Jesus spoke to Simon Peter in Luke chapter 22:
31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; 32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
Peter objected by restating his confession of faith:
33 And he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!”
34 And He said, “I say to you, Peter, the cock will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”
A similar situation is found in Job 1:6-12, where Satan challenged God about the faith of Job. Job was then tested, or sifted as wheat, to see if his faith was real or simulated.
Jesus said that He had prayed on behalf of Peter, ensuring that Peter’s faith would not fail in the end. In fact, that victory would strengthen Peter so that he would, in turn, strengthen his brothers. A similar result is seen in the story of Job, for after he learned of the sovereignty of God on a deeper level and emerged victorious, he was able to pray for those friends who had given him wrong advice that came through their misperceptions of the character of God. In Job 42:
10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold.
Job prospered under his previous level of faith, but when he learned the sovereignty of GOD, his prosperity doubled. His prosperity included physical wealth and reaffirmed his faith in FATHER.
Peter was to undergo a test of faith. Though he would fail the test at first, he would overcome in the end. As with Job, the failures humbled Peter, and when he remembered the prophecy later, he was able to take heart, knowing that his failure would work to his advantage and to the advantage of his brothers who might undergo similar trials of faith.
It is written by THE SPIRIT in Amos 9:
8 “Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom [Israel], and I will destroy it from the face of the earth; nevertheless, I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the Lord.
9 For behold, I am commanding, and I will shake the house of Israel among all nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, but not a kernel will fall to the ground.
The KJV says, “as corn is sifted in a sieve.” We see, then, that Israel would be sifted as grain. Even these two names (Jacob and Israel) are part of the sifting, because their captivity was designed to sift and separate chaff from wheat, flesh from spirit.
The term satan means an adversary and signifies one who causes or stirs up strife and opposition in order to create breaches. On the other hand, Jesus was a healer of breaches.
Peter’s denial of Christ shows that Satan was successful in sifting Peter as wheat. But ultimately, Jesus had changed Peter’s name to Simon, which means “hearing with acceptance.” He was destined in the end to hear FATHER’S voice and be obedient.
The work of sifting was to separate wheat from chaff, that is, to separate the spiritual from the fleshly. Sifting separates chaff from wheat so the chaff can be discarded and burned. Satan desired to sift Peter, thinking he would be discarded as chaff. But God’s purpose was to allow Satan to sift Peter in order to remove his “chaff,” so that Peter might be changed from fleshly to spiritual.
The old man is the chaff that must be separated so that the New Creation Man might be the real YOU. In other words, Satan sifts to destroy, but FATHER’S purpose is to destroy the flesh, so that the spiritual man might be saved.
Not only would Peter deny knowing Jesus, but all of the disciples would fall away. Jesus knew this from Zech. 13:7, which he quoted. That entire chapter was about the crucifixion of Christ and the divine purpose. He does not speak of it as a “sifting,” which is an agricultural theme, but as a “refining,” which is about testing metals.
It is written by THE SPIRIT in Zech. 13:
9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God’.”
Whether it is portrayed as sifting or refining, the basic meaning is the same. There will be trials, but in the end the New Covenant will prevail, for FATHER will cause the people to “call on MY Name”.
In Mark 14 Peter again proclaimed his willingness to die rather than to deny Him:
31 But Peter kept saying insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!”
When a person or people are sifted, they discover their weakness and are strengthened through that experience. Their heart idols were overthrown by this exposure, and all things worked together for good, for they are strengthened by this temporary failure.
Let us embrace any sifting which needs to occur. Some of us have already experienced this sifting/cleansing process. Yes, it may be painful but the maturing process requires us to become spotless as His Bride.