There was in Peter in particular one great defect — a large amount of self-confidence, which made him quick at speaking and acting; and self-confidence in the New Testament is always treated in one way, as that which shuts out confidence in God. It is the enemy of faith. Faith is insight, and self-confidence is a blinding influence. Again and again there is pressed upon us the necessity of a lowly estimate of self ; " Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased ; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted " ; God who dwells " in the high and holy place," dwells also with him who is of a humble spirit. If God was to dwell in Peter, if the Divine was really to take up His abode in him and rule him, if the impulsive and vehement strength of the man was to be made a steadfast and certain fire, and to be hallowed by the Divine indwelling, so that he might lead the Apostles during those critical times which were coming, then clearly his self-con- fidence must be purged out of him, he must be sifted as wheat, the grain must be separated from the chaff.
But the others were not less guilty than Peter. It is not the case that he, who should have been a pattern to the rest, proved the weakest of all, and the first to fly. When the chief priests came with a band of soldiers to take Jesus, Peter was the only one of the Apostles who made even a show of resistance. Peter and one other were the only two who followed Jesus into the palace of the High Priest. Peter's failure, when it did happen, was owing to a train of circumstances from which his brethren, by their more hasty and precipitous failure, were exempt. Satan on his first sifting, shook out all the other Apostles ; but it required a stronger temptation, a more violent agitation of the sieve, to unfix the faith of Peter. And as Peter was the last to fall, he was also the first to rise and put together again the fragments of his shattered faith. From that hour he was an altered man. He added to his zeal, steadfastness ; he exchanged his confident boasting for humility and dependence upon God. In this blessed recovery, do we not plainly see the influence of Divine grace ?
458 SIFTED AS WHEAT
Are we not reminded immediately of the Saviour's words — " Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat ; but I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not."
^ My feelings being easily excited to good as well as bad, I am apt to mistake an excited state of the feelings for a holy state of the heart ; and so sure am I of the deception that, when in an excited state regarding eternal things, I tremble, knowing it is the symptom of a fall, and that I must be more earnest in prayer. Self-confidence is my ruin.^
3. Peter and the others were unconscious of peril. There they recline, rising now and then to emphasize their angry words. Their minds are occupied only with thoughts of place and power in some fancied coming kingdom. The strife grows keen, and all forgetful of their Master's loving words, humility is banished from the room, and self-assertiveness speaks loud with its imperious voice. All unconscious of the tempter's presence, these men dispute among themselves, and it was not till afterwards that Peter was informed by Christ that the devil's eye had been intently set on him, and that, whilst he had been claiming to be greatest, Satan had almost claimed him for his own.
^ When it was once said to him, " I would fain know what the devil is like in shape and character," Doctor Martin said, " If you would see the true image and form of the devil, and what his character is, give good heed to all the commandments of God, one after another, and represent to yourself a suspicious, shameful, lying, despairing, abandoned, godless, calumnious man, whose mind and thoughts are all set on opposing God in every possible way, and working woe and harm to men." The devil seeks high things; looks to that which is great and high; scorns what is lowly. But the eternal, merciful God, reverses this, and looks on what is lowly. "I look on him who is poor and of a broken heart." But what is lifted up. He lets go ; for it is an abomination to HinL'''
4. But the power of Satan is strictly limited. God reigns though Satan sifts. The powers of evil are in God's holy hands. Evil is not altogether its own master, and cannot therefore be the
* Norman Macleod, in Memoir, i. 129.
» Luther, Table-talk (ed. Forstemann), i. 140.
ST. LUKE XXII. 31, 32 459
master of the world. " Over all " is now " God blest forever ! " " And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand, only spare his life." So God permitted Job's trial and stood behind the demoniac forces which racked the sufferer, restraining and checking them. Then look at this case. " Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat ; but I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not ; and do thou, when once thou hast turned again, stablish thy brethren." So said his Master when the incarnate God permitted Simon's trial. So He has always intimated that He " stands within the shadow keeping watch above his own."