Peter - The Fisher of Men

Apostle Peter is an interesting character in the Bible, as he represents you and I. He started of as an ordinary, everyday person, and ended up being extraordinary, and a believer in Christ. He is a person whom the Lord had called in order to show us that irrespective of our family, social, or economic backgrounds, and inspite of our weaknesses, the Lord can still use us in His Kingdom, and make us shine as the children of the Most High God. Apostle Peter just like you and I, made sincere mistakes and learned whenever the Lord gently corrected him. Peter had asked questions to the Lord which you and I would have asked, where the Lord took time to answer his questions. The Lord is a person who declares the end from the beginning. The Bible says:

"Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure" - Isaiah 46:10

Our Lord Jesus, when He initially called Apostle Peter, who was a "fisherman" by profession, the Lord promised that He would make him a "fisher of men". Whenever the Lord calls a person, His promise would come to pass inspite of the person's mistakes and weaknesses, because He is the Lord who declares the end from the beginning. Peter denying the Lord three times seemed like the end of God's plan, but Peter being the Lord's sheep, was never abandoned the Lord. The Lord being the Good Shepherd, would never let anything happen to His sheep. In fact, the Lord did prophesy to Peter that he would fall. He said so not to discourage Peter, but to make him rely on the Lord's strength rather than Peter relying on his own strength. By this prophecy, the Lord also demonstrated to Peter that He was perfectly aware of his weaknesses. For example, when Peter acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah, the Lord immediately said that it was not Peter's human wisdom that gave him this revelation, but it was the Heavenly Father, because Peter was uneducated and was a fisherman by profession, therefore there was no way Peter in his human understanding could have realized Jesus to be the Son of God. Hence Jesus said:

"...Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven" - Matthew 16:17

The Lord deliberately made the above statement to make Peter understand and encourage that the Lord is with him, and He will never leave him nor forsake him. When the Lord foretold that Peter would fall, He immediately comforted Peter by saying that He has gone ahead and had interceeded for him with the Father. The Bible says:

"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" - Luke 22:31-32

Angels and saints do not interceed for us, but rather the Lord Jesus Himself is interseeding for us today in person with our Heavenly Father. Just like with Apostle Peter, whenever the Lord gives us a vision or a prophesy, it will always minister comfort and hope which will ultimately glorify the Lord. The Lord will never give us a vision or a prophesy which will impart fear into us. Once I heard a preacher publically say in the church, that when he was praying, God gave him a vision where he saw more people going to hell than heaven. This imparted fear among many people in the church. I was also seated among the congregation, and I knew very well that this was not a vision from the Lord because, firstly, Apostle John in Revelation 7:9 states that he saw a great multitude of believers in Christ which no man could number, in heaven before the throne of God. Secondly, this vision never ministered comfort to anyone who heard it, where it left the people deprived of hope, and ultimately it never glorified the Lord. Our Lord Jesus's prophesy to Peter had hope which Peter held on to, because the Lord had said that He had already interceeded with the Father in Heaven. It is for this reason, when Peter was out fishing, and when he saw the Lord on the shore, instead of running away from the Lord, Peter ran towards the Lord as seen in John 21, where Peter was restored by the Lord. Later we see that because Peter was restored by the Lord, he boldly preached the Gospel of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection during the day of Pentacost and 3000 people got saved. The Bible says:

"Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls" - Acts 2:41

Moreover, what marveled people the most is that Apostle Peter and Apostle John both were uneducated and ignorant men, yet people noticed that these men preached as though they were educated. The Bible says:

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus" - Acts 4:13

There was another preacher whom I had encountered in the church, who was preaching certain doctrines that were unbiblical and had no scriptural foundation. Upon noticing this, a person from the congregation questioned the preacher asking him to justify his statements by providing supporting scripture verses. To which the preacher replied to the person by asking him another question saying "can you tell me how can the Bible be of any help to an uneducated person"?. Upon hearing this, the person in the congregation clearly understood that this preacher has not read the Bible, therefore it would be pointless to explain as it would only lead to a never ending arguement, and so he sat down. The only way to preach man made doctrines is to remove God's Word from the equation, or to quote God's Word out of its original context, or to give excuses saying that only renouned theologians and Bible scholars can understand the Bible. Peter being an uneducated man, in his letter clearly states that you don't need a theologian or a Bible scholar to make you understand God's Word:

"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation" - 2 Peter 1:20

This shows that whatever Peter mentioned in his letters were not his own opinion, but rather they are the words of the risen Christ. This clearly shows that irrespective of our mistakes, education, family, social and economic backgrounds, the Lord can still use us in His Kingdom. This does not mean that we continue to make mistakes, but rather this gives us an opportunity to learn from our mistakes as the Lord is with us, constantly guiding us as the Good Shepherd. Our Lord Jesus never ever stepped outside the confines of scriptural foundation, as He is the Word made flesh, He gave high importance to scripture, and rebuked anyone who was trying to promote man made doctrines which had no scriptural foundation. Our Lord Jesus said:

"... blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it" - Luke 11:28

Apostle Peter based his lifestyle on God's Word, hence just as the Lord had promised, Peter went from being a fisherman, into being a fisher of men starting from the day of Pentacost where 3000 people became believers in Christ. This does not mean that we should look to Peter, as he is not the source, and neither is he the way, the truth, and the life. We see this happening in Acts 10:25-26, when Peter came to Cornelius's house, Cornelius fell at Peter's feet and worshipped him. Peter immediately picked up Cornelius and said that he is only a man, thereby asking him to worship only the Lord. We encounter a similar event in Acts 14, where people mistake Apostle Paul and Barnabus to be gods because of a cripple man being healed due to their preaching of the Gospel. Apostle Paul also said the same as Peter did, that they are mere men and that the people are to only worship the living God who made the heaven and earth. What this means is that we need to look to Jesus through the scriptures, as Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus said:

"I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" - John 14:6

This is the reason when Lord Jesus said "seek and ye shall find", what He meant was when we seek Jesus in the scriptures, we will find Him. For the same reason, when Jesus said "upon this rock I will build my church", Peter being a Jew, knew very well that Jesus was not talking about the church being built upon Peter, but rather, Jesus was talking about the church being built upon the foundations of God's Word, where Christ being the cornerstone. Also later in the Bible, we see Apostle Paul also proclaiming Christ as the Rock and the Cornerstone. The Bible says:

"And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ" - 1 Corinthians 10:4

"Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" - Ephesians 2:19-22

There was a time when Apostle Peter compared himself with Apostle John and questioned the Lord saying "what will John do?". To which the Lord replied to Peter saying:

"If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me" - John 21:22

In other words, the Lord was asking Peter not to compare himself with others. He said that even if the Lord keeps John alive till His Second Coming this is not the plan which the Lord has for Peter. The Lord's plan is different for everyone, and that Peter should only continue to keep his focus on the Lord, and not get distracted with other things. The Lord's plan for you and I are different. Instead of comparing ourselves with what we have and what we don't have, we ought to keep our focus on the Lord through the scriptures. From the life of Apostle Peter, we can see how the Lord can transform an ordinary everyday person, to an extraordinary believer in Christ. The Bible says:

"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" - 2 Corinthians 4:4

We live in a world where people no longer view the truth to be absolute, but they treat the truth to be relative by saying, "well that is just your opinion, but this is what I think", or "I am free to believe what I choose to believe", etc. Some people even end up saying "don't push your moral values on me!", and by doing so they are actually making a moral statement and pushing their values. Whether our opinions are different, or whether we choose to believe differently, the truth remains the same. It is only the absolute truth of God's Word that has rhe power to set people free, as Jesus said in John 8:36, "if the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed".