Peter's Testimony

Matthew 17:1-5 And after six days, Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light.
And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with Him. 

Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You will, let us make here three tabernacles, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. 

While he yet spoke, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and behold, a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him.

"Notice the following points: 

1. Jesus Christ appeared in His own personal glory. His countenance shone like the sun, and His raiment was white as the light. 

2. The glory of the Father was there. It was a “bright cloud” of the divine glory, out of which came the Father’s voice.

3. Moses and Elijah appeared; the one, the representative of those saints who shall be raised at Christ’s coming and clothed with glory;  

4. The use the apostles made of the scene. Peter was one of the witnesses; and his testimony shows that the design of the transfiguration was to illustrate Christ’s second, personal, glorious coming and the future kingdom of glory, and that this kingdom will be set up at the period of the second advent, and the resurrection and change of the just to immortal life. 

He says, 2 Peter 1:16-18 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of His majesty. 

For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. 

And this voice which came from Heaven we heard when we were with Him in the holy mount." 

James White

Lesson of Peter on the Water

"Following the occasion of the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus instructed His disciples to board a ship and cross the Sea of Galilee while He remained behind to send away the multitude and to pray. 

A windstorm arose on the sea during the voyage, and the small ship

was tossed among the waves. To add to their distress, the disciples were confronted with what they thought was a spirit, and they cried out in fear. 

What they saw was Jesus walking on the water. Although the Savior announced that it was He, that they need not fear, some on the ship were skeptical. Peter challenged, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And Jesus responded, “Come.” Matthew 14:28, 29

Peter left the boat and, like Jesus, walked on the water. 

*But when Peter looked away from his Master to the buffeting winds around him, his faith wavered, and he began to sink helplessly into the water.

This is one of the most profound illustrations in the Bible about how we all must approach every minute of every day, every trial, every tribulation, every season of blessing or hardship—by beholding the Christ." 

LandMarksMagazine

The antitypon in Peter's Flood Account

 "The Apostle Peter tells us that the flood of Noah’s day is a type
(historical fulfillment) of the salvation that comes to us in Christ. 

 

In 1 Peter 3:20, Peter states, “When God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.” 

 

Peter makes the point that Noah and his family (eight people) were saved from the destructive waters of the flood in the ark. The water that destroyed the world in Noah’s day and through which Noah is saved “corresponds” (antitypon) to baptism for Christian believers (1 Peter 3:21; cf. Romans 6:4). 

 

Noah and his family’s salvation in the ark points to the salvation that has come in Jesus. Jesus is the “ark” of salvation, the one in whom we must trust to be saved from the judgment of God (John 10:9). 

 

The destruction of the earth through a global flood was a type of the final judgment that will come by fire on the last day when God judges the world but at the same time rescues the godly because they have been saved through Jesus Christ (2 Peter 2:9, 3:7)." AIG

Let the Apostle Peter give the Answer

Q: Where are the People of God from?

But ye are a chosen generation, 

a royal priesthood, 

an holy nation, 

a peculiar people; 

that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light...

Which in time past were not a people, 

but are now the people of God: 

which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

1 Peter 2:9,10

Lesson of Peter's Walk on the Water

"And Peter answered him and said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” And he said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water. But when he saw the boisterous wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, “Lord, save me.” {Mt 14:28-30}

 

THE MIXED CHARACTER OF THE BELIEVER’S EXPERIENCE is very palpably suggested to us here.

Peter was undoubtedly a bold believer in Jesus Christ. 

He addresses his Master devoutly, calling him “Lord”—a name of

reverence, the use of which revealed the change that had been made in his character, and the obedient spirit it had produced. But the misgivings implied in that “if”—“if it is you”—savors rather of unbelief, and yet we find this hesitancy immediately followed by an expression of such strong confidence that we marvel at the request he uttered, “Command me to come to you on the water.” Then, cheered by the Lord’s prompt answer, “Come,” we find him showing courage by descending from the vessel, setting foot on the sea, and actually walking on the water. 

 

His valor, however, soon evaporates; for “when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid.” The faith that buoyed him up gave place to a fear that bowed him down. He who was walking the liquid wave one instant is sinking beneath the surge the next. 

Q: And is this not a common experience? 

Q: Are all God’s people so subject to changes; alternating between calm trust and cowardly fear? 

 

Our trophies are never won without troubles.......often have to engage in such terrible struggles against inbred sin, and to endure such severe pressure from troubles without, that he is constrained to cry out, “Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”  

One day you may be on Tabor’s summit witnessing your Master’s transfiguration, and another day you may be in the Valley of Humiliation, groaning in spirit, humbled and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. 

 

Our way to heaven is uphill and down dale. 

Our life is made of chequered materials; it is not all of one fabric. Sometimes full of hope we bound forward with elastic step; immediately the sun ceases to shine, the big rain drops fall, the vapors rise, and we sit down with folded arms and fixed eye, wearing a sad, leaden cast. 

As in our experience, so in our nature, good and evil meet, but cannot blend; they are at constant variance."

Charles Spurgeon

Lesson from David & Peter's Repentance

O Lord, 

to us belongeth confusion of face . . . because we have sinned against Thee.

Daniel 9:8

 

"A deep sense and clear sight of sin, 

--its heinousness, 

--and the punishment which it deserves, 

should make us lie low before the throne. 

 

We have sinned as Christians. 

Alas! Favored as we have been, we have yet been ungrateful: privileged beyond most, we have not brought forth fruit in proportion. 

 

An unpardoned sinner sins cheaply compared with the sin of one of God's own, who has had communion with Christ.

 

Look at David! Many will talk of his sin, but I pray you look at his

repentance, and hear his broken bones, as each one of them moans out its dolorous confession! 

Mark his tears, as they fall upon the ground, and the deep sighs with which he accompanies the softened music of his harp! 

 

Look, again, at Peter! We speak much of Peter's denying his Master. Remember, it is written, "He wept bitterly." Have we no denials of our Lord to be lamented with tears? 

 

My soul, bow down under a sense of thy natural sinfulness, and worship thy God. 

Admire the grace which saves thee—the mercy which spares thee—the love which pardons thee!" Charles Spurgeon

Why Peter said "7"

 "Peter had come to Christ with the question, "How oft shall my

brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?" 

 

--The rabbis limited the exercise of forgiveness to three offenses.  

 

--Peter, carrying out, as he supposed, the teaching of Christ, thought to extend it to seven, the number signifying perfection. 

 

--But Christ taught that we are never to become weary of forgiving. Not "Until seven times," He said, "but, Until seventy times seven." 

E.G.W/Matt.18:21-35