Mark 14:66-72 Every Step is Joy: God Will Be Denied For Us

The Text

Mark 14:66-72 (CSB)
⁶⁶ While Peter was in the courtyard below, one of the high priest’s maidservants came.

⁶⁷ When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth.”

⁶⁸ But he denied it: “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about.” Then he went out to the entryway, and a rooster crowed.

⁶⁹ When the maidservant saw him again, she began to tell those standing nearby, “This man is one of them.”

⁷⁰ But again he denied it. After a little while those standing there said to Peter again, “You certainly are one of them, since you’re also a Galilean.”

⁷¹ Then he started to curse and swear, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about!”

⁷² Immediately a rooster crowed a second time, and Peter remembered when Jesus had spoken the word to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

The Devotion

Peter is not alone here. Every single believe in Christ has denied the holy and living God. Either by our mouths or by our actions or by our thoughts, motives, and emotions.

If we swapped Peter out for any of us, we would have done it quicker, faster and a little more blasphemously.

I say Peter wasn't alone because we have all done the same thing. But in this instance, Peter was alone, isolated, lonely, desperate, afraid, and grieving. He was scared out his wits. His world was collapsing before his eyes he could do nothing about it. All of those times when Christ told him, "I am going to die", Peter didn't and couldn't understand what that meant because it didn't make sense. It was foolishness. It was weak. For Christ to die didn't make sense.

1 Corinthians 1:18–25 (CSB) For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached. For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

But Christ did have to do die so that Peter could be saved from his God-denying, Satan-imitating sin.

Christ did have to do die so that you and me could be saved from our continuous God-denying, Satan-imitating sin.

Christ was going to make all things right. In a moment, the original Adam, brought on lifetimes of sin. And in another moment, the second Adam will now bring on true and redeemed and saved and sanctified and justified and glorified lifetimes.

Every step that Christ took towards the cross was in complete joy and satisfaction because every step he took was one step closer to completely, satisfactorily, perfectly, definitely, absolutely, forever "save his people from their sins."