies, “Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee.” He, as it were, says, “Lord, Thou canst look into my heart; Thou knowest whether I love Thee or not; though others might doubt my love, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I do love Thee.”
It was enough: the springs of self-confidence and self-esteem, so ruinous to us all, had been touched; and now the Lord fully restores him, and publicly puts him into a place of confidence and approval, as He sweetly says, “Feed My sheep.” He says to him, as it were, “I can trust you now, Peter; I am going away, but I put into your care those I love best, My sheep and My lambs, to shepherd them, and to feed them.”
It was perfect grace that acted thus towards Peter, and for his good. Before he felt his need, or committed his fault, this grace had prayed for him, and now it shines in brightest perfection as it expresses its full confidence in him. Most would have thought that the utmost that could happen would be that he should be forgiven by the Lord, and be readmitted to the apostolic circle; instead of that, grace is lavished on him to the uttermost. Humbled by his fall, and restored to the Lord through His grace, that grace now abounds towards him, and commits to his care what it most prized. Such is grace! Such is God! Such is our Lord Jesus Christ! Truly His ways are not as man’s ways. We cannot trust ourselves, but we can trust the grace that forgives our faults, and will trust us when we are broken down and humbled, as Peter was here. How well Peter fulfilled that trust, his after-life proved.
This then was Peter’s public restoration; and not merely was it his restoration, but the Lord giving him a special charge, thus showing His full confidence in this now humbled, self-emptied, and restored man. What could be a fuller proof of the confidence the Lord had in him? Let us not forget that He is the same today, so we may well sing:
Astonished at Thy feet we fall,
Thy love exceeds our highest thought,
Henceforth be Thou our all in all,
Thou who our souls with blood hath bought;
May we henceforth more faithful prove
And ne’er forget Thy ceaseless love.