The profundity of the comments that children make in Bible discussions never ceases to amaze me. Last night, at my son’s house, there was a discussion of Peter and James in Acts 5 and 12; how that God saw fit to deliver Peter from prison in Acts 5, but did not deliver James in Acts 12. Instead, He allowed his execution. Maggie, who is seven, thought it was interesting and began to think of reasons why that would be the case. Together, they thought of all kinds of reasons God might have had, in His sovereignty and complete knowledge, to allow this disparity. I’m sure they listed reasons having to do with the spread of the gospel and reasons having to do with the strengthening of those left behind. But Ellis, who is four, said, in a trembling and weepy little voice “Wait! God didn’t save James?!!”
But, in the end, their mama and daddy pointed out the important truth that James was happy in his death because He got to go to be with the Lord and all of his suffering was over, for good. “See? James was happy that he got to leave prison and go to be forever happy. It actually made him happy that he was chosen to get to leave this world.”
Ellis, in a trembling little voice responded “Well, maybe it made James happy. But it doesn’t make me happy.”
Sometimes I fail to look at things through the eyes of God. Often, I’m looking at death and suffering around me and, with trembling voice, I say “This doesn’t make me happy.” Like Ellis, I am full of compassion toward God’s people and I wonder why the evil and death is all around.
It is through the words of Peter that I take comfort:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:3-9).
I love the word outcome. See, the ultimate outcome for James and Peter was the same. It was the salvation of their souls. Something was being kept in heaven; reserved for each of them. In the grand scheme of things, their entrances into the realm of glory was separated by only the briefest moment in time—just a few years in the vast sea of eternity.
But I would not have those words in this epistle of suffering if Peter had not survived the imprisonment of Acts 5 and gone on to write them later. And, perhaps, the Holy Spirit could then use Peter to write them, in part, because Peter had witnessed and survived the early Jewish and Herodian persecution, even in the death of James. Remember, James was one of his fishing buddies in the early days, before they made the huge life-change there in Capernaum, by the sea of Galilee. The loss of Peter, in James’ death, was the ultimate gain for James. Death is no thief to the faithful, for his sting has been taken (1 Corinthians15:55). Peter was learning that through every trial and loss. He was getting ready to write 1 Peter and give comfort and courage to many generations of Christians to come.
We are grieved by various trials. As Ellis says “They don’t make us happy.” But one day they will.
