1 Samuel 7 - The People turn to the Lord

The ark was taken to Kiriath Jearim. So for twenty years the ark remained in obscurity. There are times when the church seems to go into decline in a nation, but even in those times the presence of God is not gone completely. In some corner, in some place, there will be some who still worship the Lord, and a time will come when the church will rise again.

So, eventually the people as a whole did turn back to the Lord. Samuel was the prophet to the nation and instructed the people on what they needed to do. This included ridding themselves of idols and devoting themselves to God. When they did this they would experience deliverance from their enemies. The same applies to all of us. The first steps to take to gain freedom is to repent and turn to God. Then we will find that  our problems start to get sorted out. And the people obeyed God.

The people fasted, prayed and repented, and Samuel prayed to the Lord for them. The Philistines so the gathering of the people as an opportunity to attack them. The people were afraid, but they implored Samuel to keep crying out to God for them. This he did, along with offering sacrifices.

The Philistines came to attack, but the Lord intervened directly to save His people.

So the people were protected from the Philistines, and Samuel continued his role as leader of the people.

See how differently things turned out here from the defeat a couple of chapters ago. What was the difference? Obedience to the Lord. The most important decision we make in life is the decision to serve the Lord.

1 Samuel 6 - The Ark returns

The Philistines realised that they needed to return the Ark to its rightful place. They inquired of their own "wise men" (diviners) about how to do this. They advised them to send gifts, a five gold tumours and rats (rats would have spread the disease), were made. 

They got a new cart together, and two unyoked cattle. 

Now we might be surprised that the Bible is presenting diviners in something of a positive light, as divination is strictly forbidden in the Law. However, God will often use the "wisdom" of the people to reveal Himself to them, and to bring glory to His name. Remember the wise men from the East who were astrologers, another forbidden practice.

The Ark duly returned to Israel, and the Levites took charge of it. Some of the people of Beth Shemesh looked into the ark, and they were struck down. The judgement of the Lord comes against all men, there is no favouritism. So they too had no better idea how to handle the ark of the Lord than did the Philistines.

1 Samuel 5 - Judgement

The Ark was taken to the temple of Dagon. The Philistines may have thought they were getting a great victory, but no ones gets hold of God for their own purposes. So the next day the idol of Dagon was found fallen on his face. Now one might wonder why God bothered doing this when Dagon was just an idol of stone. The reason is that the Philistines believed in Dagon, so God demonstrated to them that the thing they were worshipping was nothing at all. God speaks to all people, and in a languages that they will understand.

The people around where the Ark was kept suffered tumours. The judgement of God was coming upon the people, so they begged their leaders to take the Ark away.

No matter where the Ark was taken tumours broke out upon that city. There was no escaping the judgement of God.

We may look at these events with astonishment. However, when a society rejects God they assume the position of God, making their own judgements. And when they do this that society will find itself reaping all sorts of consequences it did not expect and did not want. Just look at your own society today!

1 Samuel 4 - The Ark is captured

The Philistines came to fight against Israel and the Philistines won.

The Israelites wondered why the Lord had not given them victory. They decided the ark of the covenant was the answer. So they brought the ark from Shiloh, and Eli's two sons were with the ark.

All the people raised a mighty shout. The Philistines heard this and were filled with terror. They thought a god had come into the Israelite camp, and they expected to be defeated. They also remembered all that they had heard had happened in Egypt.

Now at this stage one might expect that an Israelite victory was about to occur, but instead they got defeated and the ark was captured. Eli's two sons were among the dead. 

This is a warning against pseudo-faith, or putting trust in religious rituals (ranging from high church to low charismatic). There was disobedience in the nation of Israel, and when sin is alive religious rituals are of no value whatsoever. 

A messenger ran back to Shiloh and Eli asked him what had happened. When he heard what had happened, Eli fell over and died. It seemed to be the loss of the ark that troubled him most. He knew his sons were going to die, but he did not expect the ark to be lost. 

The wife of Phinehas gave birth to a son and named him Ichabod, meaning the glory has departed.

1 Samuel 3 - God speaks to Samuel

Having rejected Eli's household, Samuel is called. It seems that ministering before the Lord was possibly rather dry in those days, with little direct communication from God. However, things were about to change.

The Lord called Samuel. Note that it is Samuel who takes the initiative. Samuel heard an audible voice, this was not just an "inner witness". Samuel wasn't expecting to literally hear God, so he thought it was Eli who had called him. Eli, of course, had not called him.

This happened three times, Eli then realised what was happening. In verse 7 it tells us that we need the word of the Lord to be revealed to us in order for us to know the Lord. The same is true today. Many people read the Bible without really knowing God, we need the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to the truth.

Eli tells Samuel what to do. So even though Eli's family had been rejected by God, he still acted faithfully. 

God tells Samuel why He has rejected Eli. Samuel was afraid to tell Eli what God had said, but Eli encouraged him to do so. Eli accepted what the Lord had said. 

God continued to reveal Himself more and more to Samuel. This first encounter was very important. Samuel needed to learn to listen to God. He also needed to learn to speak the word of God, even when it is unpleasant. Moreover, he would later have to learn to accept that Saul had been rejected because of his unfaithfulness.

1 Samuel 2:27-36 - Judgement on Eli's family

Eli's house now comes under judgement. A "man of God" was a prophet or seer. His rebuke goes back to when Israel came out of Egypt.  God had revealed Himself to Israel, so the whole nation had a responsibility.  Moreover, the Levites were specifically chosen to be priests for the nation. They were given special instructions in the Law on how this was all to be carried out. This included provision for the priests themselves. When we serve God He makes provision for us. But Eli's sons had gone beyond this and had taken other stuff for themselves as well. Sadly we also see examples of this today as well when people exploit the congregations for money, often exploiting the poorest people. Just as righteousness brings God's blessing, unrighteousness brings God's judgement.

Note that Eli is being held responsible for his sons actions. Jesus said we must love Him more than our families. We see this principle here. Eli should have given greater weight to the honour of God's offerings than  to his sons.

The judgement on Eli's family would be severe, with none of them seeing old age. Even though Israel would be blessed, Eli's family would be cut off from the blessing. When we become servants of God we take on a solemn and serious responsibility and will be held accountable.

God would appoint a faithful priest. The immediate fulfilment of this would be Zadok, but in time it would be Jesus who is the great High Priest.

1 Samuel 2:11-26 - Contrasting sons

Whereas Hannah is an example of a godly woman, Eli's sons were definitely not godly. In particular, they interfered with the proper offering of sacrifices. The details are given in the text, but the key thing is that Eli's sons had no regard for God's instructions, nor any regard for the people. When people neglect God, they often neglect people as well.

Eli comes in for a bad press for his failure to properly discipline his sons, but he wasn't all bad. He saw Hannah's devotion and pronounced a blessing on her. Moreover, the Lord answered his prayer and Hannah had more sons and daughters. When we give our first fruits to God He will bless us.

As well as interfering with the sacrifices, Eli's sons were sexually immoral as well. Eli was troubled and saddened by all this. Eli did rebuke the sons, but they refused to listen. It says here that this happened because it was the Lord's will to punish them. I don't think we should read this in a fatalistic manner, ie as though the sons could not have repented, even if they had wanted to. Rather, God still works out His plans, despite our disobedience.

Samuel, in contrast, obeyed the Lord, and so grew in favour with God and the people.

1 Samuel 2:1-10 - Hannah's Song

Hannah responds to the Lord's goodness with a prayer. Note that the response came after Samuel had been dedicated to the temple, not just after his birth. She saw the importance of Samuel's life.

Horn in verse 1 is a symbol of strength. Our hearts should rejoice in the Lord, and we realise our true potential in Him. 

When we do this we will have triumph over our enemies, for we will delight in God's deliverance. Hannah's "enemies" here were her circumstances (not being able to have children), rather than people. There are circumstances in life that seem to oppose us. God can deliver us from them all. 

The Lord is unique. He is holy like no other, and He is the only God, and the only sure foundation on which we should build.

When we look around us we will see people talking proudly, boastfully. We can feel intimidated by them sometimes, but we should not. They are the ones who should change their ways. Moreover, the Lord knows all that each one of us does.

The Lord brings about a change in fortunes. He turns the world upside down. The key is to seek the Lord.

Life and death, sickness and health, poverty and riches. All these things are in the Lord's hands. The Lord delights to life up the downtrodden.

The world is utterly dependent upon God, and we should bow down before Him.

It is worth noting that there are a number of highly significant songs of praise in the Bible written by women (Miriam, Hannah, Mary).

1 Samuel 1 - The birth of Samuel

Elkannah had two wives, one of whom was unable to have children. Now there are immediately two important features here. First, it is the daughters who are important, one of whom is about to play a key role in the history of Israel. Throughout the Bible, Old and New Testament, women are seen as important and play a vital role in God's plans. Secondly, it is the one who is unable to have children who is going to be blessed. This leads us to two further points. Childlessness is seen as a curse in parts of the Bible. Now this does not mean that someone who cannot have children is somehow hated by God, or is second rate. Childlessness is, along with many other things, a result of the fall. All of us have some features of our life that are "a curse", they are part of God's judgement upon humanity for our sin, part of the consequences of our sin. But God still loves us, and He has sent Christ to redeem us from the curse. Secondly, it may seem that in some ways we are "second-class", we less favoured. This in no way means we cannot be blessed and used by God. Indeed He delights in choosing the weak and despised things of the world to demonstrate His glory and love.

Next we see that Elkannah himself loved Hannah, the wife who was unable to have children. He shared in her suffering, and valued her, and showed his love for her. Later she would receive love from the Lord, but receiving genuine love from people makes it easier for us to receive love from God. No human love can meet all our needs, but it opens the way for us to receive the love of God. If we make an idol out of human love we head for trouble, but if we have a right perspective, human love plays a vital and positive role in life. We see also the pain of Elkannah. Hannah had a need that he could not meet.

Hannah reacted to this in the right way, she prayed to God. We will always find that even those most close to us will not be able to meet all our needs. Not our parents, nor our wife or husband, or closest friend. There will be somethings that they cannot do. The wrong, but common, reaction is to become bitter. Instead we should seek God.

Eli, the priest, thought she was drunk and went to rebuke her. She corrected him, and Eli blessed her. The Lord answered Hannah's prayer and she became pregnant.

Grateful to the Lord, Hannah chose to dedicate Samuel to the Lord. Note the decisive role that Hannah has. She does not just have a child, but makes the vital decision to dedicate him to God. So Samuel was given to the Lord.

1 Samuel - Intoduction

These two books, 1 and 2 Samuel, are named after the prophet Samuel. They see the introduction of kings into Israel, and cover the reigns of Saul and David. It is interesting that God never wanted Israel to have a king, for He was meant to be their king. Yet He allowed them to have a king, and worked through the kingship to bring about His own plans. David is a type of the Messiah, and one of the messianic titles is "son of David". In the end God did become king as Jesus Christ. This shows us how God's will works. In the end it is God's will the prevails, but it does not happen in a rigid mechanistic manner, it does not override human freewill.

We don't know who wrote 1 and 2 Samuel, but there is a reference in Samuel to the Book of Jashar (2 Sam 1:18), and Chronicles refers to the annals of King David, the records of Samuel, Nathan and Gad. So it seems that these people kept records, and they would serve as a source for the material in 1 and 2 Samuel.

The period covered by the books of 1 and 2 Samuel is roughly 1105 BC (birth of Samuel) to 970 BC, the end of David's reign.

Psalm 126 - Tears then Joy

This Psalm falls into two parts. In the first the psalmist is remembering a time when the Lord had restored the fortunes of Zion. The people were filled with ecstatic joy, they were filled with hope.  Joy and laughter was in their mouths. 

Other peoples saw what the Lord had done for them and recognised that something had happened in their lives. The Lord had done great things for His people.

Now they seem to be in trouble again, for the psalmist is calling on God to restore their fortunes "like streams in the Negev". The Negev is dry in the summer until it is refreshed by winter rains. While he is calling on the Lord for help, he has hope. For he knows that those who sow in tears will reap in joy. They will return with songs of joy and a harvest.

In our own lives we can go through these seasons. The past times of experiencing the Lord's help should be an encouragement to us in the tough times. Our life has taught us that God takes us through testing times not to destroy us, but to make us stronger.

Psalm 125 - Trust in the Lord

If we want to be secure we need to trust in the Lord. Every other source of security will let us down, but the Lord is our everlasting security. He guides us through all the events of life, and will even see us safe through death itself.

Jerusalem was in a mountainous region, and the Lord surrounds His people. He guards every aspect of our life. This very day, every aspect of your life is watched over by the Lord.

There are times when evil seems to triumph, but this is only temporary, it will not last forever. Now evil has a corrosive and corrupting effect, and this is part of the reason why God will not let evil rule forever. If we look at any countries where evil has reigned, whether it be apartheid in South Africa, communism, or various evil regimes, we see that it has a lasting malign legacy, even after it has gone. 

Then the Psalmist calls on God to bless the good and punish the evildoers.

Psalm 124 - The Lord is for us

Without the Lord we would have been defeated. We need to realise that all of God's plans for our lives, all His instructions and commands, are predicated on the fact that He is on our side. We are forever assessing things on the basis that we are on our own. This is the wrong way to look at things. We should always assess things remembering that the Lord is for us and not against us.

Without the Lord human and natural opposition would indeed overwhelm us, but we are not without the Lord. He is with us and enables us to escape.

Psalm 123 - Lift up your eyes

Another Psalm with the emphasis on looking to God. Time and time again things happen in life, or we encounter situations, and we don't know what to do. These things happen to cause us to look to God. 

God is enthroned in heaven. Now this does not mean that He is far away. This is a popular misconception concerning what heaven is about. Jesus came preaching that the kingdom of heaven is near. Before sin came in, God fellowshipped with Adam and Eve. We are meant to live in harmony and in communion with God, using our own strength and abilities, and His resources as well. So we should look to heaven, expecting God to provide answers from there.

Then the psalmist uses the analogy of a slave looking to its master. To us this looks odd as we have a low view of slavery, but the point here is that a master has a responsibility towards his slave. God has a responsibility towards us, and we can be confident that at the right time He will fulfil that responsibility.

Today Christians increasingly endure contempt from the world. There is nothing new about this, and just as God helped in Bible times, He will help us today.

Psalm 122 - Our Home

Why is a place so important? Why is the temple so important? God is building a dwelling for His people, and within that dwelling there is a place that is devoted purely for meeting with God. Jesus said to His disciples that there are many rooms in His Father's house. We can go through life sometimes wondering where we are going, or why we are carrying on. God has a place and a purpose for us, and one day we will come to know what that place is. 

The city is well built. It is designed for its purpose. And judgement will go out from this city. 

This city is a heavenly city, even so we should still pray for the peace of physical Jerusalem. For there is a link between the spiritual reality and the physical reality.

Psalm 121 - The Lord watches over you

We often find ourselves in situations where we wonder where our help is going to come from. The answer is that our help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. The Lord is the creator of all things, seen and unseen. We were created to live in trust and fellowship with Him. Instead of living in rebellion we can live in harmony with the Creator.

One of the gifts of the Lord is that He grants us sleep and peace, yet He Himself does not sleep. He is continuously watching over us, taking care that our foot does not slip. As we all know we are prone to making mistakes. Now we should take reasonable steps to improve our performance and to avoid making mistakes, but we should not get neurotic about this. It is the Lord who is our security. Moreover, we can afford to have times of rest.

The Lord watches over us at all times. No matter what the time of day, the season of the year, the phase in life that we are going through. He is continually with us, providing our protection.

The Lord protects us from harm, He watches over all that we do. If we know the Lord we have a unique freedom. 

We should dwell on these things, for these fundamental truths can bring a stability and peace to our lives that will enable us to serve the Lord all the more effectively.

Psalm 120 - Help in distress

This psalm isn't attributed to David, but follows the Davidic pattern of calling out to the Lord in his distress! But then look at the last part of the verse, "and he answers me". It is normal for us to experience distress. This is not a lack of faith. Faith comes in in how we react to the distress. We should call upon the Lord, and then we should learn from the help that we receive, so that like Paul we gradually learn to be content in all circumstances.

The particular danger that the psalmist was experiencing was false accusations. People were lying about him and being deceitful. These situations are deeply distressing and unpleasant, but the one in greatest trouble is the one who is telling lies or being deceitful. For God is judge of all the earth, and He sees everything. Everyone will eventually be called to give an account.

Meshak and Kedar were in Asia Minor, so the psalmist felt far from home. We live in an increasingly unchristian country and can feel like we are living in an alien world.

Mark 16:9-20 - The Great Commission

As your Bible probably tells you, this latter section of Mark's gospel is not found in the earliest manuscripts of the gospel. However, there is actually nothing in here that is not consistent with what is said elsewhere in the New Testament.

Mary Magdelene was the first person to see the risen Christ. She went to tell others, but they did not believe her. This is not the least bit surprising, for the people of the day, just as people of today, knew full well that it was not normal for the dead to come back to life. The resurrection of Jesus was a totally unique event.

Verse 12 might be a reference to the visit on the Emmaus road. These two got the same reaction of unbelief.

Jesus then appeared to the eleven, and rebuked them for their lack of faith. He had told them beforehand that He would be killed and raised back to life. He then told them to and preach the good news to all the world. Faith in Christ is the means of salvation.

Signs would also follow the disciples. These would include tongues, healings and not being killed by snakes or killed by drinking poison. As we know, one or two odd groups have taken this verse on snakes to extremes. It is better to take it as saying that we will be protected from danger, as Paul was on Malta.

Jesus then ascended to heaven. The disciples went out preaching the good news, and signs accompanied their preaching of the word.

Mark 16:1-8 - Risen

The gospels record women as the first witnesses to the resurrection. This is a mark of the authenticity of the accounts, as if they were trying to make it up it is highly unlikely that they would have had women as the first witnesses. 

The women went to the tomb expecting to pay their respects, to tend to the grave. They were not expecting Jesus to be alive. This is another argument against those who disbelieve the resurrection. The notion that people were either gullible or were somehow expecting Jesus to come back to life is simply totally without foundation.

They expected the stone to be over the grave, but when they got there it had been moved. They saw a young man dressed in white. Matthew says he was an angel. So another misconception is gone. Angels in the Bible often appear as men.

The man or angel tells the women that Jesus is risen and they are to go and tell the disciples. All that Jesus had said would happen had happened.

The women were afraid.

Mark 15:42-47 - Buried

Because of Jewish customs it was necessary to get the body down and buried before the Sabbath began. Arimathea was about 20 miles northwest of Jerusalem. Luke 23:50-53 tells us that Joseph was a good and upright man, a member of the Jewish council, but he had not consented to the actions taken against Jesus. Mark tells us here that Joseph was "waiting for the kingdom of God". 

People sometimes took two or three days to die as a result of crucifixion, hence Pilate's surprise. The method of killing was designed to inflict the maximum agony.

Jesus was wrapped in cloth, buried in a rock tomb, with a stone rolled against the entrance. So Jesus was well and truly buried. The two Mary's saw where He was buried. The point of all this is to make it absolutely clear that (i) Jesus was dead; (ii) He was securely buried; and (iii) the women knew where He was buried. This is to counter some of the arguments made against the resurrection at the time, and since. The notion that Jesus did not die is just ridiculous and has no factual or evidential basis at all. He was buried and the women knew where He was buried, so the idea that on resurrection day they went to the wrong tomb, to a tomb where Jesus had not been buried, it factually incorrect.

Mark 15:33-41 - Dead

Darkness came over the whole land. Then at three o'clock Jesus cried out the words from Psalm 22, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me". God rejected Jesus because all our sin had been placed upon Him. Jesus was suffering the punishment in our place. 

His words would not have been that distinct because of the great pain and agony He would be under, so some thought He was calling for Elijah. Someone offered Him wine vinegar. Jesus then cried out His last. In John we read that He said "It is finished". This was a loud cry, and was a cry of victory, not defeat, for He had paid the full price of our sin.

To signify that the work had indeed been finished the curtain in the temple was torn in two. The separation between man and God was gone, the way had been opened. A centurion recognised that there was something special about Jesus.

Mark mentions that many women were there watching the crucifixion. Watching in grief, and looking to see what they could do after His death.

Mark 15:16-32 - Crucifixion

While the religious leaders and political powers had responsibility for the crucifixion of Christ, the "ordinary" people were just a guilty. We have just seen the crowds choosing to free Barabbas over Christ, and now we see the Roman soldiers mocking Jesus. We too are very ready to blame and criticise our church and political leaders, and bosses at work, and no doubt they have much to answer for, but so do we.

Their mockery of Christ was not just words, though it included that, but also involved beating and the crown of thorns. 

Then the crucifixion itself took place. Jesus had been so weakened by the preceding events that He was unable to carry His own cross. It is hard for us to imagine how severe the previous floggings and beatings had been. Simon of Cyrene was made to carry the cross, this was a beam of wood weighing some 30 or 40 pounds.

The humiliation continued with Christ's clothes being divided up among the soldiers by lot. The written charge put against Jesus was "King of the Jews". There were tow rebels either side of Him. The people passing by shook their heads in contempt. 

When Christ was saving us there was not one man or woman who was helping Him. Instead we only despised and mocked Him.

The religious leaders also mocked Him, thinking they had finally solved a problem that had been bugging them for two or three years.

Mark 15:1-15 - Before Pilate

Having had the trial before the religious leaders, we now get the trial before Pilate.

The Sanhedrin, having failed to reach a satisfactory outcome, sent Jesus off to Pilate. They hoped Pilate would decide that Jesus was a dangerous revolutionary and have him killed. Note that all this happened very early in the morning, indicating that proper procedures were definitely not being followed.

Pilate asked Jesus if He was the king of the Jews. This was the inscription that Pilate later insisted be placed upon the cross.

The Sanhedrin accused Jesus of many things, but Jesus refused to answer, much to Pilate's amazement.

Pilate did not want trouble, and so did not want to make a decision. In this whole episode everyone is trying to avoid responsibility. So Pilate thought that the crowd would much rather have Jesus released than Barabbas. So he offered them the choice. Pilate knew that the Jews had no real case to present.

Much to Pilate's surprise and consternation the crowd chose to have Barabbas released and wanted Jesus crucified. This same crowd had a few days earlier been praising Jesus. People are very fickle. In debates on homosexual marriage and abortion there is a tendency on some Christians to call for a referendum on the topic. I strongly suspect that this could very well not produce the expected result.

Mark 14:66-72 - Peter's Denial

We now come to Peter's denial. Peter's earlier protestations of his commitment and implied bravery prove to be completely hollow. There are few of us who are in any position to condemn Peter. Our human nature is far weaker than we imagine, and more sin and error prone than we admit. The converse is that if we live in dependence upon God then we are able to overcome far more and achieve far more than ever imagine. Whenever God tells or calls us to do something we often take it as "You do this", when the truth is that God is saying "You do this together with me". Often we need to be brought face to face with our failings in order to move into the strength that is open to us.

A servant girl came to him and she said she had seen him with Jesus. Peter denied this. One can imagine how easy it is to do this. In the atmosphere of the occasion we make an instant reaction, and it is often a wrong one. 

The servant girl was convinced that she was right, but Peter again denied this. Even to the extent of calling down curses upon himself. Then the rooster crowed a second time and Peter realised how badly he had failed.

Mark 14:53-65 - On Trial

Jesus was taken before the priests for a preliminary hearing. At this stage Peter was still following at a distance, perhaps trying to convince himself that he would still stand up for Jesus. 

The priests and Sanhedrin wanted to find an excuse to have Jesus put to death. If only they had realised that He was the One who could save them. However, they failed to find any evidence, despite many willing to give false testimonies. Nothing consistent could be found. According to the Law they needed at least two witnesses.

One accusation was that Jesus had said He would destroy the temple, probably an allusion to John 2:19. This isn't what Jesus actually said, He never said He would destroy the temple. Even so, nothing consistent could be found.

Jesus remained silent throughout this, even when the high priest tried to get an answer out of Him. Then the high pries asked Him directly if He was the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One. This latter term is equivalent to Son of God.

At this point Jesus speaks and says He is the Son of God, and that He would return in glory. 

This gave the High Priest what he wanted. Jesus was condemned to death because of the truth. Jesus is the Son of God, this is a fact that can either lead to our salvation or our condemnation.

Mark 14:43-52 - The Arrest

Mark gives no details of how Judas betrayed Jesus, he just mentions that Judas turned up with guards. These "guards" were auxiliary servants of the court and had been sent by the religious leaders.

Judas then betrayed Jesus with a kiss. It seems strange that they needed to be shown who  Jesus was, given that He was so well known. There are two things that we need to remember. First pictures of Jesus would not have been plastered all over the place, as would happen today, so His appearance would not actually be as well known as that of celebrities is today. Secondly, the religious leaders wanted to spread the blame, they wanted to be able to say that one of His own number had betrayed Him.

One of the disciples drew his sword  and cut off the ear of one of the servants of the high pries. We read elsewhere that this was Peter. Since Peter was a primary source for Mark he did not want to draw attention to himself, and certainly did not want anyone getting the idea that this was actually a good action and one to be followed.

Jesus remains calm, He knew that all this was happening to fulfil the Scriptures. Then everyone, including the disciples fled, thus fulfilling Jesus' earlier words.

The young man who fled may have been John Mark, the author of this gospel. This incident is not mentioned in any of the other gospels.

Mark 12:32-42 - Spirit and Flesh

We now see a contrast between living by the Spirit and by the flesh. Jesus goes to Gethsemane to pray, and takes three of the disciples with Him. He asked these disciples to keep watch and pray with Him. They failed to do this, even after being rebuked. Despite their declarations of their steadfast devotion to Jesus, they could not even manage to stay awake in His hour of need. "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak". We can truly want to do something, but we fail to carry out. This is something that we all know about. We have done it ourselves, and we have been let down by others. If we rely on our own strength then, no matter how good our intentions, we will ultimately fail.

Jesus responds differently, but note that it is not a matter of being unaffected by the battle. First, Jesus prays. We always need to pray. He is completely honest with His Father. See that He also uses the term "Abba Father". If we think of "Abba, Father" as merely meaning "Daddy" we have far too shallow a concept of its meaning. It is about a deep intimate relationship with the Father, but it is with the Father who enables us to get through the darkest times, and to achieve the most difficult tasks. Jesus is completely honest about His feelings and forebodings, but He is also completely committed to the Father's will, and He relies on God's power, not just His own.

Then it was time to face the battle, and Jesus was ready.

Mark 14:27-31 - In denial

Jesus then tells them that they will all fall away, again this had been foretold in the Scriptures (Zech 13:7). These were the disciples who had left homes for Him, who had followed Him for some three years and had seen the miracles and heard all the teachings. However, there falling away would not be the end of the matter. Jesus would see them again after the resurrection.

Peter declares that he will never fall away, even if everyone else does. As we know these words proved to be hollow, but it is also the case that Peter genuinely meant it at the time. Our human nature is far weaker than we ever imagine.

Jesus assures Peter that he would indeed fall away and would even directly deny Jesus, and all this very soon. Again Peter declared that this would not be the case, and the others also made declarations of allegiance.

Mark 14:12-26 - The Last Supper

Preparations for the Last Supper are made. Just as arrangements for the donkey had been made long ago, so arrangements for the Last Supper were also in place. There was nothing about the first Easter that took Jesus by surprise. Even though the preparations had been made long ago, the disciples still had to go and "realise" the arrangements.

The supper then took place. The first thing that Jesus tells them is that one of their number would betray Him. This was news to the disciples in two ways. First, they did not know that anyone was going to betray Jesus, and they most certainly did not know that it would be one of the twelve. This made them sad, and they all denied that it would be them. 

Jesus knows that suffering lies before Him, just as it had been written in the Scriptures, probably with Isaiah 53 most in view. However, even though He would have to suffer much, it would be even worse for the one who betrayed Him. Suffering is not the worst thing that can happen to us.

All three synoptic gospels, and Paul, record the last supper. Jesus sees Himself and His sacrifice as the sacrifice of the New Covenant. A new age was dawning and everything is founded upon Jesus and what He has done. Just as the Passover and Exodus were foundational for Israel, so the cross and resurrection are foundational for the church.

Mark 14:1-11 - The anointing of Jesus

The Passover commemorated the time when God released Israel from slavery in Egypt. The angel of death passed over the land, but the Israelites were protected by the blood of a sacrificed lamb. In the same way Jesus is our Passover Lamb. He protects us from the wrath of God, and so the day of Judgement instead of bringing death brings freedom.

The religious leaders were still out to get Jesus, but wanted to avoid the Passover for feelings would be running high. As we know, this is precisely the time when in the end Jesus was taken captive and killed. Men are not in control of events, despite all their planning and scheming.

Jesus was at the house of Simon the Leper, probably someone who had been healed of leprosy by Jesus. We know from John 12 that the woman who came and anointed Jesus was Mary, the sister of Lazarus. Some saw this as a waste of money, saying it could have been given to the poor, so giving a form of piousness to their criticisms. When people criticise others they will always add an element of self-righteousness. We know from John's account that one of those who was complaining was Judas Iscariot. He stole from the disciples funds and, of course, was about to betray Jesus. People's criticisms are often an attempt to cover-up their own shortcomings.

Jesus responds by commending the woman and her actions. Although she probably did not appreciate the full import of her actions, Jesus knew she was preparing Him for burial. When we act out of a simple love for Jesus our actions will often be more profound than those based on a deep analysis of the situation.

Judas then took the fateful decision to betray Jesus. While he was trying to deceive others, he was also deceived himself.

Mark 13:32-37 - No one knows the day!

Oh, if only some people would listen to the first two verses in this section.  No one knows the day nor the hour, not even the angels nor Jesus Himself, only the Father. So that means that I don't know, you don't know, and latest preacher to claim he or she knows does not know either.

The one thing that we can be certain about the final judgement is that God will not ask us "Well, did you get the date right?". God is concerned with how we live our lives here. Now the return of Christ is guaranteed. He will return in glory and power, and every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. All powers and authorities will bow down to Jesus. 

Our response is not to try and guess the day, but to lives of faith and obedience in Christ today, knowing that  the present powers and authorities will not be there forever.