31 "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." 33 Peter said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You both to prison and to death." 34 Jesus said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know Me." 35 And He said to them, "When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?" They said, "Nothing." 36 He said to them, "But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. 37 For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in Me: 'And He was numbered with the transgressors.' For what is written about Me has its fulfillment." 38 And they said, "Look, Lord, here are two swords." And He said to them, "It is enough."
In our study tonight Jesus is drawing to a close His teaching for His disciples. The hour is at hand and His arrest is in the very near future! The disciples have a sense that something is going on, but their spiritual perception is dim and limited.
Jesus uses these final moments before they depart the upper room to teach these men about humility, dependence on God, vigilance in their walk, the importance of their responsibility to God and a stern warning about the power of the enemy!
Let’s look at our verses tonight to see what Jesus was teaching and how that teaching applies to our lives today!
31 "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." 33 Peter said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You both to prison and to death."
In v. 31 we find Jesus warning Peter about the enemy, but more than just a warning to Peter, this is Jesus revealing the ultimate nature of our enemy, Satan. It is Satan’s ever present desire to destroy God’s creation. Jesus tells Peter that Satan wanted to sift him like wheat…
Now I don’t know about you but on the surface… in OUR culture, that just doesn’t sound very scary! What is ‘sift’… it doesn’t SOUND very scary or foreboding… well when we look at the word sift we find that it means… to separate, to take out or eliminate, to scatter…
We need to fully understand the implication of what Jesus is saying here. That implication is that Satan desires to destroy anyone who has a relationship with Jesus.
If you don’t have a relationship with Jesus, then Satan does not worry so much about you… BUT when we come to know Jesus, Satan wishes to destroy us!
In this passage Peter represents the disciples called by Jesus… AND the disciples represent all who follow Jesus… so this verse is aimed at ALL believers who follow Jesus!
It is Satan’s desire to separate us from our relationship with God! He wants to tear us away from our walk and fellowship with Jesus. He longs to eliminate our witness by taking us out of our bond… by destroying our association with God. It is Satan’s ultimate plan to break up the body of Christ, but destroying us one by one…
He cannot destroy our soul, or get us to fall away from Christ, as we are firmly held in the palm of God’s hand! HOWEVER, he can destroy our witness and testimony before the world. He can rip us away from our mission here on this earth and send us in a spiral downward and hurt others as we fall.
This is Satan’s desire… this is who we face as an enemy. Jesus speaks about Satan and calls him the Father of all Lies! It started with him deceiving so many of the angels in heaven to rebel… then the Garden where he deceived Adam and Eve… and it has continued throughout history and today he still deceives millions into marginalizing Jesus and ignoring their eternal fate…
Jesus knew the enemy… Peter did not understand what he was up against… Peter did LOVE Jesus, Peter was faithful, and Peter was brave, but Peter did not understand the power and strength of his enemy! We see this in his life and in his words, look at v.33 33 Peter said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You both to prison and to death."
Peter knew that Jesus in trouble with the religious leaders and understood what could happen to him and Peter was fully willing to go up against them with Jesus… but Peter had the wrong target as the enemy.
It was NOT the religious leaders, but it was Satan himself and Peter did not know what he was up against! Jesus did and here he warns Peter about the coming assault on him as a follower.
Like Peter, I believe we all have a sense of bravado in ourselves. Have you ever heard the saying, ‘I’m willing to attack the gates of hell with a water pistol…’??
This type of attitude and focus will bring to our human mind a sense of loyalty and faithfulness to Christ… Just as Peter’s cry of loyalty probably sounded good to his fellow disciples! However, just as Peter’s bravado was rebuked by Jesus and eventually proven to be a house of cards that tumbled at the least bit of adversity… so too is our cry like this!
To say, “I’m willing to attack the gates of hell with a water pistol!” may make us FEEL faithful and true, but it reveals that our focus is not where it should be… let me explain what I mean!
Turn to Matthew 16:16-18:
16 Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The emphasis I want to focus on here is in v.18 where Jesus says, “I will build MY church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it…” What Jesus is saying is that the Church, in obedience to Christ will march over the enemy… the enemy can come against her but they will not prevail.
In this verse there is no implication that any one individual would attack anything, but that it was a collective attack by the church in general.
My point is this… we can show bravado in our words, but that is not what Jesus wants! Jesus wants our obedience not our bravado! Jesus wants our submission to His plan, not our willingness
As bleak a picture as Jesus paints in v. 31 and v.34, He tempers that somewhat in v.32.
32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers."
You have a powerful enemy Peter, BUT I am in your corner! The implication here is Jesus revealing to Peter that no matter how powerful your enemy is, I am stronger, and I will be there for you!
Jesus is saying here that Peter will fall, but He will be in his corner! Peter you are going to recover and I will be there in your corner! He tells Peter to USE His strength to help him recover and turn back to doing what God has called him to do, and then pass on that strength to his brothers in Christ!
This is a picture of what Christ is for us in our daily walk. We are targets of Satan, we THINK we can handle his attacks but we are far too weak. Jesus wants to remind us that even as powerful as Satan is, He is more powerful! [Greater is He that is in me…]
As far as we may fall, Jesus is going to be there for us! He will be there to pick us up, to dust us off, and to set us back on the right path of service for Him.
With that forgiveness comes a responsibility for the believer, we are not to accept the forgiveness selfishly, but when we are restored, we are called and challenged to encourage and help our fellow believers when they deal with the attacks of Satan! As Jesus helps us we are called to help others…
33 Peter said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You both to prison and to death." 34 Jesus said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know Me."
In v.33 Peter lays out a bravado that many of us want to have, that many of us believe we can exert in our Christian walk. So often we find ourselves telling Jesus what WE can do FOR Him!
Look what Peter said, “Lord, I am ready…” Where is the focus here? Is it on Christ? While I am sure Peter believed he was doing the right thing and even the disciples around him probably thought of this gesture as a good one… Jesus knew better!
As brave and confident as Peter was, Jesus knew better and in v. 34 warns Peter that he will not be able to face the enemy alone without TOTAL failure! Jesus says, “Really Peter? Let me share something with you, this night will not end before you not only abandon Me, but you will deny even knowing Me, and you not only do this ONE time, but you will do it three times before the rooster crows in the morning!”
Now I don’t know about you but I can imagine Peter’s self-inflated ego was burst here… Here was his teacher and master, who had called him ‘The Rock’ now saying that he was going to fall… that he was going to flee… that he was going to fail… Peter was broken!
35 And He said to them, "When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?" They said, "Nothing."
v.35 is a reference to Luke 10 where Jesus had sent out 72 disciples in pairs to do the ministry of the Kingdom and preach the Gospel. In Luke 10 one of Jesus’ instructions to the disciples was:
3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.
Jesus is reminding them of how He had sent them out with nothing to rely upon, and now He is drawing a spiritual parallel to that mission.
You had nothing on that mission trip and I provided for you… You have nothing to fight the enemy, but do not fret because I will be your provision in that fight as well!
This was an illustration to the disciples to calm their hearts about the enemy’s strength and goal to destroy them! This was also an encouragement to them that even though the battle was great, they would have HIM by their side…
36 He said to them, "But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.
This is a very difficult verse for the believer. Jesus has preached love His entire ministry, and now at the time of His passion and suffering, is He advocating the taking up of arms? What does this verse mean?
One of the overall themes Jesus is sharing here in these verses is that this life… the life of following Christ… the life of following God, will be a life of struggle and battle against an enemy that is set on destroying them! They are IN a battle… they are going to have to prepare themselves for battle!
Jesus is using a metaphorical reference to preparation for battle. If we are going to defend ourselves, we have to have the necessary tools for that defense, and we need to do whatever it takes to obtain those tools! If we were under attack here in our country, we would sell what we had to so that we could purchase weapons to protect our family!
Likewise in the spiritual realm, we are in a fierce and terrible battle with an enemy whose sole desire is to destroy and kill us, so we must be prepared to defend ourselves. We have to arm ourselves with spiritual weapons…
The Apostle Paul references this in a more illustrative way in Eph 6:10-18 where he lists the entire armor of God. Jesus only mentions the sword, but the effect and intent is the same! We have to be prepared for the battle!
Now Jesus has already told them that HE was going to provide, but He is also telling them that they will have responsibility in this as well… Jesus does not remove personal responsibility from His teaching. We will fight the enemy at His side, not hiding somewhere in the back with Jesus doing all the fighting. Jesus does not wish for us to be idle, but active in this battle!
He provides the armor and weapons to protect us in this battle…
He provides the edification and instruction to assist us in the midst of the battle…
He provides the strength and wisdom for us to succeed in this battle…
He desires OUR full participation in the battle against the enemy, we are not called to sit on the sidelines but to be actively engaged in the fight!
Jesus was revealing that the disciples were in a fight and that once He was no longer with them physically, that they were going to have to provide for themselves and be willing to fight in the fight!
37 For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in Me: 'And He was numbered with the transgressors.' For what is written about Me has its fulfillment."
The reasoning for this verse is to once again remind His disciples that He would no longer be with them physically. This verse simply restates what Jesus said in v.15 and 22 where He proclaimed His upcoming suffering.
In fact this is almost a mirror of v.22 where Jesus proclaims that what is about to happen is a fulfillment of Scripture, and that HE was the One in whom it would be fulfilled.
Only here Jesus details things a little more clearly by quoting from the Suffering Servant passage of Isaiah 53 when He says, “…and He was numbered with the transgressors…”
The disciples would have known about this passage and would have recognized it immediately as a reference to the Messiah! This was confirmation BY Jesus for His disciples about who He was, and what His purpose was to be…
Although the disciples still did not understand fully who the Messiah was… they had been taught all their lives that he was going to be the deliverer of Israel from oppression and the one to establish a new kingdom that would restore the glory of Israel. But I am sure they wondered how this fit into the plan.
Jesus concludes this verse by saying that this is GOING to happen! It was foretold and it is about to come to pass… the implication here is that Jesus is telling His disciples that they are about to witness the coming to pass of the fulfillment of this prophecy…
38 And they said, "Look, Lord, here are two swords." And He said to them, "It is enough."
Once again we find that the disciples did not fully understand Jesus and His teaching. After all His explanation, the disciples still had the belief that Jesus was going to be the earthly Messiah that they had learned about in their youth…
They believed Him to be the One who had come to set Israel free… but Jesus was telling them something entirely different.
Here He wants them to understand that the battle is coming and they need to be ready to take up arms to win that battle! Their perception of a spiritual reality was almost non-existent, as they saw things from the fleshly point of view!
Here they ask the question… Are 2 swords enough? And Jesus knowing the time… knowing that His arrest is imminent… just ends the conversation and discussion. He has attempted to share with them but their eyes did not see…
Jesus knew that they would have to endure His suffering before their eyes would begin to open… and it would not be until that day in the upper room on Pentecost that they would finally and fully understand what He had been teaching them…
We know that they did not understand because when Judas and the Temple Guards came to arrest Jesus, the disciples drew their swords for battle! But Jesus ends their aggression quickly and shares with them that is NOT what they needed to do…
On this final night of freedom for Jesus, He has attempted to teach the disciples humility, dependence on God, promise of His authority, and their reward for obedience. He has warned them about the strength of the enemy and that they must remain vigilant in their walk…
I believe Luke presumes that the disciples will finally grasp what Jesus is teaching and begin to see things from a larger and more spiritual perspective… that they will realize the coming spiritual battles they are going to have to face.
But he emphasizes that Jesus comforts them with the fact that they do not have to face this battle alone, they don’t need to fear or withdraw, because He will be with them!
But the only way they will survive is by resting on God’s promise and facing the enemy with humility and resting on the strength of Christ! With that they can face anything… humility and faithfulness was Jesus’ final teaching to His disciples!
Jesus was about to illustrate the walk that the disciples were going to have to endure… He was the innocent facing a hostile and dark world, but the success of Jesus was not found in the fact that He was put to death, but in the fact He was faithful to the Father…
And because of that faithfulness, Christ was raised from the dead and exalted in the heavens to have ALL authority! When we are faithful to God, He is going to be faithful to us… We face a hostile world and we know that we must persevere… But we also know that we do not face it alone, but with Christ! And we have the promise that IN Christ we can do all things!
