The setting is the Last Supper. Jesus stands on the brink of the greatest trial of His earthly and divine life—His death. In this final, intimate moment with His disciples, He offers a promise:
“You will eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
It is a declaration of honor and reward, because the disciples had been faithful, remaining with Him through His trials. Their faithfulness is remembered, and they are promised a place of authority in God’s kingdom. But for Simon Peter, there is more work to be done. The good news is immediately followed by something unsettling—a trial of his own.
Jesus turns to him and says:
“Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.”
Here’s the good news: a throne . Here’s the hard news: a a trial.
Trials of Master and Disciple
In the original language, the word “demanded” carries the meaning of asking permission.
By something unsettling—a trial of his own—Jesus’ trial sets the stage for Peter’s trial. The disciple’s testing is a reflection of the master’s testing—Peter is called to walk through a shadow of what Jesus Himself will endure. In other words, Peter’s denial and separation from Christ, mirrors Jesus’ suffering. His trial is a “participation” in Jesus’ own path away from the father.
God’s purposes always exceed what meets the eye. Though Satan intends Peter’s harm, God intends Peter’s good—and the very promise of a throne demands Peter’s sifting. To sit on that throne, to lead, and shepherd, Peter must first be purified, shaken, and refined.
The Sifting Process
In ancient times, sifting wheat was a violent process. The grain was shaken aggressively so the valuable kernels could be separated from dust and impurities, essential for the wheat to be useful. And essential for a disciple to be shaped: the dust symbolized his flesh, which had to be removed. Satan intended to shake Peter away from his faith. God used the shaking to separate Peter from his flesh.
As Rita A. Schulte notes, this kind of “sifting” in Scripture represents intense trial meant to refine and purify—separating what is true from what is false. The sifting was not arbitrary; it was preparation for the role he was promised. The throne required refinement.
The Prayer Jesus Prayed
What Jesus prays next is striking—not for what He includes, but for what He omits. He does not pray for Peter’s escape, strength, comfort, healing, or deliverance. The trial still comes. Instead, Jesus prays one thing:
“That your faith may not fail.”
This prayer reveals what truly matters. If this was Jesus’ concern for Peter, it ought to shape our own prayers. Satan’s ultimate aim is not simply suffering or failure. He doesn’t care whether your life appears successful or broken, moral or chaotic, comfortable or painful. His goal is singular: to separate you from faith in the living God.
As C.S. Lewis illustrates in The Screwtape Letters, Satan is just as content using comfort and prosperity as he is using suffering and loss. Sifting takes many forms. Job lost everything and clung to God. Solomon gained everything and drifted from Him.
Peter, with an almost prophetic knowledge of how he would be sifted, immediately responded as if he knew:
“I am ready to go with you anywhere, to prison and to death.”
In essence: I would never betray you. Yet betrayal is exactly what happens. Sifting always involves separation—but not necessarily permanent separation. There is separation, and then there is reunion. We are separated from our flesh and united with Christ in the Spirit.
Consider Peter’s words in 1 Peter 1:5–7:
“Who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed… In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
Peter’s denial was devastating, but his faith did not disappear. It led him to repentance. And he indeed turned and strengthened his brothers—with the confidence of a man who had been sifted like wheat and yet survived. Faith can survive failure.
All of this unfolds during Passover—a celebration of Israel’s deliverance from slavery—and the announcement of a new covenant. Peter’s trial and failure mirrors Israel’s failure under the old covenant. His restoration points forward to Israel’s repentance and return under the new covenant.
If Peter—Christ’s closest friend and disciple—could deny Him three times and still be welcomed back into the arms of the risen Christ, then there is hope for every lost sheep.
Peter’s sifting was not only a means of purification, but also a preparation for the throne he was promised—a revelation of God’s unfailing forgiveness toward His wayward children, the very purpose of Christ’s death and resurrection. Here, the good is mingled with the hard: the honor of the kingdom came with the necessary refining, and Jesus’ trial made Peter’s trial redemptive and purposeful.
Written by Kimberly Blenkhorn
My Faith Place 