We come now to the eighteenth chapter of the
gospel of John, the eighteenth chapter. We have finished the prayer of our Lord, the
model of His constant intercession for His own. It is by His ministry of mediation intercession
that He brings all His sons to glory; and in His interceding for us at the Father's
throne, we find that we are secure. He secures us by His intercessory ministry
so that all that the Father gives Him, He will bring to glory. Here in chapter 18 is an immediate illustration
of the safety of believers, protected because of His personal love for them. Chapter 17 describes the words that He prays
on our behalf. Chapter 18 gives a dramatic illustration of
the action He takes to protect us. It is also a one-of-a-kind dramatic event
in the gospel records. In chapter 18 in the opening eleven verses,
we come again to see our Great High Priest, our Advocate, the Lord Jesus Christ, concerned
about His own, securing His own in a moment that could have devastated them, while He
Himself is in the midst of being betrayed and being arrested. Let me read the opening eleven verses of 18. John 18, verse 1: "When Jesus had spoken these
words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was
a garden, in which He entered with His disciples. Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew
the place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples. Judas then, having received the Roman cohort
and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches
and weapons. So Jesus, knowing all the things that were
coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, 'Whom do you seek?' They answered Him, 'Jesus the Nazarene.' He said to them, 'I am He.' And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was
standing with them. So when He said to them, 'I am He,' they drew
back and fell to the ground. Therefore He again asked them, 'Whom do you
seek?' And they said, 'Jesus the Nazarene.' Jesus answered, 'I told you that I am He;
so if you seek Me, let these go their way,' to fulfill the word which He spoke, 'Of those
whom You have given Me I lost not one.' Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it
and struck the high priest's slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave's name was
Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, 'Put the sword into
the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?'" In chapter 12, verse 23, our Lord said, "The
hour is come." In chapter 13 on that Thursday night, He started
out that wonderful evening with His disciples in the upper room. In verse 1, John says He knew His hour had
come. Chapter 17 begins, again, with the statement
that Jesus knowing His hour had come. What hour is this? This is the hour when He completes His work. This is the hour that begins with the cross,
and then the resurrection, and then forty days of instruction, and then the ascension,
and then the exaltation, and then the launching of His ministry of intercession; and all of
that is going to happen in the next six weeks. We now come to the dark, the gloomy, the tragic
part of His life. Up to this point, He has been verbally criticized;
He's never been touched physically. There have been men dogging His steps, wanting
Him dead, but it never happened because His hour was not yet come. This, however, is His hour. And by God's appointment, He will die at this
Passover as God's true Passover Lamb. Rightly so, we look at this and we see the
horror of these events: agony, sweating blood, anguish, loneliness, betrayal, arrest, injustice,
torture, execution by being nailed to a cross. But John wants us to be certain of one thing
- Jesus is no victim; Jesus is no victim. We remember the purpose for John's writing;
he gave it at the end of this wonderful gospel in chapter 20, and verse 31. He said this: "These have been written so
that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may
have life in His name." His purpose for writing is that you would
believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One, God's Son incarnate, and that believing
you might have life. He has an evangelistic purpose, and necessary
to that evangelistic purpose is the revelation of the glory of Christ. And so true to His intention, true to His
goal, you will find the glory of Christ on majestic display through all the events that
begin in chapter 18. What on the surface and to everybody around
may have looked as if it were the blackest and darkest of all times puts the glory of
Christ on majestic display. Here in these events, maybe more clearly than
anywhere else - surely more clearly than anywhere else - we see the glory of the Son of God. His wondrous perfections shine through the
ugliness, shine through the darkness, shine through the hatred, shine through the pain
and suffering. And we know because he is the Son of God. He has always exhibited total control over
all people, all individuals, all people in a collection, all events, all circumstances. He has always demonstrated total control over
all of that, and that control continues in His arrest, in His mistreatment, in His unjust
trial, in His execution, in His burial, in His resurrection, and all the way to His exaltation. The hour had come. In one sense, it is the worst hour; it is
Satan's hour. In another sense, it is the best hour; it
is God's hour. Now, in the opening eleven verses that I read
to you, John wants us to see the glory of Christ in His arrest - betrayal and arrest. This is as ugly a scene as we could expect. Judas, the ugliest of all apostates, the traitor
of all traitors, the archetypal hypocrite is on display. It is in the middle of the night, everything
is dark, and the darkest of it all is the hearts of the people surrounding Jesus and
the disciples. But in the midst of this darkness, John shows
us our Lord's glory. We see His divine resolve, we see His divine
power, we see His divine love, and we see His divine righteousness. Those four things are going to come through
in this passage. The wretchedness, the injustice, the hellishness
of Satan's plot to kill Jesus unfolds. But it isn't just Satan's plot to kill Jesus,
as we heard Peter say from Acts 2 - it is God's predetermined plan. So here, God and Satan come together on the
same person for two very different reasons, and God triumphs. Instead of debasing Christ, as the devil intended,
He is exalted in these scenes to the highest heaven. His unbounded magnificence explodes on us
in all these settings. Now let's look at the beginning and see His
divine resolve, His divine resolve, or His divine determination, or perhaps His divine
courage. Back to verse 1: "When Jesus had spoken these
words, He went forth with His disciples over the ravine of the Kidron, where there was
a garden, in which He entered with His disciples. Now Judas also, who was betraying Him, knew
the place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples. Judas then, having received the Roman cohort
and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches
and weapons. So Jesus, knowing all the things that were
coming upon Him, went forth." Back in verse 1 it says, "He went forth." Here it says, "He went forth." This is His divine resolve, His divine determination,
His divine courage. He moves to His own death. He is undaunted. He is unhesitating. He is courageous - courage far beyond a martyr
dying for a good cause without forsaking truth. That's noble, and many have done it. But to go to a death that is not just a physical
death, but a death in which He will absorb all the wrath of God for all the people who
have ever believed in Him through all of human history. And God will unleash that massive amount of
wrath in a period of three hours in which He will be forsaken by God to go to that event
- that pure, spotless, eternally sinless Son of God - and to do it with resolve shows a
divine level of courage. He is totally pure. He's absolutely sinless, and He is now to
be pounded by the fury of God over the sins of His people - infinite courage. Watch how it unfolds: "When Jesus had spoken
these words, He went forth with His disciples [eleven of them] over the ravine of the Kidron,
where there was a garden, in which He entered with His disciples." They had been with Him all evening. This is now Friday, in the morning, in the
darkness. They had been with Him since Thursday when
they celebrated Passover. They've really been around Him all week at
the Passover and the Passion Week and all the events of the week. They're still with Him. They follow Him out of the upper room earlier
in the evening. He teaches them as they walk through Jerusalem
in the darkness. They stop with Him and they hear His prayer
in John 17 so that they have knowledge of His intercessory ministry for them. Then they begin to walk again, and they head
toward this garden on the Mount of Olives, a familiar place. The other gospel writers tell us it was called
"the garden of Gethsemane." It's over the brook Kidron. Many, many times Jesus had left Jerusalem
and gone through what some call Stephen's Gate, to go to Bethany, because two miles
beyond that wall was the little town of Bethany. And that's where His beloved friends Mary,
Martha, and Lazarus lived. And often He had spent time there, and stayed
there, and rested there; and before all the events of this Passion Week began, He was
there. That was a place of comfort and care and safety
and fellowship. But it was too late for Bethany now. He would not head for Bethany. He would not make that familiar walk around
the edge of the Mount of Olives into the little village of Bethany to find the familiar home
of His friends. He would go rather into the fatal garden. He knew exactly what was awaiting Him. He knew precisely what was going to happen,
verse 4 says, "Jesus, knowing all things that were coming upon Him, went forth." This is resolve. So they would have left Jerusalem by the gate,
down the steep slope into the ravine that is the Kidron ravine with a little brook running
through it, up the slope of the Mount of Olives, to the familiar Garden of Gethsemane. A symbolic reality must have faced our Lord
when He crossed that little brook. Up in the temple ground, through that day
and the next day, there was a massacre of lambs. All the Passover lambs were being slaughtered,
and their blood was running down the altar like a river, and it would run into channels,
and those channels would take that blood out the back side of the temple mount, down the
temple slope, into the very same Kidron brook. It would be bright red with blood. The number of lambs slain at that Passover
we don't know. But we have a record of a Passover thirty
years after this, and there is a census of the number of lambs: 256,000 lambs were slaughtered. It was a bloodbath. You can imagine what the temple courts were
like when the blood of all those lambs was flowing down the altar, down the channels,
down the back, and into the Kidron. And there it is that Jesus steps across all
that blood that cannot take away sin on the way to offer Himself as the only sacrifice
who can. Surely His own sacrifice would be vividly
in His mind. Having crossed the Kidron, He would then ascend
up the slope of the Mount of Olives to that "garden called Gethsemane." The other writers - Matthew, Mark, and Luke
- tell us its name. And "Gethsemane" means "oil press." It is, after all, the Mount of Olives, and
olives are pressed to make olive oil. Jesus and His disciples had been there; they'd
been there many times. They'd been to that garden many times. Many of the people in the city of Jerusalem
outside the city on the Mount of Olives - they would have little fences around their gardens,
or walls around their gardens, and a gate to keep them private - they were private gardens
- and I would assume that this garden, because the Lord went there so many times, was always
made available to Him. Perhaps He and His disciples were given a
key by the owner. The eleven knew it well, Jesus knew it well,
and Judas knew it well. Jesus then enters the garden it says. "He entered it," the end of verse 1, "with
His disciples." I wonder. I wonder if He thought of 2 Samuel 15. I wonder if He thought back to Absalom rebelling
against his father David - David being betrayed by Ahithophel, who was an Old Testament kind
of Judas. I wonder if Jesus remembered that His father
David long ago had been betrayed, and that a revolution was starting by David's own son
against David. And David had to flee Jerusalem, and he had
to cross the same brook with his faithful followers and leave the city of Jerusalem. Why did He go to the Garden of Gethsemane? Why there? Well, it was, after all, a kind of home to
him. It was a kind of home. I say that because there's a very interesting
comment made at the end of the seventh chapter of John. In most of the Bibles it's included. It says - this is at the end of our Lord's
conversation with the crowd - "Everyone went to his home." "Everyone went to his home." And then verse 1 of chapter 8 says, "Jesus
went to the Mount of Olives." Everybody went home; Jesus went to the Mount
of Olives. You remember He said, "The foxes have holes,
the birds have nests; the Son of Man has not where to lay His head." So they say maybe He went there because it
was a place familiar to Him, it was kind of home. It was also a place that He went to pray. He couldn't go to the home of Mary, Lazarus,
and Martha to pray because they loved Him so much they would never leave Him alone. So He would go to the Mount of Olives alone
to pray. And He had already prayed in the Garden of
Gethsemane before He was arrested and sweat great drops of blood. The disciples were supposed to pray with Him,
but they were far away from where He actually was, sleeping. It would be right to say maybe He went there
because it was a place of rest and it was a home. It would be right to say He went there to
pray, because He did. It would be right to say He went there to
get away from the crowds and get away from the conflict. It would be right to say He went there with
His disciples very often, so maybe He went there again because He enjoyed the fellowship
of His own. All of that would be true, because He did
pray. He did escape the crowds; He did fellowship
with His disciples in that garden. But none of those is the reason this time. The reason He went there is because He knew
that place was where Judas was coming. That's where Judas would come, because that's
where He had been going night after night. Luke tells us of these busy days, that week,
that Passion Week. And in Luke 21:37 it says, "During the day,
He was teaching in the temple, but at evening He would go out and spend the night on the
mount that is called Olivet. And all the people would get up early in the
morning to come to Him in the temple to listen to Him." Chapter 22, verse 39, "He came out, proceeded
as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed Him there." That was the night He was tempted. But that's where He would go each night during
that week, teaching in the temple, going to the Garden of Gethsemane, spending the night
in safety and quiet there. John wants us to know that Jesus went there
because He knew Judas would know that's where He would be. He is no victim. He moved to His betrayal resolutely. He moved to His arrest. He moved to His own execution. He is not trapped; He is not tricked; He is
not deceived; He is not fooled; He's not surprised. The leaders of Israel wanted to get Him. They wanted to get Him sooner, but they feared
the people. In Matthew 26, verses 4-5, it says: "They
wanted to arrest Him, but they feared that if they did it, it would start a riot, because
He was so popular." So Jesus made it easy for them. Judas knew that's where He'd be. Judas informed the authorities that He would
be there, and that's why Jesus went there. He took His eleven with Him, which is risky
- as we'll see. But He took them with Him so that they might
know that He was not seized as a helpless victim. But that they could see that He voluntarily
gave up His life. Back in John 10 He said, verses 17-18, "No
on takes My life from Me; I lay it down of Myself." "No one takes My life from Me; I lay it down
of Myself." I think it's pretty obvious that a coward
would have gone anywhere and everywhere but there. A man in fear would never have gone there. A man trying to escape, that would be the
one place he wouldn't go. But, as He said in Luke 22:53, to the chief
priests and the officers and the elders - the ones who came after Him - when they finally
arrived in the garden He said, "I was with you daily in the temple; you did not lay hands
on Me." And we know why from Matthew 26 - they were
afraid of a riot. He says, however, now: "This hour and the
power of darkness are yours. You are now the agents of hell to do the will
of God." Satan and hell, God and heaven, meet at the
same scene with entirely opposite intentions, and God triumphs. On previous occasions, He avoided His enemies,
passed out of their midst, got away from them. It was not His hour; it was not His hour. Now it was His hour, and the Good Shepherd
is going to lay down His live for His sheep. He is no victim. "He went forth," verse 1. "He went forth," verse 4. Jesus has been moving through the darkness,
finally arriving at the Garden of Gethsemane after the time of prayer. Judas, at the same time, has been planning
his strategy thoroughly. He left the upper room before the Lord's Table. Satan filled him, took total control. He is now possessed with Satan. He has been pursuing in the blackness of night,
the world's darkest treachery, the blackest work that any man or demon ever did. The Romans and the Jewish temple police have
been gathered together with the elders and the chief priests, led by Judas. He has pulled this diabolical force together. Matthew 26:47 says, "A great multitude with
swords and spears and clubs" - they come armed to the teeth. Why would they arm themselves like that? Because earlier in the week, all by Himself,
He had run everyone out of the entire temple ground - hundreds of thousands of people. They knew the power of His person. They saw it at the beginning of His ministry;
they saw it earlier that week. So we come to verse 2, "Judas also, who was
betraying Him, knew the place, for Jesus had often met there with His disciples. Judas then, having received the Roman cohort
and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches...weapons." This is really an amazing, amazing group. Officers, that's the temple police, the Jewish
police, the security, the security people who took care of the massive crowds of hundreds
of thousands milling around in the temple and the area outside of it. There were several hundred temple police for
sure. We don't know how many hundreds, but there
were a number of them. And then it says there was a "cohort"; and
it is Roman, so it's appropriate to add that it's a "Roman cohort." The word is speira in the Greek. A Roman cohort usually consisted of six hundred
men. There could be a detachment from a cohort
called a maniple , which would have two hundred men. So it could be as many as six hundred men,
and add a few hundred of the temple police and a few others. And maybe as the crowd moved through the darkness,
they could have collected other people on the way. You could have as many as a thousand people
coming into the darkness of that little place. The Romans were stationed at Fort Antonia
during feasts. Usually they were on the coast in Caesarea. But when the great feasts came, like Passover,
they moved into Fort Antonia, which had a tower that overlooked the temple ground. So from that tower they could keep control
of the crowds. Here they are in the middle of the night,
all converging, all led by Jesus. However large the group was - multiple hundreds
of them - it was large enough, verse 12 says, that it was a cohort with a commander. It's likely then that it wasn't just a sort
of representative group. It wasn't just a small detachment. But they had their full force under full command. This is, of course, a recognition on all their
parts of the power of Jesus. They recognized His power. They'd seen it on display in the temple. They knew that He had raised Lazarus from
the dead. They knew He was a miracle worker. They were very aware of His power. Such is the idiocy of unbelief. They send an army to take an unarmed Galilean
carpenter and teacher. They were also aware of His popularity, and
it may have been that they had a full force in the event that this thing got out of hand. And a crowd began to gather, and they had
to do crowd control - fully armed. It was a similar group in Acts 23 that came
to arrest the apostle Paul, by the way. It's interesting to me that they had "torches,"
"torches." It just happens that at Passover time you
have full moon - full moon - beautiful, clear skies in the land of Israel. Night is almost like daylight, yet they came
"with...torches." Why? Well, they made an assumption that He was
going to run. It was an olive orchard. And then there were trees everywhere beyond
that. The obvious reality was that, "We're going
to have to subdue Him. We have to be armed to the teeth, and anybody
who tries to defend Him - and then we're going to have to hunt Him down." That doesn't happen. The idea was, "We'll hunt Him down; we'll
take our clubs and swords, and we'll crush Him into submission." By the way, the only name is "Judas," the
only name is "Judas" in the entourage, with the exception of "Malchus." And "Malchus" was there because he was a slave
of the high priest, not a soldier. And, oh, by the way, he was there so Jesus
could do one more miracle, just to make their crime worse - giving him back an ear, creating
an ear. Judas is the only one mentioned as if he's
the only one there. He is the key to the whole thing. He is a vile, tragic, apostate man. People wonder, "Well, why didn't he just come
in and say, 'It's Him; it's Jesus, over there'?" His intention was not simply to point out
Jesus; his intention was to communicate to Jesus the idea that he was back, that he was
back to join the group. He could have pointed to Jesus, but insanity,
mental confusion, wretchedness, satanic possession degenerate into the most brutal kind of inexplicable
stupidity. He has a kind of devilish refinement, an unheard
of combination. The sign that this is Jesus is a kiss; and
as Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us, he goes up and kisses Jesus on the face, repeatedly
- the traditional kiss of affection. His cunning turns into archetypal hypocrisy. Inferiors kiss the hand, slaves kiss the foot,
but kissing the face is a sign of love and intimacy and affection between equals. He's just wanting Jesus to believe for a moment
that he's just back; maybe so Jesus, for a moment, thinks He has nothing to fear and
they can grab Him. This evil is intensified by the kiss. It is an unforgettable kiss. It is feigned innocence, feigned innocence. Jesus unmasks him immediately. Jesus says to him, "Are you betraying the
Son of God with a kiss?" and he was unmasked. Verse 4: "Jesus, knowing all the things that
were coming upon Him, went forth." There is that divine resolve. He knew everything that was going to happen,
and He stepped right into it. And He had known it; He had known it since
He could understand Genesis 3, Genesis 22, Isaiah 53, Zechariah 10-12. He had known it as the Son of God from all
eternity. He was the Lamb slain from before the foundation
of the world. He had told His disciples, "They're going
to arrest Me. The rulers of Israel are going to arrest Me. They're going to arrest Me; they're going
to beat Me up; they're going to punch Me; they're going to spit on Me; they're going
to crucify Me." He knew it all; He'd always known it. He knew it before He was incarnate. He knew it during His life. He knew it from Scripture. He knew exactly every single detail that was
going to happen because of His omniscience. So, in a sense, He anticipated it all every
moment of His life. I'd like to think that those of us who are
human have a conscious and an unconscious mind. He didn't have an unconscious mind; everything
was vivid in His immediate consciousness. He knew. And it wasn't that He knew He was walking
toward physical pain, walking toward nails, walking toward a scourge that - no. He was walking into the blast furnace of the
wrath of God, His Father. This is the divine resolve. And Judas, this is his big moment in human
history. But all the glory goes to Christ. He is a horror. Then we see His divine power on display immediately. He said to them, verse 4, "Whom do you seek?" They answered Him, "Jesus the Nazarene." He said to them - literally "He said," Egō
eimi in the Greek, "I am!" the tetragrammaton, the name of God. "And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was
standing with them." That is so hard for me to comprehend - that
kind of devilish boldness. But, of course, he's standing there because
he's under the full control of Satan. Any sensible hypocrite would have run for
the darkness. But in one sense, there are no sensible hypocrites,
certainly not this one. Jesus doesn't wait for anybody to say anything,
He speaks first to Judas, "Are you going to betray Me with a kiss?" And then He faces them and says, "Whom do
you seek?" Why does He ask that? He wants to hear them give the warrant. Who do they have a right to arrest? Whose name is on the warrant? They said, "Jesus the Nazarene." He said to them, " I am ." And when He said that to them, verse 6, "they
drew back and fell to the ground." All the hundreds of them collapsed in a heap
on the ground - these great, strong soldiers; these angry, hostile, aggressive temple police. The religious leaders, chief priests - they
went down like dominos. This is His power. John, again, is not going to let us see Christ
in any scene where He isn't all glorious. He gives the name of God. He declares His deity. All authorities and powers are literally falling
backwards at the power of His name - one single, unarmed figure. And they were armed to the teeth and ready
for war. He simply speaks the name of God and they
collapse. He is no victim. He has complete control over them; one word
is enough. He is the one of whom Isaiah says that "He
will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth" (Isaiah 11:4). He is the One of whom Paul says, "He will
slay the lawless with the breath of His mouth." He is the One coming out of heaven at His
return, and coming out of His mouth is a great, sharp sword, a sword of execution. There is power in His words, power in His
words. He created by a word; He can destroy by a
word. He spoke and it came into existence. He will speak and it will all go out of existence. And while it's in existence, He controls it
with whatever He says. They fell helpless at His feet. Divine resolve and divine power. Thirdly, divine love. And here's where we see the illustration of
His prayer in 17. Verse 7: "Therefore He again says to them,
'Whom do you seek?' and they said, 'Jesus the Nazarene.'" As they're picking themselves up off the ground,
He asks them the same question. He answered and said, "I told you that I am
He." Here's His point: "So if you seek Me, let
these go their way." He is saying, "You have no official warrant
to arrest My disciples. I want to hear your orders: 'Jesus the Nazarene.'" That's a formal declaration of the warrant
that they had for the arrest of Jesus. That's their orders. Then He says, "Let these go their way. You have acknowledged twice now that you have
no authority to arrest My disciples - you have none. Let the disciples go." They have now repeated their orders twice,
and they have declared that they have no right to lay their hands on the disciples. Why is that an issue? Verse 9 explains: "To fulfill the word which
He spoke." Back in chapter 17, verse 12 - in the prayer
- He said, "Of those whom You have given Me, I lost not one." So He protects them out of that love that
He has for them, in a moment when if they had been taken prisoner they would have been
lost. I want you to think about that. He does not allow the disciples to be arrested
and brought to trial and judgment. He protects them from that so that He will
fulfill the Scripture that they will not be lost. Hypothetically then, had He allowed them to
get arrested, their faith would have been completely overwhelmed. It was hard enough as it was. They scattered, and Peter was a rabid denier
of Christ. But our Lord knew that if they were arrested
and put through what He was going to be put through, their faith would fail. You say, "Wait a minute. I thought faith couldn't fail." Yes, faith can fail, unless the Lord doesn't
let it fail. If I say this to you again, you'll think I'm
redundant. If I could lose my salvation, I would lose
it. It's not dependent on me. The reason we all get to heaven, twofold:
the Lord prays us into glory and prevents us from those things that would be deadly
to our faith. Here is a dramatic illustration of the Great
High Priest, out of love, protecting His weak sheep. They're not going to be arrested. He acts in a special, unique way. It's kind of like 1 Corinthians 10:13. You could take that as a personal promise:
"No temptation will ever come to you such as is common to man; and God will make a way
of escape that you maybe be able to" - What? - "be able to bear it." The reason we get to heaven is not just because
God says it. It's because He sees to it; He's active in
it. Our Lord is making certain that the love gifts
that the Father has given Him do not undergo what their faith cannot handle. And some people say, "Well, you're saying
that someone could lose their salvation?" Of course, unless God disallowed it. What this does teach us is no matter how weak,
how vacillating, how fast we run and scatter, we'll never be put through something that
would be destructive to our faith. You cannot be lost, because Jesus will pray
you into heaven, and He'll protect you into heaven. "I've lost none." This doesn't just happen; He sees that it
happens. This is why I said to you in John 17, this
is the "much more ministry" of Christ, much more. He died in hours; He rose in days. He ever lives in the "much more ministry"
to bring us to heaven. Supreme, protective love. Now Peter just should have stood there and
said, "Wow, thank You, Lord." But, no. "Simon Peter then," verse 10, "has a sword." So he draws it and takes a whack at the head
of Malchus, who's just a slave for the high priest. Malchus has got decent reactions; he ducks
and only loses an ear. You know, we're so much like Peter. The Lord says to us, "I'll protect you. I'll protect you. Just relax; stay where you are. I will protect you. You don't need to grab your own sword and
hack your way through the world. I'll take care of you. I'll take care of you. You foolish" - big stuff, stepping out of
Christ's protection, to take on the whole hostile world on his own. And the Lord then performs the last miracle
before the cross - an astounding miracle in front of the whole crowd. You'd think they'd all fall down again - in
worship. Jesus provided a shelter of care for His beloved
- He always does that - and He even gathers us back in when we rashly run out into danger. None of us will ever be lost because of the
supreme love that causes Him to protect us. Now that leads us to a final reality. We've seen His divine resolve and His divine
power and His divine love. His divine righteousness comes through in
verse 11. Jesus said to Peter, "Put the sword into the
sheath." "Put the sword away, Peter." You know what else He said (Matthew 26:52)? You know what He said right after that? "All they that take the sword shall perish
by the sword." What's He doing? He's upholding God's law. What law is that? Genesis 9:6, "You slay a man, you give up
your life." God instituted capital punishment. Our Lord upheld capital punishment, even in
the case of Peter. "Peter, you take a man's life, and they'll
take your life, rightly so." Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world,
otherwise My servants would fight." We don't fight. He is dying voluntarily; Peter has to be stopped. "Stop, Peter! You're trying to stop My death; I'm trying
to stop you." Peter intruded in the purposes of Christ so
many times: "No, no, Lord; You're not going to die; You're not going to die." Jesus says, "Get behind Me, Satan." So you see the glory of Christ - divine righteousness. He upholds the law as always. So with that display of His glory He says
at the end of verse 11, "The cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?" The cup of wrath, the cup of fury, the cup
of the vengeance of God, "Shall I not drink it?" This is no victim. This is the all-glorious Son of God, willingly,
voluntarily - in an act of supreme obedience to which He agrees joyfully - giving Himself
up in our place. "The Father has given Me the cup to drink
for the sake of all the people He has given Me to love everlastingly. Shall I not drink it?" Father, we thank You for the glory of our
Christ seen in this, which could on the surface, of course, look like the darkest and gloomiest
of moments. Christ just dominates with His majesty. We're so grateful, so thankful for Christ
- for our always victorious, triumphant Lord. Thank You for giving us a glimpse of Him again. And for any who are here now who have never
embraced Him as Savior and Lord, may they resist no longer. May they realize they will either spend eternity
with Him or eternity with Judas. That's a horrible, horrible thought. May they run to Christ - stand with those
who love Him, call Him Lord, and who worship Him. Move on hearts, we pray.
