Where You Sit and The Company You Keep Is Vitally Important

We have taken a longish time look in detail at this last day in the physical life of Jesus Christ as Dr Luke relates it in Chapter 22, but it is important that we do not hurry over the crucial issues raised in this passage. It is also helpful too to read the parallel passages in Matthew Chapter 26 and Mark Chapter 14. These accounts are given to us for a very real purpose.

In verse 54Jesus is led away, humbly but with dignity, and Peter follows, afar off and at a safe distance.

There is no safe distance when you are distancing yourself from Jesus. Peter is watching, trailing behind, and in great danger. We are called to come close, and draw near and be right at the very heart, and be involved, participating faithfully, following and serving Jesus, where He has placed you and appointed you.

Peter continues following, from a distance from the Garden of Gethsemane, through the valley, up the slopes past the Temple, watching where they were going, keeping an eye on what they were doing, and being careful not to be discovered and found out.

We have followed that route from Gethsemane on various occasions and it has not changed all that much over these past two thousand years.

The man who had vowed never to leave Jesus side was now keeping his distance.

Verse 55. Peter sat down with them. He sits down in the wrong place. We have to watch our company and be careful who we are with, and where we are seen. At times it matters.

Jesus would sit down with sinners, and mix with anyone, but this was different.

A young girl sees Peter – “This man was also with Him.” Here was an opportunity to witness for Jesus, and Peter denies His Lord. “Woman, I don't know Him.”

Peter was prepared to take on 200 soldiers and religious leaders with his sword, but the words of a young girl floor him. Sometimes it is the little things that get us down and defeat us, especially when we are sitting where we should not be sitting.

Trailing behind and falling behind and moving into the wrong company, and denying Christ. There is a progression, all within about the space of an hour.

Verse 58. Again Peter denies having any knowledge of Jesus. “You are also one of them.” We must be prepared to be called 'one of them' at times too.

Verse 59. Around that charcoal fire Peter must have become involved in the conversation. Someone recognised his accent, and accused him of being a follower of Jesus. If only he had kept his mouth shut, but he opened it on the wrong occasion, and kept it shut when he should have been speaking. “I don't know what you are talking about.” And immediately, the cock crows, and through the High Priest's Courtyard they eyes of Peter meet the eyes of the arrested Jesus.

You can go into that courtyard today. It has been uncovered and excavated, and you can look into the cell where Jesus would have been held. They are on the same level. When they were still doing the archaeological work I jumped over the rope and checked things out. Yes, the eyes of Peter and the eyes of Jesus would have met. It is interesting to check out what can be checked in Jerusalem and Israel, and to find it all accurate and authentic.

That loving look shattered Peter. After you have failed someone like Jesus, it is hard to look them in the face. He went out and wept bitterly. Peter seemed to have made such a mess of following Jesus. In a way, yes, but 30 years later he is still there.

Three times Peter denied Jesus as he was sitting around a charcoal fire. Two weeks later Jesus is around another charcoal fire and three times gives Peter the opportunity to declare his love and loyalty. It is good to get it all sorted out. Not only is it good. It is essential to have all these matters and issues sorted out and resolved.

Originally here:
Word from Scotland

Author bio:
Alexander “Sandy” Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness – on the Moray Firth Coast – not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40 a.m., New Orleans time, at wsho.com.

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We are studying the detail in Luke Chapter 22 at verse 47 where Judas and that gang approach Jesus Christ to have Him arrested.

It is possible to be physically close to Jesus Christ and have rebellion in your heart. Jesus makes no attempt to frustrate Judas’s hellish scheme. Jesus is calm and poised and in control.

Jesus knows what has to happen, that we might be saved, rescued, washed, forgiven, justified, sanctified, and anointed with the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus shows no fear as he faces the enemy. Jesus is Master of the whole situation.

Judas had started well, being appointed treasurer of that band of disciples, but what counts is not how well we run at the beginning, but how we complete the course remaining faithful to Jesus.

Jesus was going to the Father, but not so Judas.

Peter barges in with his sword and cuts off a man’s ear, but Jesus heals the severed ear to show that brute strength and physical resistance is NOT the way for the disciple of Jesus to walk. Peter in a sense missed! He was not going for the man’s ear, but for the man, and Jesus makes amends for Peter’s mistake.

Is this what we do today when someone makes a mistake? Do we minister to that person? Do we make amends? Or do we gossip about the mistake, and spread rumours about the person? There are deep lessons here as we see how Jesus acted on this dark tragic occasion.

This gracious healing miracle should have made the gang stop and think. It should have made the mob consider what they were doing – but NO.

A religious festival is on, but look at the behaviour of the leaders of Worship in the Temple. It is the Feast of the Passover.

Verse 52. You come out to Me as I were a common thief. Can you imagine these men in their resplendent robes trampling out down the valley to the Garden of Gethsemane? As well as the religious leaders there were around 200 soldiers, armed with weapons one would use to go and hunt a wild animal.

Verse 53. They had been such cowards. They couldn’t do this openly. They were not only in natural darkness, but they were in spiritual darkness too.

Verse 54. Jesus is led away, humbly but with dignity. And Peter follows, afar off and at a safe distance. There is no safe distance when you are distancing yourself from Jesus. Peter is watching, trailing behind, and in great danger.

We are called to come close, and draw near and be right at the very heart – involved – participating – faithfully following and serving Jesus – where He has placed you and appointed you.

The religious leaders finally had Jesus in their hands, but not His Love in their hearts.

They should have been in the hands of Jesus – the tender, loving, healing hands of Jesus. But, they took Him and led Him to Caiaphas’s house, the House of the High Priest.

They wanted to kill Christ, and have Him removed from their sight, and His Voice silenced once and for all – this troublemaker – this radical, popular preacher.

Originally here:
Word from Scotland

Author bio:
Alexander “Sandy” Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness – on the Moray Firth Coast – not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40 a.m., New Orleans time, at wsho.com.

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Question: “Would the discovery of Noah’s Ark be important?”

Answer:
There have been numerous claimed discoveries of Noah’s Ark in recent years. The discoveries have been in various locations, ranging from Mount Ararat in Turkey, to a mountain range in Iran, to an entirely different location on Mount Ararat (with a visitors’ center).

It is not the purpose of this article to evaluate whether or not the Noah’s Ark discovery claims are legitimate. Rather, the question at hand is: If Noah’s Ark was discovered, would that be significant? Would the discovery of Noah’s Ark cause people to turn to God in faith?

The discovery of a boat-like structure in the mountains of the Middle East, carbon dated to approximately the time of the biblical account of Noah’s Ark (2500 B.C), with evidence of animal life once having been aboard would surely be a tremendous discovery.

For those who believe in God and trust in the Bible as His inspired Word, it would be powerful confirmation that the Bible is true and that early human history occurred precisely as the Bible describes it.

A verified discovery of Noah’s Ark would likely cause many seekers and open-minded skeptics to at least re-evaluate their beliefs. For the close-minded critic and hardened atheist, however, the discovery of Noah’s Ark would not make one bit of a difference.

Romans 1:19-20 declares, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (ESV).

If a person is rejecting the clear evidence of God in the universe, no biblically-related discovery would change his/her mind. Similarly, in Luke 16:31, Jesus declared, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” No discovery, no argument, and no miracle will change the mind of a person who has been blinded by Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4) and is, with a hard heart and closed mind, rejecting the light of the Gospel.

Conversely, would it matter if Noah’s Ark is never discovered? No, it would not matter because the Christian faith is not built on every biblical account being explicitly/conclusively proven. The Christian faith is built on faith. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). With that in mind, though, there are two primary explanations for why Noah’s Ark might never be discovered. First, the wood of the Ark would have been very valuable post-Flood. Noah and his family would have needed wood to build their homes.

It is possible that Noah and his family, or their descendants, deconstructed the Ark and used its wood for other purposes. Second, even if Noah and his family left the Ark intact, approximately 4500 years have passed (if the biblical account is interpreted strictly literally). A wooden structure exposed to harsh elements for 4500 years would, for the most part, decompose/decay into virtual nothingness.

While the discovery of Noah’s Ark would be a tremendous and powerful archaeological find, it will never be something Christians should place their faith in.

The discovery of Noah’s Ark, or the Ark of the Covenant, or the Garden of Eden, or any other biblical artifact will not prove the Christian faith and will not change the mind of anyone whom God is not drawing (John 6:44). “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

Recommended Resource:
Bible Answers for Almost All Your Questions by Elmer Towns.

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