CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE/Peter's Worst Failure - Continue

 In the firelight, the girl who had admitted Peter at the gate was able to see him better. She recognized him. She said accusingly: "You too were with Jesus the Galilean!  Caught off guard, Peter denied knowing Jesus-or even understanding what the girl was talking about. He went to stand near the gatehouse, trying to be inconspicuous, but another girl noticed him and pointed out the same fact: "The man was with Jesus the Nazarene." Peter sword: "I do not know the man!" (Matthew 26:69,72; Mark14:66-68) Perhaps it was after the second denial that Peter heard a crock crowing, but he was too distracted to be reminded of the prophecy Jesus had uttered just hours earlier.

A little while late, Peter was still trying desperately to escape notice. But a group of people standing around the courtyard approached.  One of them was related to Malchus, the slave whom Peter had wounded. He said to Peter: "I saw you in the garden with him did I not?" Peter felt driven to convince them that they were wrong. So he sword to the matter, evidently saying that a curse should come upon him if were lying. That was Peter's third denial. No sooner were the words out of his mouth that a cock crowed-the second one Peter had heard that night. - JOHN 18:26, 27; MARK 14:71, 72. 

Next time: CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE/Peter's Worst Failure - Conclusion

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