In our study of Mark last time we were in Mark 14:18-19; where the disciples became grieved when Jesus told them that one of them would betray Him and one by one they said to Him "not I"
Mark 14:20; John 13:26-30; states that Jesus dipped a morsel of food and gave it to Judas at which point Satan entered Judas and Judas left immediately so he did not participate in the Lord's inauguration of the Lord's Table for the Church.
The Greek word used for Satan entering Judas is "eiserchomai" that can refer to something or someone entering a location such as a building or a body or to entering someone's thoughts or thinking.
There are those who have taught that Judas was a believer but it would appear from this that He was an unbeliever unless it is possible for a believer to be indwelled by Satan in the dispensation of Israel and that may be possible since there is no indwelling of the Spirit in the dispensation of Israel.
Mark 14:21; The Son of man is to go as it is written" the words "is to go" means He is going to the cross.
The present linear tense indicates that it is a dramatic event. The historical height of the Father's plan is the cross and Jesus Christ is indicating that the Son of man, a title for His humanity, will go to the cross to be judged for the sins of the entire world and die a substitutionary spiritual death for the entire world.
The words "as it is written" refers to the prophesies in the Old Testament that clearly declare the cross.
"but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed, good for that man if he had not been born."
This is the principle of that "the wrath of man will praise God" Psa 76:10; and "what you meant for evil God meant for good Gen 50:20; and "we can do nothing against the truth only for the truth." 2Cor 13:8;
God's plan advances regardless of the opposition of evil people and God actually incorporates their negative volition into the process and uses their evil plans to advance His purpose.
We even see that in the case of Judas that his betrayal enabled the Jewish political mob bosses to have Jesus crucified on God's timetable rather than by chance.
Judas was simply Satan's pawn and as in the case of all of Satan's pawns he was destroyed even though God's grace through Jesus work on the cross was sufficient to save him.
Even though we do not have enough information to be absolutely sure, the curse in this verse contributes to the case that Judas was an unbeliever who demonstrated maximum negative volition and self-righteous human do-gooder works.
So most likely Judas believed that Jesus was a good person who could do great miracles but he did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God and even though he feels sorry for his sin of betraying Jesus and makes restitution he still goes to the lake of fire because of he did not personally believe that Jesus was the Son of God.
This makes Judas the perfect example for refuting the false doctrine of salvation by works and the false self-righteous human do-gooder idea that being sorry and doing penance and reforming one's ways is sufficient for salvation.
Salvation is only the result of Faith Alone in Christ alone. Eph 2:8-9;
So Judas departs to go and betray the Lord by informing the Jewish political religious mob bosses of Jesus' future location.
Mark 14:22; "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread." The bread is the changeover from the Passover of the ritual plan for Israel to the Lord's Table of the protocol plan for the Church.
The Jewish Passover had started at sundown and Jesus crucifixion is going to occur the next afternoon. Everything before the cross we will call Old Testament; everything after the cross we will call New Testament. In the Old Testament we look forward to the cross. in the New Testament we look backward to the cross.
In the Old Testament they used the lamb to depict Christ; now they will use the bread. This is the Passover where the eating of the lamb will be changed to the eating of the unleavened bread and both depict faith.
In the Old Testament the blood of the lamb without spot and blemish was used along with the cup. In the New Testament only the cup will be used. Both depict substitution.
Impeccable Jesus Christ the Lamb of God that was slain from eternity suffered judicial spiritual death cross as our substitute.
"and blessed it." Here we have what appears to be a blessing in the middle of a meal but it really isn't when you realize that this begins a new meal.
Jesus always blessed the food at the beginning of the meal but now he blesses the meal right in the middle because it is a new meal. This is how He announces the start of the new dispensation, the Church Age.
"and broke it, and gave it to his disciples." The breaking of the bread is a picture of Jesus Christ bearing our sins on the cross; "and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." His command is an aorist active imperative. Eating is an analogy of faith.
Mark 14:23; And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and He gave it to them and they all drank from it. \ Again, the Greek word for "thanks" is "eucharisteo" that is the word from which we get the Eucharist as the title for the Lord's Table.
We must always remember that this is ritual and all ritual must have a corresponding reality. The ritual of the Lord's Table or Eucharist depicts the reality of Jesus' work on the cross.
In the ritual plan the Passover not only had the lamb that was killed and eaten and the blood of the lamb that was sprinkled on the sides and on the top of the doors so that the death angel would pass over that house in the original Passover but there was also the cup.
The cup replaced the blood on the doorposts in the second Passover and every Passover thereafter they put wine into the cup and they drank from the cup. Hezekiah references this "cup of salvation" or the Passover cup in Psa 116:13;
The cup is filled with the sins of the world and the sins of the world are poured out upon Christ. As He hangs on the cross Christ drinks from the cup. The drinking of the cup is Christ bearing and being judged for our sins resulting in His forensic spiritual death. The cup is filled with every sin that has been or ever will be committed by mankind.
When the believer holds the cup during the celebration of the Lord's Table and drinks the wine or the juice it contains it represents the reality of Jesus dying spiritually for the sins of the world. The drinking of that cup means that you remember that Christ took all of your sins upon Himself and He was judged for them in our place. Rom 5:8; 2Cor 5:21;
Whenever Jesus Christ mentioned the cup He was referring to His spiritual death that was the result of His bearing and being judged for our sins and taking our place as our substitute in spiritual death.
Mark 14:24; "For this is My blood." They actually had boiled wine in the cup, and He holds up the wine, The word translated "this is" is present active indicative of the Greek verb "eimi," that usually describes a status quo.
The present tense indicates the present linear action of the ritual and every time the Eucharist is observed and when the cup is held the cup always represents the blood of Christ, it always represents His spiritual death.
So in this case "this is" does not mean "it is" it means "it represents", and the verb is in the present tense to indicate that this ritual must be perpetuated, and the reason we have "this is," present active indicative of eimi, is to go with the aorist active imperatives of "eat" and "drink."
Jesus said, "eat"; Jesus said, "drink" both aorist active imperatives, in that point of time. The present tense following the aorist tells us that this ritual is to be perpetuated throughout the Church Age in memory of Him.
The Lord's Table the only ritual that is perpetuated through the entire Church Age.
"of the new covenant." The Greek word translated "covenant" is "diatheke" When two people make an agreement, they draw up the contract, they sign it and then they put it in a safe place.
This was the original meaning of the word. But eventually "diatheke" was used for a will. One person makes a will and testament and puts it in a safe place for his beneficiaries. That is the meaning here.
The New Covenant is Jesus Christ' will and testament and it is secured in the safe in heaven. Jesus' will states that anyone who believes in Him is His beneficiary and they will have eternal life.
"which is poured out for many" or "on behalf of many." (All mankind) This means that all or everyone can be a beneficiary of Jesus will they simply have to believe that He is the Son of God. John 3:16;
Mark 14:25;"But I say unto you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine." He does not call it wine because it is boiled not fermented; "until the day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of God."
He tells His disciples that He would not drink of the cup until His Millennial reign. It would not be until His Millennial reign they would again have the production of this fruit of the vine from the earth along with His personal fellowship simultaneously available.
He ascended 43 days later and He won't return to the earth until the second advent when He begins His Millennial reign. There will be a big party then.
Mark 14:26; Tradition tells us that Jew's music was very beautiful so the melody was very beautiful and it carried them away. The lyrics appeal to the mind; the melody appeals to the emotion. The disciples were carried away by the music, they sang a hymn and subsequently they all went out and failed miserably.
The principle is that the Christian life is not sustained by music. The most beautiful music in the world will not sustain through any pressure of life.
The Christian life is sustained by doctrine. The lyrics, the Words of God have the power to sustain us.
Mark 14:27; Jesus could see by the emotional way they were singing that they were all on an emotional high and that they were headed for trouble when reality hit.
He decided to bring them back to reality with doctrine. He is going to give them a prophecy from Zech 13:7 that describes what was about to happen.
In the prophecy Christ is the Shepherd, "and the sheep of the flock are the disciples who will be scattered" They will run in all directions and hide.
Mark 14:28; He goes on to prophesy of events after His resurrection. "But after I am risen again, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."
He tells His disciples that He will walk ahead of them because they will be dragging their feet on their way there in despondent disappointment because of His crucifixion.
He recognizes that even after He has risen in glory and power that the disciples who still don't get it will be despondent. The disciples will be dragging their feet and Jesus will be walking ahead of them in a resurrection body.
Mark 14:29; "Bit Peter answered and said unto him, Though all shall be offended because of you, yet I will not."
The Greek word translated "fall away" in the NASB is "skandalizo" that means to offend or entice to sin or to hinder.
This is the first step in Peter's fall. He ignores the Word of God. He ignores what Jesus recites from Zech 13:7; where He said you are going to be scattered; Peter contradicted God's Word and Jesus and said, "I am not."
He is under the influence of the melody and he didn't pay any attention to the words because the words tell how Jesus is going to die on the cross while the disciples will run and Peter said, "I will not run."
He said this in emotion; he said it with sincerity and with good intentions, but sincerity, good intentions and emotion will not carry the believer in time of pressure.
His second problem is a mental attitude problem. If you reject doctrine you lose the perspective and you have a tendency to think too much of yourself.
Peter now stands up in his pride that is disorientated to reality and says, I will stand fast even if the others don't. This is how pride sets us up to fail. Prov 16:18;
Peter is just like all of us. When he took his eyes off the Lord and put them on himself he was set up for failure.
In the parallel passage in Luke 22:31-33; Jesus tells Peter that satan wanted to test him and that he would fail and he told him to strengthen is fellow believers after he had recovered.
Mark 14:30; Jesus responds with a prophecy regarding Peter telling Him that he will deny Him three times. "Jesus said unto him (Peter), Truly I say to you, this very night, before a rooster crows twice you will deny me thrice."
Mark 14:31; "Peter kept insisting even though I should die with you I will not deny you." Remember Peter is emotional and sincere but his sincerity is simply a covering for his ignorance of doctrine. God's Word says they will be scattered.
Peter is emotional, he is sincere, and he is brave. He wants to defend the Lord and he intends to die with the Lord but the trouble with Peter is he is unstable.
No matter how good his intentions he cannot and will not have enough integrity from human strength to carry it out. In fact he is actually obstructing and contradicting God's plan.
God is putting Jesus on the cross and Peter isn't going to stop it.
He is going to find out that no matter how good your intentions are you cannot operate on human strength. It takes doctrine to be sustained through the pressure.
It also takes getting on the same page as God's Word. 2Cor 13:8; How often do we oppose God's will with our good intentions?