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1-6 When Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples, 2 "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be handed over for crucifixion." 3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, named Caiaphas; 4 and they plotted together to seize Jesus by stealth and kill Him. 5 But they were saying, "Not during the festival, otherwise a riot might occur among the people." 6 Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper, 

Mat 26-1 -- No Entries

Mat 26,2-5

(241ib) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecution to the death >> Kill Jesus by the predetermined plan of God >> The Jews had Jesus murdered -- These verses go with verses 14-16. The Pharisees chose to crucify Jesus in order to maintain their views and their business of religion that they were using to make themselves wealthy, and in order to maintain the world’s approval and their prestige in society. They wouldn’t give up these things for God's Truth or their Messiah. In contrast, Paul pounded the streets working for the cause of his beliefs (Act 9,1-8). The Pharisees who persecuted Peter and John in earlier chapters of the book of Acts happened to be there when the blind beggar was healed (Act 4,1-21). They threw them into prison and God broke them out and sent them right back to preach the gospel of the kingdom in the same spot where they where arrested, showing that there was no way they would ever stop this message from going forward. The fearlessness of these early men is why we can hold a Bible in our hand and believe in Jesus to this day.

Mat 26-2

(210b) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Jesus is our sacrifice >> Jesus goes to the cross willingly

Mat 26,6-13

(113i) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> The anointing >> Anoint with oil 

(189d) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Holy sacrifice >> Costly sacrifice – The Scripture never recorded this woman saying anything, yet all four gospels gave the account of what she did, and that makes this event special, and it also makes this woman special, the fact that she understood the Father’s purpose for Christ. She accepted that He would suffer, die and be buried for the sins of the whole world, though it no doubt gave her great sorrow, for obviously she had a deep admiration for the Lord. Whatever He was doing she wanted to be part of it. If He was giving His life for the sake of the Church, then she was going to be a member of that Church. She made sure that her faith in Jesus cost her something even as it cost the Lord. Had this been cheap perfume, Jesus may not have made a big deal of it, but the fact that she invested this highly valuable perfume on Him demonstrated her faith all the more, and Jesus is one to honor and reward faith. So if we show the Lord faith, it has a guarantee that He will honor us, which is strong incentive to live and walk by faith and trust God in whatever He wants us to do. If we hear the voice of God speaking in us, we should step into those words and fulfill them.

(239e) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Teachers >> Teachable students >> The teachable are taught by God – The objective of Christianity is to open our hearts and minds to the will of God like this woman did in contrast to Jesus’ disciples, who all twelve had closed their minds to the real purpose of Christ. They didn’t want Him to die; they wanted Him to show strength and power and beat up His enemies. They wanted Jesus to place them in positions of great authority. These are the sort of things that appeal to the flesh, but there is a spiritual enemy we must first overcome before we make any attempts to overcome our physical enemies. A day will come when Jesus will overcome His physical enemies, and He will establish His physical kingdom on the earth and reign for a thousand years, and the apostles will be exalted to positions of great authority, but this was not the time. This was only days before His crucifixion. Shortly after this He was headed for Jerusalem, and there He would give His life.

(252b) Trinity >> You shall put no other gods before Me >> Worship Jesus (Because He is equal with God) >> Jesus is worthy of our worship >> Worship Jesus for who he is

Mat 26,6-11

(23g) Sin >> Poverty (Oppression) >> Tending to the needs of the poor

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7-23 a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at the table. 8 But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, "Why this waste? 9 "For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor." 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to Me. 11 "For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. 12 "For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. 13 "Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her." 14 Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, "What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?" And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him. 16 From then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Jesus. 17 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?" 18 And He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is near; I am to keep the Passover at your house with My disciples."' " 19 The disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover. 20 Now when evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples. 21 As they were eating, He said, "Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me." 22 Being deeply grieved, they each one began to say to Him, "Surely not I, Lord?" 23 And He answered, "He who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl is the one who will betray Me.

Mat 26-7

(189a) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Holy sacrifice >> The smell of death >> Priestly anointing perfume of sacrifice – This woman invested a large sum of money in the perfume she poured over Jesus’ head, and it says that she did it in preparation for His burial, implying that she knew what would happen to Him, that as the Lamb of God He would give His life a ransom for the sins of the world. In old covenant temple worship they would anoint the high priest with a fragrant oil before he went to make the annual sacrifice for the sins of Israel, and this woman anointed Jesus by reason that He was the Great High Priest who was about to present the ultimate sacrifice of Himself to God. This is why He requested her honor in mention with the gospel that He prophesied would spread throughout the whole world. She understood more than His disciples about Jesus’ plan and purpose, though Jesus reiterated to the twelve about His fate. They didn’t want to believe it and so they didn’t. This woman didn’t have as big a problem believing the cross was Jesus’ destiny, because she wasn’t invested in the hope of being important figureheads in His earthly kingdom as were the disciples, which they assumed He would establish in their lifetime. Although these things will happen, and the apostles will have high positions in His kingdom, along with great honor and nobility, yet 2000 years have elapsed, indicating just how far off the mark they were in their estimation of God’s purpose. Apparently this woman was hoping for something else; she was open to whatever God had in mind.

Mat 26,14-16

(172aa) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Tares among the wheat >> Devils among the saints >> False brethren among the people of God >> Judas Iscariot among the disciples – If Jesus had so much discernment, why did He choose a traitor? Firstly, He did this on purpose. He needed a traitor to fulfill Old Testament prophecy, and He needed a traitor among His disciples to act as a microcosm for the class of people he would represent, the reprobate. This was to demonstrate that there will always be traitors within our congregations, acting as thorns in our flesh. Secondly, Jesus didn't technically choose him; rather, he invited himself among the twelve, thinking that if he gets the boot, what did it hurt to try, but if he could find a place in the group without being noticed, he could stand to make a lot of money off Jesus' ministry. Judas Iscariot had a reprobate mind, despite the fact that he spent 3 years with Jesus and witnessed countless miracles, yet not even this was enough evidence to believe in Jesus.

(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 – Judas was a typical reprobate, defined as a spiritual psychopath. There are many reprobates in the world today, as John said, many antichrists, who wouldn't serve God in a million years, people like the Jews and Pharisees who had Jesus martyred. They developed the reprobate mind by continually blaspheming the Holy Spirit, until they wore down their conscience to such a extent they could no longer believe in God. Reality became a pliable substance. They made up their own truth and developed their own rules about what was good and evil, exhibited by Judas hanging himself instead of repenting. For Jesus to say that it would be better if he had not been born means that he went to hell.

(202b) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Running from God >> Running to your sinful nature >> Run from God by running to the world

(241ib) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecution to the death >> Kill Jesus by the predetermined plan of God >> The Jews had Jesus murdered -- These verses go with verses 47-50

Mat 26,17-20 -- No Entries

Mat 26,21-29

(37g) Judgment >> Redemption of man >> His blood is the gift of His grace – Taking communion represents partaking of the body and blood of Christ; therefore, it was necessary for Judas to dip his morsel into the cup and eat it, communing with Jesus and symbolizing his contempt for the body and blood of Christ. Judas represents the reprobate mind, and though he felt sorry for what he did later, he never repented, except by suicide, which is not true repentance but unholy sacrifice. Peter by all accounts denied the Lord three times, but he repented, weeping bitterly. Peter couldn’t stop believing; he couldn’t give up a hope he once cherished.

Mat 26,21-25

(190da) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Masochism (Self-made martyr) >> Spiritual suicide

Mat 26-21

(110a) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit speaks through you >> Word of knowledge >> knowing their thoughts by the mind of Christ

Mat 26-22,23 -- No Entries

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24&25 "The Son of Man is to go, just as it is written of Him; but 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." 25 And Judas, who was betraying Him, said, "Surely it is not I, Rabbi?" Jesus said to him, "You have said it yourself."

Mat 26-24,25

(63h) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Sarcasm >> Ignoring the truth to convey the truth -- Judas walked with Jesus for three years and should have realized that Christ would have known what was in his heart. Jesus played hardball with the Pharisees and all the religious leaders, while Judas played mind games with himself to block out his intension of betraying Christ, and inadvertently admitted his guilt. His words must have rung in his ears like a hollow vacuum where truth should reside instead of the futile, sarcastic gesture of denial. 

(68k) Authority >> Discernment >> Judging truth and error >> Perceiving wicked plans

Mat 26-24

(47k) Judgment >> God judges the world >> Eternal judgment against unbelief >> Rejecting Christ – There are billions of people all over the world who are willing to sacrifice heaven for the God-given right to exercise their sovereign will against Christ. Those who refuse to bow their knee to Him will not escape the sentence of hell, a place where people have no opportunity to use their will to accomplish anything.

(141f) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears witness to the new >> It bears witness to Jesus >> Prophesy about Jesus’ death -- This verse goes with verses 31&32. See: Psalm 41-9. Judas could have gone with the rest of the disciples into hiding, except that it was written of him that one would betray Him, whose soul would not be spared. It was not God’s foreknowledge that destroyed Judas; rather, Judas destroyed himself. Biblical prophecy cannot be broken. God has already been to the future and seen what happens, and all that remains is for the prophecy to materialize. Nobody can stop it because God’s foreknowledge is as sure as His memory of the past.

(186j) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> The reprobate >> God’s role in forming a reprobate >> Marked out for destruction – We could go on talking about the nature of Judas Iscariot, but there eventually comes a point when we find ourselves standing at the precipice of a black hole, looking into it, studying its nature and finding it incomprehensible. Yet, the reprobate mind understands itself perfectly. We have just stumbled on the mystery of lawlessness. The man was incapable of being saved, impervious to God’s word and to the signs and wonders that Jesus performed. He blended with the other disciples yet had a heart of stone like the Pharisees who simply could not believe. People who are incapable of being saved are a conundrum to the rest of us. They are actually scary people; if we could learn how they think, they seem normal. The secular term for "reprobate" is psychopath; they have no conscience toward God. Later after Judas betrayed the Lord he regretted it, but it was too little too late. He killed himself thinking this would best show his remorse, but God wanted remorse in his heart, not hanging from the end of a rope. What Judas did was not real repentance. He even gave the money back, throwing it into the temple, but not in faith, otherwise he wouldn’t have hung himself.

(219i) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> Predestined according to the word of God (Prophecy) -- The word of God in the Old Testament centuries earlier spoke of a man who would lift his heel against the messiah. Later a child was born and his mother named him Judas Iscariot, who later became one of Jesus' twelve disciples, destined to betray Him and lose his sole for a few pieces of silver. It might as well have been written in stone everything that was to transpire between Jesus and Judas. How much is written in stone about our own lives? Everything! That is why we pray for mercy and stay as far away from evil as possible, so what is written is good and not evil. The disciples blamed themselves for Jesus’ fate because they ran, but had they stayed, the Romans would have killed them too. More importantly, it was prophesied that they should run, so sinned but did no wrong. Abandoning the Lord was not a good thing, but according to Bible prophecy they were only following the course that was destined for them. When we think of the spiritual war that Jesus fought that night with His flesh, assisted by angels to resist the temptation to run, the disciples were caught in the middle of the fray, and for them running was the best thing to do.

Mat 26-25

(54a) Paradox >> Opposites >> Unbelief in the presence of the power of God -- This verse goes with verses 63&64

(84j) Thy kingdom come >> Your words can lead to your own demise >> Lying -- This verse goes with verses 49&50. Why did Judas say that? Perhaps he actually believed it! That is, maybe he had his secrets partitioned in a dark room in his mind that was accessible only at certain times. The human mind is capable of manipulating itself in this manner; the greater the evil the greater the partitions, and the greater the partitions, the greater the effort to hide evil from ourselves, and so the sin grows from the propensity of the deed to the effort to cover it.

(181i) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Self deception >> Imaginary perception of self >> Pretending to be someone you’re not -- This verse goes with verse 48. When Judas said, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi,” he lied straight to Jesus' face, knowing that He knew about his intensions, and then taking communion with Him was the ultimate slap in the face, representing what was actually transpiring in the spiritual realm. Judas no doubt lied to himself and denied everything and made up stories that he believed, yet somewhere in his blackened heart the truth remained. We can’t destroy the truth; we can only bury it under our lies and self-deception, but we know what we're doing; we were there when we buried it. So when Judas said, ‘Lord, not I,’ he was speaking words of blasphemy, lying to God. He also lied to his conscience and to the Holy Spirit. Jesus gave Judas the first morsel, so unbelief would leave the room, so Jesus and His disciples could enjoy communion. The wine and the bread to the disciples represented grace and mercy, but to Judas it represented judgment.

(182h) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >> Being deceptive with people >> Lying to others

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26-29 While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." 27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. 29 "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom." 

Mat 26,26-32

(209jb) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Jesus is our sacrifice >> Jesus paid the price for us >> Jesus is the lamb of God >> We remember His sacrifice at communion

Mat 26,26-30

(130a) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Unity >> Being in one accord >> Communion – Communion does not guarantee unity. It would behoove us to pursue unity, so when we take communion we would do it apart from strife, jealousy and all the other negative forces in the Church today. Communion wasn’t designed to fix anything but to merely remind us that Jesus gave His life for the Church; therefore, we should love one another and live a holy life. God commanded us to kill the flesh by the Spirit, to die to self, and then unity can form among us. Unity cannot form around false doctrine or a people who do not despise their sin, because sin has an erosion effect on faith, and faith is what we use to establish unity. We either do the will of God so unity can grow, or we will watch the Church continue to disintegrate before our eyes.

Mat 26,26-29

(230a) Kingdom of God >> God’s kingdom is a living organism >> Partaking of Jesus >> Partaking of communion – Jesus said in Lk 22-15,16, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” we should strive to fulfill His desire, yet we also earnestly desire many things, and too often our desires overrule the Lord’s desires. That evening Passover meant a lot to the Lord, and it should mean something to us. If we dedicated our lives doing what the Lord earnestly desires of us, we would be satisfied in our work more than if we sought to fulfill our own interests. Holding our will over the will of God and giving our desires a higher priority is a classic case of idolatry.

Mat 26-29

(50j) Judgment >> Sequence of Revelations >> Second half of the tribulation >> The seventh seal >> Marriage supper of the lamb – Everything about God pertains to faith. Heb 11-3 says, “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” God exists and consists of faith. Those who are redeemed during the Millennium will be part of God’s people, but they will not be part of the Church. They will still need faith to be saved, but not to the extent that we do, since they will be taking part of His earthly kingdom. They will be tested; there will be an uprising at the end of the Millennium, and just like the angels, they will need to make a choice between following Christ or following the rebellion. The angels will not have the same level of authority as the Church in eternity, because the angels knew the presence of God, just like people in the Millennium knew Jesus as King of the earth. They will be no different from the angels in that way. The millennial people will have a lower rank than the Church, because they required less faith.

(67c) Authority >> Jesus at the right hand of the father >> He is interceding for us there – This verse holds a message that is gaining in importance, since we are living in the last days and close to the return of Christ. Jesus said that He would not touch the fruit of the vine until He drinks it new in the Kingdom of Heaven with all His people present. This means that Jesus has been in a state of fasting and prayer at the right-hand of the Father since His ascension, not in a state of joy and celebration, but experiencing our pain and living our experiences. He can feel the sorrow of His people; He is not enjoying life in heaven while we are down here suffering, but is suffering with us, and He knows everything that is happening to each of us. That might sound far-fetched to some, but they are probably the same ones who look into the sky and cannot see God’s handiwork and don’t believe the stars are as distant as our astronomers tell us, or that those foggy little dots we see in a telescope are not galaxies big as our own, trillions of miles away. God created a universe this size but doesn’t know what’s happening with us? If He can create a universe like this, then He also knows what’s happening to us! It is not far-fetched. Jesus is at God’s right-hand suffering with us, not celebrating.

(208k) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Personal relationship >> Being married to God >> Emotional relationship – When Jesus said that He would never drink from the fruit of the vine until He drinks in new in His Father’s kingdom, He spoke about it with an emotion that transcended all other emotions. It drove Jesus to tears when He raised Lazarus from the dead, feeling the drama of the people He loved, but there was no mention of any tears during the Last Supper. His emotion went beyond tears, beyond His life in the flesh, beyond this realm, and beyond this age. There was a depth to Him that longed to be finished with suffering, and even in heaven to be finished suffering for His people as the Great High Priest. On that day, when He drinks from the cup anew, it will be an experience of joy that will spill on us all, and it will unite us in ways that are literally incomprehensible to our natural minds. Some people wonder if God loves them; they are not the only ones who can’t fully comprehend the love of God. No one can fully imbibe His love and the joy He has for His people.

(224e) Kingdom of God >> Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of heaven >> The joyful kingdom >> The marriage supper of the lamb -- Communion is a solemn moment that should be taken seriously and thoughtfully, but we should also take it in celebration of Jesus victory over sin with our joyous, eternal future in mind. Jesus was able to see past His suffering the very night He was betrayed, and spoke of a time when He would continue in heaven what He had started in the upper room at the Lord's supper. However, Jesus is not partying in heaven; for the last 2000 years He has put the party on hold; He hasn’t celebrated. Just because He lived a perfect life, was crucified, rose from the dead and ascended to the right-hand of the power of God is still no cause for celebration, because the job is not finished. He did all that just so He could enter His heavenly ministry as the Great High Priest, which also happens to be the ministry of the Holy Spirit. His office as the Son of God is the person in charge of the Church, and He intercedes for the saints, telling the Holy Spirit how to bring about their salvation and ministry. Jesus is not ready to celebrate; imagine the celebration when it finally comes! Jesus described the wine as new wine, which corresponds with the parable of the wineskins (Lk 5,37-39). The wine in the parable represented the Holy Spirit, and so it is in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. This event will happen immediately after the Rapture. What we need to understand about the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is that it is not constrained by time. 2Pet 3-8 states, “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” God is outside of time, so He can condense a 50,000-year celebration into fifty days. When the celebration is over they will return to the earth just in time for the Millennium.

30-35 After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 31 Then Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, 'I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK SHALL BE SCATTERED.' 32 "But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee." 33 But Peter said to Him, "Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away." 34 Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." 35 Peter said to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You." All the disciples said the same thing too.

Mat 26-30

(254a) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is subject to the Father >> Jesus worships the Father – Jesus was singing right along with His disciples. Who can say that singing a hymn is not a form of worship? Isn’t that why we sing hymns, to worship God? We go to church and open our hymnals and stand, the piano plays and we all join in singing the song. That morning before we go to church, we say to our children, get dressed and comb your hair, because we’re going to church to worship God. Therefore, singing hymns is a form of worship as spoken by our own lips, and we see Jesus singing hymns with His disciples, worshipping god. Why would God worship Himself? This is not the only time He did this; remember, He raised His eyes and said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth…” (Mat 11-25). He worshipped God there too, and in other cases we find Jesus worshipping His Father, yet we maintain that Jesus is one of the members of the godhead. The explanation for this is simple: Jesus is subject to the Father, not just when He lived in the flesh, but throughout eternity past, present and future. He yields to His Father’s authority, so how is Jesus equal with His Father? If they were equal, wouldn’t they have equal authority? No! Can you imagine the mess it would make in heaven, three persons of the godhead arguing with each other about what to do? The Father has all authority, yet they are all equal in that the Son is a greater servant than the Father. Jesus has more authority than the Holy Spirit, who in turn is a greater servant than Christ, and in heaven the greatest is least and the least is greatest, ensuring equality within the godhead.

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Mat 26,31-35

(3a) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> Get out of His way >> Do not seek your own righteousness – These verses go with verses 69-75. It was a necessary evil that the disciples would have to endure, as a result of simply being human and frail. He prophesied that they would all leave Him. They had seen everything He ever said come to pass, so when He said this, they should have accepted it and apologized to Him before it happened, instead of searching for an inner strength and righteousness apart from God that does not exist. Peter fell hard on this test because perhaps he was trying to prove that he could love God without His help; he found it impossible.

(203h) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Back-slider >> Withdraw from obeying God >> Withdrawing from God – Peter was fighting against prophecy when he denied that he would deny the Lord. It was written that they would do this, for the moment was written in Scripture. Peter made a valiant effort to thwart the passage, but it would inevitably be fulfilled. He had no more choice to deny prophecy than Judas Iscariot, the son of perdition. Later, all the apostles died for their faith, after God bestowed His anointing on them. They established the Church in the world prior to their martyrdom on the foundation of Jesus Christ who is the anointed One. Without the anointing we really can’t accomplish anymore than the disciples before Pentecost, who made grandiose claims and could not substantiate them.

Mat 26-31,32

(141f) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears witness to the new >> It bears witness to Jesus >> Prophesy about Jesus’ death -- These verses go with verses 54-56

Mat 26-31

(37b) Judgment >> The cross >> Father slays His son – Jesus prophesied that His disciples would abandon Him, according to Old Testament prophecy (Zechariah 13-7). Who would strike the shepherd? We could say it was the devil or the Roman soldiers or the Jews, but even more so the Father. Although sinners laid their hands on Jesus, prompted by the devil, it was the Father who was most responsible for His death and resurrection, and for this reason God could forgive even those who murdered Him, since it was the Father’s will that He should die (Rev 13-8 KJV). God performed the work of sinners without sinning. God the Father struck down the shepherd while the Roman soldiers committed the most grievous sin ever committed. It is not the things we do that are sinful, but our knowledge of sin that make our actions sinful. The Father crucified His Son for our sake that He might create a way to forgive us. It was easier for God to forgive the centurion who recognized at Jesus' death that He was the Son of God (Mat 27-54), than to forgive the Jews who knew He was the Son of God when they ordered His death. When Jesus said on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk 23-34), He was referring to the soldiers who crucified Him and to all who sinned in ignorance of God and His truth, excluding the spiritual leaders of Israel who knew what they were doing.

(65e) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Jesus brings division instead of peace

(199e) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> Throwing God away >> Renouncing your faith -- This verse goes with verse 35. People get this whole topic mixed up with blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which Jesus said is inexcusable. All of Jesus' disciples tucked tail and ran, which was the right thing to do, since they may have been killed with Christ had they stayed by His side. Then who would have carried the torch of truth after Jesus resurrection? Peter specifically denied Christ three times that he had ever met Him, and yet went on to do great things for God. Peter's poor example of a disciple and outright blasphemy against the Holy Spirit are miles apart in the sense that the first concerns faith apart from works, which is a fleshly problem, while the second refers to outright rejection of the truth through unbelief, which is a spiritual problem. This Peter did not do. Try to imagine Peter one day no longer believing in Jesus, or try to imaging ourselves no longer believing in Jesus. It would be like no longer believing in gravity, though gravity reminds us every day of it existence, from dropping a fork to simply walking across the room.

(240a) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the knowledge of the kingdom >> Pastor (Shepherd) >> Jesus is the chief shepherd

Mat 26,33-35

(1m) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> Carrying a false burden >> Making commitments that contradict Scripture – The moment he declared he would never fall away after Jesus told him he would, Peter placed a burden on his own back that he was not able to carry. Perhaps Peter should have started repenting right there and then for being weak like the rest of us, instead of calling Jesus a liar and making promises he could not keep. That way he would have at least believed the Lord, and there is always reward in that.

(2e) Responsibility >> Keep your commitments >> it is better not to vow at all – In those days making promises was a big deal. Today our word means almost nothing to the general public or in a court a law, compared to the signed document. We lost something when we decided we could lie all we wanted but be careful what we signed. There is something far nobler about entering a legal binding contract by our word, than depending on a piece of paper to prove our intensions. Case in point, when Herod promised "up to half his kingdom" to the daughter of Herodias, he was acting foolishly, in affect signing a contract with her. What king in his right mind would give away half his kingdom to a dancer? Herod must have been very drunk. I suppose if she had asked him for half his kingdom, Herod would have quickly added the stipulation that she be his wife, so his kingdom would stay with him.

(5h) Responsibility >> Discipleship tested >> God tests your loyalty >> Your commitment to follow Jesus -- These verses go with verses 69-75

(176f) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Zeal without knowledge (Spirit w/o the word) >> Fire without faithfulness

Mat 26-34

(110a) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Spirit and the word >> Spirit speaks through you >> Word of knowledge >> knowing their thoughts by the mind of Christ -- This verse goes with verse 21

(152f) Witness >> Validity of the Father >> Witnesses of the father >> Prophets >> Jesus is a prophet >> Jesus prophesies to the Church

Mat 26-35

(199e) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> Throwing God away >> Renouncing your faith -- This verse goes with verses 69-75

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36&37 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed.

Mat 26,36-46

(50d) Judgment >> Last Days >> Great Endtime Revival >> Jews lead the world into revival >> Leading the harvest at the end of the age – The Great Endtime Revival will be one long prayer meeting. God’s admonishment to His people of the Jewish endtime revival will be, “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." What is this temptation? Remember Peter’s denial! They were supposed to flee Jesus’ side at the sight of His enemies; they all scattered according to Rev 12-6, “Then the woman [the Jewish witnesses] fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days” (Rev 12-6). This Great Endtime Revival with a nucleus of a 144,000 Jews fled into the wilderness where it says they were nourished by God, and they will flee in the same way that the disciples scattered in different directions from the presence of Jesus’ enemies and rendezvoused in the upper room, and in the same way that the Church dispersed from Jerusalem at the persecution in AD 70. After the dispersion camps will form in third-world countries. Meanwhile, there will be a massive campaign of martyrdom against gentile believers who refused to take part of this Jewish-led revival, and many thousands of Christians will lose their lives for Jesus’ sake. It will be a great winnowing of His people in those days, the faithful from the faithless; many will fall away, and many of those who remain will be killed. The apostate church will betray the true Church; these days are virtually right around the corner.

(81b) Thy kingdom come >> Prayer >> The priesthood >> Striving to please Christ -- Without prayer how can we have a relationship with Christ? We could study His word, but after we learned what He said, how could we apply what we know to our relationship with Christ? The word of God and prayer is the very essence of our relationship with Christ. We could try to please God through obedience, but if we really loved Him, we would want to commun-icate with Him. Peter in His epistle speaks of the royal priesthood as the Church performing her priestly duties, which amounts mostly to prayer. These moments in the garden of Gethsemane were Christ's finest hour with God. It was a merciful act to send His Son in swaddling clothes on Christmas night, but now the moment has come for which He was born and He had to go through it. The crucifixion was the ultimate act of obedience, but the garden is where Jesus became obedient from the heart. 

(82a) Thy kingdom come >> Three elements of prayer >> Direction (Attitude) >> What to pray for – The eight disciples represent the gentile Church in the outer court, praying for the return of Christ; His three closest disciples represent the Jewish Church in the Holy Place, and Jesus represents the Two Witnesses in the Holy of Holies. He prays a third time, suggesting that there will be three tiers of anointing fraught with grief on the Two Witnesses, whose ministry goes through a transformation from benevolent leaders to adjudicators of judgment. They will also disseminate an anointing on the Church to pray while they protect Jerusalem. It says in Lk 22-43 that an angel appeared to Jesus strengthening Him, and so too God will strengthen the Two Witnesses with angels. There will be many angelic visitations in the last days, miracles of strength, anointing and power from prayer. They will demonstrate that they are the true children of God through signs and wonders, so those who follow the antichrist will have no excuse for persecuting them. In the end, the Two Witnesses will be killed, and 3½ days later will be raised from the dead as first fruits of the Resurrection, even as Jesus was raised 3½ days later (1The 4,16-18). See also: Mat 26,36-39; 140b

(196j) Denying Christ >> Man exercises his will against God >> Spiritual laziness >> Replacing God’s standard of excellence with yours >> Sleeping in the spirit -- At the time an observer might have thought Jesus made a mistake picking those twelve men to be His disciples. Even John whom Jesus loved fell asleep. This kind of sleeping was reiterated in the parable of the Ten Virgins (Mat 25,1-13), which is a stark reminder of the last days regarding the Church falling asleep prior to Jesus’ return, representing apostasy. It was only a chapter ago (Mat 25,1-13) that Jesus told the parable about how both the wise and the foolish fell asleep and then awoke with a shout from their bridegroom. Now it is happening to the disciples just before Christ is to be apprehended by His assailants; He keeps finding them asleep and scolding them for not watching and praying with Him. These verses  happen prior to Christ's departure from this life, while the parable of the Ten Virgins happens just prior to His return. In the case of the Garden of Gethsemane, it says they slept from sorrow, knowing (yet denying) their master’s imminent suffering. In the last days the parable of the Ten Virgins references His return and the Church will again fall asleep, for Satan will put upon them a spirit of stupor just as he did the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, similar to the Wizard of Oz when the Wicked Witch of the West imposed a spell of sleep on Dorothy and the cowardly lion as they ran through the poppy field, trying to keep them from the Emerald City. The apostasy is the falling away of the saints (2The 2,1-3), the foolish virgins did not just fall asleep but fell away from God, not at the time of their slumber but long before that, during the time when they should have been accumulating oil in their jars. Jesus told his disciples to pray that they might not enter into temptation to sleep, for this was their great opportunity to minister to Jesus and pray with Him during His darkest hour. Satan placed on them a spirit of slumber in effort to thwart any help from above, because Satan wanted Him to himself to torture and destroy Him through the hands of Roman sinners. When we look at this in terms of endtime prophecy through the parable of the Ten Virgins, we see that Satan was behind the apostasy of the wise and the foolish virgins for the same reason, that he might effect a great slaughter in the form of many martyrs. Just as the Ten Virgins awoke and the five foolish virgins ran away under the pretense of seeking more oil at a time when God called them to be prepared, so the five wise virgins will simply enter the glory of their Master with lamps burning bright. Since the title “Christ” means the anointed one, thus “Christians” means anointed ones, having an anointing is a requirement of entering through the door into heaven that is shut after the five foolish virgins returned with no oil. 

Mat 26,36-42

(216d) Sovereignty >> God overrides the will of man >> God’s will over man >> Compelled by the Spirit >> God takes advantage of your love for Him >> Being addicted to the Holy Spirit

(253l) Trinity >> Relationship between Father and Son >> Jesus is subject to the Father >> Jesus is subject to the will of God -- Many people have a hard time with the trinity because they perceive the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as unequal to each other, but what they are seeing is each one occupying their roles in varying positions within the Godhead. The Father is head of both the Son and the Spirit; the Son is head of the Spirit; and the Spirit is subject to both Father and Son. These varying positions of authority are not a detraction of their equality, since their varying levels of service make up for their lack of authority. Remember, Jesus said in Lk 9-48, "For he who is least among you all-he is the greatest." That is, The Holy Spirit has least authority of the three but is the greater servant, which hikes-up His overall position within the trinity as being equal with the Father. Therefore, the level of their positions within the trinity can be seen as the sum of their authority plus their servanthood. Perhaps some people have a problem with the trinity because they don't understand the authority of servanthood. If they don't understand this simple concept, than it proves they are not a servant at heart, and this is why they don't understand God, because servanthood is integral to His identity. 

Mat 26,36-39

(140b) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Hiding place >> Worshipping God in His temple – Jesus took with Him Peter, James and John to a separate place in the garden apart from the other eight disciples and there prayed before His suffering. Jesus became deeply grieved, so he went a little beyond them and prayed alone. When we look at the configuration of the disciples with Jesus and compare it with the Jewish old covenant temple of worship, it is arranged in much the same way, where His eight disciples represent the outer court, His three closest disciples represent the Holy Place and Jesus represents the Holy of Holies. There in the Holy of Holies He prayed for strength to endure the suffering that was coming as He offered Himself to the Father as the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world. A configuration similar to this will occur again in the last days as the antichrist begins to set up his evil empire, establishing his mark in the New World Order. The Church will panic and do whatever it can to initiate a revival, representing the outer court. A little later, God will orchestrate His own revival, using His chosen people according to the flesh, the Jews. They will represent the Holy Place. Among the 144,000 Jewish witnesses there will be Two Witnesses who will stand in the gap, represented by the Most Holy Place. They will defend the Church and help protect them from the antichrist. Those who are able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit telling them that this Great Endtime Revival orchestrated by the Jews is a divine work of God will join the revival, entering the Camp of the Saints, which will be places spotted throughout the earth, located in third world countries in wilderness regions.

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38-46 Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me." 39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will." 40 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? 41 "Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." 42 He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done." 43 Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. 45 Then He came to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 "Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!"

Mat 26,38-42

(37a) Judgment >> The cross >> God judged the sin of the world through Christ – Jesus almost died from grief before His enemies could kill Him. Some might say that “grief” is just a cute word for “fear”, but the Bible says that He was grieved. Jesus wasn’t grieving about physical suffering; He was grieving over the fact that His Father was about to place on Him all the sins of the whole world from Adam to the last man born in sinful flesh and then abandon Him. He cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mat 27-46). It says in 2Cor 5-21 that Jesus became sin, which is how we would define Satan. He became a million times worse than the thousand worst sinners, and in becoming like Satan, God was able to judge Satan through Christ, pointing at Him and saying to the devil, ‘Look at His ugliness; that is you.’ As the Father raised His son from the dead, Jesus deposited the sin of all mankind in the depths of hell, and Jesus returned from the grave, having accomplished the will of His Father to become the savior of all those who would believe in Him for the forgiveness of sin.

(209g) Salvation >> The salvation of God >> Righteous saved with difficulty >> Righteous saved with casualties – Jesus was a martyr, so there will be martyrs in the last days among Christians, but as the disciples survived the night that Jesus was betrayed, so God’s people will survive Satan’s onslaught even as Lazarus survived his sickness. Jesus delayed in coming to him, saying, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it” (Jn 11-4). Jesus does not consider the martyrdom of the saints to be terminal, but for the glory of the resurrection. Jesus also said in Lk 21,17-19, “You will be hated by all because of My name. Yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.” At the end of Jesus’ suffering, 3½ days later He was raised from the dead. Likewise, after 3½ years of the Trumpet judgments the First Resurrection will occur. 

Mat 26-38,39

(70d) Authority >> Righteous judgment (outcome of discernment) >> Being sensitive to the Spirit >> Spirit grieves over the flesh

Mat 26-39

(114e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Obeying the Holy Spirit >> Obeying the revelation from heaven by putting away the flesh -- This verse goes with verse 42. The cross is the embodiment of what it means to die to self. Essentially, dying to self means to give up your ideas about your own life and take on God's purpose. Jesus in these verses was doing that very thing; He was ordering His life after the will of God. He had come from His mother's womb to that present day with one intension: to save mankind from their sins, but His flesh had a different will and didn't want to die. When we submit to the will of the Spirit, it always comes with sacrificing our flesh, making our bodies take the last seat in order to give preference to Christ. This is just the first step, however, in fulfilling the will of God, for we must also learn what God wants us to do. We learn about the general will of God by reading the Bible, and we take the Scriptures into prayer with us to discover God's specific will, but if we don't put away the flesh, none of this will begin to happen.

(247k) Priorities >> God’s priorities >> We play our part in the will of God >> Doing the will of God -- This verse goes with verse 42. Jesus’ attitude throughout His life revolved around this statement: “Not as I will, but as You will.” He also said, “If it is possible.” Aren’t “All things are possible with God”? Why then didn’t the Father answer Jesus’ prayer and devise a new plan? When we say, “All things are possible with God,” there are limits. God was happy to answer virtually every prayer Jesus ever prayed, except this one, though Jesus made a provision, saying, “Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Jesus was saying, ‘Not as My flesh wills but as the Spirit wills.’ In His heart He was in agreement with God that the cross should happen, but His flesh disagreed, and Jesus was importuning His Father on behalf of His flesh. He wanted His Father to care as much about His temporal existence as His flesh did, but His Father would not. Jesus understood how we feel about our lives, but He was actually concerned about something much greater. Although He didn’t want to be insulted, mistreated, flogged and nailed to a cross, what really bothered Him was taking on all the sins of the world and being separated from His Father and made to become sin. Jesus had to subject His flesh to the will of God, and that is true with us. We are all called to die to self, and we are happy to do it, but our flesh is not. Whatever God calls us to do, causes us to sacrifice our sinful passions and desires, for there is nothing God would ask of us that would not require us to put away the flesh.

Mat 26,40-46

(21c) Sin >> Disobedience >> Unfaithful – As we know, the story ends with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Satan is trying to destroy the Church and all semblances of what is true and good, and will fail to accomplish a single objective. Although this hour may be his and the power of darkness (Lk 22-53), yet the prophecies are written for a Millennium reign of peace that will come after this age of grace that we are now living, when Christ will teach mankind the ways of God that could have worked throughout these thousands of years, had man only tried. Christ will use the same principles to promote peace during His Millennium that He expected the Church to implement. He will show us where we all went wrong soon after the apostles fell asleep. The first thing Satan did was dispense with the anointing, which is the engine that runs the Kingdom of God.

(196h) Spiritual Laziness (Key verse)

Mat 26-41

(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 – Far as spiritually understanding God’s plan of establishing His kingdom, it never entered the minds of anybody what God had planned. Since this spiritual kingdom is so intangible, neither were the disciples particularly interested in it, nor for that matter the Church today. This is the problem that man has with the grace of God, its intangibility. People love their senses stimulated; they don’t want to experience God by faith, yet God says for the next two millennia this is the agenda. The Jews never saw it in their Old Testament prophecies, though it was there. Part of the reason they didn’t see it is that they were not looking for it, yet they saw the literal Kingdom of God physically manifested on the earth in their Old Testament Scriptures.

Mat 26-42

(114e) Thy kingdom come >> Faith >> Working the grace of God >> Obeying the Holy Spirit >> Obeying the revelation from heaven by putting away the flesh -- This verse goes with verse 39. Jesus spent eternity past with His Father. They had both agreed that this should happen long before Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb. Throughout eternity Jesus was in perfect agreement with the Father about the cross, but once He took on human flesh and the moment had come for Him to give His life, things seemed different. Jesus emptied Himself of His glory in heaven, and so the Father revealed these things to His Son by the Spirit; these things were all revelations to the Lord. The fact that He was destined for the cross was a revelation in itself. Jesus was striving for the same frame of mind that He had with God in heaven and achieved it when He finally accepted His place as savior of the world. Jesus had to subject His flesh to His Father’s will in order to be in agreement with Him, and the same is true with us.

(247k) Priorities >> God’s priorities >> We play our part in the will of God >> Doing the will of God -- This verse goes with verse 39. The NASB says it this way, “If this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” In other words, ‘If your resolve of the cross as My destiny will not die, then I will go to the cross and die.’ He knew that the Father’s will would not change, yet He begged God to change His mind and think of another way to accept His people into heaven and allow them to come and live with them, defiled sinners, unworthy of God, who had no business in heaven, who had no right to any of His blessings, goodness or righteousness. They had no capacity to know God, and there was no solution, except that Jesus should go to the cross and die for our sins, so that a simple faith in His blood sacrifice would atone for all our sins. A simple faith would be reason enough to accept us into His heaven and bestow on us every spiritual blessing imaginable and unimaginable.

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47-52 While He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs, who came from the chief priests and elders of the people. 48 Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign, saying, "Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him." 49 Immediately Judas went to Jesus and said, "Hail, Rabbi!" and kissed Him. 50 And Jesus said to him, "Friend, do what you have come for." Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him. 51 And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. 52 Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.

Mat 26,47-50

(160da) Works of the devil >> Satan’s attitude determines our direction >> Led by the devil to suppress the word of God >> Oppressing those who carry the gospel -- These verses go with verses 57-63

(241ib) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecution to the death >> Kill Jesus by the predetermined plan of God >> The Jews had Jesus murdered -- These verses go with verses 57-68

Mat 26-47

(65g) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Satan brings unity >> Satan unites the world for the cause of persecution -- This verse goes with verse 57. We can’t be sure if someone is demon possessed when he does things that are unimaginably evil, but we can be sure that Judas was demon possessed, because Scripture plainly states the fact. After Judas took the morsel, Satan then entered him (Jn 13-27). Therefore, we can be relatively certain that on many occasions when someone does things that are unimaginably evil, they are demon possessed at the time. We also know that later Judas showed remorse from betraying the Lord, after he realized that it meant His death, and we know that Satan did not lead Judas into remorse, so this shows that Satan comes and goes from certain people during acts of intense wickedness, not because people need satanic assistance in doing evil, but because Satan enjoys wickedness and wants to participate in it, partly so he can take credit for it. Of course when he gets thrown into the lake of fire and all his sins are strapped to him, and they pull him into the liquid-hot magma where he will remain forever and ever, he won’t wish he was a sinner then. How many people did he convince to sacrifice their future for the present? It is only natural that he would do the same.

Mat 26,48-50

(16j) Sin >> Continuing in sin to avoid the light >> Having hidden motives – This was a superficial attempt on Judas part to hide His real motives; virtually everybody knew what he was doing; he was only hiding it from himself. People like Judas are good at hiding the truth from themselves. It is very twisted and bizarre; it is how they think. Judas knew exactly what he was doing, yet he denied it, attempting to maintain his conscience. These are scary people, capable of anything; we need to avoid them if possible, but their numbers are exponentially increasing, who don’t believe their conscience matters, who teach that feelings of guilt are a lie. They say Christianity has had a negative impact on the world, blaming Christians for their guilt, being the first step in overriding their conscience, as in the days of Noah.

(178j) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Hypocrisy of the Church is rebuked >> Jesus rebukes His disciples

Mat 26-48

(181i) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Self deception >> Imaginary perception of self >> Pretending to be someone you’re not -- This verse goes with verse 25. Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, not because he loved Him, but because he had been pretending to love Him for the last three years. None of the other eleven disciples knew Judas would betray their Master, indicating that Judas was very cunning in his deceptions, which should give us a heads-up that some of our friends and even family members whom we know very well are not what they seem. It takes a keen sense of discernment to pick out these imposters who reside among us, but be careful how we judge them. Jesus never judged Judas; He simply protected the sheep from his influence.  

Mat 26-49,50

(84j) Thy kingdom come >> Your words can lead to your own demise >> Lying -- These verses go with verses 69-75. Judas greeted Jesus the way all the disciples did, with a kiss; it was the manner of greeting they used. The Bible talks about the holy kiss; Jesus was the one who started it, and eventually they had to terminate it, because it was misused (pretty, young girls were getting kissed more than others), and this was the first misuse of the holy greeting. Jesus didn’t want Judas lying to Him while he was betraying Him. He would have much rather he been honest with Him, rather than greeting Him with a kiss of deception. Satan entered Judas in order to do the things he did, so if Judas had any ideas of withdrawing, the devil would have prodded him ahead. It is interesting what people can do while demon possessed. At first thought, what comes to mind is jumping into a fire or foaming at the mouth, but Judas kissed the Lord and acted like a regular disciple, pretending like nothing was wrong. Judas knew exactly what he was doing, though he may not have admitted his real motives. When a person is demon possessed, their actions become mechanical, and there is very little process maintenance involved. Judas had developed his plan, since a person who is demon possessed is not good at solving problems, because he is not in total control of his mind to think about what he is doing. Satan is not interested in solving problems; he is only interested in stealing, killing and destroying. Rather, the devil considers problem solving our job in the process of doing his will. Judas didn’t betray the Lord from bitterness or spite or hatred toward the Lord, but for the hope of making a little cash. Judas saw the end of the road, that this three-year gig was nearly over and that he needed an exit strategy, and he didn’t want it to end without profiting from it in some way. The Scribes and Pharisees and the religious rulers of Israel were slowly making inroads to Jesus, and it was only a matter of time before they would lay hands on Him and bring his ministry to a close, and Judas figured that if he didn’t make any money before the finale, he would be a bigger fool than the other disciples.

Mat 26-50

(124i) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Love your enemies >> Loving your enemies leaves room for God to Work >> Leave room for the wrath of God -- Few things bothered Jesus because He viewed His life through the eyes of His Spirit. Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss which is the height of hypocrisy, but it didn't bother Jesus because it was written in the ancient manuscripts that these things must happen. Although the footsteps of our lives cannot be found inscribed in the Holy Bible, yet it may be inscribed in another book managed in heaven. There will be some things we have done that will not be written in God's Book, but in another book that God will bring to our judgment, and He will compare the book of His will with the book of our deeds and judge us accordingly. So really, faith can be seen as believing there is a book with our name on it with all the will of God listed, and fashioning our lives after its contents to the best of our ability. Then we can go through hardship by faith, and love and forgive our enemies as Jesus loved and forgave Judas, who's name unfortunately is not written in the Book of Life. 

Mat 26-51 -- No Entries

Mat 26-52

(126d) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Peace >> Peacemakers avoid violence – This is a verse for all the doomsday preppers who are stocking their arsenal with guns and ammunition in preparation for the last days. Jesus warned them that however they defend themselves is how they themselves must die. If they shoot people, then they must be shot (Rev 13-10). Jesus would call them murderers, and we know their fate, “The cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death” (Rev 21-8). Christ would call us to repentance before we committed murder. He would rather we were mistreated and killed than to kill in our own defense. If we must become martyrs of the antichrist, all martyrs have a high standing in the Kingdom of Heaven; that would be better than conforming to the antichrist. There are plenty of people in the world who couldn’t care less about being honored by God, who are in favor of defending themselves and protecting their temporal flesh. This is the attitude of worldly, godless people, who have no interest or inheritance in the Kingdom of God. It is the confession of those who don’t know God, unless they repent of their unbelief and be saved.

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53-58 "Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 "How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?" 55 At that time Jesus said to the crowds, "Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against a robber? Every day I used to sit in the temple teaching and you did not seize Me. 56 "But all this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures of the prophets." Then all the disciples left Him and fled. 57 Those who had seized Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together. 58 But Peter was following Him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and entered in, and sat down with the officers to see the outcome.

Mat 26-53

(62n) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Righteous deception >> Jesus deceives the world -- Although Jesus had power and authority from God (Mat 11-27), He used it only to do His Father's will, which at this time was to submit to the cross. He never once used the power of God for His own purposes (Mat 4,1-11; Jn 8-29). Satan's objective was to make Jesus operate independently of His Father, so for Jesus to tell His enemies that He had the power to call twelve legions of angels was a bit deceptive, since it would have required Him to terminate God's plan of the cross. Therefore, there was no way He would have made that call, and so His threat was empty. Jesus essentially lied about being able to rally those angles to defend Himself; what He really meant was that those thugs were messing with someone who had that kind of power before being born of human flesh and would regain that power after obeying His Father, but at the moment, this hour and the power of darkness belonged to them (Lk 22-53). 

(66e) Authority >> Jesus’ authority >> His position with the Father >> Jesus is under His authority – This is an interesting statement, full of irony. It was the will of the Father that He should give His life for the sins of the world, but for Jesus to call on angels to protect Him would have defeated that purpose. Had Jesus called on twelve legions of angels, it would have ended His relationship with the Father, for it would have been a grievous sin. Jesus would no longer had place with the Father on His throne in heaven. Had He called on His Father under other circumstances, He would have saved Him as many angels as necessary, but in this case no angels were coming. Jesus answered His own question when He said, “How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?” Jesus was predestined for the cross.

(215h) Sovereignty >> God controls time >> Suddenly >> The judgments of God come suddenly >> Without delay

Mat 26,54-56

(141f) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Old Testament bears witness to the new >> It bears witness to Jesus >> Prophesy about Jesus’ death -- These verses go with verse 24. So Many things were written of Jesus in the Old Testament prophets hundreds of years before His birth, that if a person had any doubts whether His death and resurrection could forgive and has authority to render eternal life to those who would believe in Him, we only need to page through the Old Testament and observe the hundreds of prophecies about Him that He fulfilled. This is to add encouragement and confidence to our faith. It pertains to God’s great value that He places on His Word. So many prophecies were written of Him, more than any man. It is no wonder He is called the Word of God.

Mat 26,57-68

(186da) Works of the devil >> The result of lawlessness >> Man’s role in becoming a reprobate >> The fool throws Jesus away for something better >> Israel betrayed the Lord

(241ib) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting the kingdom >> Persecution to the death >> Kill Jesus by the predetermined plan of God >> The Jews had Jesus murdered -- These verses go with verses 2-5

Mat 26,57-63

(160da) Works of the devil >> Satan’s attitude determines our direction >> Led by the devil to suppress the word of God >> Oppressing those who carry the gospel -- These verses go with verses 47-50. Jesus is the word of God, and His enemies oppressed Him, and they willfully misinterpreted what He said, suppressing the word of God by the predetermined plan of God. They recalled Jesus' claim that if the temple were destroyed, He could rebuild it in three days, but He was referring to the temple of His body, and His Father's plan to resurrect Him from the dead after the third day. Jesus knew they would take what He said to mean the Jewish temple and not His own body, but God still held them responsible for misinterpreting His words, because they could have asked Him and He would have told them what He meant. God holds us responsible for misinterpreting the Scriptures, because we could let the Holy Spirit lead us into all the truth just as He promised if we would just submit to Him. However, we don't understand the Scriptures because we have dedicated our lives to other things that we consider more important. Then we persecute those who have allowed God to teach them the Scriptures, who conflict with our ideas who learned the Scriptures from religious people who hardly know God. In this way anyone who does not understand the Scriptures by the Holy Spirit but through religion is being led by the devil to suppress the truth. 

Mat 26-57,58

(122k) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Boldness in adverse circumstances >> Go in places of adversity -- The disciples got a bad rap for fleeing from Jesus' during His arrest. Had they not, they certainly would have died with Christ. Peter wasn't called to die with Christ at that time, for then what would have happened to the gospel without the disciples? Peter went above and beyond the call of duty when he sought Jesus during His time of affliction. It showed how much he loved his Master and how sorrowful he was that this was happening to Him. 

Mat 26-57

(65g) Paradox >> Anomalies >> Satan brings unity >> Satan unites the world for the cause of persecution -- This verse goes with verse 47

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59&60 Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death. 60 They did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on two came forward,

Mat 26,59-75

(16k) Sin >> Continuing in sin to avoid the light >> Suppressing the truth they cannot deny

(120c) Thy kingdom come >> Manifestations of faith >> Forgiveness >> God forgives us when we become accountable to Him >> As we confess our sin – Peter’s denial of Christ during Jesus’ mock trial shows the similarities between the two acts of rejection, the religious leaders' rejection of Him and Peter's, not to pick on Peter, but to show that even the high priest could have been forgiven for crucifying Christ. The level of God’s forgiveness goes far beyond our own expectations. It is because of guilt that we cannot fathom God’s forgiveness for some of the things we have done, but we know that God forgave Peter and the high priest if he wanted it. I have never met anyone as bad as those Pharisees and have thus never met anyone whom God cannot forgive. The question is not whether God can forgive, but whether some can repent of their unbelief. 

Mat 26,59-68

(242f) Kingdom of God >> Opposition toward the Kingdom of God >> Persecuting God >> Persecuting Jesus

Mat 26,59-63

(17j) Sin >>Unrighteous judgment >> Ignorance >> Distorting the facts

(142g) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> Reputation exposed to slander >> Your reputation under attack – The accusers of Jesus struggled to find something they could use against Him. The only thing they could find to convince the authorities to crucify Him was the statement He made that He was the Son of God. The evidence these witnesses brought forward at His mock trial, that if the temple were destroyed He could rebuild it in three days, would not get Him crucified, being there was nothing particularly believable about rebuilding Herod's temple in three days. His good confession as the Son of God is what condemned Him. This shows that His enemies never entertained the possibility that Jesus really was the Son of God, but in fact they knew He was their Messiah. They knew the Old Testament Scriptures backward and forward, and they were familiar with Him as a miracle worker, which acted as His credentials. This means the Pharisees denying Jesus as the Son of God, though knowing His true identity, is an example of refusing to believe something they knew was true. Whenever we see people doing this, we know there is a great deal of satanic influence surrounding them. Their darkness ran very deep within them, and their chances of repenting and getting saved were nil.

Mat 26,59-61

(58j) Paradox >> Two implied meanings >> The temple building / The temple of His body

(177a) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> False doctrine >> Distorting Scripture from a lack of understanding -- This passage shows how false doctrines originate and thus how false religions begin. As you can see, Jesus' accusers had motives that led them in the opposite direction of the truth; Jesus was infringing on their business of religion and they were trying to silence Him. They were looking for justification to kill the truth; they didn't have him in a court to ascertain the facts. This is the environment in which doctrines of demons and their subsequent religions are born. First, they distorted the statement Jesus made about rebuilding the temple in three days, then Jesus made His faithful confession and they rejected His claim as the Son of God. These kind of people are not capable of correctly interpreting the Bible, all because of pride, jealousy and greed. We tend to overuse the word “cult” to mean just about anybody who doesn’t believe in the truth, but it would be better to reserve the word “cult” to mean those who don’t believe in the deity of Jesus Christ. If a religion preaches Jesus as God in human flesh, though miss the mark on many other points, we should not call them a cult; rather, we should consider some of their beliefs heretical. We should reserve the one false doctrine of denying Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh strictly for the cults. Then there is the occult; these are religions that attempt to worship a god other than the God of the Bible. Many of these confess to serve Satan in various forms, even those who believe in white magic. There are many forms of occultism in eastern regions; Hinduism being a popular example; they claim to believe in Jesus, though He is not the emphasis of their beliefs. Islam is another example of a cult that does not have Jesus Christ at the center of their religion. We have the faith of Jesus Christ, the Son of God in human flesh, then we have heretics, cults, the occult and then atheism. Everybody falls into one of these five categories. It might sound difficult to believe the truth when there are so many alternate views, but God has given us of His Spirit, making it easier to believe the truth than error, thus removing any excuses unbelievers might have for believing their lies. Nevertheless, truth is one of the rarest beliefs, though Christianity is the most popular religion in the world. 

Mat 26-59

(155e) Witness >> Validity of the believer >> Witness of the believer >> Conscience >> An evil conscience keeps us from believing God >> Knowledge of evil testifies against our motives – The Pharisees never made up a lie about Jesus, though Pilate may have simply accepted their accusations without question. The Pharisees refused to violate what they considered a conscience, but was more a set of invented rules and boundaries by which they determined to live. Instead, the Pharisees brought Jesus to the governor without leveling any charges against Him, instead railroaded Pilate to make a decision, forcing him to extenuate a long process of ascertaining why people wanted Him dead, and he turned up nothing. Pilate even put it into words, “I find no guilt in Him” (Jn 18-38). These were fighting words to the religious leaders of Jerusalem, who intended to cause a riot if they perceived Pilate leaning toward releasing Him, which was Pilate’s worst nightmare. Once they threatened a riot, he submitted to their will, but no charges were ever brought against Jesus. This was the result of all the people involved throwing their conscience into the trash bucket as some nagging arbitrator inside them tried to tell them that truth mattered. The more people live against their conscience, the more the world becomes a breeding ground for the traits of psychopathy to flourish in society like a virus. The psychopath feels different from those who live by their conscience, a bazaar behavior to them that when normalized makes them feel like an outsider, which they should feel in a world that knows and loves God. However, biblical roots of Christianity are disappearing from society at an alarming rate, making the psychopath feel more comfortable in this world to reveal his devious mind, which works to normalize his point of view. Jesus gave the world a conscience when they crucified Him by sending the Holy Spirit in His place to every heart that would receive Him. The Holy Spirit is essentially God’s conscience (God-consciousness), which is even more important than our own conscience. The Holy Spirit given in the heart of man acts as a second tier to our conscience, so if we try to manipulate our minds, the Holy Spirit is there to expose our true motives. It is when we try to override Him that we get into serious spiritual trouble.

(183j) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Spirit of Error (Anti-Christ / Anti-Semitism) >> Truth is the enemy of the spirit of error >> Spirit of error interrogates the truth -- The truth was never an issue in the minds of Jesus' enemies. It was an insignificant matter to them, a malleable substance like clay that they could form into whatever shape they wanted, rather than a discrete, unalterable entity. The fact that Jesus won every argument they had with Him, healed the sick and even raised the dead, was unrelated to the matter at hand during His mock trial. Their objective was to kill Him, because He was exposing their total lack of understanding of the Scriptures (though they knew the Old Testament backward and forward) and was imposing on their money making scam. These religious hypocrites were too evil not to have had help from demonic influences to carry out their wicked plans to destroy the epitome of righteousness and truth. Just as God works with people to establish His purpose on the earth, so Satan works with other people to destroy the truth of God in the world. 

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61-64 and said, "This man stated, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.' " 62 The high priest stood up and said to Him, "Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?" 63 But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, "I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God." 64 Jesus said to him, "You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN." 

Mat 26,61-64

(89e) Thy kingdom come >> Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom >> Wisdom is sometimes best unspoken

Mat 26-61

(140e) Temple >> Temple made without hands >> Hiding place >> The entrance exam

(177h) Works of the devil >> The religion of witchcraft >> Presumption (Hinduism) >> Misunderstanding Jesus

Mat 26-62,63

(222g) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Do not give what is holy to dogs >> God shares no intimacy with dogs >> God does not speak to dogs -- Isn’t it interesting that the high priest asked Jesus if He was the Son of God; what made Him ask that question? Jesus didn’t go around claiming to be the Son of God, except to His disciples. So what made the high priest suspect Jesus was the Son of God? It might have been some of the people He raised from the dead, the multitudes He healed, the incontrovertible wisdom He had, and the Spirit He emulated. They probably suspected He was the Son of God because everyone who ever met Jesus or even came close to Him suspected He was the Son of God. Jesus in verse 64 finally told the high priest, “You have said it yourself….” By asking the question the High priest admitted that He knew He was the Son of God.

Mat 26,63-68

(199j) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Unwilling to receive Christ >> Rejecting Christ as the Messiah -- Israel's fate for the last 2000 years rests on this one meeting they had in the middle of the night to destroy their own Messiah that God personally sent to them. Had they believed Jesus' faithful confession, nothing would have been the same to this day. Perhaps everything the Jews were expecting (and are still expecting) would have come to pass. Israel is still waiting for their Messiah to come and set up His Millennial kingdom, in which they will be at the center of it. Jesus would have postponed His crucifixion for another generation that would not receive Him. The book of Revelation speaks of an event that takes place after the Millennium (Rev 20,7-10) in which the people of that time revolt against Jesus' throne; He destroys the insurrectionists, making one last example of man's tendency for rebellion and thirst for power. Perhaps God would have been willing to allow those insurrectionists to overpower Jesus then and kill Him at that time as payment for the sins of the world. Instead, they condemned Jesus at His infamous mock trial, which led to His crucifixion. Of course God knew they would reject Him, perhaps because any generation and any nation would do the same.

Mat 26,63-66

(18ca) Sin >> False Judgment lacks evidence >> Charges not defined as crimes >> Persecuting the body of Christ – It is ironic that the high priest needed a confession from Christ, since they had already made up their minds that He was the Son of God. Although He never confessed it publicly, He performed the signs that one could do if he were the Son of God, and during His mock trial He made the good confession, and then they accused Him of it. To be fair to His accusers, He didn’t perform many miracles in Jerusalem but in the surrounding districts, and so the signs and wonders He performed they understood by hearsay and not by personal witness.

Mat 26-63,64

(54a) Paradox >> Opposites >> Unbelief in the presence of the power of God -- These verses go with verse 25

(85a) Thy kingdom come >> Your words can lead to your own demise >> They will keep you out of heaven – Instead of asking Jesus whether He was the Son of God, the high priest accused Him of being the Son of God. Not even His disciples pushed Jesus into a corner and demanded that He told them the truth about His true identity. When this wicked man demanded an answer from Him for the purpose of condemning Him to death, Jesus heard the high priest confess that He was the Son of God, according to the saying, ‘If you must ask, then it must be true.’ The high priest was so convinced that Jesus was the Son of God that he ordered a mock trial. The high priest was also convinced in his skills of deception to present himself in any way necessary to gain an advantage, having practiced his whole life, refusing to believe that Jesus was the son of God in view of all the evidence. He thought his unbelief would excuse him before God for executing His Son, but he only deceived himself, and his self-deception guaranteed him a hearing at the White Throne Judgment, where he will be condemned to hell along with all the wicked dead and thrown into the lake of fire in a body that cannot die. Had he not believed Jesus was the Christ, God would have judged him anyway for the reasons he didn’t believe in Him. This was the plan from the very beginning that God would raise His Son from the dead and ascend to the right-hand of His power. This has always been Jesus’ place throughout all eternity.

(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) – Jesus' enemies were criticizing Him with all manner of accusations, and then Jesus mocked them in Jn 8-54, “It is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, He is our God.” This is another confession that Jesus made to the Jews of being the Son of God. It was His good confession to His enemies that He was the Christ, and ironically it is what they used to condemn Him. There were many people over the centuries who claimed Jesus' status, and nothing happened to them that they didn’t deserve; they are usually the ones who commit all the atrocities. Messiah finally comes and they almost had to beat the confession out of Him that He was the Son of God, and then they used it as testimony against Him, simply because their minds were already made up that He was not the Messiah. They were looking for someone else, a man who was strong and powerful, and could subdue His enemies.

(221h) Kingdom of God >> The elusive Kingdom of Heaven >> Kingdom hidden behind the veil from the world >> God hides his divinity from man’s corruption >> He hides behind the veil – These guys were 2000 years off the mark; they never saw the suffering servant in their Old Testament prophecies; they didn’t want to see their Messiah that way. They only understood heavy-handedness, power and coercion. They no doubt read the verses that spoke about the meek and mild Christ, but they glossed over them, emphasizing other passages they preferred, the ones that spoke about Him as a great conqueror that makes Israel a world empire, where all power and authority disseminates through them. Had Jesus promised these things, they would have immediately fallen on their faces and worshipped Him, or that is what they would have us believe. The fact is, they wanted to be head-honchos, and even if their Messiah came in the manner they wanted, they still would have resisted Him. He would have taken away their position in society and the spotlight, because their hearts were not with the Lord.

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Mat 26-63

(54b) Paradox >> Opposites >> Godly vindication

(192f) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Result of putting off the old man >> Gain by losing >> Waiting for God to do it His way >> Lose your rights to gain His vindication

Mat 26-64

(67d) Authority >> Jesus at the right hand of the father >> He delegates authority

65-75 Then the high priest tore his robes and said, "He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy; 66 what do you think?" They answered, "He deserves death!" 67 Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him, 68 and said, "Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?" 69 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a servant-girl came to him and said, "You too were with Jesus the Galilean." 70 But he denied it before them all, saying, "I do not know what you are talking about." 71 When he had gone out to the gateway, another servant-girl saw him and said to those who were there, "This man was with Jesus of Nazareth." 72 And again he denied it with an oath, "I do not know the man." 73 A little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, "Surely you too are one of them; for even the way you talk gives you away." 74 Then he began to curse and swear, "I do not know the man!" And immediately a rooster crowed. 75 And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, "Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly.

Mat 26,65-68

(169d) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> The world is blind to God >> Blinded by Satan’s thoughts >> Blinded by false judgments – They were all in agreement against Christ and had all previously made up their minds to condemn Him. Had the Romans not been in control of Israel, the religious leaders would have killed Him long ago, but they did not have authority to kill anybody, so they had to go through Roman rule and do things their way, such as providing evidence before executing a man. If it weren’t for the Romans, they would have killed Jesus and later provided false evidence to support their actions, so even this kangaroo court was for the Romans. Jesus was leaning on Roman authority for 3½ years of His ministry to stay alive long enough to accomplish His Father's agenda.

(184k) Works of the devil >> The origin of lawlessness >> Abusing the grace of God >> Dragging God’s Grace Through The Mud >> Dishonoring the grace of God – They spat in His face, slapped and beat Him with their fists, saying, ‘Prophesy, who is the one hitting you?’ God in human flesh endured the mocking of His own creation. The things that God has been willing to endure for mankind, who fell into sin through Adam, and God put up with us all these thousands of years; then He sent His Son to die for our sins. Some people try to explain God’s love in terms of us being so cute, charming and lovable that He can’t resist us. Maybe God is so egotistical that since He made us in His image, He can’t help but love us. None of these are the reasons He loves us. Instead, God loves us with a vision in mind; He has a plan and purpose for us in eternity. He plans on using us one day; He will create another people and will have us rule over them. He went through all this trouble with us for the sake of another race of people. This next race, for there are many races such as the angels and a third tier is coming, will be so special to God that He was willing to put up with us for their sakes to the point of mistreating His Son, lashing His body with whips that literally skinned Him alive, then nailed Him to a cross to die. God endured all these things for the sake of another species of man, yet Jesus did it for us, because He is our brother.

Mat 26,69-75

(3a) Responsibility >> Avoid offending God >> Get out of His way >> Do not seek your own righteousness – These verses go with verses 31-35. After running, Peter doubled back and followed Jesus from a distance and eventually denied ever knowing Him, accompanied with abusive speech to further distinguish himself from the Lord. The rest of the disciples were too afraid even to do this, though Peter’s motive was from a mix of conceit and pride, thinking too highly of himself in competition with the other disciples, and love for Jesus was also involved. Peter did this without any real hope of advantage, risking his life in effort to somehow honor the Lord. 

(5h) Responsibility >> Discipleship tested >> God tests your loyalty >> Your commitment to follow Jesus -- These verses go with verses 33-35. Peter was never called by God to follow Jesus to the courtyard on that infamous night. He volunteered to go there, but got nothing from it but heartache. If you plan to go above and beyond God's calling, you may get nothing for it, and it may benefit no one. It is much better to stick with the plan and just do what God calls you to do. Let Jesus do His part and we'll do ours; He doesn't need our help. If we go beyond our calling it may be an indication that we don't know what God wants us to do. It may have been a nice thought not to leave his master in the lurch, but Peter risked His life for nothing. There is enough of God's will to take three lifetimes to finish; most of it never gets done. That is why the world is (and has always been) a mess. 

(21g) Sin >> Disobedience is backsliding

(84j) Thy kingdom come >> Your words can lead to your own demise >> Lying -- These verses go with verse 25

(143c) Witness >> Validity of Jesus Christ >> Witnesses of Jesus >> The public >> The disciples ministered publicly

(163e) Works of the devil >> Being a slave to the devil (Addictions) >> Bondage >> Being slaves of men >> Slaves of fear

(168a) Works of the devil >> Manifestations of the devil >> Do not conform to the world >> Do not let the world’s approval form you to itself

(199e) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Rejecting Christ >> Throwing God away >> Renouncing your faith -- These verses go with verse 31

(202d) Denying Christ >> Man chooses his own destiny apart from God >> Running to your sinful nature >> Run from God through a lack of character – After Peter fell into temptation and denied the Lord three times, he remembered the love he had for Jesus. While he was under the influence of sin, the devil was working on him, telling him that his faith was just a lot of nonsense. He remembered he saw and heard and touched the Lord, and he felt his heart burning with the words of his Master, though the devil was telling him none of it was real, a mere figment of his imagination. Peter wondered with Pilate what was truth, and he began to question his experiences with the Lord but snapped out of it before the resurrection. He committed a grievous sin, but it didn’t detract from the faith he had in Jesus, that He was the Son of God. While Peter was coming to his conclusions, Jesus lay in a grave. Still, he clawed himself from the pit of doubt and despair before Jesus rose from the dead and met Him in fullness of faith. When he heard that he was alive, he quickly ran to the tomb to see for himself (had he been still sulking, he would not have done that). Major spiritual warfare had befallen Peter while Jesus was in the grave, and they were all going through it but Peter the most, because he denied the Lord just before He was crucified. They all turned and ran, but Peter denied that he even knew Him.

(203d) Denying Christ >> Dishonor God >> Lying to God

(232e) Kingdom of God >> Pursuing the kingdom >> Seeking the kingdom >> Count the cost >> Assess the property before you buy it

Mat 26-75

(188h) Die to self (Process of substitution) >> Separation from the old man >> Sorrow >> Grieving over your own loss >> Grieving over your sinful nature