In the event we are looking closely at in this journal entry, we come across all four gospels including Peter’s big failure on the night Jesus was arrested. This was an event Jesus predicted would happen just hours before, and it happened just as Jesus said it would.
This leads us to a question that has implications for us all: Would Peter have denied Jesus if Jesus hadn’t said anything? Or in other words, did Jesus’ prediction change the course of the events of that night and take away Peter’s free will to choose a different path?
These are questions that we must answer if we want to understand more about God’s nature, and these the questions are found in the heart of the idea of predestination – which can be described as God knowing whether someone will be saved or lost before they are even born. Does predestination take away a person’s freedom of choice?
We could frame what happened in this event a different way.
Jesus knew Peter’s future. Jesus knew who Peter was and what Peter would become in the coming years. Jesus also knew Peter was about to make the biggest mistake of his life – one that he would regret for the rest of his life.
Jesus knew that regardless of the details surrounding how Peter chose to deny Him, Peter was going to directly separate himself from Jesus at three separate points. Nothing Jesus would say or not say would change that – however, by saying what would happen, Jesus offers Peter a warning and a direct, personal reason to place even more faith in Him when their relationship would be restored in the coming week(s). And, by giving Peter the clear warning on the front end, Jesus helps Peter break some of the pride in His heart, because if you fail in a huge way, right after Jesus warns you about it, you basically don’t deserve the prestigious position as leader of the disciples.
Perhaps Peter had let his position as the vocal one in the core group of three disciples get to him. In many ways, he was the unofficial leader of this group of Jesus followers – and a “second-in-command” position like this likely had allowed some pride to creep into His heart. A huge failure after a direct warning and prediction about it had the potential to re-humble the most famous of Jesus’ disciples.
Jesus does know the future, but just because Jesus can see our actions and choices before we make them doesn’t mean that He is predestining us to make good or bad decisions. Jesus didn’t want Peter to deny Him, but it would have happened whether Jesus had said something or not.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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