Public Insanity

Gtcotr/ws031721

 

Mark 14 NLT

1 ¶  It was now two days before Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The leading priests and the teachers of religious law were still looking for an opportunity to capture Jesus secretly and kill him.

• Leading priests and teachers of religious 

law …

o Which included the Ten Commandments …which includes:

o Commandment #6: Thou shalt not commit murder …

• But they were still looking for an opportunity … a secret opportunity.

• To capture (arrest or contain) Jesus.

o Gain control over Him and His ability to impact others …

o Capture also means to become the master over.

o They wanted to restrain Jesus because He was a threat to their power base and their job security.

• But only secretly (Deceitfully; with guile; evil hidden agenda)

• They didn’t just want to restrain and contain Jesus, they wanted Him dead. They wanted to kill Jesus!

o Who would want to kill Jesus?

o Isaiah 53 – Prophesy to Israel concerning their suffering Messiah whom they would reject and smite and murder along with common thieves.

 

John 16:2  “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.”

 

2  “But not during the Passover celebration,” they agreed, “or the people may riot.”

• They agreed …

o Treacherous people often pay more attention to their popularity in the polls than they do to their right standing with God.

o You’ve got to keep your finger on the pulse of the people or else how would a leader know which policies to support?

• Rioting is ok if they are rioting to crucify Jesus but … if they are rioting to support Him, that’s not ok.

• The leading priests and the teachers of religious lawdid not fear God, their feared people. 

• They did not care to do wrong, only to get caught and fall into disfavor with the people.

o Later they would hire unscrupulous people to lie in court and misrepresent the truth about Jesus.

o These same leaders later got a mob the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus.

o Finally these same leaders incited the unrulymob to scream “crucify Him” … and they kept screaming until the government agreed, even though Pontius Pilate felt the decision was wrong.

• They did not care for the multitudes Jesus had helped and healed, but they were afraid of them. 

o So they planted evil liars in the crowd to be the loudest voice.

o It sounded like everyone wanted Jesus to be crucified.

o Falsely fueled, like at the theater in Ephesus, (Acts 19), when 25,000 people gathered and rioted in the city without most of them, the bible says, even knowing why they were there.

• The leaders did not want this to happen during the Passover celebration because they were not certain they could control the crowd … but they hated Jesus so much. Still, not at Passover …

 

However, God had a different plan. It was God’s design that the things these treacherous people would do to Jesus would be done during the Passovercelebration, in front of the masses of people, so that the sacrifice would be made public, and not be done in secret.

 

It will be the same with the two witnesses spoken of in the book of Revelation, that in the last days, in that same city, they will be slain by the anti-Christ in plain view of the whole world. They will lay in the streets of Jerusalem for three and a half days and then be resurrected by the Spirit of God in the sight of all men(Revelation 11:3ff)

 

Gone is the day when the wicked of this world can hide in secret to perform their treacherous intent. They will find no hiding place in which to work the desires of their demon masters. God will bring all things to the light. Like in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, the wicked and the evil will feel no need to hide in darkness. Driven by demons and their own addictions they will be unwilling and unable to wait for a secret place. Their evil deeds will be done in public for all the world to see. Intoxicated with lustful desire, they will feel no fear of God and no shame before men.

 

God said: “I’m not going to allow you to do something this terrible in private. If you do it, it’s going to be in front of the whole world.” Would you believe it? Those silly people could not contain the evil in their hearts … they went ahead and killed Jesus in spite of their own counsel. This was Public Insanity … the beast unleashed.

 

Open your eyes and see the evil who are foaming at the mouth without shame, sinning in the light for all to see. Listen to the blasphemous words railing against all that is holy and good and right and true. See where satan’s puppets are enthroned and pray to the God of heaven that He will yet deliver His people. For we live in a day in which people who kill the righteous will fool themselves into thinking they are doing God a favor.

 

It is the same devil with the same tricks using the same people who have no shame, who feel the ends justify their means. There is nothing new under the sun!

 

10  Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them.

• It is unimaginable that one of the twelve arranged to betray Jesus!

 

11  They were delighted when they heard why he had come, and they promised to give him money. So he began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.

• Delighted – How can someone be delighted to see a man so wrongly treated, falsely accused, and summarily executed as was Jesus?

• The promise of money was all it took … the love of money … the promise of power, position, and the provision it brings. 

• May God have mercy on our souls … Lord forgive us! Lord, help us!

 

These scriptures leave me with three 

take-a-ways. I am going to:

1. Check my agenda.

2. Challenge my motivations.

3. Change where needed.