Class Notes: 4/26/2015

Mark 14:42-47; Judas betrays Jesus, He is arrested and Peter tries to defend Him

In our study of Mark we are in Mark 14:42; where Jesus had finished praying and was waiting for Judas to come with the lynch mob. His disciples were waking up from their nap having squandered their opportunity to prepare for the severe testing that they were about to face.

Last time we noted that life is filled with periods of inactivity and then suddenly as if out of nowhere a lot of action, then more inactivity and then a lot more action.

In flying we refer to it as hours of boredom when everything is ok punctuated by moments of terror when something suddenly and unexpectedly goes wrong.

The periods of inactivity are very important because they determine the course of action that we will take during the times of sudden unexpected pressure.

During those periods when there is no particular problem or difficulty or disaster at hand, we have the opportunity to prepare ourselves, to settle our minds down firmly with Bible doctrine, and learn to something of the inner happiness that can come from times of peace and tranquility.

And then when the pressure hits suddenly and unexpectedly the determining factor in our response is what we did during the hours of boredom when we had the time to prepare with God's Word.

Mark 14:42; When Jesus said "Get up" it was a command to get up and to stay up. The Greek word is in the present tense that with the middle voice connotes linear action that not only means to get on your feet but to stand up like a man and face what is coming, and of course, they do not because they were not prepared.

The disciples all run away and scatter in different directions. They react in terror and the reason they do is because even though they have had three years of Bible teaching it didn't take.

In fact it will not take until they receive the indwelling and filling ministry of God the Holy Spirit after Jesus' resurrection. John 20:20;

"Let us be going" is a present active subjunctive, that means whether you really get going or not depends on how your capacity to use Bible doctrine.

Again we have the principle that Bible doctrine in your life is either the major factor or it is a detail. If it's a detail you are never ready for a crisis but if Bible doctrine is your life then you are ready for anything and you have inner happiness and contentment regardless of the circumstances. Phil 1:21; Phil 4:13; Rom 8:31;

The Bible is the mind of Christ, Bible doctrine is the way that we become intimate with the Lord. If Bible doctrine is your life and everything else is a detail and you have it made. But if doctrine is just a detail then the details of life become the important things and you are in trouble. Matt 6:33-34;

In this passage all of the disciples fail. Peter's failure is highlighted and amplified but all the other disciples failed as well. They were all failures because at the time the Lord's teachings were just details to them when they should have been the most important thing.

Remember how they reacted to Mary when she poured the expensive perfume all over Jesus in Simon's house? Mark 14:3-6;

The disciples were focused on the temporal and as a result they failed because they had not developed sufficient capacity to recall God's Word in their thinking be able to deal with the adversity they were going to face. Prov 23:7a;

Mark 14:43; "And while he was speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a large mob armed with swords and clubs." These men included the temple guard, along with some Roman soldiers, but apparently they didn't think that was enough so they also armed a mob.

They thought that it was going to take a small army to capture Jesus. This tells us some things about Jesus because they were clearly afraid of Him. Physically, He must have been a very strong and impressive person and He could do miracles.

We see here that people try to find security in large numbers. However, there is no security in large numbers. Some of the largest armies in history have illustrated this point when they have been severely defeated by small armies. It is typical of human viewpoint to think that there is safety in numbers.

"The mob came from or were sent by the chief priests, the scribes and elders." These were the same politicians, who were the religious party bosses that he had confronted in the temple a few days earlier.

It would be expected that the soldiers would carry weapons, but in this case the mob was also carrying weapons so in effect the religious political mob bosses had enlisted a posse to go get Him so they were the one's responsible and they should have known better.

There is never anything right about a mob for any kind for any purpose. Nothing is ever settled by a mob. Mobs only create chaos and destruction because mobs of people cannot think they only react with emotion.

A mob always functions without thought even though there is always some unseen person or group with a nefarious ulterior motive who is behind it and instigating it.

Nothing good is ever resolved by allowing people to form a violent mob. A mob is contrary to every establishment principle of freedom. The right of the individual, the right of property, the right of personal dignity, etc.

A mob destroys all of these things and it should be noted that the very people who should be for law and order condone the mob. Sound familiar? This is exactly what is happening all too often in our country today because of the evil politicians who are running the country.

Mark 14:44; "Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, the one I shall kiss, that same is the man, arrest Him, hold Him securely and take him away under guard."

Judas had told them to "hold Him securely" because he knew how powerful Jesus was, Most likely Judas was also afraid of reprisal. Petty people always reduce everyone to their own level of thinking.

Judas is a petty because he assumed that Jesus would think like he would and Judas is very arrogant to think that the Lord would actually lower Himself to Judas' level and seek reprisal against him.

Because of his negative volition Judas became a pawn in satan's attempt to kill Jesus before He gets to the cross. Satan will use Judas and the rudely dispose of him. Judas has no clue about God's plan and the necessity for Jesus to go the cross to resolve the issue of mankind's sin.

Unfortunately the way Judas thinks is all too often the way too many believers think, they assume when that everyone thinks like they do and in reality nothing could be further from the truth. This is the arrogance of projection.

Grace orientation from Bible Doctrine in the soul eliminates this demand syndrome and the pettiness and bitterness that cause people to be unhappy and miserable.

Judas is a miserable bitter person, he has the money but it does it make him happy and nothing will make him happy until he changes his mind which as far as we know he never does.

Mark 14:45; When Judas arrived he immediately came to Jesus, said "Rabbi" and kissed Him. Net note 66; Judas' use of a kiss to betray Jesus is the ultimate demonstration of hypocrisy.

Judas' betrayal of Jesus is infamous and makes us indignant but we must remember that in our natural state unrestrained by positive volition to God's Word we are no different. Jer 17:9; NET

Jesus takes it all with no verbal or mental attitude sins of angry name-calling or ill will because He understands that everything that is happening to Him is the will of the Father. Mark 14:36;

Nothing is happening to Him that God is not allowing to happen to him. It is the same with us and when we understand this and believe it, it changes our whole attitude towards our circumstances. Rom 8:28; Gen 50:20;

Mark 14:46; They threw out their hands and arrested Him. This means they grabbed him violently and hauled him away.

Jesus knew this was God the Father's plan so He offered no resistance and was easily seized and arrested.

No criminal charges are stated but the legality of His arrest according to Jewish criminal law was assumed since the religious politicians in the Sanhedrin had authorized it. Jesus hid his true identity with His refusal to defend Himself.

Mark 14:47; Mark records a feckless single-handed attempt at armed resistance by an unnamed bystander. John 18:10-11; tells us it was Peter. The Greek wording implies that Mark knew who it was. v11 Jesus rebukes Peter for trying to defend Him against God the Father's plan.

Peter, one of the two disciples who carried a sword (Luke 22:38;), drew it and struck Malchus, the high priest's servant but Peter only managed to only cut off his right ear.

Luke records that Jesus restored it (Luke 22:51; Peter's attempt to defend Jesus was a wrong thing done in a wrong way in a wrong place at the wrong time.

At this time in history a sword (machaira) was the preferred weapon for personal defense just like a handgun is today. The anti-divine establishment do gooders in our country today would have objected to Peter having a sword but Jesus told His disciples to sell their coats to buy swords. Luke 22:36;

The Greek word that is translated "sword" is "macharia." A macharia was a dagger that was about 18 inches long with both edges sharp.

Luke tells us that when the disciples' mission had changed Jesus had commanded them to sell some clothes and purchase swords for personal protection.

Their mission had changed from evangelizing exclusively to the Jews regarding Jesus as the Messiah in their native country of Judea to crossing international borders into foreign territory with the ultimate objective of the evangelization of the entire world of Jesus as savior.

In the devil's world their new mission would place them into personal danger so Jesus commanded the acquisition of weapons for personal defense against the criminals that preyed on foreign travelers.

This mandate extends to Christians today. Jesus commands that Christians have the capacity defend themselves against criminals in the devil's world. The challenge is to learn when, where and why to use the weapons properly.

We are in the world but not of it. We are foreign travelers in the devil's world and we are sent to evangelize the world and in the process may come under personal attack and need to be able to defend our family and ourselves.

The founders of our nation understood this principle so for the moment at least until the evil satanic do gooder politicians get their way we have the second amendment that protects our God given right.

Satan and his world have propagandized many Christians and deceived them into thinking their job is to clean up the devil's world so they have taken satan's do gooder position against the right and obligation for Christians to bear arms.

Christians should be at the forefront of defending this right in our nation at this time because satan and his do gooder minions are trying to destroy divine establishment freedom in every way possible. This includes the freedom to bear arms.

Mark 14:47; So Peter took out his sword in a feckless attempt to defend Jesus but Jesus did not need or want to be defended because it was not God's plan.

This means that Peter did not know when, where, and why to use his sword because of his lack of doctrinal understanding. Peter was sleeping when he should have been in prayer as Jesus had commanded.

So again we have the juxtaposition of Peter and Jesus. Peter, a man to whom doctrine was a detail as compared with Jesus to whom doctrine was everything.

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