Peter's Betrayal & Restoration
Peter's Denial of Christ Painting by Caravaggio
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Peter's Denials of Christ MATTHEW 16:22-23; MATTHEW 26:69-75
Sadly, just minutes after his Spirit-inspired pronouncement of Jesus' Messiahship, Peter puts his feet in it by saying he will not allow Jesus to be arrested and executed. Jesus rebukes him sternly saying:
" Get behind me satan! Peter, you're not speaking words from God now but the words of man. You are a stumbling-block to my fulfilling my heavenly Father's plan to save the world from satan's control."
Later when the disciples are gathered together to celebrate the Passover the night before Jesus' crucifixion, Peter again show his impetuous nature by saying that if Jesus is going to die, he wants to die with him.
Once again Jesus rebukes him by saying that before the cock crows the following morning, Peter would deny Jesus three times. Sure enough just a few hours later Peter does exactly what Jesus prophesied.
Peter's Restoration After Jesus' Resurrection JOHN 21:1-19
In spite of his betrayal of his Saviour, Peter discovers God's grace and mercy are far greater than our sinfulness. When he and the other disciples had decided to go fishing, they experienced a deja vu reminder of the first time Peter realised who Jesus is.
Once again they had fished all night and caught nothing. But at dawn as they made their way to shore, there was Jesus standing beside a charcoal fire on the beach. He shouted to them:
"Not caught anything? Try throwing your net over the other side and you'll find some."
And when they do as Jesus said, they hit a shoal of fish so big their nets begin to break. Peter jumped into the water and waded ashore dragging the net full of fish - they counted one hundred and fifty-three!
In spite of his failure, Jesus lovingly restores Peter with the same question three times - one for each time Peter had denied his Lord: "Peter, do you love me? If so, just feed my lambs and lead my sheep"
Peter's Restoration & Sermon At Pentecost
The reality of Peter's restoration was seen on the Day of Pentecost, fifty days after Jesus return to heaven. For when the crowd observed the Holy Spirit falling on the apostles and heard them speaking in languages they could understand, they asked Peter:
"What must we do to be saved from God's wrath?"
Peter's Sermon At Pentecost
Peter's sermon inspired by the Holy Spirit resulted in three thousand people coming to faith in Christ - a result the old impetuous Peter could never have achieved before.
ON PETER'S SERMON AT PENTECOST
