MATTHEW CHAPTER 26
KJV WEB
/ Parallel Gospel
See
previous page
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
used to make
themselves wealthy and to maintain the world’s approval and
prestige in society. They wouldn’t give up these things for anything, not
even for God's truth or His Messiah. In contrast, Paul pounded the streets working for the cause of
his beliefs (Act 9,1-8). Moreover, 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 in prison and God broke them out and sent them right back to
preach the gospel of the kingdom in the same place they were arrested,
showing that in no way could they stop this message from going
forward. The fearlessness of the early apostles is why we can
hold a Bible in our hand and believe in Jesus today.
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
(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 made 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
often reiterated to the twelve about His fate. They didn’t want to believe it
and so they didn’t. This woman didn’t have a problem believing the
cross was Jesus’ destiny, because she was not invested in the hope of being an
important figurehead 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 passed, indicating how far off the mark
they were in their estimation of God’s purpose. This woman was
hoping for something better; she was open to whatever God had in mind.
The Scriptures never recorded her saying anything, yet all four gospels
gave the account of what she did, which makes this event and the woman
special. She demonstrated understanding in the Father’s
purpose for Christ and accepted that He needed to suffer, die and be buried for
the sins of the world. 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 wanted to be a member of it. 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 demonstrated her faith all the
more, and Jesus is one to honor faith. So if we show the Lord
faith, it guarantees 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 His voice, we should do what He says, for there is great reward
in it.
(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 heart and mind to the will of
God like this woman, in contrast to the 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, and then they wanted Him to place them in positions of great authority.
These sort of things appeal to the flesh, but there is a
spiritual enemy we must overcome before we can 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 26,6-12
(234j) Kingdom of God >>
Pursuing the kingdom >> Invest in the kingdom >>
Sold out >> Relinquishing your assets to Christ >>
Investing every asset into Christ
Mat 26,6-11
(23g) Sin >>
Poverty (Oppression) >> Tending to the needs of
the poor
KJV WEB
/ Parallel Gospel
/ Navigation Bar
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 that would be present
in our churches throughout the 2000-year age of grace. There will
always be traitors within our congregations, acting as thorns in our side.
Secondly, Jesus didn't technically choose him; rather, he invited himself (Jn 13-18),
though Jesus once said, "Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?"
(Jn 6-70). Judas thought that if he found a place in the group without being
detected, he could
stand to make a lot of money from Jesus' ministry.
Judas Iscariot had a reprobate mind, despite the fact that he spent about two years with
the Lord and witnessed
countless miracles, yet for him this was not enough evidence to believe in
Jesus. See also: Judas Iscariot; 186db
(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
–
This woman breaking the vial of costly perfume over Jesus acted as a trigger
that invoked Judas Iscariot to betray the Lord, in that this event made him
feel that Jesus betrayed him by wasting the perfume, instead of receiving it
as a gift, so that Judas could sell it supposedly for the the ministry, but
for the real cause of confiscating the money and hiding it in an undisclosed
location (or entrusting it to somebody outside the ministry), so that after
this gig ran its course, which Judas saw better than the other disciples, he
could retrieve his stash and live like a king at least for a while. Judas had a
reprobate mind, defined as someone who cannot believe in God; he was a spiritual psychopath. There are many reprobates in the world today, as John said,
"Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour"
(1Jn 2,18-20). They wouldn't serve God in a million years, like
the Pharisees who had Jesus martyred. They developed the reprobate
mind by continually blaspheming the Holy Spirit, until they
wore down their conscience to a nub. Truth is a pliable substance to them, and
they shape it any way they want, instead of letting God's truth shape them. They made up 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. See also: Conscience; Mat 26-24; 186j
/ Judas Iscariot; Mat 26,21-29; 37g
(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. Consequently, Jesus' sacrifice of Himself gave Him authority to
judge Judas Iscariot at the White Throne Judgment. 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 an unholy sacrifice. In contrast, Peter denied the Lord three times, but he repented, weeping
bitterly. He
couldn’t stop believing; he
couldn’t give up the hope he cherished. See also: Communion; Mat 26-25; 181i
/ Judas Iscariot; Mat 26-24,25; 63h
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
KJV WEB
/ Parallel Gospel
/ Navigation Bar
Mat 26-24,25
(63h) Paradox >>
Anomalies >> Sarcasm >>
Ignoring the truth to convey the truth
--
Judas walked with Jesus for about 2 1/2 years and should have realized
that Christ would have known what was in his heart. Jesus played hardball with
the Pharisees and with all the religious leaders, while Judas played mind games
with himself to block out his intension of betraying Christ. Jesus' words must have rung in his ears
where truth should reside, instead of the futile, sarcastic gesture of
denial. See also: Judas Iscariot; Mat 26-24; 141f
(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 to reject Christ. Those who refuse to bow their knee to Him
on earth will bow to Him under the earth in a place where people have no will to
do
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.
Psalm 41-9 says, "Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me."
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 unfold. Nobody can stop it because
God’s foreknowledge is as sure as His memory of the past. See also: Judas Iscariot;
186j / Predestination;
219i / Called and chosen; Lk 5-27,28;
234ab
(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
Judas Iscariot, but there eventually comes a point when we find ourselves
standing at the precipice of a black hole and finding it incomprehensible, yet
the reprobate mind understands itself
perfectly. We have stumbled on the mystery of lawlessness. He was a man
incapable of maintaining a clear conscience, and for this reason he was incapable
of salvation. He was 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 believing in God are a conundrum to the rest of us. They are
scary people, yet there was a time before we were saved when we were just like
them. The secular term for "reprobate" is psychopath; they have
no conscience toward God. After Judas betrayed the Lord he regretted it, and
so 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. His suicide was an unholy
sacrifice that God did not accept as payment for his sin. He even gave the money back, throwing it into the
temple
in guilt, but this was not true repentance or he wouldn’t have hung himself.
See also: Conscience; Mat 26-25; 181i / Judas Iscariot; 219i
(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 became one of Jesus' twelve disciples, destined to betray
the Lord and lose his sole for a
few pieces of silver. It might as well have been written in stone everything
that was to happen 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 in stone about
us 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 they 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 set for them. When
we think of the spiritual war that Jesus fought that night in 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. See also: Judas Iscariot; Mat 26-25; 181i
Mat 26-25
(54a) Paradox >>
Opposites >> Unbelief in the presence and 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 this? Perhaps he actually believed it! That is, maybe he had
his secrets partitioned in a dark room in his mind that was accessible
only under certain conditions and at certain times. The human mind is capable of manipulating
itself in this manner; the greater the evil the more fortified the partitions, and
the increased commitment 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 was lurking. 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. Jesus gave Judas the first
morsel, so he would leave the room, so Jesus and His disciples could enjoy
communion in the absence of unbelief.
The wine and the bread to the disciples represented grace and mercy, but to
Judas it represented hell and eternal judgment. See also: Conscience; Mat 26,48-50;
16j / Communion; Mat 26,26-30;
130a / Judas Iscariot; Mat 26-47; 65g
(182h) Works of the devil >>
The origin of lawlessness >> Deception >>
Being deceptive with people >> Lying to others
KJV WEB
/ Parallel Gospel
/ Navigation Bar
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 – It would behoove us to pursue unity, so
when we take communion it would be apart from strife, jealousy and all
other negative emotions.
Communion wasn’t designed to fix anything
but to remind us that Jesus gave His life for the Church; therefore, we should
love one another and live as He did. God commanded us
to die to self by the Spirit (Rom 8-13), so unity can grow
among us, which cannot form around false doctrine or among a people who do not
hate their own sin, because sin has an erosion effect on our faith, and
faith is what we use to establish unity. We either do the will of God so unity
can grow or the Church disintegrates. See also: Communion; Mat 26,26-29;
230a
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
crave other things, and too often these desires overrule the
Lord’s will. That evening Passover meant a lot to the Lord, and it should
mean something to us. If we dedicate our lives doing the Lord's will, we would be satisfied in our work more than
seeking to fulfill our own interests. Holding our
will over the Lord and giving our desires higher priority is a classic case of idolatry.
See also: Communion; Mat 26-29; 224e
Mat 26-29
(50j)
Judgment >> Sequence of Revelations
>> Second half of the tribulation >> The seventh trumpet >> 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 Church,
but they will not have been tried as we have been tried, and so in eternity
their inheritance will be less than ours. They will still need faith to be
saved, but not to the extent that we do, since they will see the Lord with
their eyes and partake of His
earthly kingdom. However, they will be tested; there will be an uprising at the end of
the Millennium, similar to the angelic uprising led by Lucifer many eons ago, and just like the angels, they will need to make a choice
to follow Christ or follow the rebellion (Rev 20,7-9). Therefore, believers
during the Millennium will have an inheritance similar to the angels, in that the angels knew the presence
of God, just like people in the Millennium knew Jesus as King of the earth. The millennial people
will have a lower rank than us, because they required less faith. See also: Marriage supper of the lamb; 67c /
Millennium;
224j / Those
born in the Millennium will not have our authority;
Mk 14-25; 224e
(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 are closer to the return of Christ than ever. 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,
meaning that His suffering has not ended. He is 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 but stars that created themselves. God created
an infinite universe but doesn’t know what’s happening to us? It is not
far-fetched to believe God created the universe and knows everything about us. Jesus is at God’s right-hand,
and He is suffering with us, not
celebrating. See also: Marriage supper of the lamb; 208k
(208k) Salvation >>
The salvation of God >> Personal relationship >>
Being married to God >> Emotional relationship –
When Jesus said that He would not 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, even in heaven to
finish His suffering, but He cannot do that as long as we are suffering. 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 incomprehensible to the natural mind. 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 joy for His people. See also: Marriage supper of the lamb;
224e
(224e) Kingdom of God >>
Illustrating the kingdom >> Description of
heaven >> The joyful kingdom >>
The marriage supper of the lamb
-- Communion is a solemn moment
to 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 that which He started in the upper room at the Lord's supper.
Jesus
is not partying in heaven; for the last 2000 years He has put the party on
hold. Having lived a perfect life, was
crucified, rose from the dead and ascended to the right-hand of the power of
God is 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, guiding the Holy Spirit to bring about their salvation and ministry.
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 whole eon
into just a few years. When the celebration is over they
will return to the earth just in time for the Millennium. This means that
people who live during the millennium will not be present at the Marriage
Supper of the Lamb, and technically therefore, they are not members of the
true Church. See also: Millennium; Mat 26,40-46; 21c
/ Communion; Mat 26,21-29; 37g
/ Marriage supper of the lamb; 50j
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. If we say that Jesus is God, why then would God worship Himself?
In another case Jesus raised His eyes and said, “I praise You, Father, Lord
of heaven and earth…” (Mat 11-25), 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, and He will remain so forever in the
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, and the Holy Spirit is a greater servant than Christ, and the
least is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven, ensuring equality within the
godhead.
See also: Greatest is least and the least greatest; Eph 5-23; 137a
KJV WEB
/ Parallel Gospel
/ Navigation Bar
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 all
denied their Master that night. They had seen everything He said come to
pass, so when He said this, they should have accepted it and apologized to Him
beforehand, instead of searching for an inner strength apart from God that
didn't exist. Peter fell hard on this test
because perhaps he was trying to prove that his sinful flesh loved God, but 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 Old Testament prophecy that foretold he would deny the
Lord, and it was written they would all do this. Peter made a
valiant effort to thwart the prophecy, but it was inevitably fulfilled. He
could not deny prophecy any more than Judas Iscariot could stop being the son of perdition. Later, all
the apostles died for their faith, after God bestowed His anointing on them,
and they
established the Church in the world by the blood of the saints. Without the anointing we
really cannot 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 the Old Testament (Zechariah 13-7). Whom
does it say struck down the shepherd? We could say it was the devil or the Roman soldiers or
the Jews, but it says God the Father was responsible for this! Although sinners laid their hands on
Jesus, prompted by the devil, it was the Father who sent the Son to give His
life's blood for the forgiveness of sin, and it was the Father who raised Him
from the dead, and for this reason God could forgive even those
who murdered Him (Rev 13-8 KJV). That is, God the Father struck down the
Shepherd while the Roman soldiers
committed the most grievous sin imaginable. It is not the things we do
that are sinful, but our knowledge of sin that make our actions sinful. The
Roman soldiers crucified Jesus in ignorance, not knowing He was the Son of
God, but the religious establishment that put them up to it knew what they
were doing, and by that fact they were blaspheming the Holy Spirit when they
ordered His death. In other words, through their sin the Father crucified His Son for our sake that He might create a way to
forgive our sins committed in ignorance (Heb 9-7). It was easier for God
to forgive the centurion who realized Jesus was the Son of God at His death (Mat 27-54), than to forgive the
chief priests and Pharisees who knew He was the Son of God. 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.
See also: Denying the truth we know
is from
God; 1Jn 5-16; 35k
(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 Jesus' disciples tucked
tail and ran, which was the right thing to do, since had they stayed by His
side and been killed with Him, who would have
carried the gospel into the world? Peter specifically denied
Christ three times that he even knew the Lord and yet went on to do great
things for God. Peter's poor example of a disciple was miles from blaspheming
the Holy Spirit, in that blasphemy is about rejecting the truth in a state of
unbelief. 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 its
existence, even as the Holy Spirit reminds us every day that Jesus is our
Savior.
(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 himself in
a no-win situation and placed a burden
on his own back that he could never carry. Perhaps Peter should have
started repenting right then and there,
instead of calling Jesus a liar and making promises he could not keep.
(2e)
Responsibility >> Keep your commitments >>
it is better not to vow at all
–
In those days making promises
was a big deal, but today our word means almost nothing to a
court a law, compared to a signed document. We lost something
when we decided we could lie all we wanted but 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. Isn't that the
concept of marriage? Isn't it the crux of our faith (Rom 10-9)? 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
KJV WEB
/ Parallel Gospel
/ Navigation Bar
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. They will flee in the same way that the disciples scattered in
different directions from the presence of Jesus’ enemies and later rendezvoused in
the upper room, and the same way 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 all Christians, Jew and 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 almost upon us. See also: Great endtime revival;
82a
(81b) Thy kingdom come >>
Prayer >> The priesthood >>
Striving to please Christ
--
Without prayer how can we have a relationship with God? We could study
His word, but after we learned what He said, how could we apply what we know
except through prayer? This suggests that 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 commune-icate with Him.
Peter in His epistle speaks of the royal priesthood as the Church performs
her priestly duties mainly through prayer. It was a merciful act to send His Son in swaddling
clothes on Christmas night, and at the end of His life in the flesh His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane
were His finest hour with His Father, but now the moment had 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 determined in His heart to fully trust His Father and accept
His fate.
(82a) Thy kingdom come >>
Three elements of prayer >> Direction (Attitude) >> What to pray for –
The seven 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 Most Holy
Place. He prayed a third time, suggesting that there will be three
tiers of anointing fraught with grief on the Two Witnesses, leading them through a transformation from benevolent leaders of the gospel to adjudicators of
God's 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 God will strengthen
the Two Witnesses with angels. There will be many angelic visitations in the
last days, miracles of strength, anointing and power through prayer. They will demonstrate
to the world through signs and wonders that those who obey Christ are the true children of
God before the antichrist initiates genocide against the saints, so the world
will be
without excuse for persecuting them. In the end, the Two Witnesses will be killed,
and 3½ days later they will be raised from the dead as first fruits of the
Resurrection (Rev 14-4), even as Jesus was raised 3½ days later. See
also: Three tiered temple / Great endtime revival; 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 iterated 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) 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 contrast, the Ten Virgins references His return
with the Church
falling asleep again, for Satan will put on them a spirit of stupor (apostasy)
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 on Dorothy and the
cowardly lion as they ran through the poppy field, trying to keep them from
the Emerald City. Apostasy means falling away of the faith (2The 2,1-3),
the five foolish virgins did not just fall asleep but fell away from God when they
should have been gathering oil for their lamps. Jesus told his disciples to
pray that they might not enter into temptation and fall asleep, 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 Jesus to himself to torture and kill 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 foolish virgins for the same reason, that he
might effect a great slaughter accruing many martyrs. As the Ten Virgins woke and the five foolish virgins
ran away under pretense of seeking more oil at a time when God called them
to be prepared, the five wise virgins will enter the glory of their
Master with lamps burning brightly. Since the title “Christ” means
anointed one, “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. See also:
Last days (Ten Virgins);
Lk 22-45,46; 196j
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 less 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 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 glory of servanthood. If they don't understand
this simple concept, it proves they are not servants at heart, and for this
reason 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 to
pray before His suffering.
Jesus became deeply grieved, so he went a little beyond them and prayed alone. When we
compare this configuration with the Jewish old covenant temple of worship, it is arranged
with the seven disciples representing the outer court, His
three closest disciples representing the Holy Place and Jesus representing the Holy
of Holies. There in the Holy of Holies He prayed for strength to endure His suffering,
offering Himself to the Father as the Lamb of God. 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. A little later, God will orchestrate His own revival, using
a 144,000 Jews. Among the Jewish witnesses there will be Two Witnesses who will
stand in the gap, who will defend the
Church and help protect them from the antichrist. These represent the outer
court, the holy place and the Most Holy Place respectively. Those who can hear the Holy Spirit
tell
them that this Great Endtime Revival 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, representing the outer court.
See also: Great endtime revival;
Mat 26-41; 187i / Three tiered temple; Mat 26,36-46; 82a /
Golden Altar of Incense represents prayer;
Rev 8,2-6; 104f
KJV WEB
/ Parallel Gospel
/ Navigation Bar
Mat 26,38-42
(37a) Judgment >>
The cross >> God judged the sin of the world
through Christ –
Jesus almost died from grief right there in the Garden of Gethsemane before His enemies could kill Him. Jesus wasn’t grieving about
His physical suffering but was grieving over the fact that His Father was
about to place on Him the sins of the whole world and then abandon Him. He cried, “My God, My God, why
have You forsaken Me?” in Mat 27-46. It also 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. 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 Hades, so that those who reject His blood
sacrifice, their sins are waiting for them in hell. Jesus returned from
the grave, having accomplished the will of His Father to become the Savior
of all 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 from the dead. 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. See also:
Resurrection
(Spiritual body);
Jn 10,27-30; 244d
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 emblem of what it means to die to self.
Essentially, dying to self means to trade our dreams and visions for His. Jesus in these verses 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 all
people
from their sins, but His flesh had a different will that 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 place in order to give preference to
Christ. This is just the first step 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 sinful passions of our flesh, none of this will begin to happen.
(187a) Die to self (Process of substitution)
>> Separation from the old man >>
Die to the flesh >> The ministry of dying to
self >> Die to self to minister to God >> Jesus died to self and
ministered to God
(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 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 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
Your Spirit wills,’ 'Not mine but Yours,' 'Not me by You,' as John the
Baptist also said, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (Jn
3-30). In His heart Jesus 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. Jesus understands how
we feel about our lives; He wanted His Father to care as much about His
temporal existence as His flesh did, but His Father would not. In the same
way, God cares more about His eternal purpose for us in Christ than He does
about our temporal concerns in the flesh. He didn’t want to be insulted, mistreated, flogged and nailed to a
cross, but what really bothered Him was to be separated from His Father and made to become sin. We are
all called to die to self, and we are happy to do it, but our flesh is not.
There is nothing God would call us to do that would not conflict with the
interests of 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
he will fail to accomplish a single objective. Although this may be his hour 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.
See also: Millennium; Mat 26-29; 50j
Mat 26-40
(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
mind of anybody
what God had planned. Since
this spiritual kingdom is so intangible, the disciples were not particularly interested in it, nor
is the Church today for that matter. 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 the 2000-year age of Grace 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, and in
the same way the contemporary Church will not see the purpose of God in the
last days, because they are not looking for it. That is, just as the Jews were
blindsided by Jesus, so the contemporary Church will be blindsided by the
Great Endtime Revival. See also: Great endtime revival; Mat 26,36-46;
50d
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 came for Him to give His life, it was no longer a vision but a
reality. Jesus
emptied Himself of His heavenly glory so that what He understood about Himself
and about the will of His Father was revealed to Him by the Spirit, starting
as a boy and growing into manhood. 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 fully accepted His fate there
in the Garden of Gethsemane, and this only to lose His Father's love and
acceptance on the cross as He took on the sins of the whole 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. Jesus
knew His Father’s will would not change about the cross, yet He begged His
Father to
think of another way to forgive mankind and allow the elect into His heaven.
Man had no capacity to know God, and there was no solution for their sin, except that Jesus
should go to the cross and die for our sins, requiring a simple faith in His
blood sacrifice to atone for all sins committed in ignorance. A simple faith would be reason
enough to accept us into His heaven and bestow on us every spiritual blessing imaginable and unimaginable.
KJV WEB
/ Parallel Gospel
/ Navigation Bar
Mat 26,47-50
(160da) Works of the devil >> Satan
determines the world's direction >>
Led by the devil to suppress the word of God >> Oppressing those who carry the gospel
-- 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 something that are
unimaginably evil, but we can be sure that Judas Iscariot was demon possessed, because
Scripture plainly states this fact. After Judas took the morsel, Satan then
entered him (Jn 13-27). Later Judas regretted betraying the Lord, after he realized that
what he did led to 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 with all his sins
strapped to him, and they pull him into the liquid-hot magma where he will
remain forever and ever, he will then remorse over his sins, but until then he
remains in denial. How
many people did he convince to sacrifice their future for the present? It
is only natural that he would do the same! See also: Judas Iscariot; Mat 26,48-50;
16j
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 adept at hiding the truth from themselves. It
is very twisted and bizarre, yet it is how they think.
Judas knew exactly what he was doing, though he denied it, attempting to
protect his
conscience. These are scary people, capable of anything; we need to avoid
them if possible, but their numbers are exponentially increasing, who
trample on their conscience, who teach that feelings of guilt
are deception. They say
Christianity has had a negative impact on the world, blaming Christians
for their guilt, being the first step in overriding their conscience. Jesus
said that we are the salt of the earth (Mat 5-13); we are the conscience of
the world, at least in part, is what he meant. See also: Conscience; Mat 26,59-63;
142g / Judas Iscariot; Mat 26-48; 181i
(178j) Works of the devil >>
The religion of witchcraft >>
Hypocrisy of the Church is rebuked >> Jesus rebuked 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, because
the holy kiss was customary with Jesus and among the disciples, and because he had
been pretending to love Jesus for the last 2 1/2 years. None of the
other eleven disciples knew Judas would betray their Master, indicating that Judas was very cunning in
hiding his unbelief, 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 we must be very careful how we judge
them; otherwise, God could find us participating in their sins (Rom 2-1). Jesus never judged Judas; He simply protected the sheep from his
influence. See also: Judas Iscariot; Mat 26-49,50; 84j
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 in second and third helpings with
evil intent). Jesus didn’t want Judas
lying to Him while he was betraying Him. He would have rather Judas was
honest with Him, since everyone knew what he was doing at this point. Satan entered Judas in order to do these things, so if Judas had any ideas
about discontinuing his plan, the devil would have prodded him along. It is interesting what people can
do while demon possessed. What comes to mind first 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 a 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 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 to be 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. This Jesus gig was nearly concluded, and Judas needed an exit strategy, and he didn’t want it to end without
monetarily profiting from
it. 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 it ended, he would feel a
bigger fool than his naïve fellow disciples. See also: Judas Iscariot; Mat 26-50; 124i
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
--
Judas' name unfortunately is not
written in the Book of Life. He betrayed the Lord 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
residing in heaven. There will be some things
we have done that will not be written in God's Book that He will compare with our deeds, and
He will reward us for fashioning our lives after its contents. See also: Judas Iscariot; Mat 26,14-16; 172aa
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 doomsday preppers who are stocking guns and ammunition in the last days. Jesus
warned them that however they defend themselves is how they themselves must be
killed (Rev 13-10). Jesus would
call them murderers, and, “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 calls 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, our
death will have high standing with the King of heaven, which holds more
promise
than conforming to the world. There are plenty of people who don’t care to
be honored by God, who are in favor of defending
themselves against their enemies, but this is the
attitude of godless people, who have no inheritance in
the Kingdom of Heaven, and the confession of those who don’t know God,
unless they repent of their unbelief and get saved.
KJV WEB
/ Parallel Gospel
/ Navigation Bar
Mat 26-53
(62n) Paradox >>
Anomalies >> Righteous deception >>
Jesus deceives the lost --
Jesus
was predestined for the cross.
Although He had power and authority from God (Mat 11-27), He only used it to do His Father's will,
which at the 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 it was an empty threat.
Jesus essentially lied about being able to rally angles to defend Himself in
this case;
what He 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 He ascended back to the Father and sat at the right
hand of the Father, but for now this hour and the
power of darkness were theirs (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 Father's will
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 His Father under other
circumstances, He would have saved Him with as many angels as necessary, but no angels were
coming in this case. Jesus answered His own question when He said, “How then will the
Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?” (v54).
(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 centuries before His birth, that if a person had any
doubt whether His death
and resurrection could forgive sin, he would only need
to page through the Old Testament and observe the hundreds of prophecies
about Him that He fulfilled. This is to add confidence to
our faith and credence to 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
determines the world's direction >>
Led by the devil to suppress the word of God >> Oppressing those who carry the gospel
-- These verses go with
verses 47-50. Those
who don't understand the Scriptures persecute those who do, and they suppress
their message. Jesus is the word of God, and His enemies willfully misinterpreted
Him. They recalled what Jesus said 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 three days in the tomb. 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 should have let
the Holy Spirit lead us into all the truth 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. See
also: Misinterpreting the Bible; Lk 15-1,2; 223a
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 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, but his pride was also involved. The disciples had an ongoing debate
about who was greatest, and Peter was trying to prove that he held that
office, just below Christ. This battle between them did not include Jesus' approval;
rather, He rebuked them whenever they argued about it in His presence, telling
them that if they wanted to be greatest in the kingdom of heaven, they would
have to be servant of all.
Mat 26-57
(65g) Paradox >>
Anomalies >> Satan brings unity >>
Satan unites the world for the cause of persecution -- This verse goes
with verse 47
KJV WEB
/ Parallel Gospel
/ Navigation Bar
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 versus
Peter. Not to pick on Peter, but even the high priest could have been forgiven for
having Jesus crucified. The level of God’s forgiveness goes far beyond
what most of us think is unforgivable, but repentance must be present. 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. What He did not forgive about the high
priest was his lack of repentance. Therefore, the question is not whether God can forgive,
but whether we are willing to repent of our 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
-- Jesus rebuked the Pharisees by saying nothing at all. The truth was clear
enough that nothing needed to be said, anyway. Everyone in that tribunal knew He was
the Son of God by the wisdom of His words and by the miracles He had performed
throughout His ministry.
Had Jesus opened His mouth to defend Himself, they would have twisted
everything and believed nothing. They would have used His defense as
evidence against Him, so He was guilty if He defended Himself and guilty if He
didn't. Jesus chose not to give them anything to work with
and so declared them guilty by condemning a man without a
cause.
(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. This was the evidence brought forward at His mock trial: if the temple were destroyed He could rebuild it in three
days. This did
not get Him crucified, since there was nothing particularly believable about
rebuilding Herod's temple in three days. His good confession,
however, as the
Son of God is what condemned Him. This shows that His enemies never
entertained the possibility that Jesus may have been their long awaited
Messiah, yet in
fact they knew He was the Son of God. They knew the Old Testament Scriptures
backward and forward, and they were familiar with Him as a miracle worker,
which acted as His credentials. They simply refused to believe what they knew was true. Whenever we see people
doing this, we know their conscience is defiled and therefore know there is a great deal of satanic influence
in their lives. Their darkness ran very deep and their hope of repentance
and salvation, nil. See also: Conscience; Mat 26-59; 155e
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 doctrine originates and thus how
false religions start. Jesus' accusers had
motives that led them in the opposite direction of the truth with Jesus
infringing on their business of religion. They were trying to silence Him, looking for justification to kill the
truth. By no means did they have Jesus in a court of law to ascertain the
facts. Rather, this was a breeding ground for the doctrines of demons and their subsequent religions. First, they
distorted the statement Jesus made about rebuilding
the temple in three days; then they
rejected Jesus' claim that He was the Son of God. These kind of people are not capable of correctly interpreting
the Bible because of pride, jealousy and greed. We
tend to overuse the word “cult” to mean anybody who doesn’t worship
God as we do, but it would be better to reserve the word
“cult” to mean those who don’t believe in the deity of Christ.
If a denomination believes in Jesus as God in human flesh though misses the mark
on many other points, we should not call them a cult; rather, we should
consider some of their minor beliefs to be heretical. We should reserve the one false
doctrine of denying Jesus Christ coming in the flesh strictly for the
cults. Then there is the occult that attempts to dabble in the supernatural,
such as the many eastern religions and the New Age movement that acts as a grab-bag
(or dumpster) for novel forms of worship and deities that don't
fit any one description, traversing the spectrum of white magic to black
magic, even into Satanism; in short, they worship a god other than the God of the Bible.
Then there is Hinduism and the religion of Islam, both claiming to believe in Jesus, though He is
demoted to a mere prophet. There is faith in Jesus Christ as
the Son of God in human flesh, then there are heresies of Christianity, cults, the occult,
agnosticism and atheism, and everyone falls into one of these six categories. It might sound
difficult to believe the truth when there are so many alternate views, but
God has given us His Spirit, making it easy to believe the truth if we just
submit to Him, thus removing any excuses for not believing the truth. Nevertheless,
Truth is one of the rarest beliefs, though
Christianity is one of the most popular religions in the world. See also: Misinterpreting the Bible; Mat 26,57-63;
160da /
All cults follow the same pattern; 3Jn-9,10; 6l
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 but refused to violate what they considered a conscience; instead, they
set up a set of rules they invented as boundaries by which they lived. The Pharisees brought Jesus to the governor without leveling
any charges against Him, instead railroaded Pilate to make a decision, while
he asked them the very embarrassing question of why they wanted Him dead. Pilate put
the problem into words, “I find no guilt in
Him” (Jn 18-38). These were fighting words to the religious establishment,
who intended to cause a riot if they perceived Pilate leaning toward releasing
Him. Figuratively, this was Pilate’s worst nightmare, but it was literally
his wife's worst nightmare (Mat 27-19). Once they threatened a riot, Pilate 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. The more people live against their conscience, the more the world becomes a
breeding ground for the traits of narcissism and psychopathy, who replace their
conscience with a set of invented rules that don't get in the way of their
preferred lifestyle. Biblical roots of Christianity are disappearing from society at an alarming
rate, making the narcissist feel more comfortable in this world as more people
adopt their views. Jesus gave the world
a conscience when they crucified Him by sending the Holy Spirit
to live in every person who 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
his conscience, so if he tries to manipulate his mind, the Holy Spirit is there
to expose his true motives. It is when we try to override Him that we get into
serious spiritual trouble. See also: Conscience; Mat 26-62,63; 222g
(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 molded
into whatever shape they thought would give them an advantage. They didn't
treat the Truth as a discrete, unalterable reality that if they violated it
would destroy them. The fact that
Jesus won every argument they had
with Him, the fact that He healed the sick and even raised the dead, was unrelated to the matter
at hand in the mind of the religious establishment at His mock trial. Their objective was to kill Him, because He was
getting in the way of their business of religion and exposing their total lack of
understanding of the Scriptures (though they knew the Old Testament backward
and forward). 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 his people to destroy the truth of God in the world.
KJV WEB
/ Parallel Gospel
/ Navigation Bar
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 --
The high priest asked
Jesus if He was the Son of God. What made Him ask that question? Maybe it was
his conscience! Jesus
didn’t go around claiming to be the Son of God, except to His disciples, so
why did the high priest suspect Jesus was the Son of God? Maybe it was the
many reliable reports he heard about Him, such as raising Lazarus from the dead,
or the multitudes He healed, or the multitudes He fed with a picnic
basket of food, or the incontrovertible
wisdom He had that they personally experienced, or maybe it was the Spirit He emulated.
They knew
He was the Son of God because everyone who met Jesus or even came near
Him suspected He was the Son of God. Jesus in verse 64
told the high priest, “You have said it yourself….” By asking the
question the High priest admitted He knew He was the Son of God. See also:
Jesus' accusers knew He was the Son of God; Mat 26,63-66; 18ca
/ Conscience; Mat 26,14-16; 186db
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 in Jesus' faithful confession, nothing would have been
the same to this day, but of course
God knew they would reject Him, because any generation and any nation would
have done 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, Jesus performed the signs that one would do if he were the
Son of God, and at His mock trial He made the good confession, and then they
accused Him of being Himself. To be fair, Jesus didn’t perform many
miracles in Jerusalem but in the surrounding districts, and so many of the signs and
wonders He performed they understood by hearsay and not by personal witness. See also:
Jesus' accusers knew He was the Son of God; Mat 26-63,64; 85a
Mat 26-63,64
(54a) Paradox >>
Opposites >> Unbelief in the presence and
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
it. Not even the 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 he 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 just to prove it. See also:
Jesus' accusers knew He was the Son of God; Mat 26-62,63; 222g
(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 criticized Him with all manner of
accusations, and then Jesus mocked them, saying 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 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. Here lies the
difference between Jesus and all the counterfeit christs that have come and gone
throughout the centuries: many people have claimed to be the Messiah, and people
worshipped them, and in the end nothing happened to them that they didn’t
deserve. Jesus came and they almost had to beat the confession out of Him that He was
the Son of God, and then they used His testimony against Him and hung Him on a
cross. They were
looking for a man who was strong and powerful, and could
subdue His enemies. Those of the religious establishment were His enemies and He
did not subdue them, but where are they now, and where is He? These are the ways
of God; He subdues His enemies without lifting a finger but lets their own
wickedness subdue them.
(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 –
The religious establishment 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 passages that spoke about the meek and mild Christ, but they
glossed over them, emphasizing other passages
that spoke about Him as a great conqueror that makes
Israel a world empire, and all power and authority
disseminates through them. Had Jesus promised
these things, they would have immediately fallen on their faces and worshipped
Him. That
is what they
would have us believe, but the fact is, their heart was not with Him, and even
if He promised them the world, eventually they would have taken the same path.
This is why God had to deal with sin before He established His kingdom on the
earth.
KJV WEB
/ Parallel Gospel
/ Navigation Bar
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
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, having previously made up their
minds to condemn Him, because He exposed them to the world as hypocrites, and
for this reason He was in the way of their massive egos and in the way of
their business of religion. Had the Romans not been in control
of Israel, the religious leaders would have killed Jesus long ago, but being
under Roman rule they did not have authority to kill anybody. So they had
to do things their way, which made for a much more torturous death than
stoning. Jesus leaned
on Roman authority throughout His ministry to stay alive long enough to
accomplish the will of His Father, including fulfill all Old Testament
prophecy about Him, train His disciples for the purpose He had in mind for
them after He was gone and prepare the soil of man's heart to receive the
gospel preached through His apostles.
(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
– God in human flesh endured the
mocking of His own creation. The things that God has been willing to endure
for mankind after Adam fell into sin, God has put up with us ever since, sending His
only Son to absorb the due penalty of our sins. Some try
to explain God’s love in terms of mankind being so cute and lovable that He cannot
resist us; nothing could be further from the truth. Is God so egotistical
that we could flatter Him with our charms, or that after He made us in His
image, He cannot help but love us? No, rather, God has a vision of us and a plan and
a purpose in eternity. He plans to use us
after He creates another people,
and He will have us rule over them. That is, He went through all this trouble with us
for the sake of another race of people. Does that not flatter our ego? He did
the same with the angels, making them go through their testing ordeal for our
sake! This next race of man 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
flayed 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 is our
brother. The next creation of man will not be able to make that claim. See also: New heavens and a new earth
(New Jerusalem);
Citizens of heavenly
Israel; Jn 8,33-40; 33c
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
abandoning Jesus with the other disciples, Peter doubled back and followed Him
from a distance, but then
denied ever knowing Him, decorating his earnestness with abusive speech to further
distinguish himself from the Lord. The rest of the disciples were too afraid
even to do this. Peter’s motive was a mixture of conceit and pride, having a
reputation of thinking
too highly of himself and being in competition with the other disciples, his love for
Jesus lost in a morass of fleshly impetus. Peter did this without any real hope of
benefit,
risking his life in a self-deceived 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 we plan to
go above and beyond God's calling, we 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 us to do. Let Jesus do His part
and we'll do ours;
He doesn't need our help. Peter may have meant well 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, and most of it never gets done. That is why the world is (and has always been)
in 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 shape 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 to temptation, 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 truth from his Master, though the devil was telling him none of it was real, a
mere figment of his imagination, leading him to wonder with Pilate what is
truth. He committed a
grievous sin, but it didn’t detract from his faith in the Son of God. While Peter was
coming to his conclusions, Jesus lay in a grave. He clawed himself from
the pit of doubt and despair after Jesus rose from the dead and met Him with
his faith restored. 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. Spiritual warfare had befallen Peter while Jesus was in the grave, and they
were all going through it and Peter the most, because he denied the Lord three
times
before he saw Him torn, brutalized and crucified.
(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
See
next page
|