Mark 14:55-62 Coming in the Clouds of Heaven
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: April 20, 2018, Mark 14:55-62
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’” Yet even about this their testimony did not agree. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?” But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need?
(Understanding the Text) It says that the chief priests and the whole council were looking for testimony. That means that they were going around to people and asking them what they had heard. Most of their witnesses would have been the spies that they had sent out in earlier days. There were always some Pharisees in the crowd and sometimes others. They brought their witnesses out to listen to them. However, they had the problem that these witnesses did not agree on something that the council could charge Jesus with. The best the witnesses could do was to say that Jesus had claimed that He Himself would destroy the temple and rebuild it. That was not enough to claim blasphemy, insanity yes, but not blasphemy. They were misstating Jesus’ words because Jesus never said that He Himself would destroy the temple. Were they lying? Or were they simply remembering incorrectly?
(Revelation of God) It is interesting that the testimony they gave was about to happen. The temple was the house where God dwelt. Jesus was the human who was God. If the temple was wherever God was, then Jesus was the temple about to be destroyed. He would recreate Himself in three days. Jesus was relying totally on faith in His Father at this point, and He could not see beyond the grave at all.
When Jesus was asked if He had an answer to make to the accusations of the witnesses, Jesus did not answer at all. What was there to say? He could point out the inaccuracy of the witnesses, but it would do no good. He could try to defend Himself, but that would be to give legitimacy to the council when they had no right to judge Him. Silence was the best answer. However, when the chief priest directly asked Jesus if He were the Messiah, the son of the Blessed One, Jesus could not keep quiet. This was a question that must be answered with a strong affirmative. Jesus would never deny who His Father was, and it was no longer time to equivocate about who He was. The word for Blessed One here is “eulogētos /yoo-log-ay-tos’/ From G2127; adorable: – blessed” according to Strong’s. Thayer adds the meaning praised. I think praised is closer to the meaning here. Blessing implies that a higher one has bestowed the blessing on the lower one, but there is none higher than God. On the other hand, praise can come from lower to higher, so it makes more sense to call the Father the Praised One. On the other hand, that does not have the same ring to it as the Blessed One.
(Understanding the Text) However, Jesus did not only answer yes to the question, but added more. He said that the high priest would see Him sitting at the right hand of Power and coming in the clouds of heaven. No one can say that Jesus did not warn the high priest that there would be a time when their roles were reversed. There will come a time when Jesus will be in the judgment seat and those who judged Him that day will know that not only were they wrong, but that they condemned themselves as they condemned an innocent man. F. F. Bruce’s commentary says that Jesus is quoting Psalm 110:1 and Daniel 7:13.
It says that the high priest rent His clothes. Did He do this for theatrical effect? Was it a normal part of a judgment? Or did Jesus’ words reach into his heart and he needed to physically break something in order to keep the conviction of the truth of the words away from his heart?
(Application) My application for myself is to follow Jesus’ example. There is no need to answer fluff–people’s own lies to themselves that have no bearing on the truly important; even if people repeat lies, I do not need to correct them when they are not seeking truth. However, I must never deny or hide who I am or where my allegiance lies. I must never deny God. I do not have to answer only the question asked but can answer with more information about my relationship with God. My other application is that what appears to be reality in the world is not the whole truth. It appeared that Jesus was at the mercy of the council’s judgment. They appeared to be powerful men making life and death decisions for whoever they decided. however, the reality was that they were puppets in a play that held meaning far beyond anything that they could conceive. The reality was that they were powerless in the hands of their master Satan. The reality was that Jesus was the only one in that courtyard who was truly free. The irony was that He was choosing to become worthy of death so that those very men could have life. The pity is that those men never chose life. The wonder is that I can choose life because Jesus chose to let those men have their way and condemn Him when they had no power over Him at all.
(Prayer) Thank You that You chose to rescue me from the clutches of the devil. Teach me to follow You and emulate Your unselfish ways.