In our study of Mark we are in Mark 14:47; where Peter attempts to defend Jesus against the posse but only manages to cut off Malchus' ear.

Last time we noted that while it was appropriate for Peter to have the sword; his use of the sword in an attempt to protect Jesus was the wrong thing to do at the wrong time because Jesus did not need to be protected and it was God's plan for Jesus to be arrested because God was using evil people to advance His plan. Psa 76:10;

We also noted that Jesus had commanded His disciples to acquire weapons for personal defense. The challenge to the believer is to be proficient in their use and know when to use them properly under the ministry of God the Holy Spirit.

Peter's failure occurs because He is not functioning according to God's will and God's plan because he has rejected Jesus teaching of God's Word.

The first step in Peter's fall was His unbelief of God's Word and Jesus' warning. The second step in Peter's fall was his failure to obey Jesus and pray in the garden. The third step in Peter's fall is found here in his function in energy of the flesh (OSN) to produce the evil of human good.

Because of his negative volition to Bible Doctrine Peter had become an evil do gooder just like the politicians who are running our country today.

The likely reason that Peter is not mentioned as the sword wielder in Mark is that Peter was still alive when Mark was written but when John was written he was dead so John tells us but Mark doesn't.

Remember in the upper room Peter had told Jesus that he would die protecting Him. (Mark 14:31;) He had good intentions and he was emotional and sincere but it was God's will for Jesus to go to the cross but it was also God's will for Peter to live.

He was to be one of the leaders of the early Church and a communicator of God's eternal Word.

He meant well and he was very courageous as seen by the fact that his sincerity put him into action but sincerity is not a Christian virtue; sincerity is strictly a human virtue that ends up failing when it contradicts God's plan. 2Cor 13:8;

The principle is that only doctrine can carry you because only doctrine reveals God's plan. There is no substitute for doctrine. When Peter should have been relying on the recall of God's Word that is the sword of the Spirit he tries to rely on his sword.

This is a perfect illustration of the energy of the flesh backed by a lot of human sincerity. Peter intended to keep his promise to defend Jesus to the end. He intended to die with Jesus but that wasn't God's will for his life at that moment. It was not his time to die.

Another principle we get from this is that provides us with great courage is that when it's your time to die you are going to die and nothing can prevent it but until that day comes you will continue to survive no matter what the circumstances.

Until that day comes we are to live our life fearlessly with all of our might, soul, and strength as to the Lord. Eccles 9:10; Col 3:23-24; and never withdraw with fear. Heb 10:39; no matter what the circumstances. Phil 4:13; We keep on advancing regardless of the adversity. Phil 3:13-14; because the battle is the Lord's. 1Sam 17:45-47;

Peter's good intentions and sincerity were neutralized by his ignorance of Bible doctrine. In God's plan this was the time to be praying and this was the time to stand fast, this was the time to wait on the Lord and do nothing. Jesus had to go to the cross and Peter wasn't going to stop it no matter how hard he tried.

There is a time to fight but this wasn't it. It was Peter's lack of doctrine that ruined him. It is lack of doctrine that ruins every believer who fails because we always do the wrong thing and fail when we have inadequate doctrinal perception. Heb 10:38;

This tells us that the only way we can have the proper capacity to know when, and where to use a weapon is to have a thorough understanding of God's plan for our lives from our study of God's Word and prayerful recall of God's Word under the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit. John 14:26;

Mark 14:48-49; As the mob takes Jesus into custody He sarcastically asks them why they thought they had to send out a small army to arrest Him with excessive force as though he was a criminal leading a rebellion?

He tells them that He was a recognized teacher and had been in the temple teaching every day so they could have easily arrested Him there at any time if they wanted to.

Their arresting Him like a criminal at night in a secluded place showed that they were afraid to arrest Him in public where they could be resisted by the people who liked His teaching.

This means that the politicians knew what they were doing was wrong but they did it anyway because it advanced their personal agenda and at the same time it was destroying their nation. Just like the politicians in our country are doing today.

His conclusion was that He had to be arrested in this manner so that the prophecies would be fulfilled. Isa 53:3,7-9,12;

Mark 14:50; When Jesus' response made it clear that He would not resist arrest, the disciples all deserted Him and ran in fear fulfilling His prophesy in (Mark 14:27;). No one remained with Jesus, not even Peter who had boasted that he would die with Him. Mark 14:31;

Mark 14:51-52; The disclosure provided in these two verses that is only in the book of Mark emphasizes the fact that Jesus was abandoned and completely forsaken. Many Bible commentators believe that this "young man" was actually Mark himself.

If so, it is possible that he was the son of the house owner where the Lord had observed the last supper with His disciples.

If this is the case, after Jesus and His disciples left the upper room in Mark's father's house after observing the Passover and inaugurating the Lord's Table, Mark removed clothing and went to bed wrapped in a light linen sleeping garment.

Mark was awakened when Judas and the mob of thugs came to the house looking for Jesus and after determining that He had already gone proceeded to Gethsemane.

Once awakened, without stopping to dress, Mark rushed to Gethsemane in a failed attempt to warn Jesus, who had already been arrested by the time Mark arrived. After all the disciples fled, Mark continued to surreptitiously follow Jesus and the mob into the city until someone saw him.

When they tried to capture him he was able to get away by losing his loose fitting sleeping garment and running away naked. So in the end, no one remained with Jesus not even a courageous young man who intended to follow Him unseen and Jesus was completely forsaken because everyone ran away.

Matthew, Mark and Luke do not record it, but the posse first took Jesus to Annas (John 18:12-14,19-24;) Jesus' trial before the Jewish religious authorities included a preliminary hearing before Annas

Annas was a former high priest who became the political mob boss of Jerusalem so He is now the political "enforcer" or mob boss and at the time he controls just about everything political that happened in Jerusalem that was Jewish.

Jesus' trial will not start until it is cleared through Annas, and John who writes after these evil people are all deposed or dead is free to write about it without fear of reprisal.

So after the preliminary hearing by Annas, the illegal night trial is approved and they take Jesus to Caiaphas. John 18:24;

Mark 14:53; This is Jesus' second trial that is another pretrial hearing that his held in Caiphas the high priest's courtyard at night.

It is another illegal trial but these normally fastidious people who would choke on a gnat are so eager to get rid of Jesus that they completely disregard the proper rule of law and swallow a camel.

This was an "informal" pretrial that would require a "formal" ratification after dawn (Mark 15:1;) to satisfy strict Jewish legal procedure that only permitted trials to be held during the day. This also required a quorum of 23 members of the Sanhedrin.

This hurried night meeting was considered necessary because in Jewish criminal law it was customary to hold a trial immediately after arrest and Roman legal trials were usually held shortly after sunrise so the Sanhedrin wanted a verdict by daybreak in order to get the case to Pilate early.

They also want to delay the proceedings to permit any opposition to Jesus arrest to form. They had already predetermined to kill Him (Mark 14:1-2;) so their only problem was finding evidence that in their opinion would justify His death.

According to Jewish law a conviction in a capital case could not be legally determined until the following day but they couldn't wait around for that because it would impede their progress.

This is the same way that the executive branch in our country operates today; the Constitution and the Congress are too much of an impediment to getting what they want done.

The jack booted thugs that run our country today are no different than the jack booted thugs that arrested Jesus, falsely convicted Him, and hauled Him off to the Romans.

This is the parallel that I see between the last Jewish client nation that was destroyed by Rome and the USA that could be the last gentile client nation that will likely be destroyed just before the Rapture of the church.

They had locked in negative volition to God's Word so they were destroyed and a remnant was delivered into the Church and in the same manner we are rapidly coming to the point of locked in negative volition to God's Word and if that occurs we will be destroyed and a remnant delivered. When and where the remnant is delivered is unknown to us but God knows.

Mark 14:54; After his initial flight in fear, Peter has regathered his courage and followed Jesus from a distance into the courtyard of the High Priest's house where he warms himself with the temple guards. Net note 78

Peter wants to do the right thing but he doesn't have the doctrinal capacity to have the courage to do it.

He had boasted that he would defend Jesus but He had failed so he is now reduced to being a bystander in the crowd watching events that are completely contrary to everything that he had expected from his doctrineless viewpoint.

Just like anyone who is sincere and emotional rather than doctrinal he is disillusioned and discouraged.

Mark 14:55-56; The kangaroo court was seeking testimony against Jesus so they could justify a death sentence but they couldn't find any and the testimony they got was false and contradictory so it was unadmissible.

In Jewish trials the witnesses served as the prosecution, giving their testimonies separately. The Mosaic Law required precise agreement in the testimony of at least two witnesses for a person to be convicted of a crime. (Num 35:30; Deut 17:6; Deut 19:15).

Mark 14:57-59; After working most of the night some false witnesses said that He threatened to destroy the temple, which was sacred.

We have seen that the entire temple illustrates Jesus and these people said that He threatened to destroy it? His statement was not referencing the Jewish temple He was talking about the temple of His body John 2:18-21;

When He spoke of the temple in Jerusalem He was speaking privately to His disciples and prophesying of the Roman destruction under Titus in 70AD. Mark 13:2;

These witnesses misrepresented His words as a reference to the Jerusalem temple. Destruction of a place of worship was a capital offense in the ancient world and though their testimony was invalid, it presented them with the idea to question Jesus regarding His identity.

Even the false witnesses couldn't come up with anything against Him that the court could accept as legitimate.