Mark 14:66-72, Jesus’ Effective Prayer (4)

Now we return to the Garden of Gethsemane, where the disciples of Jesus are unable to stay awake to pray with and for Him, or even themselves.  Jesus prayed and availed “the good confession.”  What did the “no-praying” disciples avail?

o   14:66-72: Denial.  They did not witness the good confession, none of them.  The story centers on Peter, even though they had all professed loyalty to Jesus with a promise to never deny Him (14:31).

o   Before we talk about Peter we should talk about roosters.  Some are bothered by the Gospel record saying “before the rooster crows twice” (Mk. 14:30 which is fulfilled in 14:68,72) and “before the rooster crows” (Mt. 26:34 which is fulfilled in 26:74). Some cry “an error in the Bible.”  Others of us say, “you (Mark) have not spent much time on the farm.”  What the rooster does can be called “crowing” (singular) though it might involve several “crowings” (plural) before he completes his sometimes obnoxious job of awakening the hens to their duty, of whatever he is doing.  The crowing (singular) is not finished until he completes all the verses (crowings, plural) of his song.  Enough said, from my point of view.

o   Now, note the ways of “denial.”  Peter first said, “I know nothing” (v68).  Then, when pursued by the same servant girl, Peter said, “I am not one of them” (denied being part of the group of disciples).  Then, “I do not know this Man of whom you speak,” to which he added “f” and “d” and “s” words.  Forgive me if you are offended at even the veiled mentioning of these words, but you ought to understand this is what the Bible says: “he began to curse and swear.”  That is what we do when we do not have the truth on our side.  We throw in all the words we can think of and raise our voices and make wild gestures.  Peter did all he could to convince people of his lies.  But then …

o   14:72: God spoke through the rooster.  And now look who is crying!  Jesus entered the Garden in sorrow but left in godly confidence.  Peter cried out in fleshly confidence, “I will never deny You.”  Now he is in tears.  You may want to look at Peter and say, “how depraved is this ‘friend’ of Jesus.”  I look at Peter, and sadly see myself, but then see Peter in tears over his sin.  For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of this world produces death (2 Cor. 7:10).  Without question, the one who betrayed Jesus expressed the sorrow of the world when he regretted what he had done and committed suicide (Mt. 27:3-5).  Peter’s tears were uncontrollable, the expression of a soul in shame, of a soul for whom Jesus had prayed (Lk. 22:31-34).  Is my sorrow over sin regret or repentance?

Mark 14:53-65; 15:1-5, Jesus’ Effective Prayer (3)

Again, what was availed through Jesus’ fervent prayer.

·       14:53-65: The Apostle Paul called it “the good confession” (1 Tim. 6:11-16).  The “good” confession is the one where we declare who we are and our lives match with our words.  Paul said that to do this requires that we “pursue” the life we profess, that we “fight the good fight of faith,” “until our Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing”.  Don’t misunderstand this.  The life we pursue is the life that Jesus lives in us (Gal. 2:20).  The good fight is a fight of faith, not our good works but God’s work as we trust Him.  In Gethsemane, Peter tried to fight with the sword of man.  Jesus fought with the “sword of the Spirit,” the word of God.  The result was that Jesus “witnessed the good confession.”  He glorified His Father by His obedience to death, even death on the cross.  This had been His prayer, as the Apostle John tells us: Father, the hour has come.  Glorify Your Son that Your Son also may glorify You (Jn. 17:1).  What did this good confession look like?

§  14:53-54: The setting for this confession began at the house of Annas, the previous high priest, and then to his son Caiaphas, the current high priest.  As the dawn approached the Sanhedrin gathered there as their meetings were required by law to be during daylight hours.  Eventually Jesus would be handed over to Pilate, perhaps at the Fortress Antonia that overlooked the temple area.

§  14:55-62: The “good profession” was one of a blameless life.  It was blameless in that the Jews could not find any witnesses to declare anything that Jesus had done wrong.  In the end they made up things, such as the misinterpretation of His words about destroying and rebuilding the temple.  Certainly Caiaphas knew they had no offense that would stick against Jesus, which was why he would eventually compel Jesus to indite Himself by His words, the words of His good confession (14:61-62).  Pilate, more than once, declared he could find nothing worthy of death in Jesus.  As Peter tells us (1 Pt. 2:19-22), Jesus set an example for us in that He did not suffer for wrong-doing but suffered for doing good, and He took it patiently. 

§  14:63-65; 15:1-5: Jesus also confessed the good confession in that He was blameless in the courtroom itself.  For the most part He was silent, even as false charges were filed against Him.  Again, to quote Peter, who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed (2:23-24).  He did this for our salvation, but at the same time, set an example for us.  The key was, He did not do this in the flesh but in the strength He received from His Father when, in fervent prayer, He committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.  Ah yes!  This Righteous Man availed much through fervent prayer!

Mark 14:43-52, Jesus’ Effective Prayer (2)

Jesus fervent prayer availed a new perspective, from sorrow and trouble to “Rise, let us be going!”  This is not the “positive thinking” but the God’s work in His life. 

·       14:49: Even from before Jesus’ birth, every detail of His incarnation was a fulfillment of Scripture.  (To point out just a few, see Matt. 1:22-23; 2:5-6,14-15,17-18,23).    He knew His rejection by Israel fulfilled Scripture (Jn. 12:38-41).  Jesus knew that the cross was the very reason He had come to earth (Jn. 12:27).  One significant aspect of the Father’s encouragement for His Son was to remind Him that “the Scriptures must be fulfilled.”  Jesus never doubted this.  He never denied this.  The reminder was one of His Father’s answer to His fervent prayer.  When things began to get out of hand in the Garden, Jesus made sense of the entire scene: But the Scriptures must be fulfilled!  The must be fulfilled.

Before we mention one other major fruit of Jesus’ fervent praying, let’s note what was brought about in the disciples who slept instead of praying (14:37-38,40-41).  Jesus had warned them, Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.  The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.  What they got was temptation that they could not resist, and weakness in their response.

o   14:47: “One of those who stood by” we are told by John (Jn. 18:10) was Peter.  Peter, and the same could be said for the rest we are sure, did not understand that “the Scriptures must be fulfilled.”  They had been consumed by the need for weapons since they left the Upper Room (Lk. 22:38).  It sounds like things happened quickly.  The mob arrived, Judas stepped forward and greeted Jesus with a kiss, and the police put their hands on Jesus.  In the heat of the moment, Peter, who is certain he must do something, whacks off the ear of Malchus, a servant of the high priest.  The flesh is weak.  Peter did not have enough strength to allow Jesus to direct them.  He did his best.  His best was going to get them all killed.  It would not deliver Jesus.  Peter was still setting his mind on the things of men and not on the things of God (Mk. 8:33).  That’s how we are without prevailing prayer.  In a panic, we will strike out in our own strength. 

14:50: When the flesh fails, when our best does not carry the day, when our strength fails, we will run from the problem.  We might even tell the Lord, “Father, I have done the best I can,” perhaps assuming He will be thankful for our effort and will agree with us that the situation is hopeless.  In 14:51-52 we have the interesting note of a “certain young man” who fled, leaving his clothes behind.  Many people think this was Mark, since he mentions it in his account.  That would be the same “John Mark” (John whose surname was Mark, Ac. 12:12), who accompanied Paul and Barnabas on the first journey (13:5), who, when things got “hot” left the team (fled, 13:13; 15:37-38).  Jesus was not alone in the Garden, except that He had His Father.  Paul learned from Jesus when he had the same experience as he faced certain death (2 Tim. 4:16-18).

Mark 14:39-42; Heb. 5:5-11, Jesus’ Effective Prayer (1)

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.  Jesus prayed fervently in the Garden of Gethsemane.  His Father did not take away the cup that Jesus asked Him to take away.  So, what did Jesus’ fervent prayer avail?

·       14:42: Jesus came into the Garden “troubled and deeply distressed” (v33).  His soul was “exceedingly sorrowful, even to death” (v34).  He had been feeling this all day (Jn. 12:27).  But after a time of fervent prayer, His attitude had completely changed.  To His sleeping disciples He said, Rise, let us be going.  See, My betrayer is at hand.  He is now ready to face all that is involved in the cross.  In fact, His Father had answered prayer, because Jesus did not simply ask “Take this cup away from Me.”  He had also prayed, “nevertheless, not what I will but what You will.”  He submitted Himself to His Father.  So the Father answered, not by removing the cup but by strengthening His Son, to the depths of His soul, that He might be enabled to drink from the cup.

o   The Apostle Paul had a similar experience and explains what Jesus experienced.  In 2 Cor. 12:7-10 Paul asked the Lord to remove a “thorn in the flesh” that he was experiencing.  Like Jesus, Paul pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away.  In other words, he prayed fervently.  The answer was, My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.  God assured Paul that he would be able to serve Him in spite of the trial.  And more likely, the trial would bring to God greater glory.  That is why Paul went on to say, Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.

o   If you are wondering about this, yes, the same thing happened to Jesus.  Heb. 5:5-11 tells us what was happening in Gethsemane.  Christ was becoming our High Priest.  But v5 tells us He did not glorify Himself to accomplish this.  His Father declared Jesus to be His Son and a “priest forever” (v5-6).  One thing about our High Priest is that He was one of us, a fellow Man (Hb. 5:1; 2:9-16).  Since He suffered, He HHe is able to aid those who are tempted (Hb. 2:18; 4:15).  To qualify as our High Priest He had to endure the suffering.  Heb. 5:7 describes His fervent praying in Gethsemane: He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death.  The writer goes on to say, and was heard because of His godly fear.  The Son of God learned obedience, and was perfected.  The term means He came to the conclusion that God had in mind for Him.  Having been perfected He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him (5:9).  God made the “captain” (author) of our salvation perfect through suffering (Hb. 2:10).  Truly, the fervent prayer of Jesus availed much! Can you say Amen!?

Mk. 14:39; Jas. 5:16; 1 Ki. 18:41-46, Fervent Prayer

We are still considering Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane.  We have seen that it was both a time of fellowship with His Father and a request from the Father.  There is no conflict between these things.  God wants us to come with our requests (Phil. 4:6-7).

Let me remind you of another well-known statement about prayer in the Bible: The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James 5:16).  This is an interesting passage if you delve into the original language.  Young’s Literal Trans. puts it this way: very strong is a working supplication of a righteous man.  “Effectual, fervent” prayer is one word, meaning a very energized prayer.  When a righteous man prays that kind of prayer it accomplishes many strong things. 

The illustration in James is Elijah (1 Ki. 18:41-46).  Elijah, after the amazing experience on Mt. Carmel, God sending fire from heaven, and the killing of all the prophets of Baal, then got down on his knees and began to pray.  There was no answer, and again no answer.  He sent his servant seven times to look for a cloud before he finally saw something small that became a torrential downpour.  Elijah’s prayer was fellowship with God, but it wasn’t like enjoying a coffee together.  He was pleading with God.  His was a strong prayer, highly energized.  He would not let go of the LORD.  And it accomplished much.

This kind of praying is seen often in Scripture.  Jacob wrestled with a Man, the Angel of the LORD, all night at Mahanaim (Gen. 32:22-32).  Epaphras knew how to wrestle or labor fervently in prayer (Eph. 4:12).  In Gethsemane we see the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth praying a simple prayer: “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”  He prayed this prayer for a time.  Then He went to check on the disciples and returned to pray the same prayer again.  He had three sessions with His Father.  We are all familiar with the short prayers, spur-of-the-moment pleas to the Lord.  Nehemiah prayed one of those in Neh. 2:4, a quick dart in the middle of his conversation with the king.  But Nehemiah had previously spent “many days” weeping and fasting and praying over the issue.  I must have more of these times!

So, we come back to Jesus in the Garden.  This is a righteous Man, without question.  We could go to the many scriptures that tell us He was without sin.  But let me remind you of the pivotal point in Mark’s Gospel, in 8:34.  It was here He told His disciples and the crowd how to be righteous, and what He told them to do was what He was doing: let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  The prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane is based in His submission to His Father.  He had denied Himself and had taken up the cross.  We will see in the next couple of posts what great things were availed by His praying, the praying of a righteous Man!

Ex. 33:11-18; Psa. 84:1-2, Jesus at Prayer (3)

Jesus was doing what God always desired people to do!

·       Ex. 24:12-16: Consider Moses.  Conversing with God began at a burning bush.  I believe the “Exodus” was as much about the training and perfecting of Moses as the deliverance of Israel.  The people were afraid to be in God’s presence, but Moses was invited into God’s presence.  So Moses went up into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.  Now the glory of the LORD rested on Mount Sinai.  But note: it was six days before the LORD welcomed Moses into His presence in the midst of the mountain.  This was not necessarily a “garden” situation.

·       Ex. 33:11a,13,17-18: But before long we read, So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.  And then, … show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight.  And then, Please, show me your glory.  The more one is in fellowship with God the Father through Christ the more that one longs for more and deeper fellowship with Him!

·       Ex. 25:8: In the midst of all this time with Moses, the LORD has said something amazing concerning all the people of Israel: Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.  God is not satisfied with people who are too scared to contemplate fellowship with God.  God’s answer is a place and a system by which there will be the possibility of fellowship.

·       Psalm 84:1-2: You can imagine that Psalms is full of this topic of a relationship with God that satisfies the soul and by which we can receive what God longs to give us.  Here is one of those.  How lovely is Your tabernacle, O LORD of hosts!  My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD, my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.  When I read that, I also remember the end of Ps. 73 (25-26): Whom have I in heave but You?  The there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.  My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.  He had a relationship.  And God was his portion.

We could find similar longings in the prophets (e.g. Jonah 2; Hab. 3:17-19).  But I want to briefly be sure we understand that this is also the promise we have in Christ.

·       John 14:23: The Trinity dwells in the one who love God and keeps His word.

·       Eph. 3:17: The key to a deep walk with God is being strengthened by the Spirit so that Christ might dwell in your hearts by faith.

·       Phil. 3:10: Paul longed to know Christ.  Read 3:7-16.  The longing was deep!

·       1 John 1:3-4: The purpose of John’s epistle was that we might have the fellowship with fellow-Christians, the fellowship that was with the Father and with His Son.

·       1 John 5:14-15: AND this fellowship comes with a confidence, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

Conversing with God!  Getting things from God!

Psalm 93

In the final years of David’s reign there were cries for Absalom, “Long live the king!” (2 Sam. 16:16) but his reign and life ended suddenly.  A rebel named Sheba gained a following, only to have his head handed to Joab (2 Sam. 20:1,22).  David’s son Adonijah sought to take the kingdom to the cries of “Long live king Adonijah” (1 Kings 1:25).  But by the end of the day his reign had ended and he soon lost his life.  Bathsheba said to David, “Let my lord King David live forever,” yet his personal reign would come to an end shortly.  Solomon was acclaimed by the same cry, “Long live King Solomon” (1 Ki. 1:39).  His long and prosperous rule faded spiritually towards the end and resulted in a divided kingdom.  Political uncertainty afflicted Israel during Old Testament times even as it does in today’s world.

How unlike all of that is the acclaim of this Psalm.  The Lord reigns! 

·         He is clothed with majesty (v1).  Not with the accoutrements of majesty but with majesty itself.  His reign is the definition of majesty!  The pomp and ceremony of today’s leaders is ultimately a public relations campaign.  With the Lord majesty is substance!  His splendor radiates from His very being.

·         He is clothed with strength, girded about so He is always on the ready (v1).  That is why the saints are not among those who trust in chariots and horses but we will remember the name of the Lord our God (Ps. 20:7). 

·         In the Kingdom where the Lord reigns the world is firmly established (v1).  This speaks of the earth, the planet created by God for the good of its inhabitants.  The earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein (Ps. 24:1).  By His sovereign wisdom and might He has established the earth; it cannot be moved.  The earth does not disrupt the Kingdom where God reigns but it fulfills His purposes.

·         The reign of the Lord is not something new but is from of old (v2).  There are none of the defeats or difficulties or death such as brought to an end one kingdom of men after another.  His throne is established because He Himself is from everlasting.  The Lord has always reigned; and thus even the earthly reign of the Lord (the Messianic Millennium) is a sure thing. 

·         The certainty of the Lord’s reign on earth is emphasized in v3-4.  There have been and will yet be great floods against the Lord and His reign but none will prevail because the Lord on high is mightier than any of those waves of evil.  Consider particularly a Satanic flood that will be launched against God’s saved Nation in Rev. 12:13-17.  God always protects His people.  And why?

·         Because His testimonies (precepts and promises) are very sure; and because holiness adorns His house (everything about His Kingdom will be uniquely perfect).  Such is the reign of the Lord.  The Lord reigns!

Bow in worship of the Sovereign Lord!  Recognize your citizenship in that Kingdom (Phil. 3:21).  In His reign nothing is uncertain.

Psalm 93 Addendum

93:5: “testimonies.”  The Hebrew is “eda” and is always plural, and always used in relationship to the truth of someone’s word (26 times).  The first use is in Gen. 21:30 where Abraham offered seven lambs that they might be a “witness that I have dug this well.”  Then, Gen. 31:52, where Jacob set up a pillar as a “witness” of the boundary between him and Laban.  Then, in Deuteronomy (3X) and the Psalms (19X) they are used of God’s word (14X in Ps. 119, the Psalm of the Word of God).  God’s word is a full of “testimonies” because they are a witness to God in terms of who He is in truth.  When “witnessing” to others the best thing is to encourage them to read the Bible.  They need our testimony but they need God’s testimony.