THE OTHER DISCIPLE OUTRAN PETER

Part I

There is, indeed, no book in the entire world which can be placed upon the same line with the Word of God.

That Word has a Divine Authority, and eternity is in it.

From word to word, it has been inspired by the Holy Spirit.

The contents are so deep that we shall never be able to reach the bottom.

It never becomes old, but it remains new, and that especially for the heart renewed by the Spirit of God.

Ah, would that it were always so, but that is not the case. But yet, God’s children may constantly find something in it of which they say, “That is something new.” That is not something which we may find, but what God reveals and explains by the light of His Spirit in the heart of His favorites. The opening of Thy Word giveth light.

Thus it is also with the words which I wrote above this. We may have read it a thousand times, but we always just read them, inattentively, never realizing what was implied in them.

The eunuch of Candace needed an interpreter, and thus we must also receive the Holy Spirit Who leads into all truth.

The text tells us, “So they ran both together, and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.” That other disciple was John, but it is not my intention at present to ask your attention for John, but for Peter.

But now to come to the matter of our text we must note the following: We all know what happened to Peter. Christ had warned him sufficiently, but he had paid no attention to it. He denied Christ three times. No, he did not live in sin, but he fell into it.

With him it was so altogether different than with Judas Iscariot. With Judas it was his intention, but Peter was overtaken and surprised. Notwithstanding, it was a great sin into which Peter fell. Far be it from God that He should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that He could commit iniquity. Each sin is God dishonoring and souldestroying. We can never plead in favor of sin. God hates sin, and it is and remains an offence of and an attack upon His divine Being. Thus it was here, also. That sin has also aggravated Christ’s suffering. It was averted, because God intervened; otherwise, Peter would have sinned himself into hell. Ah, of himself man cannot remain standing. Nay, not for one moment. In the life of Peter, it has been confirmed what Christ told him, “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.”

It would be eternally lost if salvation were in our hands, but now the Triune God takes care of it. It was from personal experiences and knowledge that Peter himself wrote that God’s people are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, I Peter 1:5. Peter was also greatly favored, that after his deep fall, Christ looked upon him. When he heard the cock crow, he was reminded of what Christ had told him. God never forsakes His people, however deeply they have sinned. Yea, it is all a wonder and a proof of the sovereignty of God, in Christ, toward a deeply fallen sinner. Peter did not deserve that Christ would cast a glance upon him, and that he was favored to hear the crowing of the cock, and was reminded of the words which once were spoken to him. Verily, God is great, and we know Him not. Then Peter was favored to go out and weep bitterly. That repentance was sincere. Oh, what a grief he had within his heart. They were not Esau’s tears, but tears which God put into His bottle.

Even though Peter had sinned away his membership, and had made himself unworthy of his office, the other disciples and the Church did not let him go.

Much may happen by permission, but there is no apostacy of the saints.

God cannot let His people go, but neither can they live without God.

Peter was with John, or John was with Peter, and Mary Magdalene looked for them both as she walked about in her want. In all their misery, strife and want, they continued to cleave to each other, and practiced, “I believe the communion of saints.” By the grace of the Holy Spirit, they were bound to God with unbreakable bonds, but also because of love, they could not part from each other. God Himself had bound them together, and it also applies in this case, “What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” That which is glued together, hangs together like loose sand. But a friend loves at all times, and in the first place, that is Christ, but He also keeps them together that are included in Him.

At times, such sad separations may occur among the people of God, but that is mostly when our flesh comes in between, or that our character and our nature play us false.

God’s Spirit binds us together, but from man proceeds destruction, because sin has a destructive character. Ah yes, at the time of Christ, it has happened even among those dear disciples that all was not well. At times, they quarreled with each other who of them would be the greatest. When we are not in the right place, we are only looking for trouble, and then the one wants to be above the other.

Ah yes, we are such dangerous creatures. Luther once said that he was more afraid of his own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals. That is really a proof and fruit of self-knowledge. When we are left to ourselves, then we want it all our own way, and then you know what the result is.

When there is a contest to be the least, and to stand behind each other, then the devil cannot get his claws between us.

After the death of Christ, when they shared in that want, then they crept close together. Then they did not hurt each other. Then they had nothing to reproach each other about, and even though they sat together in the dark, they esteemed each other more than ever before. Then they needed each other.

It is to our shame in the times in which we are now living. Nowadays, there is also a great need. It becomes manifest that the devil has only a short time. How torn and divided is the Church of God. It is like bones that are scattered at the grave’s mouth. How many are the signs of God’s displeasure.

And …if we look only at ourselves, we must say, “There is no voice nor any that regardeth.” So much happens, and it does not affect us. It does not bring us where we should be, namely in humiliation, becoming guilty and returning unto the Lord.

God keeps His hand so quiet. How often He hides His face from the house of Jacob, and how easily we can do without each other. We are cold and unfeeling.

We can pass each other’s door; we feel no need to meet each other. We mistrust, distrust, suspect and condemn each other. We revile each other, seeking each other’s ruin and what not.

They cannot be signs of life. At times, we would think, “Is God’s Word still the Truth, or have we perhaps received another Bible?” Why does that question arise with weak and wavering souls? That may be explained with many professors of the Truth. They see and hear so much that is at variance with the revealed will of God. We give a stick into the hand of the world to strike us and give reasons to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. It is a life far from God, far from the truth, far from the life of God. No, let us not cover it over with all sorts of pious reasonings, because it is nothing but a vindicating of ourselves. Many judgments have already passed over us, but — it has cast off no true and real fruits of the Spirit. The Lord says, “I have smitten them, but they feit no pain.” We go farther and farther away from God and from each other, and really, at times the question arises, “Shall the Lord ever grant His Church to be brought to the right place again?” What ways must God use to draw His Church together? Perhaps when one day the churches shall be abolished, and because of the persecution by the antichrist we shall be dispersed, then we shall meet each other in woods and ditches and be glad that we may shake hands with each other. Ah, would that the example of Mary Magdalene might be blessed by God’s Spirit to bring us to ourselves and to each other. With the death of Christ, those women and those disciples had come into a deep way of affliction, but it had also brought them closer together.

When Mary Magdalene saw that the Lord had been taken away out of the grave and feared that the enemies had taken away the body of Christ, she fled to Simon Peter and John with her souls’s problems. Also to Peter? Yes. Did she ignore the denial of Peter? Did she esteem that sin lightly? Oh no, far, far from it.

Mary Magdalene was a person who thought about sin just as God thinks about it. She had demonstrated that during her life. But whatever had happened to Peter, she did not exclude him. The Lord Jesus had not excluded her either, because of her inattention and doubt, and for that reason she did not do it to the disciples, either. She had so much self-knowledge, that she knew very well what man is when the Lord leaves him to himself for a moment.

In spite of all the misery, Mary Magdalene has seen the grace which God had glorified in the heart of Peter shine and glitter. I think that she even was jealous, not of his denial, but of his tears.

She had more credit for Peter than that disciple had for himself. Yea, those are precious ways in the life of grace. Although the devil was lying in wait, and he had hoped that the disciples would fall away from each other, that Great King, that Great Shepherd of the Sheep, the Lord Jesus Christ, carries His sheep in His Mediatorial arms, and especially at that time it was also His work to bind those sheep still closer together.

Peter and John did not remain sitting at home, but they went out to the grave. They also arrived at the grave. They ran together. It may well be imagined that the bond of love was never felt so strong as at that time. They did not suspect or despise the work of God in each other’s heart. They were and lived in the same want. Their souls went out to the same Lord Jesus. Neither did John say to Peter, “You must just remain at home; remain here sitting in a corner. I do not want you to accompany me. What shall the people say when they see us both walking together along the way? Then I also run the risk of getting a blot upon my name.”

No, nothing of all that. I think that John was glad that Peter wanted to walk with him. Those people, those two disciples, were enabled to put into practice that the one esteemed the other better than himself.

Yet we read that John did outrun Peter.

The tables are not turned. Before Peter ran ahead of the others and stood in the foreground. Ah yes, it was not his character to follow. He was so active. He was always ready to speak. It was difficult for him to give another a turn. His character was to be quick-tempered.

(To be continued)

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