The Gospel of John presents the Lord Jesus in His personal and essential glory as the eternal Word and the eternal Son. He is the Jehovah of Psalm 139, who is omniscient (all-knowing), omnipresent (everywhere present), and omnipotent (all-powerful). Yet, in amazing grace, He became true Man: “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (Jn. 1:14).

It is with this view of our blessed Lord that we have this resurrection scene before us. In grace, He had just restored Peter to public service, after probing his heart to help him see the root of his sin: self-confidence. Truly, our Lord is the “heart-knowing God” who does not just judge outward actions, but knows our hearts and helps us find out what is in our own hearts so that we can judge it in His light.

In this wonderful “verily, verily,” the Lord not only tells Peter about his past—“when thou wast young”—but also about his future. We belong to a Master who fully knows our pathway from beginning to end. He can tell Peter what will happen when he would be old. This view of our Lord should give us great comfort. He knows our pathway, too, from start to finish. He knows every trial, every circumstance, every difficulty, as well as every joy that we will experience in our life here. We do not know what a day may bring forth (Jas. 4:14), but He knows. For us today, He may not tell us as He did Peter, but we can rest in the fact that He knows. And we can rest knowing that He is already interceding for us before any trial comes into our lives (Heb. 7:25). We do not know what may come tomorrow, but He knows!