Mark 14:54

Mark 14:54 says, And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire.  When Jesus was arrested, Peter got a long way off from Him, going to the palace of the high priest and sitting with the servants, warming himself by the fire.  When things get rough for us in life, we should never withdraw from the presence of Jesus in our life, and we really shouldn't just look for our own comfort as Peter did while sitting by the fire.  Of course, I have to wonder why the chief priest had a palace.  This was part of the reason he felt so threatened by Jesus. Jesus was upsetting their money flow.  No matter what it may cost us financially, we must always put God first in our life as Christians.  Verse fifty-five adds, And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none.  Verse fifty-six continues, For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together.   Many people were bearing false witness against Jesus, but they couldn't agree on what to accuse Him of.  Many people today make false claims about Who Jesus is, and they certainly don't all agree with each other.   Verse fifty-seven states, And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying, Verse fifty-eight adds, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.  Verse fifty-nine continue, But neither so did their witness agree together. Finally, some said that they had heard Jesus say that He would destroy the temple made with hands and raise it up one not made with hands again in three days.  They totally misunderstood what He was saying. and misquoted Him as well. He did not say that He would destroy the temple, but that if they destroyed it, He would raise it up again in three days, referring to His death and resurrection the third day, and not to the destruction of the physical temple.  They couldn’t even agree on what they were saying. People are still making false statements about Jesus and often misquote the Bible to support their claims.  Verse sixty says, And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? Verse sixty-one adds, But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? Jesus did not respond to their claims, so the high priest asked Him instead if He were the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, or God.  Verse sixty-two continues, And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Jesus told the truth, that yes, He was.  This is the question we have to answer today if we are to be saved. We must know that Jesus is the Messiah, the Promised One Who alone can redeem us.  Verse sixty-three says, says, Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses?  After the arrest of Jesus and His truthfully saying that He was the Son of Man, or the promised Messiah, the high priest tore his clothes and asked what more witnesses did they need to prove blasphemy charges against Jesus.  Since they were having a hard time finding someone who could effectively falsely accuse Jesus of any crime, the high priest decided to use the truth that Jesus was speaking as a reason to change Him with blasphemy.  Today, we seem to be getting closer to where Christians can be charged with a crime for speaking God's truth, and if that happens to us, will we be like Jesus continue to speak God's truth.  Verse sixty-four adds, Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death. The high priest, the most important spiritual man in Israel, asked the people what they should do with Jesus, and they condemned Him, saying He should be put to death.  When we are confronted with the question of what we will do with Jesus, we can either reject Him or accept Him.  There is no in-between.  Verse sixty-five continues, And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands. Then, the people began to spit on Jesus, to buffet Him, which means to strike Him repeatedly and violently, and to call on Him to prophesy.  We still hear people of the world mock Christians and Christ Himself when bad things start to happen to Christians, asking where is your God now.   Hopefully, even if we get to the point of being physically abused, we will remain faithful as Jesus did then.  Even the servants began to strike Jesus with the palms of their hands.  I believe they were caught up in the actions of the crowd and also felt a sense of power that they didn't often have.  Today, people who may not really have a strong opinion about Who Jesus really is may get caught up with the crowd in condemning Him.  The question as always is what are you going to do with Jesus.  If you have been caught up with the crowd, or even leading the crowd condemning Jesus, you need to know that He still loves you and died for your sins so that by putting your faith in Him, you can be forgiven of your sins and have everlasting life.