Mark 14 also provides us with a record of Peter's denial of the Lord. At the beginning, "Peter followed Him at a distance until he was within the courtyard of the high priest. And he was there sitting with the attendants and warming himself in the light of the fire" (v. 54). A servant girl of the high priest came and said to Peter, "You also were with the Nazarene, Jesus" (v. 67). Peter denied this and answered, saying, "I neither know nor understand what you are talking about" (v. 68). Here was a man who had followed the Lord for three and a half years. Did he not know who the Lord was? One moment he could draw out his sword and cut someone, yet in the next moment he lost his boldness altogether. The Lord was being tried, and everyone was mocking Him. Under these circumstances, Peter's boldness was nowhere to be found. A little earlier, he was genuinely ready to die for the Lord. Now he was genuinely loving himself and shrinking from death. He turned from one extreme to the other. The second time the slave girl spoke, Mark tells us that she did not address Peter, but instead she spoke to those standing by, saying, "This man is one of them!" After the slave girl first spoke to Peter about being with Jesus the Nazarene, Peter denied it and went outside into the forecourt. But the slave girl saw him again, and she told those who were standing by that he was one of them. Then Peter made his second denial (vv. 69-70). Matthew 26:72 says, "And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man!" After a little while, those standing by again said to Peter, "Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean as well" (Mark 14:70). Peter began to curse and to swear, "I do not know this man of whom you speak!" (v. 71). He began to curse and to swear! A little earlier he denied with an oath. Now he denied with cursing and swearing. When the slave girl first talked to him, he denied the Lord and moved to the forecourt because he could no longer remain in the same place. There he heard the slave girl telling those standing around that he was with Jesus of Nazareth. He denied the Lord again with an oath that he did not know Him. By the time those who were standing around echoed the words that he had been with Jesus, he did not just make an oath; he cursed and swore. In the original Greek, three different words are used to describe his denial. One was used during his second denial, and the other two were used in his third denial. He exhausted every means of swearing and cursing. In his second denial he made an oath by God's name and by heaven and earth. In his third denial, he simply cursed and swore. He not only invoked God's name to assure others that he did not know Jesus; he even cursed that he would be damned if he knew the Lord! His vocabulary was vulgar. Peter had degraded and fallen to the uttermost. Here was a man who was just the opposite of a "Peter," that is, one who should be solid as a rock. Instead, he was one way one minute and another way the next minute. One minute he was high in the heavens. The next minute he was Satan's instrument. One minute he could boast that he would never be stumbled even if others were stumbled. The next minute he fell asleep. One minute he was bold to draw his sword to cut off the ear of Malchus. The next minute he was even afraid of a slave girl. He denied the Lord with an oath. He even cursed and swore in his denial. Such a person surely had a serious flaw in his character.