Over the next several weeks,
I want us to look at Jesus’ final steps to the cross. And I want to
do so through the eyes of the apostle John. John’s concern is to let
us see the supremacy & victory of the Lord Jesus over the circumstances
which seem to be so humiliating and degrading.
As we go through this study, I want you to keep in your mind that the
reason Jesus Christ was born, was to die. Please don’t buy into the
lie that Jesus was merely a wonderful person, who through several misfortunate
circumstances, got himself in a mess and ended up being crucified.
In John’s gospel we see clearly that Jesus was never trapped. He was
never tricked. He was never a victim. Instead, Jesus willingly went
to the cross.
In just a few short hours before his arrest, Jesus said, in talking
about the cross, “For this purpose I came to this hour. And when I am
lifted up on the cross, I will draw everyone to Myself. He said this
to indicate how He was going to die.” (John
12:27, 32-33) Jesus directed himself towards the cross, for that
was the design of his existence in the incarnation.
This morning we being Jesus’ journey to the cross by looking at his
arrest. John starts the journey off in a garden--v. 1-2.
The fact that the story starts off in a garden is not insignificant
in and of itself. For this wasn’t just any old garden. This was a garden
that Jesus came to many times when he wanted to get alone with his father.
It was also the place where Jesus & his disciples had spent many times
in sweet fellowship together as they withdrew from the crowds for times
of relaxation & refreshing.
But the place that held such fond memories for Jesus, became the place
of his betrayal. It’s hard to imagine that Judas would have chosen a
place where he had spent such intimacy with the Lord to do his deed
of infamy. It is similar to a person committing adultery, not in some
sleazy motel room, but in the same bed they sleep with their spouse.
It is hard to imagine that such a beautiful spot would become the spot
that for the rest of the history of the world will be forever known
as the spot where Jesus was betrayed. But if you think about it, the
most beautiful spot in today’s world is still the place where Jesus
is betrayed: Our lives. From God’s perspective, because you & I are
his temple, our lives are the most beautiful spots in all the world.
Yet, how often do we betray Jesus with our lives? If you think about
it, the true test of our belief in Jesus is not in the words we say,
but in the deeds we do. Judas said he loved Jesus. Judas said hours
earlier that he would never betray him. But now his deeds prove otherwise.
When Judgment Day comes, and the sheep are divided from the goats, the
test of our belief is not in did we say we love Jesus, but did our lives
prove we loved Jesus. The test for our love for Jesus is going to be
in those things we did and didn’t do for the sake of Jesus.
Next we see that Judas didn’t commit this act of treachery alone--v.
3. The Greek word that is used for a band of men, indicates that Judas
brought with him somewhere between 600--1000 soldiers. If you’ve seen
the movie The Passion, this is a point that Gibson doesn’t bring out.
But John does to contrast the depravity of man with the majesty of Jesus
Christ.
Jesus wasn’t a hardened criminal that it would have taken such a large
army to capture him. He wasn’t a terrorist like Osama Bin Ladden or
Saddam Hussein. The only crime Jesus was guilty of was making the Jewish
leader look bad by calling them hypocrites. He was guilty of associating
with sinful people. He was guilty of committing powerful miracles.
One miracle, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, caused many of the
people to start to put their faith in Jesus as the Messiah. Which caused
the religious leaders to want to have Jesus put to death. But since
Jesus was so popular, the leaders didn’t try to arrest him in public.
They didn’t try to arrest him in Jerusalem while he taught openly. They
knew that by doing so, it would have caused a revolution among the Jewish
people. So they waited until Jesus was out of the public eye.
I find it ironic that John tells us that the crowd came carrying torches
& weapons. Bible historians tell us that it was a full moon that night,
therefore they didn’t need any torches. The only reason they brought
the torches was because they thought they were going to have to hunt
down and arrest like a common criminal the one who is the light of the
world. And they brought their weapons because they really thought they
were in for a major fight with the one who is called the Prince of Peace.
What a cruel misunderstanding of who Jesus was. Jesus was only guilty
of being too pure & too peaceful.
John points out to us where Judas was standing at this time--v. 5. For
3 yrs. Judas had stood along side with Jesus, pretending to be his friend
& his disciple. But, now he was choosing to stand away from him. It’s
not like Judas woke up that morning and decide to quit following Jesus.
It’s just that for 3 yrs. he had followed Jesus for all the wrong reasons.
Judas was following Jesus merely for what he hoped he could get from
Jesus. Jesus knew Judas’ real motives for following him. That’s why
a few hours earlier, Jesus had sent Judas away from the
Upper Room. And as Judas left, the Bible tells us that Satan entered
into Judas.
Please don’t think that Satan caused Judas to do what he did. Judas
can’t claim that the devil made him betray Jesus. All Satan did was
to make it easier for Judas to let his real nature out: a traitor. And
when that happened, Judas went and betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
Judas’ true nature shows us that it is possible for a person to be do
all the things that indicate they are a Christian, but in reality they
are nothing more than a hypocrite.
It is possible that some of you here this morning are pretending to
be a Christian to please your parents, or to please your spouse. Or
perhaps you may be pretending to be a Christian because you like the
unconditional love you find in a church family. Where else, but in church,
can you be accepted for who you are? Or you come because you are hoping
to get some of the blessings that God is pouring out on his people.
But in your heart of hearts, you know that Jesus is not the lord of
your life.
Judas’ life ended in tragedy. Despite all the time he spent with Jesus,
he still ended up dying in his sins. And because he refused to make
Jesus his lord, he is now spending the rest of eternity separated from
God. Don’t make the same tragic mistake Judas made.
So before we get too down on Judas, we’d better examine our own lives
as well. Judas professed he loved Jesus. Even when he betrayed Jesus,
he did it with an act that indicated that he loved Jesus. The other
gospel writers tell us that Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss, an act
of worship. And it wasn’t just a little peck on the check. Rather Judas
kissed Jesus repeatedly. The sad part about this is that Jesus has had
to endure a million of Judas kisses since that awful night.
As you look back over your life, does the actions of your life indicate
that you love Jesus? Or, like Judas, is your love for Jesus based solely
on what you hope Jesus will do for you? Is you life consumed by seeking
ways to show love to others? Or is it consumed by seeking ways to acquire
fame & fortune? The greatest act of stupidity is to think you can pretend
to love Jesus, to think you can pretend to worship him, when the actions
of your life indicate that you are standing with the crowd and not with
him.
John next takes our focus off of the tragedy of Judas to the majesty
of Jesus--v. 4-5. Notice that Jesus takes the initiative by stepping
forward and asking the crowd who they are looking for. At one time the
people were wanting to use force to make Jesus a king. The people wanted
to force a crown on Jesus before it was the right time. But Jesus withdrew
from them so he could continue his course to Calvary. And now, as the
crowd comes to force a cross upon Jesus, we see Jesus stepping forward
to receive it.
Jesus’ reply to who the soldiers are looking for is one of the most
profound statements ever made by Jesus. Jesus uses a phrase he had previously
used when he was engaged in a discussion with the Jews over their claim
that Abraham was their father. In that discussion, Jesus told them that
“Before Abraham was, I am!” (John
8:58) The Jews didn’t like this for John tells us that “At that
point they picked up stones to kill Jesus.” (John
8:59)
The reason they wanted to kill Jesus was because Jesus had taken upon
himself the title God had used when he revealed himself to Moses in
the burning bush. Jesus uses the exact same Greek words that the Septuagint
uses in Exodus ch. 3. So what Jesus is telling us this morning is that
he not just a carpenter’s son from the city of Nazareth. He is telling
us that he is God.
This is the same God who spoke and created the world out of nothing.
This is the same God who keeps the universe together by the power of
his word. This is the same God who gives us the breathe of life that
keeps us alive.
Can you imagine coming after God Almighty with mere human weapons? I
don’t care if they had brought every soldier in the entire Roman army,
they were still no match against Jesus. They were like an army of ants
trying to attack you while you are having a picnic. I don’t care how
many ants there are, if you want to, you can take your foot and stomp
them all out in just a matter of a couple of minutes. And if Jesus had
wanted to, he could have opened his mouth and a sword would have come
out and killed every one of them. We see him doing so in the book of
Revelation.
Those soldiers had come expecting a fight. But instead they came into
the presence of the glory of God. And just like all the other instances
where people are confronted by God’s glory, the
soldiers also fell at God’s feet--v. 6.
Here is one, unarmed man, against an army of over 600 men, prepared
to fight a war, and all Jesus does is say his name and the entire army
collapse. Those highly trained soldiers couldn’t even stand up in the
presence of God. When Isaiah saw the glory of God, his life was forever
transformed. For “When he heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom
shall I send? And who will go for us?’ He said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”
(Isaiah
6:5, 8) There are moments in each of our lives that if we recognize
them, they will lead to greatness. Or if missed they will alter the
course of our lives for ever. The latter happened to the people who
missed the greatest opportunity to embrace Jesus Christ as the Lord
of the universe. Instead of the people getting up and wanting to serve
Jesus, they were still hell-bent on arresting him.
Sadly, these people’s hearts were so hardened by sin that couldn’t even
see that the majesty of God was being manifested right before their
very eyes in the person of Jesus Christ. For if they had, they would
have left Judas and stood with Jesus. But there is no indication that
any of the people became followers of Jesus Christ after being knocked
over by the glory of God’s presence. Again, John is showing us that
Jesus is not some poor victim.
Rather, Jesus is the majestic victor, who has everything under control.
Jesus told us that “No one can take My life from Me. I lay down My life
voluntarily. For I have the right to lay it down when I want to and
also the power to take it again.” (John
10:17-18)
This is a good example of how hard a human heart can become even in
the presence of God. If you attend worship services on a regular basis,
where you hear again and again the truth about Jesus Christ, and you
are called by God’s Spirit to give your heart to Jesus, and if you continue
to reject Jesus Christ, I want you to know that you are in a very dangerous
condition. For God gave one of the sternest warnings when he said “My
Spirit shall not strive with man forever.” (Genesis
6:3)
Very seldom do I use the fact of dying as an attempt to get people to
give their hearts to Jesus. That’s because too many people, when they
wake up the next day, and discover that they are still alive, they don’t
live up to the commitment they made the previous day to follow Jesus
for the rest of their lives. But I do use the truth that this may very
well be your last chance to give your heart to Jesus. This means that
if right now there is a prompting deep inside of you to embrace Jesus
Christ as your lord, then you need to reach out and grab hold of Jesus.
For you have no guarantee that another such moment will ever come again.
We may very well see this truth lived out in this story. Notice that
Jesus once again asks them who they are seeking--v. 7-9. In doing so,
I wonder if Jesus is giving them one last chance to respond to what
had just happened to them. These have to be some of the dumbest people
in the world. I mean they have just picked themselves up from the ground,
yet they respond as if nothing has happened. But I believe there is
another reason that Jesus asked this question the second time.
The reason Jesus asked them this question again is to show us the love
that God has for his people. God’s passion for us is greatly seen in
his providing for us a substitute for our sins. A quick look through
the New Testament shows us that anytime the writers talked about the
love of God it is always coupled with the death of Jesus.
Paul tells us that “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ
to die for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans
5:8) John tells us “That this is love, not that we loved God, but
that He loved us, and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
(1
John 4:10) As Jesus comes forth, he is fulfilling the foreshadow
of God’s love that was seen thousands of years earlier when Abraham
took Isaac up a mountain to offer him as a sacrifice to God.
The Bible tells us that in response to Isaac’s question of “Where is
the lamb for the burnt offering?’ Abraham said, ‘My son, God will provide
for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.’ Then Abraham looked up and
saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush. So he took the ram and sacrificed
it as a burnt offering on the altar in place of his son.” (Genesis
22:7-8, 13)
In the garden, as Jesus stepped forward, he stepped forward knowing
that he himself was going to have his head caught in a crown of thorns
so he could become the substitute for all of mankind’s sin. Jesus knew
there was no other person who was good enough to pay the penalty for
our sins. He knew that he alone had to die.
When Jesus stepped forward it was an indication that he was in complete
submission to the will of his father. In the previous hours, in Luke’s
gospel, we see the humanity of Jesus as he struggled over the fate that
was awaiting him. Luke tells us that while Jesus was in the garden he
prayed, “Father, if You are willing, please take this cup of suffering
away from Me. Yet I want Your will, not mine.” (Luke
22:42) Yet as John shows us the divinity of Jesus, we see Jesus
ready to drink the cup of suffering so that it might be for us a cup
of salvation.
Notice next that even though Jesus is willing, Peter is not. At one
of the greatest moments in history, if anybody was going to do something
stupid, it was Peter--v. 10-11. Peter is either tremendously accurate
with a sword, or he is the worst swordsman in all the world. Peter was
either so accurate that in the dark he could cut an ear off, or he was
so bad that he missed a head completely. Since Peter was a fisherman,
I tend to lean towards the latter.
Here is Peter, who in a few hours later would deny 3 times that he knew
Jesus, is ready to take on a small army of soldiers. Little did Peter
realize that while he was trying to fight for Jesus, he was actually
fighting against Jesus. For it was God’s purpose, from all of eternity,
that Jesus would be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. The Bible tells
us that “Christ died for sinners so that He might bring us safely home
to God.” (1
Peter 3:18)
Peter’s problem was that he failed to see the consequences of his actions.
Instead of staying under the protective shelter of Jesus Christ, he
rushed headstrong into a situation that could have caused him to lose
his life. We do the same when we start hanging out with the wrong crowd.
Or when we start to love the things of the world, more than the things
of God. Or when you start to see how much of the world you can bring
into your life and still be a Christian.
What we all need to do, every time we are tempted to sin, is to realize
that those sins are what caused Jesus to have to drink this cup. The
cup that Jesus talks about here is the cup that is associated with judgment.
What Jesus is saying is that he is ready to take upon himself all of
God’s wrath. The wrath that we deserve for the sins we committed.
Let me remind you one more time that Jesus came to this earth for the
purpose of restoring mankind’s broken relationship with God. And we
get a snapshot view of this when Jesus restores Malchus’ ear. Yet, once
again this miracle did nothing to the crowd--v. 12-14.
Twice now they had seen some very convincing proofs to the deity of
Jesus, yet neither one of the miracles phased the crowd one iota. This
miracle didn’t even affect Malchus. You’d think if anybody would have
believed in Jesus at this point, it would have been Malchus. Yet because
of the deceitfulness of sin, not only Malchus, but the rest of the crowd,
were too blind to realize who was standing before them.
Let me close by saying that perhaps you too are looking for some kind
of miraculous sign before you will put your trust in Jesus Christ. Let
me point you to the 2 greatest miracles in the world. The first is the
people sitting around you.
Most of the people here have made Jesus the Lord of their life. And
because of that, they are no longer trapped in sin. And they didn’t
get that way by trying to do better. They didn’t get that way through
years of therapy. They didn’t get that way by reading by watching Dr.
Phil They got that way when the came to Jesus and asked him to rescue
them from their sins.
The second, and the greatest of all miracles, is the fact that the place
where Jesus was buried, no longer contains the body of Jesus. That’s
because God raised him from the dead 3 days after he was crucified.
No other religious leader has ever come back to life and he died. Buddha
is still in the grave. Confucius is still in the grave. Mohammad is
still in the grave. But Jesus came back from the dead, with the keys
to death in his hand. And he is right now offering not only the forgiveness
of sins, but also eternal life.
So if you right now are seeing the majesty of Jesus Christ for the first
time. If you are finally staring to realize that Jesus the one who loves
you so much that he died the most horrible of all deaths, just so you
can be saved. Then won’t you give your life over to Jesus.
Please, don’t be like the crowd that came to arrest Jesus that night.
They failed to see who Jesus is. And if you fail to see that Jesus Christ
is not a victim, but a victor. If you fail to see that Jesus was not
a badly mistreated human being, but the incarnated God who came to be
the Lamb of God who would die for the sins of the world, then you will
leave here without embracing Jesus as your lord. You, will leave here
and rejoin the crowd who continually wants to reject Jesus as the Savior.
I pray that your eyes will be opened so that Jesus will become real
in your life.
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