The story of Peter's fall teaches us, lastly, how bitter sin is to believersy when they have fallen into it and discovered their fall.
This is a lesson which stands out plainly on the face of the verses before us. We are told that when Peter remembered the warning he had received, and saw how far he had fallen, " he went out and wept bitterly." He found out by experience the truth of Jeremiah's words, '' It is an evil thing and a bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord." (Jer. ii. 17.) He felt keenly the truth of Solomon's saying, " The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways." (Prov. xiv. 14.) No doubt he could have said with Job, " I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." (Job xlii. 6.)
Sorrow like this, let us always remember, is an insep- arable companion of true repentance. Here lies the grand distinction between "repentance unto salvation," and unavailing remorse. Remorse can make a man miserable, like Judas Iscariot, but it can do no more. It does not lead him to God. — ^Repentance makes a man's heart soft and his conscience tender, and shows itself in real turning to a Father in heaven. The falls of a graceless pro- fessor are falls from which there is no rising again. But the fall of a true saint always ends in deep contrition, self-abasement, and amendment of life.
liOt us take heed, ere we leave this passage, that we alvrays make a right use of Peter's fall. Let us never make it an excuse for sin. Let us learn from his sad experience, to watch and pray, lest we fall into temptation. If we do fall, let us believe that there is hope for us as there was for him. But above all, let us remember, that
440 EXFCNsrroRY thoughts.
if we fall as Peter fell, we must repent as Peter repented, or else we shall never be saved.
Notes. Lxtub XXII. 64—62.
55. — [Kindled afire.] It must be remembered, that although the climate of Palestine is generaUy very warm, the nights about the Passover season, according to the testimony of all travellers, are intensely cold
[The hall.] The Greek word so rendered is more frequently translated " palace." Parkhurst thinks that here it means, " an open court inclosed by buildings, — a court-yard exposed to the open air." In Rev. xi. 2, it is translated " court," and can there bear no other sense.
[Sat down among them.] Let it be noted, that the Greek ex pression rendered " among" them, is the very same that in the former part of the verse is translated, " in the midst."
56. — [Sat hy the fire.] It is a curious fact, that the Geek word here rendered, " fire," is a totally different word from the one rendered, " fire," in the preceding verse. Here it means literally, " the light." The word is found sixty-nine times in the New Testament, and in sixty-seven places is translated " light." The two exceptions when it is rendered " fire," are the passage before us, and the parallel passage in St. Mark, describing the same transaction. (Mark xiv. 54.)
It is evident that the word was used intentionally by St. Luke, in order to show us, that it was " by the light of the fire " that Peter was recognized and charged with being a disciple. Had he kept in the background, and been content with a darker position, he might have escaped notice.
59. — [He is a OaHUean.] It is clear from this expression that Peter had been talking and conversing with those among whom he was sitting. Had he been content to say nothing, and await silently the result of his Master's trial, he might even now have escaped detection.
61. — [Looked upon Peter.] Parkhurst says, that the Greek word rendered "looked," signifies, "to look with stedfastness and at- tention."
Some have thought it strange that our Lord Jesus Christ should have been in a position where He could see Peter, and Peter could see Him, and also that He could hear Peter deny- ing Him.
It is not at all necessary to reply to this, that our Lord had a miraculous knowledge of what Peter was saying, or that he was passing through the court-yard, or hall, where Peter was, at the time of the third denial and the cock-crowing.
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