Prediction of Peter’s Denial (Luke 22:31-34)

As we know, Peter was a devoted disciple of Jesus. There are numerous examples of his dedication, and we can consider briefly three of them as an introduction in order to see the strength of his devotion.

First, Peter was eager to participate in events with Jesus, even to the extent of walking on the water with him. Clearly, on that occasion, Peter was willing to move out of what we would regard as sensible comfort zones once Jesus had invited him to walk on the stormy sea. In some way, he must have regarded the authority of Jesus as enabling him to do what Jesus asked, even if no-one else in the boat would want to do so.

Second, Peter was eager to confess who he thought Jesus was, even when others had their own different estimations of Jesus. At Caesarea Philippi, he had confessed that Jesus was the Christ and the Son of God, an insightful confession that was commended by Jesus as having been given to Peter by the Heavenly Father. Yet Peter almost immediately showed his impetuosity and spoiled that occasion by disagreeing with Jesus about him saying that he was going to the cross.

Third, Peter tended to spoil situations of potential blessing. Already on this last evening together with Jesus he had objected to the Saviour’s intention to wash his feet. However, when Jesus explained the significance of the washing to him as a picture of daily cleansing from sin, unlike the overall cleansing that happens at conversion, Peter exuberantly wanted his whole body to be washed by Jesus. Exaggeration may have been a feature of his character, and he had to be corrected by his Master.

The devil was active

Jesus was aware of devilish activity behind the scenes, activity of which the disciples had no idea. This activity was strange because it involved a demand made by the devil to sift the disciples. Does the devil have the authority to do this and what would be the basis of such a request being made? Perhaps our minds go to the experience of Job because he was certainly sifted by the devil, with this sifting taking place with God’s permission over a period of time. There was a difference, however, between the disciples and Job. Before he was sifted, Job was living a very commendable devotional life whereas the disciples here were not since they were not paying attention to what Jesus had taught them.

The pronoun ‘you’ in verse 31 is plural, so the devil’s request involved all the disciples. Perhaps the devil imagined that the eleven disciples were like Judas and easy to tempt and control. He would have been aware of the disciples’ lack of devotion and insight into the teaching of Jesus, so making them easy prey for his hostility. His demand may even be connected to the desire of each of them to be the greatest among them, which is a sin that he would easily recognise since it was the one that led to his own downfall when he was thrown out of heaven. As we can see from the words of Jesus, this request was granted, and the disciples were to go through a very difficult time during the next three days until the resurrection of Jesus.

In verse 32, Jesus prays specifically for Peter (‘you’ and ‘your’ in this verse are singular). It is noticeable, as we have already observed, that Satan’s demand was allowed by the Lord. This means that Jesus knew that good would come out of it, and we can see what that good was in the request that Jesus made for Peter’s faith not to fail under the terrible onslaught that was coming on him. The strategy of Satan would fail because Peter would not be overwhelmed by his imminent collapse of dedication. The prayer of Jesus would succeed because Peter would be restored in his Christian discipleship and become a great apostle of Christ.

What would the sifting have involved? Perhaps the devil taunted them after they had forsaken the Saviour. He might have said to them that they had been fools to give up everything in order to serve Jesus as the Messiah. Since Jesus was now dead, the devil could suggest that they had been foolish to follow him. Obviously, Peter himself would have been tormented over his awful and public denial of the Saviour.

Future usefulness

Nevertheless Jesus mentions a specific role that Peter would yet have, the role of strengthening his brothers. They would need strengthening because they too would have been sifted by the devil. This was encouraging for Peter, although he did not realise it at the time. It often takes one who has been there to help those who have been there. Peter’s restoration would not only be a comfort to him, but it would also be a comfort to them.

At the same time, we recognise that the Lord’s promise was far bigger than Peter would have realised at the time. He may have thought that Jesus’ indication was limited to the other disciples in the group. Yet within a few weeks, Peter would take the lead in the growth of the church after the ascension of Jesus as we can see in the opening chapters of the Book of Acts. He led the discussion at replacing Judas as an apostle, he preached on the Day of Pentecost when thousands were converted, he spread the gospel round Joppa, and he was used by Jesus to take the gospel to the Gentile soldier Cornelius and his friends.  

Moreover Peter would have been appalled if someone had said to him at that time that he would yet contribute to the Word of God. Yet we know that he did, and in his two New Testament letters he strengthens believers who were suffering for the faith in far distant countries, giving them ideal advice and strengthening them by reminding them of the Lord’s great and precious promises. There is also evidence that he helped Mark in the production of his gospel, and it has been pointed out that readers should lookout for how Peter is described in that gospel account.

Peter’s self-confidence

Peter, as we can see, was not prepared to accept the Lord’s announcement about his imminent denial. Instead, through his self-confidence he affirmed that he would remain loyal to Jesus even if it would involve imprisonment and death. He did not know his weakness at that time, although it is the case that restored Peter would be in prison for his faith and would eventually die as a martyr in Rome as Jesus later indicated to him.

Jesus then tells Peter when he would deny him. It was now evening, and the rooster would normally crow just before the dawn. Here we have another example of the Saviour’s comprehensive awareness of the circumstances that he and his disciples were going through. He knew how far Peter was to fall, he knew when Peter would fall, and he also knew what the foolish consequences of Peter’s self-confidence would be.

When did Jesus pray for Peter? Several suggestions can be made. Was he praying for Peter as he prepared the room for the Passover? Was he praying for Peter as he observed his behaviour at the Supper? Was he praying for Peter after the Supper as the disciples argued among themselves regarding which of them should be the greatest? Perhaps during all those periods and no doubt long before then.

In what way did Jesus pray for Peter? The word translated ‘prayer’ often means to beg. In this case there would have been a sense of urgency, realisation, and affection. Urgency because the time is near; clear realisation that God would keep alive the faith of a disappointed and bemused disciple; and strong affection for the soul state of his disciple. It has been observed that on this occasion Jesus did not pray that Peter would not sin or fall. The reason for that might be that Peter had to be shown his own weakness, which was a good lesson for him to learn. What mattered was that Peter’s faith would not fail.

Lessons to note

There are several lessons to note from this incident. One is that discipleship is a process. We know that Peter met Jesus shortly after his brother Andrew had done so (John 1:41-42). On that occasion, Jesus had referred to him as Simon, but indicated that in time he would become a rock (similar to the name Peter). There is no such thing as overnight growth into a spiritual giant, or a reliable Christian. Rather, true discipleship takes time, and in a real sense it is lifelong because no Christian is yet what he or she should be. If we are content where we currently are, we don’t understand the meaning of discipleship.

A second lesson is the sovereignty of God in temptations. The devil cannot do anything without the permission of God. It is important to remember this. Yet there are other aspects of temptation that we should recall, and I would mention three of them.

First, we are to pray daily not to be led into temptation (we know we should pray daily for this detail because the Lord’s Prayer in which it is found is actually a daily prayer, as the request for bread tells us). I suspect that it was not part of Peter’s daily requests at that time, and the sad outcome eventually happened.

Second, as Paul reminds us, there is always a way of escape with every temptation. It may be as simple as walking away from something or shutting our eyes or ears or keeping our mouth closed, but there is always a way of escape near at hand, and we should use arrow prayers for divine help when we are liable to fall.

Third, the only weapon for defeating satanic attacks is the Word of God. The example of Jesus when he was tempted in the desert is an obvious reference and we know that he resisted the temptations by appealing to and obeying the Word of God. It was in his heart and came to mind when needed. We have to fill our memories and thinking with the Bible, and they will come to mind when needed. There is no other way of success, which means we have to know the Bible better.

A third lesson is the amazing power of the intercession of Jesus. Obviously, there are differences between the way that Jesus prayed for the eleven disciples and the way that he functions as the Mediator in heaven. It is possible that Jesus prayed for the eleven disciples one by one, and that he had prayed for them in this way since he first called them to this important role. Luke tells us that Jesus spent the entire night in prayer before he called them to become apostles (6:12-13).

Today, Jesus’ intercession takes place in heaven and from the highest place in heaven. We are not to imagine that Jesus has a list of items to mention. It is not possible for us to know how his divine omniscient nature contributes to his intercession or how his finite human nature participates in his intercession for the global church. The Bible does not explain how that happens, but it does assure us that his intercession is always effective and that somehow he cares for all his people simultaneously and ensures that what they need is delivered to them by the Holy Spirit.

The fourth lesson to take from this incident is the promise of the amazing grace of divine restoration. When we later read of the graphic nature of Peter’s fall, we might wonder how such a fall could be reversed. In most groups, he would be regarded as useless. Such thoughts indicate we don’t appreciate the power of divine grace. Peter the denier of Jesus was restored by Jesus the good shepherd. He would still fulfil the role Jesus had for him. If we have fallen, and who of us has not, we should remember that we fall into the hands of the heavenly Restorer. Many have discovered his restoring grace. In fact, we cannot really sing Psalm 23 unless we have.