There are many people in Scripture who have failed miserably and been restored and re-commissioned by God. Such people were assigned important tasks in the kingdom of God and achieved great things for God by His grace. It is important to consider the whole notion of ‘faith and failure’ from a Scriptural perspective and meet the people whose lives (including their mistakes and sins) are recorded for our instruction and edification.
On the evening of The Last Supper, Jesus foretold that Peter would deny Him. Peter, at that point in his experience, could not believe that such a thing would happen and so he argued with the Lord. During times of close fellowship with Jesus it is difficult for us to comprehend that it will not be long before we disappoint the one we profess to love. But inevitably such times come, all too quickly and frequently, until we eventually realise that faith and failure are part of the warp and woof of the fabric of our religious experience.
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In response to Peter’s emphatic refutation of Christ’s prediction the Lord repeats his name, ‘Peter, Peter…’ in the same way as he had repeated Martha’s name, ‘Martha, Martha…’ when she too had preferred her own opinion to His. There is a note of tender disapproval in that simple repetition.
The Lord’s prediction of Peter’s denial was not merely a calculated guess based on observation of Peter’s temperamental and inherently flawed character. The Lord knew the events which were about to unfold and spoke of them with a precision that proved His divine foreknowledge.
Failure, foreknown and forgivenIn an extraordinary statement Jesus tells Peter that Satan has desired to have him and that He prayed that Peter’s faith might not fail. It is clear that there was a spiritual struggle for Peter. Satan desires to have his way with all the saints. We wrestle against principalities and powers. What are we to make of Peter’s denial of Jesus? Are we to conclude from this that Satan’s desire was fulfilled when Peter fell? Are we to believe that Christ’s prayer (that Peter’s faith would not fail) was ineffective? Jesus prayed that very night for the disciples (
Jn.17). We cannot deny that Peter’s faith did fail, but it was a temporary failure, foreknown and forgiven.
It is clear from Scripture that Satan asks God to allow him to have his way with some people (
Job 1:6-12;
Zech.3:1-5). Job, Joshua and Peter were sought by Satan. We know why Jesus prayed for Peter and we know what he prayed. Christ continues to make intercession for his disciples because there are times when our faith fails and we fall. In Mark’s account Jesus predicts that all would fall away, which was the fulfilment of the prophecy of Zechariah: ‘smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered’ (
13:7).