Thursday, 25 May 2023

The Upper Room Discourse 8

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Peter is the most colorful of the disciples. Right in the middle of the Upper Room Discourse, Yeshua prophesies over Peter saying ... John 13:38 Yeshua answers, "Will you lay down your life for Me? Amen, amen I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times!"

Peter had just finished saying ... John 13:37b I'll lay down my life for You! Yeshua had to correct him by speaking what He knew to be true. And it happened just as Yeshua prophesied. John 18:2-27 One of the servants of the kohen gadol, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, "Didn't I see you in the garden with Him?" Again Peter denied it, and immediately a rooster crowed.

Peter was so ashamed of himself. Luke 22:61-62 And the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, 'Before the rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.' And Peter went out and wept bitterly.

We are all Peter. From time to time, even though we have given our lives to be zealous for the Lord, we miss the purposes of God. God forgave Peter, as we will see, so that we will believe He will forgive us too. In the resurrection, above John 21 verse 15 the TLV has a heading 'Love Restores Peter.' And so it is for us, "Love Restores You and me."

In John 21, the 3 verses from 15 through 17, Yeshua asks Peter 3 times, "Do you love Me?" Each time Peter answers in the affirmative and each time Yeshua gives Peter an instruction, "Feed My lambs" (the young ones) and "feed My sheep" (grown up lambs). This is our lesson today. The parable begins in Matthew 25 verse 31 and ends with this ... Matthew 25:40 And answering, the King will say to them, 'Amen, I tell you, whatever you did to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'

A key to the kingdom is to love what Yeshua loves. He loves His sheep and His commandment is simple, "Feed My sheep." We have received forgiveness for ourselves, now let's be the ambassadors for Yeshua and forgive others. Then we are free to feed Yeshua's lambs and sheep. In this way we will fulfill our destiny in Him.