Luke 22:56

And a certain maid seeing him as he sat in the light of the fire, and looking stedfastly upon him, said, This man also was with him. But he denied, saying, Woman, I know him not. And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou also art one of them. But Peter said, Man, I am not, And after the space of about one hour another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean. But Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew. And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how that he said unto him, Before the cock crow this day thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly.

PETER'S DENIAL

One of those who accosted Peter was a kinsman of Malchus whose ear Peter had cut off; and, if Peter recognized the connection, this would have increased his apprehension (John 18:26).

This incident has been thoroughly commented upon in all of the parallels. See under Luke 22:40 for a list of these.

Luke omitted any reference to Peter's cursing and swearing, but like all the gospel writers, did not fail to spell out completely the act of denial itself. Is this not another example of the prophetic power of Jesus, or his omniscience? Of course it is. No one but God could spell out exactly what will happen by three o'clock tomorrow morning, as Jesus did here. There is a weariness in the continual carping of critics that the omniscience of Jesus is found principally in John.

Cock crow ... "The cock crow was a Roman division of time, marking the close of the third watch, about three o'clock in the morning."[35]

Wept bitterly ... One's heart cannot fail to be touched by the grief of this robust outdoorsman sobbing out his remorse for his impulsive denial of the Lord whom he loved. Sin had taken him unawares, when his defenses were down, when the powers of darkness were ascendant; but none of the extenuating circumstances removed the sting from his heart, nor could a flood of tears wash it away.

And Peter remembered ... The only trouble with this was that it came a bit late to prevent Peter's denial. If only he could have remembered what Jesus had prophesied somewhat earlier, he might have found in that remembrance some means of averting failure.