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MARK CHAPTERS 13 & 14 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel See previous page Mk 13,1-13 (49l) Judgment >> God judges the world >> Last days >> Condition of the world in the last days -- The disciples asked Jesus to admire the temple buildings; His only response was that they will be completely demolished in the not so distant future. His disciples then asked Him what the signs will be when all these things take place, then He began His dissertation about the end times. Jesus made a direct connection between the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. and the signs of the end times. In other words we can take that event in Israel's history as a microcosm of events that will unfold in the last days. When Titus, emperor of Rome, captured Jerusalem and destroyed the temple, Christians during that period must have interpreted it as the end times, and who could blame them, since Jesus made it sound like the destruction of the temple would mark the end and be a sign of His return. He said those things for the generation that would witness His glorious return. Starting in verse 20 to the end of the chapter He said some things that have yet to happen that are specific only to the last days. Jesus is telling us to learn from history. Some day the temple will be rebuilt, only to be re-destroyed, and when it is destroyed the second time, look up, for your redemption draws neigh. The first time was a dress rehearsal for our instruction, the second time will be the real thing. The same can be said about WWII and Hitler's Germany. Mk 13-5,6 (183i) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Spirit of the broad road >> Spirit of error will lead you astray -- These verses go with verses 21-23. At the top of Jesus' list about the end times is His cautionary advise not to be misled. It sounds that this will be our greatest threat; Satan will unleashed a plethora of deception in the last days and disperse upon the world a spirit of stupor, giving the recipients the inability to look error in the eye and discern it. Like Medusa, do not play with this spirit. The Bible depicts it as a spirit of drunkenness. The world will imbibe strange spirits and become so drunk in the last days that the earth itself will reel to and fro by earthquakes; but to those who are chosen and faithful, the Holy Spirit will be right beside us in great power to strengthen us from Satan's deception, so there will be no excuse for falling into his trap. Mk 13-6 (160j) Works of the devil >> Satan determines the world's direction >> Temptation >> Temptation to walk in unbelief >> Tempted to abandon your convictions -- This verse goes with verses 21-23 Mk 13-8 (225j) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Parables about nurturing the people of God >> Parables about a woman in labor giving birth to a child -- Earthquakes play a major role in the last days; they help cause the turn of events and help interpret our place on the map of endtime prophecies. There are some instances in the Bible that can be explained by earthquakes and there are other instances of earthquakes that need to be interpreted. War is purely manmade, earthquakes are a natural phenomenon, and famines are the result of a failed economy. Earthquakes have always occurred and so has war and famine, but the interpretation is in their frequency and intensity, the more frequent and intense, the closer we are to Jesus' second coming. Mk 13,9-13 (242ka) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Reacting to persecution >> Enduring persecution >> Persecution to the death – When the failed global economy finally comes back online, the antichrist will have instituted the Mark of the Beast, which is evil in that his empire will have already been in the process of martyring the saints to silence them from telling the world not to take the Mark. The institution run by the people who are martyring the saints will also control of the economy, associating the two, so anybody who takes the Mark will inadvertently endorse the martyrdom of God's people. The book of Revelation doesn’t speak about earthquakes until the sixth seal, and the first five seals speak of war, famine and death. Many people who say they would never take the Mark will be on the verge of starvation and reconsider. They will take the Mark and inadvertently vote to slaughter Christians. This is when the seventh seal occurs and God’s trumpet judgments begin to sound. He hasn’t done anything until the sixth seal, which represents an earthquake that will be felt around the world, signaling the beginning of His judgments against those who would martyr His people. The earthquake of the sixth seal will be the first of many that will occur during God’s period of Trumpet judgments. Each earthquake will be more intense than the previous one, acting like a severity meter that will determine our proximity to the end of the age, the First Resurrection and the bowls of His fierce wrath. See also: Last days (Mark of the beast associated with the blood of the saints); Jn 13,23-27; 163h KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mk 13-9 (154h) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> God bears witness against the world >> Witness that the world is rebellious against God >> Witness against unbelief – All the economies of the nations have pooled together and have become one giant economy. George Bush Senior in 1989 spoke of a New World Order, and four years later Bill Clinton brought in this New World Order through NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). The result was that a nation’s corporations are working behind the borders of another nation. Now we have physical boundaries and national economies controlled by other nations, so what once was a fairly simple problem has been made hopelessly complicated. Third parties are managing corporations and economies, called central banks. These central banks do whatever they please; they are not monitored or controlled by anyone, but are independent entities. While they pretend to be stewards of the world economy, they are actually in business for themselves, and have turned the world into such a convoluted mess that no one can fix it. Through money lending they have indebted whole nations to become beholden to them. Being that money is the root of all evil, we can safely assume that Satan is at the helm of this global economy, which is on the verge of total collapse from a cross between incompetence and greed. Being that Satan works through confusion, they are probably waiting for a period of confusion to crescendo before they knock the economy offline. This will be a time when no one can buy or sell. We can be sure there are people evil enough to hold down the economy until it breathes its last, being under the conviction that there are too many people in the world, who will conduct a thinning of the herd, until billions of people die. Mk 13-10,11 (149f) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Preaching the gospel to the world >> Preach "Thy kingdom come" Mk 13-11 (105j) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Led by the Spirit >> To the truth >> Led into the mind of Christ (110c) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit speaks through us in times of persecution (112a) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Wisdom of the spirit (126g) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Peace in the midst of the storm (156g) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of salvation >> Manifesting the Holy Spirit is evidence of salvation (216h) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> Compelled by the Spirit >> Following God in fear of losing the anointing -- The last days is depicted as a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon His people, who will follow Him wherever He goes, into the mouth of dragons or into the depths of the sea if needed, just to be in His presence and to hear His voice in the chambers of their heart. Living for Jesus in those days will be like sustaining a juggling act in the middle of a hurricane; it will seem out of place to everyone. The existing government will require us to give an account of our rebellion against the system, and we will open our mouth and our relationship with Christ will come spilling on them, and the world will kill us for it. It is no wonder the wrath of God will be so severe upon the world in those days. Mk 13-12,13 (25c) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Murder >> Persecution to the death >> Murdering for prestige Mk 13-12 (65f) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Jesus brings division >> Families break up because of faith in Christ (204d) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Back-slider >> Practicing sin >> The apostasy -- According to this verse, the last days will be another Hitler scenario, when they systematically round up Christians and dispose of them. It will be a day when it will be important to know who are our real friends. Jesus was talking about family members, but the word "brother " could apply just as well to spiritual brother as literal brother. That is, your brother in the Lord could one day get cold feet, cash in his chips, renounce his faith in Christ to avoid being captured and killed, and then turn you in for a reward. Put pressure on the Church and the faithless will leave in droves and the faithful will flourish to meet the demands of the pressing world around them, resulting in a higher concentration of true believers in the Church, who's faith will grow exponentially. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mk 13-13 (98k) Thy kingdom come >> Endurance (Thorn in the flesh) >> Endurance invites the Holy Spirit into your life >> The salvation of God >> Endure to the end – Jesus said many times, “It is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved” (Mat 10-22). God in almost every context speaks in the future tense regarding our salvation, as though salvation only matters at the end of our lives. We say that we are already saved, because we have been born-again, and this is true, but Jesus stands at the other end of our salvation and says that if we don’t enter the Kingdom of God in a state of salvation, we will not enter it at all. Every person will struggle with something and suffer hardship and difficulty, and the question that God poses to each of us is this: ‘Will we let our difficulties bar us from heaven?’ God wants us to keep the faith in Him to the end no matter what happens, and make sure love stays in our heart. (128k) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Bearing fruit >> Living a fruitful life is a way of survival (156e) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Evidence of salvation >> You will know them by their endurance – The one who does not endure to the end will not be saved, or perhaps they never were saved. The last days will act as a winnowing fork in the hand of God to root out all the false brethren in the Church, who lay claim to faith but don’t bear the fruit of the kingdom. They may be nice people, otherwise they wouldn’t be effective impostors of Christianity. “Long-suffering” is a byproduct of the fruits of the Spirit, so if they are unwilling to express love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc. (Gal 5-22), then neither will they suffer long. God has withstood their presence in His Church for two thousand years, people who have proclaimed faith among the brethren, but have never committed themselves to the grace of God and who never bore the fruit of the Spirit. They have survived as though undetected, because the Church isn’t watching the way it should. They don't believe anybody would impersonate Christianity, and they have come to the misunderstanding that anyone who claims faith in Jesus must believe in Him. This is the height of naivety. People often have ulterior motives for claiming Christianity. The test is not whether they confess Jesus in good times; the test is whether they confess Him in times of persecution. When the antichrist comes after the Church to wipe it off the face of the earth, those who have nothing in Jesus will forsake their confession of faith. They may have believed the doctrines of salvation for years but never made a personal commitment to Christ; hence, they were never born-again. (207cb) Salvation >> God makes promises on His terms >> Eternal security? >> God will accept you into His heaven if you overcome >> Endure to the end Mk 13,14-23 (50a) Judgment >> God judges the world >> Condition of Israel in the last days – It says, “But when you see the Abomination of Desolation standing where it should not be (let the reader understand).” In Mat 24-15 it says, “Standing in the Holy Place”; it doesn’t say Most Holy Place, just Holy Place. We know also from 2The 2-4 that antichrist enters the temple proclaiming himself to be Messiah. We would think that after he does this there would be a great celebration, but just the opposite, people panicking to the mountains and running for their lives. What suddenly changed after antichrist entered the temple? We know that a Muslim temple currently stands on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock on Mount Moriah, the site where Abraham intended to sacrifice his son, Isaac. This is the precise location where the Jewish temple should stand, and in fact the Jewish people may one day build their temple next to the Muslim mosque, like two fast-food restaurants side-by-side offering opposing religions on the same hill, but they would need help to find terms of peace between Jews and Muslims before that happened, because they have been at odds with each other for centuries. The phrase, “(let the reader understand)” is unique in that the Bible never uses it anywhere else, calling us to pay attention and not gloss over these words too quickly or make assumptions. Let the reader understand that rebuilding the Jewish temple means salvation for the gentiles (Amos 9-11,12)! There are many things that need to change before these prophecies can come to pass, or at least according to the way we interpret them. The consensus is that the Jewish temple will be rebuilt, for Daniel speaks of the antichrist making a covenant with Israel to let them worship their God, but it also says that he breaks that covenant. Virtually all of Christendom interprets this as the antichrist allowing the Jews to rebuild their temple but not allowing them to use it to perform sacrifices. See also: Temple in Jerusalem (temple will be rebuilt in the last days); Act 15,8-11; 35d Mk 13,14-20 (183b) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Witchcraft >> Sin is the incubator of witchcraft >> Through satanic influence – Jesus said that these will be the worst days of human history, but note that He previously stated that martyrdom had already begun before the antichrist entered the "temple" (Vs 12,13). The more the antichrist martyrs the saints, the more Jewish people will finally realize that Jesus is their Messiah, and this will trigger a Great Endtime Revival of both Jews and gentiles. The phrase “(let the reader understand)” indicates that Jesus is about to say something we wouldn’t expect to hear. Once the antichrist enters the temple martyrdom of both Christians and Jews will commence in Jerusalem, having arranged it so the moment he enters the temple, they will immediately ratchet up their persecution campaign of exterminating Christianity from the earth, and the Great Tribulation will be implemented in earnest, unleashing a tremendous persecution against the saints, exploding into a global calamity. The only reason the antichrist will be able to accomplish so much destruction is that the world will be a different place from what it is now, the difference being a total collapse of the global economy, so that people will not be able to buy or sell. Civilization will have fallen into anarchy in a matter of days; store shelves will be cleared in a week. Once people’s gas tanks are empty, transportation will be a thing of the past. People will want their life back, knowing that the same people martyring the saints are offering the Mark of the Beast, so taking it will double as their vote to slaughter Christians. Mk 13,14-18 (160a) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit >> Counterfeit God >> Counterfeit Christ KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mk 13,19-23 (219f) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> The elect >> God transforms the world into the Church >> God works in the world for the sake of the elect -- Had no one come to Christ after He shed His blood for mankind, He would have known it beforehand and most likely would not have sent His Son to die for our sins, but destroyed the world as He did in Noah's day. Being all-knowing of the future, though, He does everything for the sake of the elect. When He waters the fields, He sends rain on the righteous and the wicked for the sake of His people, and the wicked become beneficiaries of His people. He blesses the world through His children, and the world shows its gratitude by persecuting the elect. Martyring of His people will become the trigger of God's judgment that fuels His anger to send His wrath against the world in the last days. Mk 13-19,20 (49k) Judgment >> Judgment day >> God judges the world >> The last days >> The great tribulation – At the end of this age there will be a tribulation more severe than any other time in man’s history. More Christians will be martyred during this time than throughout the entire age of grace, but there will also be more people coming to the faith during this tumultuous time than throughout the entire age of grace. Although it is a time of great suffering and evil, it will also be a time for the great ingathering of souls. At the end of the tribulation Jesus will finally come in His glory, and all the hopes and dreams of Israel will come true, thousands of years after their Old Testament prophets wrote about them. Mk 13-20 (28e) Gift of God >> God is our advocate >> God protects the world through the Church (31a) Gift of God >> God is our Father >> Favor with God >> He favors the Church to spite the world (32e) Gift of God >> God is our Father >> God gives grace to the afflicted (33j) Gift of God >> God is our Father >> God serves His people who serve Him >> He treats His people with special care (123e) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Love >> Spiritual affection >> Compassion >> Being willing because you are able Mk 13,21-23 (160j) Works of the devil >> Satan determines the world's direction >> Temptation to walk in unbelief >> Tempted to abandon your convictions -- These verses go with verse 6. When He talks about seeing signs and wonders, He was not talking about the average false Christ. The fact that He said there will be more than one indicates there will be many antichrists, probably three attempts by other false christs and then a fourth that the Bible warns the most, calling him the son of destruction. We know that the Two Witnesses will show signs and wonders, and the antichrist will attempt to do the same, counterfeiting them, just as the Egyptians attempted to counterfeit the miracles of Moses. (183i) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ/Anti-Semitism) >> Spirit of the broad road >> Spirit of error will lead you astray -- These verses go with verses 5&6. The last days will be accompanied by a spirit of delusion that will tempt people to believe a lie. Between the hearts of men growing cold, an acute elevation of sin (crime), misinformation about current events, a heightened interest in the doctrines of demons and a dwindling interest in a genuine faith in Jesus Christ through the Spirit of truth, to speak nothing about antagonistic relations between nations, wars and many other global problems that cannot all be mentioned here, those days will be as Jesus said, the most tumultuous time in human history. All the problems of the world, however, can be traced back to the spirit of error. This spirit will seek to erode our faith (the wearing down of the saints) in attempt to lead the saints astray. (193k) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Run to God to avoid running from Him -- These verses go with verses 33-37 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mk 13,24-37 (50b) Judgment >> God judges the world >> The second coming of Christ Mk 13,24-28 (172e) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Tares among the wheat >> Communion between the world and the Church >> The Church in the world Mk 13,24-27 (237e) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Transferring the kingdom >> The Church is transferred to the kingdom >> The rapture >> Selective rapture – Mat 24-29 says, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days...” Pre-tribulation Rapture believers don’t like this statement because it conflicts with their doctrine that God will rescue them from the tribulation. These verses are obviously referring to the Rapture of the Church, yet there are some who refuse to believe this, even though all the signs are present, such as the sign of the son of man (clouds of thick darkness), an earthquake and the sound of a trumpet, mentioned in the books of Joel, Revelation and 1Thessalonians chapter 4. In these verses Jesus said that He would “gather His elect from the farthest end of earth to the farthest end of heaven,” some try to deny that the Rapture is being addressed here, defending their view with the words of Matthew 24 that doesn’t mention the earth at all but gathering His elect “from one end of the sky to the other,” interpreting the word sky to mean the Kingdom of Heaven. So in their minds Jesus is gathering His people in heaven and leading them to earth to set up Christ's thousand-year reign, but this is simply false and in no way fits the context of Jesus' dissertation of the last days. Mk 13-27 (15i) Servant >> Angels execute Judgment >> For the sake of the Church – The Rapture is an event in which the angels are assigned to specific individuals to snatch them from the earth. Flesh and blood cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven, so the body will be suddenly transformed into the likeness of Jesus’ body in the twinkling of an eye at the angel’s touch as he escorts us into the presence of Christ, who is waiting for us in the clouds. In this way we can see the Rapture as a type of judgment serving as a testimony against the world for the sake of the Church in that after the Rapture God will punish the world for their unbelief and for martyring the saints. It is also considered God's judgment in favor of the Church, whom God has counted worthy of His grace and His promise of eternal life. Mk 13-31 (244g) Kingdom of God >> The eternal kingdom >> The word of God is eternal >> The word of God will outlast the creation -- People have been trying to destroy the Bible for as long as it has been written, and if they could, they would have destroyed it long ago. God protects His word in the same way that He does everything else, incognito. He doesn't thump people on the head for attacking His word, but attends their Bible burning festivals, and when the party is over, His word is still here. Whenever someone leads a Bible burning campaign, they find themselves directly fighting against God. It is not like burning His people at the stake; whenever they do that, they're trying to scorch God's influence from the earth, and the result fans the flames of God's passion in the hearts of His beloved who multiply in numbers. In contrast, when they burn Bibles they are trying to cremate God Himself. The result of this effort according to history is that the number of Bibles and saints multiply the more they persecute them, the wicked are put in their place, and Christianity gains new freedom to grow and prosper. Those who hate God, His Bible and His people have learned to simply ignore them as their best means of attack and hope they dwindle to a whimper. Mk 13,32-37 (214b) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing transcends our comprehension >> God’s time does not make sense to the natural mind -- The phrase "natural mind" refers to someone who is walking in the flesh instead of in the Spirit. Thirty years ago people talked more about the second coming of Christ than we do now, yet He is more likely to return today than yesterday. It seems the closer we get to His day, the less concerned we are about getting ready for Him, yet this is opposite of what He told us to do. This phenomenon has less to do with making sense to the natural mind than it does with being under the influence of a satanic spirit of delusion. Mk 13-32 (15k) Servant >> Angels >> Limitations of angels – The time of Jesus’ second coming, including the Rapture, the Father has hidden even from His Son much more the angels. God covets the times and epochs of prophetic events, and if He is unwilling to tell us these things in this life, then neither will He tell us in the life to come, so we might as well get used to a sense of anticipation with God. The Father didn’t deny His Son or the angels the knowledge of time from a lack of trust, but from God’s very own nature. Eternity is a word that refers to time, yet some say there is no time in eternity, but there is just so much of it that it becomes irrelevant, like gold in heaven that is so common they use it as a building material. The reason God hasn't told us is somewhat obvious; we would schedule entire eras around these events if we knew when they would occur, and we would let the party continue until five minutes before midnight, and then suddenly turn into good little children just moments before His return. Remember that the context of this verse is the parable of the fig tree, "when its branch has become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near." This refers to a general understanding of time. That is, we are allowed to know the season, that is the year and the month, but we are denied the day and the hour. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mk 13,33-37 (5m) Responsibility >> Jesus’ yoke of obedience >> Our obligation to shepherd the flock (84b) Thy kingdom come >> Be on the alert >> Remain on duty >> Keep watch (193k) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Turn from sin to God >> Run to God to avoid running from Him -- These verses go with verses 21-23 Mk 13,35-37 (196j) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Spiritual laziness >> Replacing God’s standard of excellence with yours >> Sleeping in the spirit -- Man can only dream about his standard of excellence, since our flesh is intrinsically asleep to the things of God. Spiritual laziness refers to an unwillingness to watch and pray. Without exhibiting any evidence of faith, it is difficult to say whether those people who are spiritually asleep are even saved. Jesus said they will miss the second coming of Christ; His beloved people would never miss that, so presumably they are not saved. Israel missed their Messiah as a lesson to show us that we could too. Therefore, stay on the alert! Mk 13-36 (215ib) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> The Kingdom of Heaven appears suddenly >> Without warning >> Kingdom suddenly appears when His people are not expecting it _________________________________ MARK CHAPTER 14 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mk 14-1,2 (241h) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecution to the death >> Kill Jesus because of who He is – One person might say that the religious establishment wanted to kill Jesus because of what He said; another person might say they wanted to kill Him because of what He did, healing on the Sabbath. He performed signs, wonders and miracles that were perplexing, proving His identity, also proving His words, since there is no such thing as a lying miracle worker, unless he is the devil himself, which they accused Him of that too. Another person might say they wanted to kill Jesus for both reasons, because of what He said and did, but the real reason they killed Him was they knew He was the Son of God, God in human flesh. In fact, the Father sent His Son to prove that if God visited mankind in person, they would kill Him. Note that the commoners didn’t want to kill Jesus; many of them loved Him. He was popular with them, but the religious establishment He stirred to jealousy. They hated Him because He said things about Himself that no one else could truly say. The Pharisees could read from their Old Testament manuscripts, but they could not tell what God was thinking and doing at the time. Jesus did, and they hated Him for it. They knew that the only person who could do these things was God. When Adam and Eve fell into sin, God knew that this is where it would lead. Had Jesus appeared to them after being extricated from the Garden, they would not have wanted to kill Him, but after civilizations had been established and leaders chosen, power goes straight to their heads, and they snuff out any competition that challenges their authority, no different than Herod, who tried to kill Jesus as an infant (Mat 2,16-18). Mk 14,3-9 (80a) Thy kingdom come >> Know the word as a sword in spiritual warfare >> To oppose religion – The person scolding the woman was none other than Judas Iscariot, who was concerned about the money he could have made on the ointment, had she donated it to Him; he could have sold it for half-year’s wages and pocked a hefty sum. Judas Iscariot represents false religion, whose prime motivator was money, whereas Jesus was the body of Christ, which is another name for the true church, whose prime motivator was His people. When we say “the Church,” we are talking about both the wise and the foolish (taken from the parable of the Ten Virgins), but the body of Christ refers only to the wise virgins, those who have a genuine faith in Jesus. (187a) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Die to the flesh >> The ministry of dying to self >> Die to self to minister to God >> Jesus died to self and ministered to God – When Paul said that we are a sweet fragrance among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing (2Cor 2,14-16), he indicated that we are going through trials similar to Jesus, who said, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Lk 14-27). Paul spoke in metaphors about dying to self also in Romans chapters six and seven and in 2Corinthians chapter four, having devoted more pages of the Bible writing about dying to self than any other subject. Jesus was literally sacrificed, whereas we are being figuratively sacrificed. We die to self on a daily basis (1Cor 15-31) to the passions and desires that want to take control of our lives: anger, wrath, malice, every form of pleasure, gluttony, sexual perversion, to name a few. They constantly seek to come alive in our flesh, and we are constantly putting them to death that we might exhibit the character of Christ instead, but we can’t have both. We must choose which kingdom we will serve. Mk 14,3-8 (189a) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Holy sacrifice >> The smell of death >> Priestly anointing perfume of sacrifice -- When a person dies, his body undergoes decay, producing a hideous stench, but when the Father raised Christ from the dead, He delivered His body from decay (Ps 16-10). The perfume was appropriate for Christ as He embarked on a mission to conquer death and gave it a new fragrance, so that death now has the smell of new life and hope. Throughout our relationship with Christ, we are called to die to self, which is a sweet smell in the nostrils of God. So long as we remain in the body that has the sentence of death on it, we are called to lay to rest our old life, and let our new life in Christ blossom with the fragrance of heaven. Only a couple days later Jesus was sacrificed, and He still had the fragrance of perfume on Him. Had Jesus gone to the cross not doused in ointment, something would have been missing. The woman who did this did not fulfill prophecy, because there was no prophecy depicting this event; rather, it was in correspondence with the laws of old covenant worship. What did the men think when they smelled this fragrance while they were beating Him? Although it was customary to adorn the bodies of the deceased with fragrances, Jesus wasn’t dead yet, and so the woman had a higher purpose for anointing Him. They anointed Aaron the first high priest in the Old Testament before he went into the Most Holy Place to conduct the annual sacrifice to make propitiation for the people. Therefore, every high priest after him who performed the annual sacrifice on Passover, before he entered the Holy of Holies would first prepare Himself, and part of the preparation was to anoint his body with perfume. This is part of the reason the woman anointed Jesus: He was about to present the offering for sin as the Great High Priest in the Most Holy Place, into heaven itself. At His ascension the smell of perfume was no doubt still on Him, so when he entered the presence of the Father and presented Himself without sin for the sins of the people, he smelled like a priest. Mk 14,4-6 (23g) Sin >> Poverty (Oppression) >> Tending to the needs of the poor (75h) Thy kingdom come >> Motives >> Being manipulative >> Controlling people in the dark >> Through hidden motives – The one who complained about this was Judas Iscariot, and none of his complaints were valid because his heart was not with the Lord. Had he actually cared about the poor, his complaint would have been based on zeal for his ministry, but he had no interest in the poor. His only real concern was to himself; he wanted her to release the perfume to him so he could sell it and keep the money for himself, giving some to the treasury to make it look like he wasn’t a crook. Mk 14-6 (243d) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Sources of persecution >> Persecution from within the body Mk 14-9 (238j) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Teachers >> Teachers "remind" their students >> Teaching by rote – The account of this woman dousing Jesus with alabaster vase of pure nard was included in all four gospels, accentuating its significance. Judas was aware of the value of this perfume; it was worth almost an entire year’s wages, so the woman must have been wealthy, and look what Jesus said about her, “She has done what she could.” This was a great testimony to her: what she could do she did. Imagine if we all did what we could; together we would change the world. God has given us certain talents and gifts and abilities, representing what we can do to promote the Kingdom of God. This woman anointed Jesus' body for burial, as though He were already dead. This played a part in the fulfillment of old covenant laws and regulations: before the high priest entered the holy temple to make the annual sacrifice, he was anointed with the oil of perfume (Exodus 29-7), so this was done to Jesus. After Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to His disciples, often in different forms. He appeared to them and they knew it was the Lord, partly because of the fragrance that still clung to His body. Note that it was the smell of death; normally it is a stench. He took it to heaven when He presented Himself to His Father, so what this woman did was truly amazing as the only thing she could do. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mk 14-10,11 (21l) Sin >> Premeditated sin >> Making no provisions for the flesh -- These verses go with verses 43-46 (179j) Works of the devil >> Practicing witchcraft >> Wolves >> Unworthy servant >> Unworthy of eternal life (183b) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Witchcraft >> Sin is the incubator of witchcraft >> Through satanic influence – It is actually possible that Judas Iscariot was the only one of the twelve who understood God’s plan for mankind, being able to see it better because His heart wasn’t in it. The other disciples could not even hear the words Jesus spoke warning them of His imminent fate. Judas in the gospel of John, in the account of this event, complained to the Lord that this perfume could have sold for a large sum and given to the poor. When we analyze this statement, Judas’ logic bears a striking resemblance to the logic of Satan, who also mixes truth with error. It was true that this perfume was extremely expensive, worth a year’s wages for the average worker, by our standard perhaps worth $30,000, but the other half of Judas’ statement was false, the money would not have gone to the poor. Judas regularly pilfered the moneybox, and since he was not able to live luxuriously while he walked with Jesus, he must have dumped off stockpiles of money to someone for safe-keeping, until this Jesus-gig ended, and then Judas would retrieve his money, allowing the harbor to keep a share of it, and he would be set for life. At Passover when Jesus warned that one of them was a devil, no one could identify him, indicating that Judas was very clever. (186db) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Man’s role in becoming a reprobate >> The fool throws Jesus away for something better >> Judas betrayed the Lord -- These verses go with verses 18-21. After Judas realized they were going to kill the Lord, he didn’t want to be part of that, so he threw the money into the temple and hung himself, figuring it was too late to repent, because it never occurred to him that Jesus would rise from the dead. He was sorry that Jesus got killed, but he was never sorry he was a thief, and for that reason he could not believe God would forgive him. Some people use the excuse of rejecting Christianity that they don’t think God could forgive them for the sins they have committed, but the fact is they don't want God to forgive them. They have learned to identify with their sins and are in a way proud of them. Their sin is what defines them. In their estimation, the evil they have done are some of the great achievements of their lives. This is how Judas thought about his sins. He took a lot of pride in himself as a sinner. He thought he was smarter than all the other disciples, and even smarter than Jesus. When He took control of the treasury, that was the beginning of his smirking at the other disciples for so willingly giving him the job; he smirked at their foolishness and naivety for actually believing in Jesus. He assumed that anybody in his right mind who had control of the treasury would pilfer it. Viewing the other disciples with distain, he considered them inferior to his wisdom, intellect and mastery of deception, manipulating the circumstances in his favor. He was used to feeling superior to others, yet all he ever did was follow the elementary principles of his sinful flesh. (249i) Priorities >> God’ s preeminence >> Wealth >> World’s perception of wealth >> The world's wealth erodes good values >> Being a slave to wealth – This gospel account in Mark seems to identify the trigger in Judas Iscariot to betray the Lord: the woman who broke a vase of perfume over Jesus’ head to prepare Him for burial. After this, he went to the chief priests and worked out a deal with them that very day, so when Passover came the plan had been finalized, and all that was required was for Judas to go and speak to the Pharisees once more about the specifics regarding Jesus’ capture. This shows how long Judas could keep a grudge; when Passover came, he was still ready to go through with his plan, but after he realized they would crucify Him, he felt remorse, because Judas was not a murderer. He didn’t want to see Jesus killed; he just wanted to see His ministry fizzle, and Him go to prison, where Judas could go and see Him occasionally and mock Him, walking free to spend the loot he accumulated through His ministry. He saw fame and fortune in Jesus based on a kingdom that Messiah would build, but after this incident he realized this was not happening, and so he sought to make money by betraying Him. Mk 14,12-16 (105h) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Led by the Spirit to the will of God >> Led to the right people (110a) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit speaks through you >> Word of knowledge >> knowing their thoughts by the mind of Christ – God in all of His wisdom and power could have easily planned this divine appointment, but Jesus left His omniscience in heaven. He in Himself did not know about the man with the pitcher of water; it was His Father who showed Him all these things. Jesus probably had a vision of the scenario and recounted the vision to His disciples. Jesus operated in the gifts of the Spirit, outlined in First Corinthians chapter twelve. He wasn’t all-knowing while He lived in the flesh; He had a body just like ours with a brain like ours, which is extremely limited in its ability to amass knowledge by comparison to our future resurrected bodies. Some people know a lot of things, and it seems that the brain is an amazing organ, and in its own right it is amazing; they call it the most complex matter in the universe. Nothing is more intricate, yet the human brain works like a Rube Goldberg machine. It was impossible for Jesus to know everything using His finite brain that came with His temporal body. (214k) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> God’s timing >> God Has Good Timing >> God synchronizes events in His time – What is interesting about this story is they never synchronized watches; Jesus never said they had to leave at a certain time, or walk at a certain speed, or take a specific route, and then they would meet the man with the pitcher of water. No, He just said to go, and when they see the man with the pitcher, follow him, and God did the rest, meaning if they left right away they would have met him, and if they would have left twenty minutes earlier or later they would have met him just the same. God is a master planner at getting two people together that He wants to meet. When we think of all the circumstances that could have gotten in the way of this meeting, all the hundreds of things that happen every day, we are always on schedule for the person that God has prepared for us to meet. The upper room is where they celebrated Passover on the night of His betrayal, and it was where the disciples waited for their Lord until Pentecost. Jesus cared for His disciples after He ascended to heaven, giving them the upper room as a hiding place until Pentecost, when God anointed their faith and knowledge. Mk 14,15-20 (227i) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> God working in you >> Dependence on Jesus >> Depending on Jesus to impart His gifts into us >> He gives us what we give to the world KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mk 14,18-21 (26k) Sin >> Consequences of sin >> Curse >> Deeds that return to the doer >> God’s blessings are a curse if you don’t walk in them (47j) Judgment >> God judges the world >> Eternal judgment against unbelief toward Christ – There is a large ongoing a debate about the existence of hell, and those who debate the hardest are the ones going there. Christians who are born of God will never see that place or experience that level of separation from God, yet they are the ones who cringe the most about hell, not for themselves but for family members, friends and even for complete strangers. They fear for those who are going there, for hell is a consuming fire. Some say that hell is a place where the body burns up and the person no longer exists, and so they say hell is just a place where people who don’t care about heaven are exterminated. If a person didn’t want heaven, he could spend his whole life in the flesh doing what he wanted, and at the end his life he would be terminated. That doesn’t seem like such a bad consequence. This is how many people think about their lives; when they die: they quit existing. There is really no difference between the extermination theory and the doctrine of atheism, for in both cases the unbeliever stops existing after death. Why then did Jesus say that it would be better if Judas had not been born? Most people don’t think there is an afterlife; unfortunately this is incorrect; people in hell are not terminated. The Bible describes the resurrected body as indestructible (Heb 7-16). The person in hell has a resurrected, indestructible body. Hellfire does not exterminate the body or the person, but he will be tormented day and night forever and ever, according to the Scriptures. (186c) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Blasphemy >> Cursing the Holy Spirit >> Lying to the Holy Spirit (186db) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Man’s role in becoming a reprobate >> The fool throws Jesus away for something better >> Judas betrayed the Lord -- These verses go with verses 10,11 Mk 14,22-24 (130a) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Being in one accord >> Communion – Those who obey Christ are no longer the same, because God has through His presence imparted gifts into them. Things become clarified, so they have knowledge of God that they didn’t have before they obeyed Him. In short, they have experienced the presence of God. Communion is taken every week in some churches, and some say that Christ is present in the bread and wine, yet people leave the Church ignorant as they entered. No net change occurs to them, no understanding, no revelation; no gifts are imparted. Christ is present in those who obey Him, but most people don’t want to change; they want the bread and wine to change. (131j) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Many members but one body >> Many partakers but one loaf of bread – Note that He said it is poured out for many, not for all. There will be many saints in heaven, but not everyone is going to heaven, only those who have been a good host to the Holy Spirit, who comes to dwell in the believer, who dedicates his life to God. Nevertheless, Jesus spilled His blood for every person, not only to save them, but also to judge them. No doubt the cross will be the basis of the White Throne Judgment against the wicked, who have rejected the sacrifice of His Son, but for those who obey Jesus Christ, communion represents the new covenant in His blood. (205f) Salvation >> Salvation is based on God’s promises >> New covenant >> The new covenant in His blood – During the very first communion, they celebrated Passover and Jesus passed the cup and the bread to His disciples and they ate and drank from it, representing the body and blood of Christ, the man who would soon be hanging from a cross to die, sentenced to death, cursed from birth more than any man. This was His fate. It was the very reason He was born, yet He was without sin. He was the best of us all, and when He gave his life’s blood for the sins of the world, and especially for those of us who would receive Him, accepting His blood sacrifice for the propitiation of our sins that no act of our righteousness could override, we are saved by the blood of Christ. This man who was cursed from birth has become a blessing to all those who believe in Him for eternal life. The disciples that night were drinking judgment to themselves, only not their own judgment, but the judgment that the Father intended for His Son. The judgment they were drinking would set them free, delivering them from every sin through a simple act of repentance, a promise to God that they will do everything through God's help to stop sinning. He knows we are sinners and that we will sin, but the covenant is not based on that; it is based on the predestination of God's Son to die for our sins, a sacrifice to perfect us in the eyes of God. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mk 14-25 (117ga) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Eyes of your spirit >> Vision >> Real-eyes God’s purpose for the Church >> Understand Jesus' subordinate position with the Father -- The Lord's supper was a big event to Jesus (Lk 22-15), partly as His last intimate moment with His disciples, but mostly as His vision of the Marriage Supper Of The Lamb when He eats it next time in the Kingdom of God with His Church. The contrast must have been stark for the Lord seated around the table with His friends, knowing that in just a few hours He would be in the hands of men who hated Him with the passion of Satan. God's vision for the Church fuels the engine of Christianity; it is what keeps this boat afloat. (224e) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> The joyful kingdom >> The marriage supper of the lamb – Jesus will one day come with power and glory to take control of the earth and rule it for a thousand years of peace, but before that there will be a Rapture of the Church, and immediately after the Rapture Christ will celebrate the Marriage Supper of the Lamb with His Church, occurring during the bowls of God’s judgment. Peter said that a thousand years is like a day to the Lord (2Pet 3-8), suggesting that since there are 365 days in a year this celebration could last hundreds of thousands of years. Once the celebration is over, we will follow the Lord to earth immediately after the bowls of God’s judgment, and He will set up His Millennial Kingdom. The remnant are those who were neither raptured nor received the mark of the beast but believed in God after the Rapture. They needed great faith to migrate to Jerusalem during the bowls of God fierce wrath and wait for Jesus there. The remnant will become the seed that God uses to repopulate the earth during the Millennium. The Church is a special class of people of whom Jesus said, “Blessed are they who have not seen, yet believed” (Jn 20-29). It won’t take much faith to believe in Jesus during the Millennium, since He will be sitting on his glorious throne in front of them. They won’t need as much faith as we did, and for this reason they will have a lower rank than us in eternity. See also: Waiting for the Millennium; Mat 4-22; 109g Mk 14-26 (254a) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is subject to the Father >> Jesus worships the Father – It seems odd that God would worship Himself, yet this is basically what we see when Jesus sings a hymn, which is a form of worship, and there are other instances when Jesus worshipped the Father (Mat 11-25; Heb 2-11,12); in fact, the best definition of worship is obedience (Rom 12-1), as Jesus said in Jn 8-29, “I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” We worship whomever we obey; and whatever we obey contrary to Christ is ultimately associated with demons. For this reason it is important to obey Christ, because if we don’t, we obey His nemesis: the world, the flesh and the devil, “and I do not want you to become sharers in demons” (1Cor 10-20). What can we say about Jesus worshipping the Father, God worshipping Himself? This refers to Jesus relationship with the Father in a position of submission. Throughout all eternity past and future Jesus worshipped the Father, and He will continue to do so through obedience, fulfilling all His expectations and doing everything He says. Jesus ultimately had no will of His own when it came to making life decisions; His only choice was to obey His Father; it was the only choice He wanted to make, and that should be true of us all. Mk 14,27-31 (158j) Works of the devil >> Essential characteristics >> Counterfeit godliness >> Love sickening sweet >> Loving words that lack action (187j) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man>> Die to the flesh >> Spirit versus the flesh >> Trying to work the Spirit by the flesh – When Peter made the great confession, proclaiming Jesus to be “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mat 16-16), it appears he only believed it as a doctrine and not as the truth. Truth is not in the Scriptures; it is in Jesus who is seated at the right-hand of His Father. The Bible is made of paper with inkblots spattered on its pages, and those inkblots represent the truth. This was the level of Peter’s confession of faith. In other words Peter hadn’t yet realized that Jesus was God in human flesh. He understood it with his intellect, but not as a revelation of Jesus Christ. Had he known this on a spiritual level, he would have known they were all destined to fall away from Jesus that night because He said so, and he would have begun the process of repentance even before he committed the sin. Jesus didn’t fault any of His disciples for falling away, for according to Scripture they were supposed to do this. They didn’t do anything different from what Judas did, for he fell away too. One difference, though, Judas betrayed the Lord, which is different from denying Him, though still forgivable. The bigger difference is that the disciples repented and returned to their faith, because their heart was with the Lord, whereas Judas could not return to his faith because he didn’t have any, which is not forgivable. (196e) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Immaturity >> Not mature enough to die to self >> Unable to obey God – When we look at Peter’s statement, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You,” Peter actually made good on his promise, not that night but later he gave his life for his faith in Jesus, and he was crucified upside-down according to ancient lore. After the resurrection Jesus breathed on His disciples saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn 20-22); this was their born-again experience, the indwelling Holy Spirit, who inextricably mixed Himself with their spirit to become “one spirit with Him” (1Cor 6-17), which became their new identity, but the anointing came later at Pentecost. Then Peter received a revelation of Jesus convincing him that he was indeed the Christ, Son of the living God. The Holy Spirit anointed his faith in Jesus. When the disciples received the anointing at Pentecost, they received God’s witness that they belonged to Christ. Paul said in Rom 8-16, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.” (251c) Priorities >> God’s prerequisites >> Making plans >> Making evil plans Mk 14-27 (37b) Judgment >> The cross >> Father slays His son (141f) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears witness to the new >> It bears witness to Jesus >> Prophesy about Jesus’ death (152f) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> Jesus is a prophet >> Jesus prophesies to the Church -- This verse goes with verse 30 KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mk 14-30 (152f) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> Jesus is a prophet >> Jesus prophesies to the Church -- This verse goes with verse 27. Peter really showed His ignorance when he refuted Jesus' word. He didn’t just deny Jesus, He denied God His omniscience, and he denied the ancient prophets the things they wrote. What chance did Peter have to remain faithful? He was thinking about this in terms of human will. Peter believed in Jesus and the prophets, and He believed in God’s all-knowing power, yet he tried to resist them through the force of his own will. In his heart he was saying, ‘I don’t care that Jesus is the Son of God and that He has a transparent relationship with His Father who teaches Him about all things, still I must prove that my piddly human will is greater than all of them by not falling away.’ He should have submitted to Jesus’ word and apologized instead. The fact that Peter reacted this way indicated just how little he really understood about Jesus. 1Cor 2-16 says, "For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ" (Isaiah 40-13). Mk 14,32-42 (46f) Judgment >> Spiritual warfare >> Fall of Satan >> Resisting Satan’s deception -- The garden of Gethsemane and the temptation in the desert were Jesus' two major battle grounds of spiritual victory over the powers of darkness. In both cases the ruler of the world, Satan, came to the Lord in full strength, attempting to reroute Him from the course that the Father set for Him, attempting to lead Him into uncertainty and self determination, where Jesus made the decisions for His own life instead of giving that right to His Father. God would have interpreted this as unbelief, and He interprets it the same way in our lives when we make our own decisions instead of surrendering that right to Christ. When we control our own destinies, Satan finds room in our lives to subtlety ease our grip from the rudder and personally steer our ship in a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death (Proverbs 14-12). Freedom to exercise our will through rebellion is the allurement of self discovery, but the deception of it is that freedom will be the first thing we lose when we veer off the trail of good works that God has prepared for us. Ironically, giving rights to God to control our destiny is the only way to keep freedom in Christ and is the only way to reach our fullest potential. (84a) Thy kingdom come >> Be on the alert >> Remain on duty >> Stay awake Mk 14,32-36 (160h) Works of the devil >> Temptation >> Overcoming temptation >> Jesus was tempted -- How important is it and how hard is it to stay on track with God? It was the only thing that looked hard for Jesus to do. Staying on track with God is the most important thing in our lives and is the most difficult thing to do. It is most important because every acceptable thing we do for God will be done along our trail of Good works that He has prepared for us (Eph 2-10). Any other Good work we do off the path is unacceptable because it was not initiated by Him. The question in God's mind is not whether we are good or are capable of doing good works. The question is whether we are willing to listen to Him and do what He says, because those are the good works that come from faith. It is our faith that He desires to see in us, because then we are behaving like His children. Mk 14,34-36 (131m) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Having fellowship with God Mk 14-36 (253l) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is subject to the will of the Father -- Had Satan caused Jesus to operate independently of His Father, he would have broken the bond of unity between them. This of course was impossible since we are talking about God, yet it seemed logical that it could be done. On the cross they were separated; Jesus cried for His Father across the great gulf of sin, not His own sin but our sin, hence they were reunited at the resurrection. The plan was that God would send His Son to die in our place, giving God occasion to forgive our sins, but when the moment came to make the sacrifice, Jesus looked at it as something He had to do in order to maintain His own relationship with the Father. In other words, the cross became the testing ground for God's loyalty to Himself. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mk 14-38 (94i) Thy kingdom come >> God’s perspective >> His perspective on your sinful nature (187g) Spirit Versus The Flesh (Key verse) (187i) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Die to the flesh >> Spirit versus the flesh >> Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak Mk 14,43-46 (21l) Sin >> Premeditated sin >> Making no provisions for the flesh -- These verses go with verses 10&11 (163h) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Used by Satan to destroy the word of God >> Used to destroy Jesus -- Although it was God's predetermined plan that His Son should suffer and die for the sins of the people, Jesus still said, "Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born" (v21). God held Judas accountable for His actions. Although He was playing a vital role in the fulfillment of God's eternal plan, he got no credit for doing it, because he did it in a spirit of disobedience and unbelief. Judas represented the sin of the world that could only be forgiven through heart-felt repentance of which Judas had none. Rather, Judas hanged himself from guilt, which should not be confused with repentance. Judas could have been forgiven and accepted back into the fold, for if God could forgive Paul, he could have forgiven Judas too, except that Judas had the heart of a reprobate, being incapable of repentance and faith. Mk 14,47-52 (23c) Sin >> Pride is defensive Mk 14,47-49 (126d) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Peacemakers avoid violence -- See commentary in Parallel Gospels Mk 14,50-52 (243a) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Reacting to persecution >> Falling away through persecution – Instead of remaining in the shadows as John did, Peter illumined his flesh at the fire next to the Roman guards, which sounds bold, but was just stupid. His fleshly pride is what led him to deny the Lord in the first place. Peter considered Himself a great leader of his fellow disciples; that being the case, he should have led his friends to accept the truth and assume Christ’s expectations of them even when it meant forsaking the Lord. Instead, Peter attempted to resist prophecy, trying not to fall away, just so he could boast in his flesh, even committing this sentiment to words, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” (v31). Peter’s attitude was that all the other disciples would fall away because of the prophecy but not him. Instead of denying the prophecy he denied the Lord, which was a far greater sin, and it was all for the sake of pride. He came close to losing his soul over it, but Jesus prayed for him that he would return and strengthen his brothers (Lk 22-31,32). Any time we consider the circumstances an opportunity to boast in our flesh in pretense for the love, it invariably opens the door to satanic attack, which always achieves some level of success. Peter went away and wept bitterly, falling away like the rest only with a worse guilt than the others. Nobody else emphatically confessed that they didn’t know the Lord, adding curses for effect. Jesus said, “Whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven” (Mat 10-33). This obviously didn’t happen to Peter, but had denying Christ become the new normal for him, he would have become like Judas, but Peter loved the Lord and returned to his faith because he knew of the mercy and the grace and the forgiveness of Christ. Mk 14-53,54 (160da) Works of the devil >> Satan determines the world's direction >> Led by the devil to suppress the word of God >> Oppressing those who carry the gospel – Peter may have felt he was doing a good thing entering the courtyard of the high priest and warming himself at the fire, but doing a good thing was probably not as important to him as his pride, which was the root of his behavior in his denial. When Jesus prophesied to His disciples that all would forsake Him, it incited Peter’s pride to challenge His word. Under other circumstances he may have had good intensions, but when Jesus told him that he would forsake the Lord, he was literally predestined to do it. It was no longer a matter of human will; it was a matter of written prophecy, an inevitable fact, and His only recourse was to assess the damage and rebuild what was lost. When Peter tried to avoid falling away, all he accomplished was to deny the Lord. It was prophetic for the disciples to temporarily forsake the Lord to rejoin Him later, but Peter’s denial went beyond Old Testament prophecy and entered a realm of darkness that threatened Peter’s faith and his future as an apostle. The lesson to take from this was that when Jesus gives us bad news, we should accept it, because if we fight against it, we only hurt ourselves. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mk 14,55-65 (18a) Sin >> Unrighteous judgment >> Condemning Jesus – They condemned Jesus because of the good confession that he made, using the very words, “I Am,” that God said to Moses in answer to his question, “Tell them I AM has sent me to you.” Now the most humble man speaks these words again in a different context but for the same purpose, to set free the people of God. These words came to the leaders of Israel who worshipped Moses instead of God, who could not agree on any one thing that Jesus did wrong, either against their laws or against the laws of Rome, much less committed a crime. The only thing that surfaced in his mock trial that came closest to a reason to kill Him was the statement He made while standing by the temple, “I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.” (The implication of “hands” is human hands.) Of course He was talking about a future body that He would receive from God that was made without human agency, His resurrection. The body of Jesus, while He stood before His enemies at His mock trial, was made without hands in the sense that God Himself sowed the seed within Mary and not a man, so that Mary did nothing to conceive, yet Mary was involved. In contrast to his former body, His resurrected body no human would play a part. Mk 14,55-59 (17j) Sin >> Unrighteous judgment >> Ignorance >> Distorting the facts – It is a true statement that you can pretend to be stupid for only so long until your pretending blurs into reality with no more pretending. Jesus’ accusers feigned ignorance about the facts they were distorting about Him, but they really didn’t know the truth about Jesus, nor would they ever discover it, since they had mistreated their conscience from childhood. Honesty, truth, and justice were complete strangers to them. All hope was lost for redemption; the door was closed on their salvation; they had fallen into the reprobate mind long before they encountered Christ. They burned their bridges behind them and made up their minds what they wanted was simply their own way. Mk 14-57,58 (139i) Temple >> Building the temple (with hands) >> Tear down the old to rebuild the new -- When Jesus said these words standing next to Herod's temple, He intentionally misguided the people, since anyone there would have logically assumed He was referring to the building. Did Jesus lie? No! He knew the people would not understand what He said, but there were some things that were not necessary to understand at the time, but they would understand later. It seemed a preposterous statement, one His assailants would remember. He pretended to claim that He would rebuild the temple made from stone and wood, when actually He was talking about God raising His body from the dead, which was a far greater miracle. Mk 14-58 (18ca) Sin >> False Judgment lacks evidence >> Charges not defined as crimes >> Persecuting the body of Christ – They seized upon this one statement in Jesus’ kangaroo court and tried to use it as definitive proof that He was worthy of death: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn 2-19). Jesus went to Jerusalem for the express purpose of being crucified, making this statement in Jerusalem while He stood next to Herod’s temple, possibly using a hand gesture to further suggest that He was talking about the building beside Him, but it was incidental in that He was talking about His own body. People no doubt sneered at Him when He said this, of course misunderstanding Him. Jesus intended them to misunderstand Him, and they used it to condemn Him. It is only fitting that man would try to kill God based on a misunderstanding. (58j) Paradox >> Two implied meanings >> The temple building / The temple of His body – Jesus was raised with a body that no longer had any ties with this natural realm. He was tied to the agency of His mother, Mary, when God planted His seed in her, and she gave birth to a son in a stable in Bethlehem on Christmas night, and for the rest of His life He had physical ties to this natural realm, but after He was raised from the dead, that tie was broken, so that the dust of the ground was no longer part of Him. Christ will use the spiritual body that His Father raised from the tomb for the rest of all eternity. It was a human body; God created humans and then became human, so that we might become like Him. Paul said in 1Cor 15-50, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven,” so Jesus ascended into heaven after His Father severed all ties with this natural realm but not with His humanity. (62n) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Righteous deception >> Jesus deceives the lost (140f) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Hiding place >> God builds your spirit with His own hands (243i) Kingdom of God >> The eternal kingdom >> The indestructible kingdom >> The body of Christ is indestructible >> Our spiritual bodies are indestructible (246j) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Demonstration of God’s kingdom >> God demonstrates His glory >> Outward demonstration of an inward work – The result of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ was sending the Holy Spirit, and the result of the anointing is the moving away from this natural realm to a more spiritual subsistence. The result of a spirit-controlled life is God administering things that originate from heaven, things that were not made with hands, but spiritual, that we might come into possession with God. Paul called us a temple of God (1Cor 3-16), and though we are physically rooted in this natural realm, having originated from the dust of the ground, yet our inner man is being made in the image of Christ in hope that one day we will leave our physical bodies and take on a form that resembles the work that He is doing in our spirit, a work that has no ties with this natural realm, but resembles the body of our Savior and Lord, that our inner man and our outer man might come to full agreement. The day we leave all remnants of this natural realm, we will go to heaven and there wait to receive an incorruptible body at the First Resurrection that will stand the test of eternity, not composed of materials that we know today that disintegrate over time, but a material that is representative of heaven, a spiritual body. This is an oxymoron to us in this life, but in the life to come it will be our new reality. We will live forever in a body that knows nothing of death, and it will be the body that we will use throughout all eternity, defining us as the body of Jesus defines Him. God in human flesh has reversed roles to become man in divine flesh. KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mk 14,61-65 (182a) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Self deception >> Believing the darkness within you is light – People believe in some of the strangest things, yet it is their prerogative. If they think Martians are taking them into their spacecraft and performing operations on them, they can believe that if they want. They can collect tons of proof that this is actually happening to them, and they will spend years researching it, all because they want to believe it. People dismiss concrete evidence that point to facts they don’t want to believe and embrace flimsy assertions that support their thesis. Case in point, it was just another lie when the chief priests said they would believe in Him if He came off the cross after they had Him nailed there. They didn’t want to believe in Him, but their superficial grounds for executing Him is what they wanted to believe, and ultimately it determined their actions. The disciples are a perfect example of this too. After Jesus had been crucified and before His resurrection, they didn’t know what to think. It never occurred to any of them that He would rise from the dead, though He kept telling them He would. They wanted to believe in Him but didn’t know how after the emotional exhibition of His death, until Jesus showed Himself to them alive; then they believed. Contrast that with the high priest who didn’t want Jesus to rise from the dead. Had Jesus presented Himself to His enemies alive, they still would have denied it, because they didn’t want to believe in Him, and for this reason He didn’t show Himself to them. Mk 14-61 (89eb) Thy kingdom come >> Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom >> Wisdom is sometimes best unspoken Mk 14,62-64 (168k) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world has deaf ears to God >> You cannot hear God while you listen to the devil -- As Jesus put it, "Because I tell you the truth you do not believe me" (Jn 8-45). They were looking for any condemning statement from Him to get rid of Him, but ultimately it was His faithful confession they used to sentence Him to death. Had He said anything else, they may have grumbled and argued about it, but to Jesus' religious enemies it could not have been nearly as condemning as what He told them. To the chief priests and Pharisees the truth was impossible, just the opposite of Jesus' teachings, that with the Truth all things are possible. May we never sit opposite the truth in judgment against it, and may we never develop an aversion to the truth or oppose it in any way as Israel's leaders were so committed in Jesus' day. Mk 14-62 (142a) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears witness to the new >> Prophesy about the dispensation >> The end times (148c) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness to Jesus >> Evangelism >> Jesus solemnly testified (150e) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Works of the Church bear witness of Jesus >> Confessing Jesus >> Making the good confession (Son of God) – The high priest asked the ultimate question, “Are you the Son of God?” and His answer became His faithful confession. Jesus said, “Yes, I am” (Mk 15,55-64; Lk 22-70; 1Tim 6-13). It was the very first time He confessed to anyone that He was the Son of God; He never even so clearly admitted this to His disciples. When Peter got it right saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mat 16-16), Jesus never told Peter that He was right; He only told him that the Spirit of His Father had enlightened Him to this, but the high priest and those around Him were not inspired by the Holy Spirit when they asked their questions; rather, they had previously made up their minds about Him that He was not the Son of God. This is the problem with all human courts: both sides assemble with preconceived notions, and when one side wins the case, the other side is unhappy instead of rejoicing in the truth. At this point the leaders of Israel were going to crucify Jesus; they weren’t looking for the truth; they were looking for an excuse to tell Pilate and Herod to have Him put to death, since they couldn’t crucify Him on their own authority, being under Roman rule. (245n) Kingdom of God >> Spirit realm imposed on the natural realm >> Literal manifestations >> The spiritual manifesting into the natural -- Jesus had previously declared that the majority of the Pharisees would never make it to heaven, so it is safe to assume that most of them went to hell. So, how are they going to witness the return of Christ if they are in hell? I think the conventional idea of heaven being "up there" far away, does not hold up to Scripture. It seems that the Bible paints a picture of heaven being more inaccessible than too distant to reach. This means heaven could be anywhere, including all around us, we just can't see it. The same is true with hell; when Jesus' accusers died and went there, they slipped into that unperceived dimension, such as the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Lk 16,19-31). This explains why Jesus said to His enemies on that faithful night that they will see Him coming on the clouds of heaven. Mk 14,63-65 (25g) Sin >> Poverty (Forms of fear) >> Killing Jesus KJV WEB / Parallel Gospel / Navigation Bar Mk 14-63,64 (19m) Sin >> Nature of sin >> Unwilling to believe >> Spirit of unbelief -- On a human side the chief priests and Pharisees resisted believing anything about Jesus, but on a spiritual side they were controlled by demons who impressed on them a spirit of unbelief. Someone with a spirit of unbelief is not demon-possessed, but something far more hideous is at work. They are enmeshed in a symbiotic relationship with the devil! It is impossible to tell in people like this whether they cannot believe because they are controlled by demons, or whether they cannot believe because they are possessed by them. Once a person reaches the final stages of this thralldom, it is almost impossible to unravel the cords of unbelief, since they secretly made a pact with the devil, a pact so secret that the person himself doesn't even know it. That is why it is nearly impossible to reach them; they are unaware of the influences that bind them. They think what they believe is all their own thoughts, and are unable to realize that they can stare truth in the face and still not see it. There was something far more potent than mere human unbelief at work that night; they had faith in what they believed against God. Since their faith was coming from a spirit of unbelief, we can see how that could be a problem. Mk 14-64,65 (103i) Thy kingdom come >> Purifying process >> God purifies His church >> Jesus goes through God’s purifying process Mk 14,66-72 (64f) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Limits of God >> God cannot directly violate the will of man – Peter acted foolishly but the only person he hurt was himself, and the wound was not unto death. “There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this” (1Jn 5-16). Peter was a better person for the mistake he made; He learned his lesson that giving his life for Jesus was not something that he should control, but to put his life in the hand of God, so that when the proper time came, it was the will of God that he should hang on a cross until dead. Then it was a good thing, but if Peter had died next to his Lord through the arrogance of pride, it would have been a total loss, just as when James was pierced with a sword at the command of King Herod, who later grew worms in his stomach and died after he refused to give glory to God when the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man.” It is no doubt the people were calling Herod a god because he martyred one of Jesus’ apostles, and no doubt Herod was telling the people that God isn’t so great if His Son can be crucified and His apostles can be killed. God had Him destroyed by worms; they ate him from the inside out, and it was no doubt a miserable death, and then he went to hell. (204b) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Back-slider >> Practicing sin >> Going astray – Picture Peter’s pride prodding him to open his mouth and allowing the words to exit that may have gotten him hung on a cross next to Jesus. James died by the sword not long after Pentecost before he had a chance to write a word of Scripture, one of Jesus’ three closest disciples, the first of the twelve to be martyred. Imagine Peter continuing in his blunder and getting himself prematurely killed too, there would have been only John from the inner circle. As it is, we have the epistles of both Peter and John. (There is an epistle of James, but it wasn’t the same James but the brother of Jesus.) We would have had at least one more epistle from the apostle James had Herod not killed him, and only God knows how many more souls would have been saved through his ministry. The Scripture is complete that we can follow Jesus and come to know the will of God well enough to please Him, and well enough that our reason to hope for eternal life is founded on the bedrock of the Scriptures. See next page