We continue in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26. We begin this morning in verse 47. Jesus is in the grove of Gethsemane with Peter, John, and James. He tells them, Get up, let's be going. Behold, the one who betrays me is at hand. While he was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a large crowd. with swords and clubs, who came from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he who was betraying him gave them a sign, saying, Whomever I kiss, he is the one. Seize him. Immediately Judas went to Jesus and said, Hail, Rabbi, and he kissed him. And Jesus said to him, Friend, do what you have come for. And then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. And then Jesus said to him, Put your sword back into its place, for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled which say that it must happen this way? At that time Jesus said to the crowds, Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as you would against a robber? Every day I used to sit in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place to fulfill the scriptures of the prophets. And then all the disciples left him and fled. Lord, we pray you'll give us understanding and impact our minds and our hearts by this, your word. So amazing as it may seem, it's still Thursday evening. How many weeks have I said that? We begin our look into God's word. It's the night before Jesus will be executed. And it has been a quite remarkable day and evening, hasn't it? Jesus has washed the feet of all the disciples. They had eaten the Passover meal, 10 courses. During that Passover meal, the Lord's Supper had been instituted. Jesus has announced to them that one of them would betray Him. And Jesus had prophesied that they would all abandon Him that night. And He's told Peter that you, Peter, will deny Me three times. Meanwhile, the chief priests and the elders of the people had been plotting to do what? To capture Jesus and to kill him. And they've paid Judas, one of the twelve, thirty pieces of silver to deliver Jesus to them. Jesus and his disciples have now left the upper room where they had the Passover meal, and Jesus has gone to this quiet grove of olive trees that was called Gethsemane. He took James and John and Peter with him, and he prayed. I asked them to stay and watch while he prayed, and they kept falling asleep. What did he pray? He asked his Father in heaven if there's some way, Father, for me not to have to go through this, then let this cup pass from me. But your will be done." Quite a prayer. Peter had boasted he'd never abandoned Jesus. Matthew's told us that all of the disciples, including himself, said the same thing. As Jesus prayed, though, He was heard by His Father. He was strengthened. He comes out of that time of prayer stronger and more at peace than when he went in. Remember, he is in dread. He is sweating drops of blood. Now, he never hesitated to go to the cross. But he was fully human. He is fully human. He became like one of us, his creatures, because he had to be one of us to atone for all that we've done against God. And he was in great dread of the whole idea of being separated from his father. Look, we were all born separated from God. All those who are not in Christ are still separated from God. All those who die not in Christ will live for all eternity separated from God. It was that that Christ dreaded above all else. But now, as Judas is coming, his fear is subdued. He's at peace and he's ready to offer himself. No one's going to kill him against his will. He's going to offer himself as a voluntary sacrifice to his father. And he's going to do it with his eyes fixed on the joy that was before him, Hebrews 12 tells us. So when his hour had come, He goes to Peter and John and James, and this is the third time, and the third time he finds them asleep. Every time they fell asleep on him. In verse 45 of Matthew 26, Jesus said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. Behold, the one who betrays me is at hand. Now, in John's gospel and in Luke's gospel, We learned that Gethsemane was a place that Jesus often went with his disciples. Judas knew the place. And Jesus knew that Judas would lead his captors there. And that's what he did. While he was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs. And they were sent by the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now remember, Judas had been aware, what we saw back a few weeks ago, that the chief priests wanted to wait until after the eight days of the Feast of the Passover, or Unleavened Bread, were over. But Judas had also heard Jesus say something else about the timing of this, hadn't he? He heard Jesus say on Tuesday that in two days there would be Passover, and that's the day he would be handed over to the Jews. Earlier that night, the same night, in the upper room, Jesus had said to Judas, What you do, do quickly. He sent him out to do it. Now, Judas did it of his own choice and under the influence of Satan. But there's almost an ironic obedience here on the part of Judas in bringing the Roman soldiers and the Jewish religious leaders to Gethsemane on that Thursday night. He apparently told the Jews where Jesus would be and that this was the night they were to arrest him. Matthew refers to Judas. How would you like to have this as your name? He who was betraying him. how he refers to him. And Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell us that Judas came up to Jesus while Jesus was still speaking. He's still speaking to the three disciples. And all three remind their readers that Judas was, quote, one of the twelve, a fact that emphasizes the gravity of his offense. He's supposed to be Jesus' friend and disciple. And Matthew also tells us Judas was accompanied by this large crowd with swords and clubs. Who is in this crowd? Well, between the four gospel writers, all of whom tell us about this and recount this event, all of the following are mentioned in this crowd. Chief priests, elders, scribes, Pharisees, temple officers or temple police, and a Roman cohort. some with torches and lanterns, some with swords and clubs. Now, a Roman cohort would have been 600 men, and there was one stationed there near the temple at the Fort Antonia. Most believe that about a third of them is what would have been sent, 200 maybe, and maybe an equal number of Jewish temple police. There were at least dozens who came out after him, armed, and maybe a couple hundred. There's mention of a crowd, but this isn't some unorganized mob. It's a large group sent by the highest Jewish authorities. This was done after consultation with the courts and with the Roman governor or at least the Roman commander. So the fact that they've got these clubs and swords means they're prepared for violence. They're prepared to meet violent resistance. And they had had to do quite a bit in preparation to this. If you think about what they had to do, first they had to find Judas, and then they had to find out where he was likely to be. And that was Judas' job, to determine where they'd find Jesus. Remember, they were afraid to arrest him in the front of the people. They had to do it out secretly, quiet, in the dark, because they feared the people. Matthew's already told us that. Now, Judas didn't know for certain where they were going, as far as we can tell, he might have, when they left the upper room, but he knew Gethsemane was a common place where Jesus went with his disciples. And he guessed right this time. But they also had to organize this posse The temple police had to be notified they had to be organized the roman soldiers had to get orders from their superiors For them to accompany remember they're accompanying jews who are in subjection to the romans The members of the sanhedrin all had to be notified They had to get their lanterns and swords together And they had to maintain secrecy because they're going to sneak up on him and ambush him Well, Matthew describes this delegation as having come, though, from the chief priests and the elders. It's an unpleasant thought for many that the Jews crucified Jesus. It's also the biblical truth. It's also the biblical truth that the Roman soldiers took great part in that great sin. Instead of welcoming Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, they sent a posse to capture him. so that they can have him sentenced to death. Next week we'll look at the trials Jesus had. Six times he's brought before authorities. So Jesus is still speaking with the three disciples and Judas walks into this grove accompanied with this massive force behind him. Imagine even just a hundred people behind you with a force with clubs and lanterns coming at you. That's what happens. And Judas does not address Jesus as Lord. What's he call him? He calls him rabbi. Hail, rabbi. Hail, teacher. You know, rabbi was the term used in Matthew by the scribes and Pharisees. He always quotes the enemies of Jesus as addressing him that way, as rabbi or teacher. And Judas, of course, lives in infamy. He is the symbol of traitorous behavior. He's the symbol of a lack of integrity, of dishonesty, of disloyalty. And here he proves to be a wretched turncoat who was really and truly unworthy of having three years with our Lord. He had three years with Jesus on earth. What would people give for that? For 30 pieces of silver, he's about to deliver over to these sinners the Son of God, the Mediator who's come to save sinners. And how does he do it? They had a prearranged signal so they'd recognize him. Now, you say, well, wouldn't they all recognize Jesus? Wasn't he famous? Well, he was pretty well known, but it's dark. They're out in the middle of this garden somewhere. Judas is the one who can get close enough to Jesus in their minds to point out where he is in this dark garden. He threw his arms around Jesus and kissed him. That's the sign. Think about that. When you greet somebody that way, what is that supposed to mean? Writers say the language implies that he showered Jesus with kisses. Think about this. Judas is acting right now, even at this point, like one who thinks he's deceiving Jesus. Does he really believe Jesus is falling for this? I think Judas actually thinks it at this point. This is a true instance of delusion attempting to conceal himself with this hypocrisy. Remember, Satan had entered Judas, we read, back in the upper room earlier that night. And the devil had so influenced Judas' mind, he seems to have actually believed that his treachery was concealed by this kiss and by these friendly words. So he comes up to our Lord and kisses him, and Jesus says to him, Friend, do what you have come for. Jesus addressed Judas as friend. Luke expresses it a little more fully, Judas are you betraying the son of man with a kiss? Jesus isn't speaking I don't believe ironically when he calls him friend. What he's doing is highlighting his disloyalty and his ingratitude. He's reminding him that from being an intimate friend who sat at his table and ate with him and listened to his teaching, he's now lifted up his heel against him. As the Psalm says, even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me. So when he calls him friend, it had to contain a sharp rebuke to Judas. By this one word, he strikes at Judah's conscience. You know, we're reminded here, whatever schemes hypocrites may use to conceal themselves, whatever pretenses they make, when they come into the presence of our Lord, He knows For any of us, our Lord knows we can't fool Him, and neither, of course, could Judas. Everything is laid bare before Him. Not merely our outward actions, by the way, but our thoughts, our intentions, and our desires. He knows, and He knew with Judas. And you know, Jesus' next words are part question and part exclamation. Jesus, in effect, is asking, You are here for this? You're here for this? I want you all to know Judas and that mob had no power over Jesus. None. Zero. And Jesus makes that clear here. You can look later at the passage in John 18 between verses 4 and 9. He delivered himself into the hands of this mob. He pointed himself out. He prevented any harm from coming to the disciples and he gave himself up. Everything he was doing here was entirely voluntary. All of it. It was an alliance of Roman soldiers and Jewish police and Jewish Sanhedrin that took Jesus prisoner. It's clear that the Jews and the Romans colluded worked together against Jesus But he was a willing prisoner Peter describes it this way look at Acts 4 27 Peter's preaching in Jerusalem for truly in this city There were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel. Who all killed Jesus? Everybody. Nobody's excluded in that description. To do, Peter says, whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur. God decreed it. God said it in Scripture, so it would happen. But they did it of their own sinful hearts. One of those then who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword. And he struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. John tells us this slave's name was Malchus. He's the slave either presumably of Annas or Caiaphas. But you know, in chapters 14 through 19, Matthew repeatedly would mention Peter as a spokesman for the group. Peter did this, and when it was Jesus coming to him across the sea, all of these times, who is it that people say the Son of Man is? It's Peter who answers. And Matthew continually presented Peter on at least six occasions as being the one who speaks to Jesus. But here, now he simply says that one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword. Matthew doesn't identify Peter here as the one who draws his sword, and neither do Mark or Luke. But John does. But only John tells us this was Peter. Now, some speculate that may have had something to do with John writing later than the other three and whether certain people were alive or not alive. I don't know if any of that's true. I think it's interesting that on this occasion, though, after making so much mention of Peter, this time Matthew does not. But the moment they move in on Jesus, Peter draws the sword and he goes right after this, presumably the one who's closest to him. Now Peter's doing pretty good in terms of his claim that he won't deny Jesus to this point. He's also doing something that's against the will of Jesus. By this point, by the way, remember Jesus had left eight of the disciples and then went farther into the garden of Gethsemane with Peter, John, and James. Now all eight have joined the three. And the disciples ask Jesus, shall we strike with the sword? They're ready to go to battle. Peter hits this slave. cuts his ear off, and Luke tells us that Jesus touched the slave's ear and healed him. Now, in the middle of all of this, here's a man with his ear cut off, here's Jesus walking up and simply touching the man's ear, his ear being restored, and that event seeming to have no effect at all on anything that's going on that night. How hardened do those hearts have to be? Pretty hardened. I couldn't help but wonder, did Peter and the rest of the disciples believe they could overpower this entire army? What were they thinking? By their false boasting that night and their conduct, it's impossible to know what was in their minds. But when they acted on impulse, they were ready to defend Jesus. When they think about it, they're going to run away. Peter's actions here. What is Jesus kept telling Peter? I'm going to Jerusalem to what? To die to be delivered over by the chief priests and the elders to the Romans to die and on the third day I'll be raised again and every time Peter hears Jesus say that he's going there to die. What does Peter say? No, Lord. God forbid Peter has been objecting to Jesus' death all along, including up to this moment. It's as though his actions here indicate that he hasn't heard or believed a single word Jesus has said regarding the purpose of his going to Jerusalem. Maybe he thought Jesus didn't mean the words he'd spoken. Well, Matthew describes Jesus' reaction to Peter's rash act. Jesus says put your sword back in its place. Tells him to sheath his sword because all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Now this is now a proverbial saying and it should not be interpreted without any qualification as if the use of the sword were always wrong. It's not. This statement does not apply in places where God says it doesn't apply. And one of those places is the government authorities enforcing the law of capital punishment for those who kill others. Genesis 9, 6. In fact, if you read this, Jesus' words here uphold the law of capital punishment. Those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. If you kill somebody and you shed someone's blood, you are to give your own. No man is at liberty to take the sword at his own pleasure or for his own desire to commit murder, but the civil authorities are God's ministers, and through them he executes judgment. And so those civil authorities, God has delegated the sword. And God permits the use of the sword in defense of self, and in defense of others, sometimes even in defense of property. But there's a qualification to this. If a man is to lawfully defend himself, he must do so without passion, without excessive hatred or desire for revenge or passion, so that there's no sinful desire mingled with the act of defense. That's why even our law provides that if you retaliate immediately with somebody who's acting against you in self-defense and use reasonable force, that's one thing. But if you have time to think it over and maybe wait three days later and then go to exact your revenge, now you've committed a crime. There's a difference. But Jesus reminds us, look, it's rare that we don't have some sinfulness involved in our retaliation, some passion, some hatred, some desire for revenge. And so he tells Peter, he should be avoiding the use of the sword. It's the old law of Genesis. It's the law of Judaism. It's what we read in Revelation 13, 10. And Jesus holds this law up to Peter. You know, we saw this. It's easy to forget what Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount, isn't it? Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the gentle. It's easy to forget what Paul writes about Jesus and Philippians, how he humbled himself. He set aside the glory of heaven. Now, he's not saying we can never defend ourselves, and he's not saying we cannot defend our families. But his own acceptance of the cross And what he's saying here are important for us as his followers. It's part of our sin nature to seek to impose our will on others. Part of the sin nature. But that, folks, is not God's way. It is not God's way. His way is the way of humility and meekness. His is the way of the cross. You know, every one of those disciples except John ended up following Jesus to their death. Their deaths didn't atone for our sins, didn't have anything to do with that. Their deaths were in defense of the truth of the Word of God. They would not deny the resurrected Christ. There's another thing here in drawing a sword. Did Peter somehow think that jesus needed his help in this situation that jesus was in some way dependent on him for aid here or as jesus asks do you think i cannot appeal to my father and he will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels don't you know peter if this is coming down to a matter of might I've got my own army here. A legion generally understood to be about 6,000 soldiers. Twelve legions would be 72,000 angels. And the number here, and I don't know why Jesus picked it, but it does kind of underline, doesn't it, the magnitude of the power that was available to Jesus if that's the way he wanted to go here. At any moment, Lenski writes, he puts it this way, at his simple word, the sky could blaze forth with a host of mighty angels whose swords could annihilate all these or any other of his enemies. We're going to come soon in Isaiah on Wednesday night to the angel of the Lord coming and striking down 185,000 of Sennacherib's Assyrian soldiers in an instant. It isn't a question of Jesus' power or ability to defeat his arresters militarily. And he certainly didn't need the help of these disciples. I mean, if you think about it, that's kind of preposterous that he needed them in terms of his defense. But look, this wasn't a matter of just who could bring to bear the greatest military power. Jesus had often demonstrated his authority over all of nature. He could command the winds and the seas. He could command demons to come out of people. He exercised his authority over diseases and sicknesses. He created science and all these laws of science. He wasn't subject to them. But there's something of far greater importance going on here. The salvation of millions of sinners who had been separated from God and who were headed for hell was at stake. That would require his death and resurrection for those people to be saved. It's only those who believe in him What Jesus was saying to Peter here was this, since I'm not appealing to my father to send me thousands of angels, it should be clear to you, Peter, that I have chosen to lay down my life as a voluntary sacrifice. He still doesn't understand it. Isn't this amazing? After three years, he doesn't understand why Jesus is here. I suspect we wouldn't have either. How could anybody really, until it had happened, and until you're inspired by the Holy Spirit and given understanding, really grasp what was going on here? Peter's rashness is condemned on one other ground, because his action was not only in opposition to the heavenly decree, but if he was successful, he would obstruct this plan of redemption. Now that wasn't going to happen, but Jesus says, how then will the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen this way. It must happen this way. There wasn't another way. The son of God had to take on flesh, become human, be fully human and fully God, or none of us were going to escape hell. There was no other way. Jesus says it right here. It must happen this way. And all of these things had long been decided by the divine will. That was what God decided in His eternal free choice. He decided to save us through the death of His Son. And His Son chose to go to that cross to accomplish this. This man died for us, folks. He died for us. And so God caused this all to be recorded in the scriptures, and because willed it and declared it, it was absolutely certain to happen. When God decides something's going to happen, it happens. How would the scriptures be fulfilled if Peter follows his plan here? Scripture should always be a sufficient bridal to subdue our rebellion against what God wants. Scripture teaches us. In Scripture, God reveals His will to us. That's what's so important about this. He reveals His truth and He reveals His will to us in Scripture. Why? For the purpose of keeping us in obedience to His will. We have to know His will in order to do His will. Now, Jesus, He didn't have any need of the Scriptures to inform Him that God had appointed that He should die the next day. He is the very Word of God made flesh. But, you see, we would have no idea what God had determined or what God wanted if we didn't have this. This is why everybody who doesn't believe the Word of God is lost. This is where He has revealed Himself, and this is where He has revealed His will to us. I hope you all believe that. Everybody's salvation depends on believing those things. What Judas and the chief priests and the Roman soldiers were doing was wrong, sinful. And Peter's defense, by the way, against those who came with the swords and clubs was maybe not in itself a sinful act. But the greater purpose here was at work, which overrode these things. The Word of God had to be fulfilled. God had declared through Jesus' death and resurrection that sinners who believed would be forgiven, would be reconciled to Him, would be delivered from hell. And if Christ's offering of Himself was prevented, so would be the redemption of every one of us. It was Satan who was encouraging Peter's sword here. Satan wanted to stop it. Jesus must drink the cup which his father gave him. That's what he said. And when he prayed in Gethsemane, he found strength, he found peace, and he was now fully determined to go forward and to do so in fulfillment of those scriptures that we read about in Isaiah 53, how brutal the punishment on him was. And so Jesus then turns to the crowds and he says, have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as you would a robber? All of the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, record these words of Jesus regarding the manner in which they arrested him. He's now captive. Jesus is now bound with a rope. And he speaks, though, without malice, without passion. His voice is very measured as we read the words. Think about this. They had come as though they were out there to arrest a violent thief from whom they might have expected violent resistance. That's why you bring clubs. That's why you bring a couple hundred people. That's why you bring swords. And here they all are armed as though they expected conflict. And Jesus, in effect, asks them all this to capture me. Every day, he said, I was in the temple. And we saw when he got to Jerusalem that week and he would go back and forth between Bethany and Jerusalem. And he committed a temple and was teaching and healing, and the kids were praising him. every day said i sat in the temple and you didn't seize me throughout the days leading up to that feast jesus had been in plain view but they were afraid weren't they they could have taken him at any time but they hadn't done so and we read it at the beginning of i think this chapter because they feared the people they feared the people but that's just the point jesus was making here All this, he says, has taken place to fulfill the scriptures of the prophets. Well, Jesus now tells the crowd that if the scriptures say it, it must happen. The purpose of God was written in those scriptures, and that purpose had inevitably come to its appointed time. These words, it must be thus, is what he says. His must is a strong term here. It had to happen. because the real forces at work that night was God carrying out his eternal decree and Jesus voluntarily putting himself into his captor's hands. That doesn't remove their guilt, but that's why this army was scoring their apparent victory. They're acting freely and they are, but in truth, they're slaves of Satan. Well, Matthew and Mark tell us that all the disciples then left him and fled. Jesus is again alone. His prophecy of verse 36 was now fulfilled. He's standing there bound with these police and soldiers, and they ran away and left him by himself. And now he's going to suffer and die to reopen the gates of heaven to sinners like us. And he's about to accomplish something only he could accomplish. The reconciliation of sinful creatures with their creator. That's what this was all about. The wages of sin is what? Death. Any sin. He's going to undergo that death for those who believe in him. He will die for them. He will satisfy the wrath of God that we are all due. We don't have a right to decide whether or not we're going to serve and obey our Creator. If we don't, we are in store for eternal punishment. Jesus had gone to Gethsemane for two purposes, we said last week. One was to pray and two, because this was the place that God had ordained he'd be taken into custody by the Romans and the Jews. And as we leave this passage, Jesus is now in custody and he's going to be mistreated and tortured and mocked and murdered because he loves us. Do you understand what he did? Do you understand what he endured so you could be rescued? Look, he didn't do this just to do it. He did it so you could be rescued. Do you understand what it is to be a Christian, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? Jesus has been answering that question all through this gospel. It's one who has been truly rescued from eternal punishment. It's one who believes in this man. who gave himself up that night to those wicked men. And true believers, please hear this, are those who have left all else behind to follow Jesus and to follow what he taught. Folks, if after hearing about what he did that night and what he's going to do the next day and meditating on these things that you're not moved by the Spirit of God to do exactly that, to surrender everything and follow him, then you're in grave danger. because it could be tomorrow for any one of us. Nothing should come before him in view of what he did and who he is. Not money, not job, not family, not anything. And so if you're still placing anything ahead of him, I pray you will repent of that sin and come to him. because our eternity for every one of us is at stake. Lord, there aren't words to adequately express thanks and gratitude for the love you've shown us. I pray, Lord, that this word this morning, as we see you in the garden alone, that it will strike every one of our hearts. We too, Lord, have rebelled against you. We didn't have to be in the garden that night to be among those who caused you to go to the cross. So, Lord, I pray that you would stir the hearts of everyone gathered here this morning to come to you in faith to surrender to you for your kingdom and for your glory. Amen. Amen.