DR 27
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December 27
John 21:18 to end. Christ foretells the manner of Peter's death.
None of us can foresee what will be the manner of our death. We know not whether it will be natural or violent, sudden or lingering, painful or comparatively easy; we do not even know certainly that we shall die; for some will remain until the coming of the Lord, and be caught up to meet him in the air. God in his goodness and his wisdom has concealed the future from his creatures, even those things that most nearly concern them. But occasionally he departs from his usual course. In wrath he revealed to Jehoram, the king of Judah, the manner of his death. There came a writing from Elijah the prophet, describing the dreadful disease which would cut short his days. (2 Chron. 21:15.) In love Jesus revealed to Peter the manner of his death. It was the most painful, and the most shameful, yet the most honourable, because the death his Master had suffered, even crucifixion. The Bible contains no account of the event, but it has been commonly reported that it took place at Rome.
If when Peter first began to follow the Lord, he had known that he should be called to endure such bitter sufferings for his sake, the announcement might have overwhelmed him with terror. But since that time his soul had been strengthened; and he was willing to encounter trials that once would have appalled him. In his second epistle he speaks with calmness of his death—"Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me." (2 Peter 1:14.)
God can make those events which once appeared terrible—tolerable, and even delightful to the soul. There may be great trials reserved for some of us. If we knew now what they were, perhaps we should say, "We cannot sustain them." But God will enable us to bear all that he has appointed that we shall suffer. He answered Paul's prayers for deliverance from his piercing thorn, by saying, "My grace is sufficient for you." His grace is sufficient for us also.
It seems that the Lord uttered the prophecy concerning Peter in the presence of the other disciples; but afterwards he called him to go apart with him. Encouraged by the favour shown him, Peter ventured to ask the Lord what would become of John, who was following their steps. It was natural that he should expect this question would be answered, for at the last supper, when he had asked John to inquire who should betray the Lord, a reply had been granted. But there was a great difference between these two inquiries.
Anxiety to clear themselves of the foul crime that one of their number would commit, led all the faithful apostles to desire to know who the traitor was. But it was curiosity that induced Peter now to ask, "What shall this man do?" Such curiosity required a check. There is nothing revealed in the Scriptures to gratify curiosity. Man would like to know the history of the angels, but he is only told his own history; for this alone concerns him—he would like to know who are the inhabitants of the worlds suspended in the heavens, but he is only told who he himself is.
It is not curiosity that makes Christians desirous to know all things that Jesus did. Love leads us to wish to hear all his words, and to learn the particulars of all his actions. But it was impossible that they could all be written in one book. Shall we ever know all those interesting facts? If we are made worthy, through the blood of Jesus, to enter his kingdom of glory, we may hear from the lips of apostles circumstances which their pens have not recorded.
Angels were witnesses of scenes where apostles were not present; hereafter those holy watchers may describe events that occurred among the green hills near Bethlehem, and on the sultry plains of Egypt, in the lowly dwelling at Nazareth, and on the shady banks of Jordan, amid the dismal caverns of the wilderness, and upon the sorrowful summit of Mount Olivet, events which have never yet been heard by mortal ear. And may not the Lord Jesus himself condescend to reveal to his people some passages in his life, and some feelings of his heart, which are known to none but Himself?