“Then all the disciples forsook him and fled.” If they had taken in the Lord's words as recorded in John that they were to be His witnesses, it would have dispelled this fear. They thought they were in danger of their lives, and though they had boldly said they would never deny Him, they miserably broke down. A lesson for us. When tested, unless we are in communion with Christ, we shall break down. They had been with Him three years. Peter, James and John had seen Him on the mount of Transfiguration, but in the garden! well, they failed. “Cease ye from man.” It is just God's grace alone that can keep us right, and keep us from falling. The remnant will be subjected to far greater pressure than we shall ever know, and it is in connection with this we get “he that shall endure unto the end shall be saved.” He will preserve a remnant even then.
As far as Peter was concerned, it was needed medicine for him. He has the prominent place in the record here. As far as they were concerned, they had forfeited everything. The Lord had warned them “He that shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed.”
It is one thing to be overtaken in a fault, and another to be characterized by it. To fear God, and know no other fear is what should be seen in a Christian. Of the eleven disciples, two seem to have recovered themselves somewhat—Peter and John. Peter overestimated his own courage and ability to stand. It is a dangerous thing for us to put ourselves in a place of temptation—quite another if the Lord puts us in it. He Who said to Abimelech “I also have kept thee from sinning against me” can keep us too.
“And they that had laid hold on Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas” (ver. 57). That word “led” has a very sweet place. It speaks of the Lord submitting quietly when His time came. “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter” etc. And turn to Isaiah 1. Only a Divine Person could say, “I clothe the heavens with blackness,” but the same One gave His “back to the smiters.” None could touch it, till He gave it. Luke tells us He submitted Himself to them. “This is your hour, and the power of darkness,” and Jew and Gentile, led on by the devil, could do as they list against the Son of God. But in the thing in which they acted proudly God was above them. God is behind every event. There is nothing behind God. The Scripture cannot be broken. There were depths in the cup He drank which you and I will never fathom throughout eternity.
Ver 58. I doubt not Peter intended to stand close by the Lord and take all consequences. But first we see him fail in fleeing, and again in following afar off. There is a present danger in that for the Christian. We should always be known as the Lord's, under any circumstances—going forth to Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. Peter “sat with the servants, to see the end.” I suppose all this was very mysterious to them. They know how men had thirsted for His blood, but He had always escaped out of their hands. A remarkable verse in that way comes at the end of John 8, and we find another instance in Luke 4, “He passed through the midst of them” this last at the very commencement of His public ministry. It looks as if Judas had been deceived. He thought he could get the money and gratify his covetousness, and the Lord would show His power. In that way the devil deceived him. Here Peter was going in and sitting with the servants as if one of the crowd, thinking that he would not be recognized; but it was the very place of danger that he took in his presumption.
Then the wickedness of these religious leaders—how it is exposed by the Spirit of God in ver. 59! It shows the wickedness of the human heart, no matter how cultured. But how impossible! “They found none.” No doubt there was the prospect of reward, and what won't man, as man, do for money! “Yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses.” It was required there should be two. Under Jewish law they must have the testimony of two to put any man to death. God laid that down, and we see the wisdom of it too. “And said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days” (ver. 61). That was false. It shows how they had to go back to the very beginning of the Lord's public ministry in John 2 He said “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” They were to do the work of destruction, and He would do the restoration and resuscitation as a Divine Person. It is in John we find it. Usually it is, “God raised Him,” but you get something on the same lines in Hebrews. In chap. 1 He is Son of God; in chap. 2 Son of man. “When He had by Himself purged our sins He sat down.” His own act—not the Father's! So He said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” “But He spoke of the temple of his body.” They intimated that He had said He would destroy it. It does not agree at all.
Ver. 62. The Lord Jesus was always right. There is a time to speak, and a time to be silent. He knew the time. So with us there is a time to be silent when it is a question of ourselves. But there is a time when it would be treason to be silent—when it is a question of the glory of God.
So the high priest must have felt it would be a flimsy accusation to put Him to death on the witness of the two. It was the Lord's own confession that they condemned Him on. He put the Lord on His oath, according to Jewish law. This affords us light. We are told to “swear not at all.” For one voluntarily to use an oath is condemned in the word of God. But when “the powers that be” require that we should be put on oath, we ought to submit to it. The Lord did here. Thus we have light for our conduct. If the powers that be require us to sin, then we must obey God rather than man, but we are not called to oppose them. Here was a wicked man using the name of God. When Jesus said “Thou hast said,” He answered in the affirmative. He was the Son of God. That is true. “Nevertheless, I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” No doubt the high priest knew what the Lord was referring to there—that the very One submitting then, and unrighteously judged, is the very One spoken of in Dan. 7:1313I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. (Daniel 7:13). “One like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, etc.” The book of Revelation shows He is both Son of man and Ancient of days, but One Person in the Trinity. They had evidence that He was Son of Gad—the rending of the vail, and the resurrection! For although they gave them money to keep it quiet, yet had they the witness of the Roman soldiers that He was risen (27:11-15). I may add that when this “coming in the clouds of heaven” takes place, we shall be with Him. He will have come before to take us home; but when “the Firstbegotten” is brought into the world we shall be brought with Him.
Ver. 65. If it was blasphemy, the blasphemer must be put to death; and here is this wicked man bursting with rage. If they could bring that charge home to Him death would be His portion. There were occasions when the high priest was not to rend his clothes—evidently not in mourning. Here he does it in pretended righteous indignation. We must remember who were here—the Sanhedrin. All the learned and religious leaders were there, and “they answered and said, He is guilty of death.” It is very solemn to contemplate this—to think Who He was Who had all these indignities heaped on Him! But this is no part of His atoning work. Atonement was made when He suffered at the hand of God. He suffered at the hands of man for righteousness—for God. He suffered at the hand of God for sin for us. There is nothing so jealously guarded in the word of God as the Person of Christ, and we should have nothing to do with any who would put the slightest spot on Him, the “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.”
“Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him, and others smote him with the palms of their hands” (ver. 67). What will those men feel when they stand before Him! “I hid not my face from shame and spitting” is the language of the One before Whose face the earth and the heaven flee away in Revelation 20—so glorious is He! This would be the “shame” —smiting and buffeting— “His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.” They would trample Him under their feet. They felt furious to heap contumely on Him. The Lord said to the chief of sinners “Why persecutest thou me?” There are “none too vile and loathsome for a Savior's grace.” The evidence of the word itself shows it may be so, for it was the lowest place of all His suffering at the hands of man when the two robbers “cast the same in His teeth.” Yet He saved one of them!
Ver. 68. “Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?” Yet He knew the secret of every human heart, and knew everything.
That is why He is “ready to judge” —because He knows everything. This was a very simple thing for Him to answer, but He patiently bore it. That is just the teaching of Isaiah 1. If man condemned Him God would justify Him: and that very word is applied to us in Romans 8.
Ver. 69. “Now Peter sat without in the palace.” The first denial was inside, and we must not think it is only the maiden who speaks, but the excited crowd all round. The last two denials are in the porch, or vestibule perhaps. From other scriptures we gather there were others having their say, and accusing him. It shows how far we may fall if God leaves us. There is nothing we should dread so much as being left to ourselves. Look at Hezekiah. When God left him he miserably fell, though he had given splendid testimony before (2 Chronicles 32:3131Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart. (2 Chronicles 32:31)). Hebrews 13:55Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. (Hebrews 13:5) is a fact too. God allows Satan sometimes to try. As with Job, God has His hedge about every one of His saints. The “hedge” speaks of guard and possession. And until God removes the hedge, the devil cannot touch him, but He permitted Satan to get in to try him, but not to injure him. So with Peter. He allows the devil to try him, but He never surrenders a saint into his hand—never. If the Lord permits us to fall, He never orders it—He permits it. I think the Epistle of James would bring that out. “Neither tempteth He any man,” but it is for the saint's good if He allows it. All this was blessed to Peter. We may well say at every turn, “Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe.” The hymn puts it:
“In Thy presence we are happy,
In Thy presence we're secure.”
“Wandering from Thee we are feeble,
Let Thy grace then keep us nigh.”
That is so; we must give Him all the praise if we are kept. It is a fearful thing for the Lord to say “I know you not.”