“All Fall Down”
[John
18:1-11]
May 7, 2017 Second Reformed Church
In our look at the Gospel of John,
we now move to the Garden of Gethsemane:
“When Jesus had spoken these words,
he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden,
which he and his disciples entered.”
It is Thursday of Holy Week, late in
the evening, Jesus is finished praying His High Priestly Prayer for the Eleven
and all those who believe based on their witness, and John points out that they
cross the brook Kidron.
The crossing of the Kidron is mentioned
several times in the Scripture – as the place where King David fled from his
son, Absalom, and where King Hezekiah commanded the cleansing of the priests
and the unclean things (2 Chronicles 29-31), and others. It is a place associated with death and
impurity, and the name, “Kidron,” means “dark,” “gloomy.” Jesus crosses the brook Kidron many times in
the Gospels – this being the last.
And so, we open this text and enter
the Garden through the dark and the gloom, thinking of death, impurity –
sin. Something supremely tragic is about
to happen – as we well know.
John assumes a knowledge of the
history of the other Gospels – and he doesn’t say anything about Jesus praying that
the Father might take the cup away from Him, nor Jesus’ rebuke of the Three for
falling asleep during His prayer. John
assumes that his readers know that Jesus “contended with the difficulties” – as
Calvin puts it (191) – that Jesus wrestled with what He is going to do and
submits to the Father – voluntarily giving Himself up for the people that God
gave Him.
John skips right to Judas’ arrival
in the Garden:
“Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew
the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas, having
procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the
Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons.”
It’s rather ridiculous, isn’t it – all
this pomp and show about arresting Jesus?
It is common knowledge that Jesus and His
disciples pray in this area – there is no great hunt to find where He might
be. And though most of the band likely
knew Jesus, Judas went up to the One he once called, Lord, and kissed Him as a
sign that this is the Man.
And Judas came with no small arrest
group! The word that is used for “band”
in our text describes a group of 600 soldiers or more – and they came with
lanterns and lights to find the Light of the World and weapons to arrest the
Prince of Peace. What overkill! What irony!
They had no idea that this is Jesus’ plan – but they will get a clue.
And we see, first, Jesus knew everything
that would happen to Him.
“Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen
to him, came forward and said to them, ‘Whom do you seek?’ They answered him, ‘Jesus
of Nazareth.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am he.’ Judas, who betrayed him, was
standing with them. When Jesus said to them, ‘I am he,’ they drew back and fell
to the ground.”
We need to keep before us the fact that
Jesus is at the same time and in the same person the One God and the real human
being, Jesus of Nazareth. So, in His
Divinity, Jesus knows everything, yet, there were times when His Divinity kept
His humanity from knowing things. For
example, when Jesus was asked when He would return, He said He didn’t
know. In His Divinity, He knew, but His
Divinity kept His humanity from knowing.
Here, Jesus, in His humanity, is told by
His Divinity everything that will happen to Him – which is why, He prayed with
such passion that, if there be any other way – that He would be delivered from
the horrors before Him.
Jesus shows Himself to be volunteering as
Sacrifice and Sovereign over everything that is going to happen.
Jesus knows everything that is going to
happen to Him. He has wrestled in His
flesh and joyfully volunteered to suffer and die for His people – while
despising what He would go through. He
did not go into hiding, but went exactly to where He was known to pray so He
would be found by Judas and his ridiculous army. Jesus even approaches those coming to taking
Him away and asks them who they are looking for – in this, He chooses to show
His Sovereignty.
Jesus says, “Who are you looking for?”
And the men say, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Jesus says, “I am He.” – with no little
double meaning there – remember we have seen, “I am” refers to God.
And they all fall down!
The word that is used here describes a
violent thrusting down – as though a violent wind or an invisible hand shoves
them back and to the ground – as though to say, “I am Jesus of Nazareth – and
you have no idea Who I am – I am coming with you voluntarily – in obedience to
My Father.”
There were other times that the crowds
came after Jesus and He escaped from them, but now, in His Sovereign Providence,
it is time for Him to submit to the horrors that would be thrust upon Him so He
could gain the joy of securing His people’s salvation and returning to His
throne in Glory. The wicked have no
power over Jesus except what He permits.
Do we see that as good news for us today?
Paul wrote, “In him we have obtained an
inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works
all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11, ESV).
Our Triune God is still Sovereign, and
Paul tells us that everything that happens does so according to the Sovereign
Will of God. There are no
accidents. Just as Jesus went to the
cross by the “definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23, ESV),
everything that occurs throughout time and space is according to God’s plan –
which no one can thwart or change.
So, we always have reason to thank God –
anything good we are experiencing is from God’s Loving Hand. Anything that happens to us that is evil is
either for our discipleship or our punishment, so we should call on God in
repentance and ask that He lead us through our trials.
We need to hear this so when things are
bad, we do not despair, and when things are good, we remember to give God the
thanks He is due. As we are in the midst
of a situation, we are prone to forget or not recognize what is happening and
God’s place in it.
So, it is Jesus’ plan to be arrested –
betrayed – accused, brought to the Roman rulers, be taunted, have his skin
whipped off, and be crucified – and He despised it – but He did it “for the joy
that was set before Him” (Hebrews 12:2, ESV).
Jesus knows what He will have to endure –
He knows what we must endure – He is our Sovereign God over all things.
Second, Jesus fulfills prophecy.
“So he asked them again, ‘Whom do you
seek?’ And they said, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I
am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.’ This was to fulfill the word that
he had spoken: ‘Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.’”
We will remember – just in the last
chapter – as we looked at Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, He says, “While I was
with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded
them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the
Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12, ESV).
And when we looked at this text, we saw
that it refers to God the Father’s Sovereign choice to choose a people out of
the mass of humanity to give to His Son to save – and so, God the Son
incarnates to save these people. And
since God chooses them and gives them and saves them, not one of them can be
lost – they all have salvation, which they cannot lose.
As the High Priest and Substitutionary
Sacrifice, Jesus offers us Himself for the sake and the salvation of all the
people the Father gave Him. As the Good Shepherd,
He protects His sheep and is willing to give up His own life so they will not
be lost.
That being said, do our eyebrows rise to
hear Jesus ask that the Eleven not be taken by the Romans, but be let free to
go – and this fulfills the prophecy that none of them would be lost?
We have the Eleven and other disciples
arrested and killed throughout the book of Acts – why is this different? What is different about the Eleven at this
point in time? Why would they logically
be at risk in a way here they would not be later?
At this point, the Holy Spirit did not
indwell the Eleven and all believers.
Without the indwelling of God, the Holy
Spirit and His power in them – their being arrested in the Garden would have
been too much for them – jailing them and torturing them before God the Holy
Spirit indwelled them would have been too much for their infant faith.
We can understand this, can we not? As we consider our own temptation and sin – I
know that without God the Holy Spirit working in me and empowering me to resist
temptation and turn away from it, I would give in every time I was
tempted. The devil and his angels
continue to tempt us, and the sin nature that still resides in us – even as
Christians – is drawn to it – without God empowering us and leading us against
them, we would give in.
In love, Jesus asks that His sheep be
spared – they had work to do in the future – from receiving the Holy Spirit, to
spreading the Gospel, to writing the New Testament.
This is the same God Who loves each one of
us who believes in Jesus savingly. If
you believe that Jesus is God the Son and Only Savior, God the Father loves
you, God the Son loves you, God the Holy Spirit loves you – and we are given
the promise that God is working all things together for our good (Romans 8:28).
Everything that occurs to those of us who
love God is being done in love for us and to bring us all the way home to
salvation in the Kingdom of God. We are
loved by God and we can call out to Him for help and understanding and to
endure through whatever He knows is best for us.
Finally, Jesus submits to the Will of the
Father.
“Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it
and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant's
name was Malchus.) So Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword into its sheath;
shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?’”
The guards grab Jesus, but let the Eleven
go as He requested.
But Peter – are you surprised? – Peter runs
forward with a six-inch sword to stop Jesus from being taken by the crowd –
Peter didn’t yet understand that all these things had to take place.
And Peter swings – managing only to cut
the ear off of Malchus, the High Priest’s servant.
The other Gospels recount this incident,
but they don’t give us the names of Peter and Malchus. Why does John tell us their names? One sure reason is that the reader could go
ask Malchus what happened – he was an eyewitness who was not one of the Eleven.
And as Peter jumps in yet again, Jesus
tells Peter to put his sword away and asks him if He was not to drink the cup that
the Father gave Him?
“Peter, while you slept, I asked the
Father if there was any other way to accomplish My mission, and He answered Me
– He assured Me that this is the only way – it has been fully determined by the
Father Who loves Me that I am to suffer and die for My people – it must be.”
The other Gospel writers give even more
information about what happens. Matthew
records:
“And behold, one of those who were with
Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the
high priest and cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, ‘Put your sword back
into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you
think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than
twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that
it must be so?’ At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, ‘Have you come out as
against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in
the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place
that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.’ Then all the disciples
left him and fled” (Matthew 26:51-56, ESV).
“Peter, everything is under control – they
are doing what My Father wants them to do that I would accomplish My people’s
salvation. If it were not so, don’t you
think I could ask the Father and He would immediately send Me 60,000 angels –
or more – to fight for Me? But if I did
not submit to the Father’s Will, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled? The Scriptures must be fulfilled to
accomplish all I was sent to do.”
It may have been Isaiah 53 that Jesus was
referring to as the Scripture He had to fulfill:
“Who has believed what he has heard from
us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before
him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or
majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he
was despised, and we esteemed him not.
“Surely he has borne our griefs and
carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and
afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our
iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his
wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every
one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet
he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a
sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By
oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who
considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the
transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a
rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no
deceit in his mouth.
“Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush
him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he
shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall
prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be
satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to
be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will
divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the
transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the
transgressors” (Isaiah 53:1-12, ESV).
Christ’s Victory is bound up in submitting
to the Will of the Father – in being bound as the Sacrifice for His people.
I suspect we have all jumped with our
swords drawn like Peter – so sure of what God’s Will is. (That’s not to say there are not perfectly clear
and straightforward things in the Scripture – there are!)
Jesus, the Incarnate Son of God, endured
more that we can ever comprehend to save the people that God gave Him. In His Divinity, Jesus knew everything that
would happen to Him on Good Friday, and His concern, as He submitted to the
Will of the Father is seen in the love He shows for the Eleven – in seeking
their safety.
Is Jesus doing any less for us in these
last days? Does He love us any less than
them?
Let us trust God for all that we endure –
especially for the sake of the Gospel.
Let us submit to the clear Word of God and
pray that God the Holy Spirit will help us to understand and do all those
things God has commanded us.
And let us hear these words of Paul:
“And being found in human form, [Jesus]
humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a
cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that
is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in
heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:8-11, ESV).
On that final day, all will fall down
before Jesus: those who believe in Him
savingly will do so in worship in joy and thanksgiving; those who never believe
will be violently thrust down like the guards in the Garden.
How will you fall before Him?
Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for loving Your
Son and us, sending Him to be our Savior.
We thank You that He submitted to Your Will, despite knowing all the
horrors of what He would endure. Help us
– by God the Holy Spirit – to submit to You and to know that whatever we endure
is according to Your Plan and from Your Loving Fatherly Hand. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
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