The Prophecy of Failure:

 

Text: Mark 14: 27-31                   

Subtopic: All Failure isn’t Fatal!

In verse 26, the evenings Passover event is ending: an event that began at about sundown and didn’t end until after midnight, the six hours or so our Lord spent eating the last Passover and introducing the first Communion. In and around that all kinds of important events took place. And our Lord did extensive teaching to His apostles, giving them promises all laid out for us in the chapters in John’s gospel, starting with chapter 13-16, closed out the evening with the great high priestly prayer recorded in chapter 17. When the evening was finally done, they sung a hymn - Psalm 136 and they left. 

Now, we come to our text entitled: The Prophecy of Failure 

Prophecy: prediction or foretelling of what is to come; inspired utterance of a prophet.

What is so amazing is Jesus Christ is foretelling His apostles what is going to happen regarding them going forth.  He displays three prominent characteristics about Himself. He’s Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent.

We are going to listen in on a conversation Jesus is having with His apostles as they walk from Jerusalem, down through the Kidron Valley, on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane.

It was during this conversation that Jesus revealed to His apostles that they would all forsake Him before the night was over. It was also during this conversation that His apostles made their adamant declarations that they would NEVER do something like that.

If you had come to any of these men and asked them, “Do you think you will ever fail the Lord?”  Failure is an omission of expected or required action. They would have looked at you and said, “NEVER”, but they found out that they were closer to “never” than they ever imagined.

·        Mark 14:27: And Jesus said to them, “All ye shall be offended because of me this night:  because it is written, I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.”  

·        Vs 28: “But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”

This was a prophecy of a fall.

·        Vs 29: But Peter said to Him, “Even though all shall be offended, yet I will not.”

·        Vs 30:  And Jesus said to Him, “Truly I say to you, that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny me three times.”

·        Vs 31: But Peter kept saying insistently, “Even, if I have to die with you, I will not deny you!” And they were all saying the same thing also.

This is an insight into the weakness of the followers of Jesus. Our Lord said, as recorded in Mark 8:38 “Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

 This coming is not out in the sky, it is a continuous manifestation of Christ by the Spirit. 

Certainly, Judas fall into the category of those who were permanently and terminally ashamed of Him, but what about the other eleven?

How much different than Judas were they? Of course, they didn’t betray or sell the Lord. Nor would they have turned the Lord over to the chief priests, scribes, and elders, but they certainly appeared to be ashamed to be identified with Him. And before the story ends, of course, no one is more on display as one who is ashamed to be identified with Christ than Peter.

The shame of Judas was the shame of unbelief. The shame of the eleven was the shame of weakness. The shame of Judas was irretrievable, without remedy. The shame of the disciples was temporary and could be turned to faith. In fact, in Acts 5:41, it says of the apostles, “They went on their way from the presence of the Council (same Jewish Sanhedrin) rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.”  Judas went out and hanged himself because his shame was permanent. The disciples ended up offering their lives in the death of martyrs because they recovered from their temporary shame. The difference is they belong to the Lord, and the resources of the Lord were at their disposal. Isn’t it good to know that all failure isn’t fatal!

The disciples are about to have a confrontation with the Lord in which they affirm their trust and strength and courage. He tells them the truth about what they will do.  Jesus, The Christ knows all things. He demonstrates that He knows His disciples better than they know themselves.

First, let us look at Jesus’ OMNISCIENT ABILITY:      

In Matthew 14:27 and 29, Jesus said, “You will all be offended in me.” This word “offended” is from the Greek word “skandalizo”, meaning, to scandalize; entrap, ie trip up (stumble) or entice to sin; apostasy or displeasure.  You will be offended. You will defect. Jesus already knew this information but what they were telling Him was the opposite, “Oh no, we will not deny you.”  Jesus knew it because of His supernatural knowledge. He knew they would do that. He knew because He knew everything. The things that hadn’t yet happened were as well-known to Him as the things that had happened. He knew the moments ahead. He knew the hours ahead. He knew what would happen that very night.

Matthew 26:31 says, “All you shall be offended because of me this night”.  He knew what was coming in the very hours ahead of them. He saw the black clouds. He felt the plot of the Jews coming to its completion. He anticipated the arrival of the entourage of Roman soldiers, the Sanhedrin, and Judas into the garden, in the midst of the night. 

It was all known to Him because He is Omniscient, meaning, He has complete knowledge of all things. He knew His apostles better than they knew themselves. Jesus had some things to say to HIS apostles on the way to Gethsemane that they needed to hear. 

Look, it was written. He knew it had been written in scripture, and He even quoted in Mark 14:27 what was spoken by the prophet Zechariah in chapter 13:7, “Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered”.

“It is written” is a common Old Testament formula that Jesus used many times in Matthew 4 in His wilderness experience with the devil.  Jesus saying "It is written" was actually Him saying, "I know what’s going to happen, because I know all things, even what hasn’t happened, and I know what the Scripture says.”  He knows “all”, people of God.  He knows the events of the future, and the meaning of the past. He knew how to interpret Zechariah 13:7, He knew His own future, how He would be crucified, and that that would cause His disciples to be filled with fear, terror, and would be scattered.

Turn over to Zechariah 13:7, to get a bit of the setting in which this prophecy is given. 

·        “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the man, that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts”:  smite the shepherd (experience of the cross), and the sheep shall be scattered; and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.”

The sword represents the highest judicial power and may be used symbolically for any means of taking life.

Zechariah is talking about the false prophets who would be wounded in their idol houses, the houses where they worship idols. But now he turns to the true Shepherd and he says, “God’s shepherd, My Shepherd, My Associate, My Fellow,” declares the Lord of hosts.  “That Shepherd that true Shepherd, will also be wounded.” And Jehovah here is the speaker, and Messiah is the one of whom He speaks. This is a messianic prophecy of the crucifixion of Jesus.

It is written, “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd” (Zechariah 13:7).  God is calling His own sword against His own Shepherd. It is God who strikes Messiah. It isn’t Judas who led Him to the cross, although he played a role. It isn’t the Sanhedrin or the Romans. It isn’t Pilate, Caiaphas, or Herod. It is God.

My Shepherd, God’s personal representative, My Associate, My Fellow, say some texts.  “My Shepherd is the Man of My union, the Man who is united with Me, My equal. And the word for “Man” here is not the normal Hebrew word for Man: it’s the word for a strong or mighty man. It’s the Hebrew word ge’ber, meaning a valiant man or warrior; mighty.  A man strong enough to fulfill an assignment, and that Jesus did!  All of these are messianic references not only to the Messiah, but the Messiah who is the Son of God. So, the prophet said that God Himself, with His own sword, will slay “one” who is His personal representative who is His equal. This is the statement of the nature of Christ as hearing the same essence as God Himself. The result of the Shepherd being smitten by God will be the scattering of the sheep.

Some of this is referring not just to the apostles, but extended to the scattering of the whole nation, the worldwide dispersion of Israel after their rejection of Jesus Christ. The primary emphasis here is to the apostles, or the eleven becoming the first casualties, in a sense, to His death. There will be more casualties, “I will turn my hand upon the little ones.” For the sake of the purity of the early church and the purity of the gospel, there will come upon God’s people persecution. It came first to the apostles and then to the early church, as we know, and continues throughout history, even unto this day.

The point here is simply this. Jesus knew the future. He knew what was coming. He knew what was going to happen to the disciples. He knew what was going to happen to the nation. He knew the persecution was going to follow against them and against believers even beyond them. This was all prewritten in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. He knew what was going on with Judas, all that was going on with the Jews, how it would all come into focus in a few hours, and what would happen. This is no mere man folks; this is the Messiah, the Son of God.

The same is true with us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows what we are capable of. He knows the depths of the sin that resides within our hearts. Don’t get it twisted, thinking that because we are saved, we have arrived and no longer tempted to fail. Truth is it’s only through God’s grace/mercy that we are not out of His will. It’s His grace that keeps us from moment to moment. God knows you better than you know yourself. He knows the problems you have with the flesh. He knows the potential you have to sin. He knows the pull of temptation and evil. He knows the thoughts and intent of your heart. We serve a savior that knows all things. 

We are still talking about the knowledge of Jesus Christ and His omniscience. The best, the most devout, the truest of the true in God’s Israel were the eleven apostles. They were true believers in Christ. They had confessed Him as Lord, God and Messiah. They had been given salvation. But the truth about them was sad. God wanted them to learn the lesson that no one can know the future but HIM, and no one can predict what is coming but Him, and He did.

David Thomas wrote, “Christ knew well all that was coming upon Him that night. The very prospect of all our life trials would crush us long before they came, but Christ had that sublime magnanimity that enabled Him to look at them in all their enormity in the distance, approach them without a faltering step, enter them with a spirit of unconquerable loyalty into the higher realms of spiritual elevation, and pass through them with the moral energy of God.” If we knew everything that was going to happen to us in the future, we would be traumatized into a paralysis. Our Lord knew every detail, every move that would come upon Him and His followers. The disciples thought they knew themselves, but they didn’t.

SECONDLY, WE SEE HIS COURAGE

Remember, He said, Mark 14:27 “All you shall be offended because of me this night:  for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.”  This was prophecy, meaning, they would be entrapped with their own fear. 

·        Proverbs 29:25 says, “The fear of man bringeth a snare:  but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.”

 Jesus was saying to them, you’re all going to be trapped by your fear and you’re going to end up being disloyal. You are going to be lured into the sin of unfaithfulness by the fear of persecution. You’re going to leave me.  Just like Zechariah said, “you’re going to scatter.” That is exactly what happened. When the pressure was on and Christ was taken captive to be killed the inseparable eleven separated. It blew that little group that had been together for three years apart.

They continued with some connections, Peter and John loomed in the distance, but the group essentially dissolved. This explains the absence of Thomas on the night after the resurrection. Then, you have two disciples wandering on the road to Emmaus. These men who had been inseparable for three years are now fragmented. Their lives were threatened by being identified with Jesus. It became dangerous to be associated with Christ. That was their perception.

So, when Jesus appeared to them in Galilee, there were seven of them together. The Jews were set to kill Christ and did. The disciples felt their close connection with Christ could mean they were next. They were not willing to pay that price of being associated with Christ. They were not ready to give their lives.

·        Matthew 26:56: But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.  Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.

They ran for their lives.

On that night, the price was too high. The moment was scary, and they could not face the danger. They ran for their lives. What shallow love they returned for His perfect love. You have to admit it was dangerous identifying with Jesus Christ? It was dangerous back then, it is dangerous today, and has been throughout all of church history.

Christ has courage beyond any mortal to bare the hatred, to bare the pain, to bare the indignity, to bare the betrayal, to receive the betrayer’s kiss, to face death – death on the cross – to bare sin willingly for the sake of men who forsook Him in His darkest hour.  These were the men that followed Jesus, who not only scattered at the cross, but also slept, in the hour of His agony, in the garden. None of this took Him by surprise.  His knowledge is perfect and He stands apart from the ignorant cowards who were the best of men, but no match for His character.

He is majestic in contrast, and His defective disciples cannot diminish the majesty and dignity that we see in His person. They were ashamed of Him.  They were ashamed to be identified with Him.  And yet in Hebrews, it tells us that He is not ashamed to call them brethren. 

·        Hebrews 2:11: For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one:  for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. 

·        Romans 1:16: “I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ:  it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (Gentiles).”  [Says Paul the Apostle].

Jesus dealt a blow to His apostle’s ego. They surely thought that they were close to the Lord and secure from failing Him. On the heels of His shocking prophecy, the Lord gives them some precious promises. When Jesus told them they would forsake Him, in Matthew 26:31, they were devastated and shaken to the core. They were upset and needed something to bring peace to their hearts. What could please them and bring more peace than knowing ………

·        Verse 32: “But after I am risen again, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”

Let’s examine His OMNIPOTENCE - “unlimited and All Powerful”:

This is a promise of Resurrection. God chooses to manifest His Omnipotence through miracles. Our LORD saw beyond the cross to – what? – To the resurrection (restoring of mind and body to its original, undying state). Jesus knows He will die.  He had just told the disciples in Mark 14:22-25 that His body is about to be broken and His blood is about to be shed.  He is on His way to the cross to give His life a ransom for many, Mark 10:45. He knows they (disciples) will scatter, but He also knows that He will be raised from the dead. He has said it again and again and again. Surely, they were both startled knowing He would die, but yet comforted knowing He would be raised.

It’s recorded that He has said that specifically three times already in the gospel of Mark (8:31; 9:31; 10:34). Turn to Hebrews 11:17-19:

·        Vs 17: By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac:  and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

·        Vs 18: Of whom it was said, that in Isaac shall thy seed be called:

·        Vs 19: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

He believed what Abraham believed, that if God took the life of Isaac, He would raise Him from the dead. Well, Jesus not only believed in His resurrection, but He also knew it would happen because He knew everything. He knew He had power over death. He had displayed that power in raising others from the dead. He raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, (Mark 5:39-43). He raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:43-44).  The disciples feared death that is why they ran and scattered.  That is why they disappeared into the darkness and into the crowd.  All of this was because they feared death.

Our Lord had no fear of death. He looked death in the face and conquered it.  It was not death that He feared.

·        John 10:15: As the Father knows me, even so know I the Father:  and I lay down my life for the sheep.

·        Vs 17: Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

·        Vs 18: No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.  I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.  This commandment have I received of my Father.

Jesus faced death and conquered it in every quarter of His own earth (body) and made it possible for us to conquer it in our own earth (body): heart (spirit), soul (emotions), mind, and body (strength).  These are the areas He said we must love the Lord with. 

·        Mark 12:30: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength:  this is the first commandment.

But the fear Jesus had was not of death but being separated from His Father, in dying the death of a sinner (spiritual death). 

·        Matthew 27:46: And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani”?  That is to say, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me”?  

[He always called God His “Father” until now]!

·        Hebrews 5:7: Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared.

Matthew 26 [In the garden of Gethsemane]:

·        37: And he took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.  Vs 38: Then saith he unto them, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death”.

·        Vs 39: And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:  nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”  (Emotional death)

Jesus knew that He was born to die. That would be a mental stressor on anyone!  But He knew what was written in the O.T. scriptures: 

·        Isaiah 9:6: Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:  and the government shall be upon his shoulder:  and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  

But He taught His disciples about His sufferings and all that He had to go through foretelling His death and resurrection.

·        Mark 8:31: And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

We as born again believers don’t have to be mentally stressed out about dying, because Jesus conquered death for us!!

·        John 3:16: God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

·        1 John 3:8: He that committeth sin of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.  For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

·        Revelation 1:18: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

He died physically to deliver us from physical death!

John 5:24: Verily, verily, I say unto you, "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation:  but is passed from death unto life."

·        John 17:4: I have glorified thee on the earth:  I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

·        John 19:30: When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished”:  and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

That’s why His body didn’t see corruption.  Acts 2:27: Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.  So that our bodies wouldn’t have to see “corruption” (diaphthora’) (decay)! 

Romans 8:2-4: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:  that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

But it will happen by faith, according to 1 Corinthians 15:

·        Vs 51: Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep (die), but we shall all be changed.

·        Vs 52: In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump (receiving of the message of perfection – having the fullness of God in us right now):  for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead (those unsaved and those sitting on church pews that haven't come alive in Christ through revelation) shall be raised incorruptible (aph’thartos) [un-decaying; continuance; immortal], and we shall be changed.

·        Vs 53: For this corruptible (phthartos’) [decaying process] must put on incorruption (aphtharsi’a) [incorruptibility; genuineness: sincerity; unending existence; immortality], and this mortal (thnetos’) [that which is perishable or liable to die] must put on immortality [athanasi’a) [deathlessness].

·        Vs 54: So when this corruptible [that which is perishable] shall have put on incorruption [unending existence], and this mortal [that which is perishable or liable to die] shall have put on immortality (athanasi’a), [deathlessness] then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed (katapi’no) [devoured] up in victory (ni’kos) [a conquering; triumph].

The thief comes to steal, kill, and to destroy God’s people (John 10:10), in every way possible.  But Jesus is come that we might have “life” (zoe), and that we might have it more abundantly!   And He has given us the power to tread on the enemy!

·        Luke 10:19: I give unto you power (ability; jurisdiction; right) to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy:  and nothing shall be any means hurt you.

So, the horror that came upon Jesus in the garden was not the fear of death. He feared the horrors in a normal way of the wrath of God, and He feared being the sin-bearer, because He had never been touched by iniquity. That is why He cried out, necessarily, “Let this cup pass from me:  nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39). He had no fear of death itself because He knew, He, as Revelation 1:18 says, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death! “

Scripture makes a strong emphasis about His resurrection power. At the beginning of His ministry, He said:

·        John 2:19: “Destroy this temple and in three days I’ll raise it up.”   Vs 21: But he spoke of the temple of his body.   

·        John 5:26-27: For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.”   

·        Vs 28: Marvel not at this:  for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,

[Those in the graves are those walking around on two feet]

(Matthew 23:27) Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like unto whited sepulchers, which in deed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

(Luke 11:44) Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  You are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.

(Romans 3:13) Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips.

·        Vs 29: And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation”. 

This “resurrection” isn’t a coming event as religion preaches it.  It is already happening right now!  Resurrection is the root word “anas’tasis”, meaning, a standing up again; a resurrection from death; a (moral) recovery of spiritual truth; raised to life again. It is “truth” that’s going to free us from the bondages of the enemy!  We can live, have divine health, perfect peace, eternal life NOW!!

·        Ephesians 2:1 says, “And you hath he quickened (made alive), who were dead in your trespasses and sins”:  vs 6: And hath raised (sunegei’ro) [wakened from death in company with Christ and caused us to return to life or consciousness, health, vigor] us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in CHRIST JESUS!

·        John 6:37 [Jesus says], “All that the Father gives to me will come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out”.   Vs 39: And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”

 “The last day” is Christ Himself, not a coming event, because He is the “first” and the “last” day (Revelation 1:17). The “last day” has been going on for over two thousand years, since Jesus came on the scene as Savior! He said, “Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19).  He said, “I am the resurrection and the life; whosoever believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26).

The cross was not our Lord’s final stop!   Because He now dwells within us, the church, His body in the earth!

·        Ephesians 5:30: We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones!

What He does now, He does it through us, His people!  2 Corinthians 6:16: You are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  HALLELUJAH!!

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever.  Amen!  Jude 24-25.

Evangelist Brenda Hansley