Jesus stayed with His disciples for about 3 years. In that time He related with them as teacher and would later call them friends.
Peter came to love Jesus so much that in the end he swears that he could die for Him.
So strong was Peter's love for Jesus that he was willing to defend Jesus with the sword.
I never saw this until recently, though. Peter Loved Jesus as a brother and not as Lord.
Follow through with me and I will show you. You remember when Jesus rebuked Peter with the infamous, "get thee behind me..."? Peter was trying to protect 'the man', Jesus and he so got in the way of 'the Lord', Jesus. When He looked at Jesus he saw Him as a brother and would have done anything for the 'man'.
But he did not see Jesus as Lord and even when he finally did (see Jesus as the Christ) he still did not understand.
Matthew 16:16 Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
How could he understand? He was not yet filled with the Spirit and the things of God are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know [them,] because they are spiritually discerned.
He couldn't get the clear picture of who Jesus was until he was filled with the Spirit. This is because the Holy Spirit only can reveal Jesus.
You see, God performed the greatest of miracles before Israel in Egypt and in the wilderness but they still rebelled and hardened their hearts. How could they do such a thing with all the miracles they saw? I will tell you how.
Israel saw the miracles with the eyes of the flesh. Their eyes saw the deliverance but their hearts did not perceive the liberation. Therefore their bodies were out of bondage but their hearts remained enslaved. You see, it is only the Holy Spirit who can decode to the heart what the eyes are seeing or what the ears are hearing.
Without the Holy Spirit nothing you see God do for you or in you will ever really transform you. However, when the Holy Spirit tells your heart who Jesus or the Father is and What they have done for you, that there is the game changer. It is called a Revelation.
Hearing or seeing without revelation is like listening to a foreign language. You can hear it loud and clear but you can't understand any of it or its significance. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Revelation. At the baptism of Jesus He descended on Him as a dove to 'reveal' him to the world, although that revelation served John the Baptist more than the rest.
Look at this scripture to help you understand.
John 21:15-17 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.
Jesus asked Peter 3 times, "Do you love me..?" Each time Peter answered in the affirmative until the third time he got offended.
I looked up the Greek version of it and I was amazed.
The first two times Jesus asked about agape (the love of God) and Peter answered about philia (the love of friends/ brotherly love)
Jesus asked Peter, "Do you [agape] me?" To say, "Do you love me as your God/Lord? Each time Peter replied, "You know I [philia] you." To say, "You know I love you like a brother."
Jesus was indeed like a brother to Peter but with revelation Peter could have known that Jesus was more than a brother. He could have seen the Lordship of Jesus. When you see with your eyes you see okay but when you see by the Spirit you see deeper and right.
He is the Spirit of Revelation. His work is to reveal God and Jesus to you that you may know Him as He is. His work also is to reveal the God in you to the world.
Embrace Him today; the Spirit of Revelation.
