Peter- The Hour Before

Note: To the music office workers and studio workers, this is the long version of what I shared for church at Seton. It has more content then what I shared, so please keep reading! :)

A few mornings ago, I was reading in Matthew 26. I was reading about Christ's last few days on earth, the passover, and then Gethsemane. As I was reading, something that really caught my attention was verse 45. "Sleep on now, and take your rest; behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners." This was after Christ had prayed three times, and He had tried to get the disciples to pray with him as well. But every time He came back to them, they were asleep. Ok, so lets start reading a few verses back.

Verse 36: "Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, 'Sit here, while I go and pray yonder.' And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith He unto them, 'My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.' (In Luke 22:40 "And when He was at the place, He said unto them, 'Pray that ye enter not into temptation'.") And He went a little farther, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, 'O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.' And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, (NOTICE: it says that Jesus saith unto Peter. It said the same thing in Mark.) 'What could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.' He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, 'O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, thy will be done.' And He came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then cometh He to His disciples, and saith unto them, 'Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners'."

wow...so that is a lot in one mouth full! Lets take it apart bit by bit. The first thing to notice is that when Jesus came back from praying the first time and he found the disciples asleep, He spoke to Peter. Now why would He specifically address His words to Peter? Well, if you remember a few verses back during the passover supper, Peter had just told Christ that He would die with Him if need be, and that he would NEVER deny Christ. Yet Jesus knew something that Peter didn't, and He tried to get Peter to understand. Peter's spirit was willing, but his flesh was weak. Peter needed to pray before the hour of temptation so that he wouldn't fall. This is what Christ was doing. In Luke 22:43 it says, " And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him." In answer to Christ's prayer, God sent an angel to give Him strength for his coming hardship. Look at the difference between what happened to Christ after praying and Peter after sleeping. Peter fell and Christ was victorious. In Luke once again, it says in verse 31 and 32, "And the Lord said, 'Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.'" Satan desires to have each one of us, that he may sift us as wheat. Yet, just as Christ prayed for Peter, He is praying for us as well. His prayer is in John 17 and I encourage you to read it, because it is so encouraging to know that Christ is praying for us. But notice, Christ is praying that we are not taken out of the world, but that we are kept from temptation in the world. Yet even though Christ was praying for Peter, he still fell. Why? Because He didn't set aside that time to pray for himself. That hour before he was tempted was when he needed to have prayed the most. That is why when we come to Matt verse 36 Jesus said, "Sleep on..." Peter had slept through the time when he should have been praying, and now that the hour of temptation had come he might as well be sleeping. When we pray earnestly before the hour of temptation, for Christ to help keep us from falling when we are tempted, then the very exact moment that we are tempted we instantly have extra strength from God to resist. For me, it is so much harder to stay strong through temptation if previously I haven't asked God to keep me from falling. My spirit is willing, I want to stay strong and do what Jesus has asked me to do, but my flesh is weak unless I pray for strength. That hour before we are tempted is so important. If every morning, we make it a habit to beg the Lord for strength to resist temptation for that day, then He will send us an angel to strengthen us just like He did for Christ. And just as Christ was, we can be victorious through His strength.