Some would tell us that if a man falls, he can never recover his position; and no doubt, under _government_, we must reap as we sow. But _grace_ is another thing altogether. Government drove Adam out of Eden, and never replaced him there, but grace announced the victorious Seed of the woman. Government kept Moses out of Canaan, but grace conducted him to Pisgah's top. Government sent a perpetual sword upon David's house, but grace made the son of Bathsheba the wisest and wealthiest of Israel's kings.
This distinction must never be lost sight of. To confound grace and government is to commit a very grave mistake indeed. We cannot attempt to enter upon this weighty subject here, having done so in one of our earlier volumes. But let the reader seek to understand it, and bear it ever in mind.
As to Simon Peter, we not only see him restored to the work to which he was called at the first, but to something even higher. "Feed My lambs--shepherd My sheep"--is the new commission given to the man who had denied his Lord with an oath. Is not this something beyond "catching men?" "When thou art restored, strengthen thy brethren." Can anything in the way of service be more elevated than shepherding sheep, feeding lambs, and strengthening brethren? There is nothing in all this world nearer or dearer to the heart of Christ than His sheep, His lambs, His brethren: and hence He could not have given Simon Peter a more affecting proof of His confidence than by committing to his care the dearest objects of His deep and tender love.
And then mark the closing words, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast _young_, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest; but when thou shalt be _old_, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake He, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He saith unto him, FOLLOW ME."
What weighty words are these! Who can tell their depth, power, and significance? What a contrast between Simon, "_young_," restless, forward, blundering, boastful, self-confident; and Peter, "_old_," subdued, mellowed, passive, crucified! What a difference between a man walking whither he would, and a man following a rejected Lord along the dark and narrow pathway of the cross, home to glory!