subject: The Bible Said The Rock [print this page] Peter stepped forward and said, "Wait a minute. We know you aren't talking about the rock! These guys might, but not me! Not me, Lord. I'll die for you, Lord. Not me!" And Jesus looked at Simon Peter and He said, "The Rock is going to crumble because you are going to deny me three times before the rooster crows tonight". Boy, you must have the wrong guy! You really must. It's interesting to note when Jesus nicknamed Simon "The Rock", He saw what no one else saw, didn't He? He saw the potential in his life. He saw, not what he was, but what he could be. The Bible says when we get to heaven, that Jesus will give us a new name.
We'll all have new names and these names will be names hopefully, that we fit into because have exemplified the characteristics of that name while on earth.
Sure enough, Jesus was arrested and He was brought to trial and Peter, the Bible says, followed at a distance. He really did. And Peter was kind of catching a courage cramp at this time, wasn't he? "Oh yeah. I'll be with you". The rock begins to crumble and he's out warming his hands by the fire while Jesus is being tried. Three times he denied Christ. "Oh, I don't know Him. I don't know this Jesus character. What are you talking about?" And the third time he denied him, they were leading Jesus out through the courtyard and their eyes locked and the rooster crowed and the Bible said the Rock, he crumbled. He ran out and wept bitterly. Bitterly. He'd fallen. It looked like it was over.
Ed Young says that you can go ahead and write Peter out of the history books, out of the Word of God. It was a difficult time. Broadway Joe Namath. You remember him, don't you? The Saturday before the Superbowl, he's lying out in the sun by a pool and a reporter sticks a microphone in the shaggy-haired quarterback's face, and this was before a lot of athletes were boastful and made all these big-time predictions. The announcer said, "Joe Willy, what do you think about tomorrow's game?" He said in his southern accent, "We're going to win. We have the greatest team in football. We're the world champions, the New York Jets, and in twenty-four hours, I'll show the world that I am right". When he said that, the excitement, the anticipation for the Superbowl, reached a fever-pitch level. People wanted to see "Will Joe Namath do what he said he was going to do?" You know what happened? They dominated the Baltimore Colts. The New York Jets won the Superbowl, and Joe Namath was right.
