What would cause a division of fully armed soldiers to fall back in fear? Stay tuned, Renewing Your Mind Weekend Edition is next. Welcome to this weekend edition of Renewing Your Mind with author and teacher Dr. R.C. Sproul. Dr. Sproul is also the Senior Minister of Preaching and Teaching at St. Andrew's, a Reformed congregation in Sanford, Florida. During the night Jesus was betrayed, intense drama played out in the Garden of Gethsemane. There were two separate groups of men centered on Jesus. Both of them gripped with fear. First, there were the disciples who were with Jesus since the beginning. Then, there were the soldiers who came to take Jesus away. Although Jesus went peacefully with his captors, the arrest was not without incident. Today on Renewing Your Mind, we're continuing our way through the Gospel of John. Dr. Sproul will take us back to the night Jesus was arrested to observe a peculiar yet often overlooked event. Here is our teacher with today's message, the arrest of Jesus. We've been studying the Gospel of John. We've just finished the upper room discourse that ends at the end of chapter 17. And chapter 18 begins with John's record of the passion of Christ that begins with his arrest in Gethsemane. And so this morning I will be reading from chapter 18, verses 1 When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place. For Jesus often met there with his disciples. And then Judas, having received a detachment of troops and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus, knowing all things that would come upon him, went forward and said to them, whom are you seeking? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said to them, I am he. And Judas who betrayed him also stood with them. Now when he said to them, I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground. Then he asked them again, whom are you seeking? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I've told you that I am he. Therefore, if you seek me, let these go their way. Let the saying may be fulfilled which he spoke of those whom you gave me. I have lost none.' And 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. And so Jesus said to Peter, put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which my father has given me? Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. And they led him away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. Well, it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. He has ears to hear the Word of God, let them hear it. So, we read that he went out from the upper room with his disciples over the brook hadron where there was a garden which he and his disciples entered. And Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place. For Jesus often met there with his disciples. Now that little detail is significant. Jesus in the upper room had said that Judas was going to betray him. He dismissed him to that diabolical task. He said, whatever you have to do, do quickly. Now Jesus knowing that when Judas left, he was headed for the authorities to commit his act of betrayal. You would think if Jesus were trying to escape this arrest that he would have gone anywhere else than to a common place of staying that he knew perfectly well Judas was aware of. It's only natural that when Judas gets his payment from the authorities that he would lead the arresting officers to this place near the brook of Kidron where Jesus frequently met with His disciples. And so Jesus, in a sense, almost goes out of His way to be apprehended. And that will be significant, I hope we will see in a few moments. And so we read, that Judas, having received a detachment of troops and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Lanterns, torches, and weapons. Now notice that John tells us There were two groups of people that came here with Judas for the purpose of arresting Jesus. The first group is called simply a detachment. And then the second group refers to the temple police that the authorities from the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees would send out. So what we have here is a joint operation between the Jewish authorities, the temple police, We don't know how many of those were in this number, and the Romans. Now normally, the Romans didn't have a large garrison of troops in Jerusalem. The soldiers of Rome were stationed in Caesarea. But they would come to Jerusalem at the time of the feast because hundreds of thousands of Jews from all around the region would flood into Jerusalem for the Passover. And in order to ensure riot control and to protect against a local insurrection, the Roman authorities would send a detachment of troops and house them in the Antonia housing facility right next to the quarters of Pontius Pilate. Now we know that. We also know that a detachment of Roman soldiers on paper numbered 1,000 men. A thousand soldiers ruled over by what was called a chiliarch, However, that normally they wouldn't have a complete complement of the paper numbers, and so the estimates are that on this occasion the troops that came out to arrest Jesus of Roman origin would be somewhere between six and seven hundred soldiers. Add to that the temple police. and you get some picture of what is going on here in the darkness of the night when almost a thousand men are sent out to capture one man. I don't know if you understand the size of a group that large, but if you look around the room here, there are about 500 people in this room right now. Imagine each one of you was a soldier, and each one of you had a torch or a lantern. So from long before this entourage of arresting officers came to the place where Jesus was waiting for them, they could hear them coming and obviously they could see them coming because they were carrying these lanterns and torches and they could hear the clanging of swords at their side. So this is larger than any swat team that you can ever imagine that is coming out now to arrest our Lord. So we read the account. Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that would come upon him, went forward and said to them, whom are you seeking? He didn't fall back into the shadows. He didn't hide behind his disciples. But Jesus takes the initiative, steps up to the front, greets these soldiers that they come and said, who are you looking for? And they say, Jesus of Nazareth. And there's Judas standing right there with them. And Jesus says, Ego imi. Have you heard that before? Throughout John's gospel, we've looked at the I-ams of Jesus, I am the door, I am the vine, I am the way, the truth, and the life, how that Jesus uses that structure of the language, which literally means I am, I am, or I, I am, which is the way the Greek translates the sacred name of God, Yahweh, in the Old Testament Hebrew. And so when now they're looking for Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus does it again. He says, egoimi, I am. And as soon as he says it, there's a remarkable reaction. Listen to what it says again. Now, when he said to them, I am he, they drew back. and fell to the ground. This mass of soldiers, when they confront Jesus, and Jesus says, I am He, they retreat. They fall on the ground. There were two groups of people that night who were terrified. The first group were the disciples. You can imagine the fear that enveloped them when they heard the swords clanging, when they saw the lanterns moving, they saw the torches approaching, they know that the arrest of Jesus and His followers is imminent and they've got to be shaking in their booths. But the group that was more afraid than the disciples were the soldiers. Remember, this is the Jesus who they had tried to arrest before, and He walked right through them. And because they thought they had Him outnumbered Let's assume, as many of us, a thousand soldiers. A thousand to one. Doesn't this remind you of Moses between Migdal and the Sea? Doesn't this remind you instantly of the situation of peril that Elisha found himself in at Dothan when he was surrounded on all sides by the soldiers of the enemy? And to the naked eye, for Moses it was hopeless. He looked behind him and he sees a sea in front of him. He sees a sea of chariots behind him. And Elisha's servant says, my Lord, Elisha, do something. We're surrounded by these chariots in the east, the west, the north, and the south. Elisha says, calm down. Don't you know that those who are with us are more than those who are against us. And Elisha's servant looks out the window, and he sees all this horde of chariots. And he looks at Elisha, and he says, one, two. And he says, you don't get it, Elisha. And Elisha says, Lord, open his eyes. Let him see beyond the veil. Let him see reality as it is at this very moment. And God opens the eyes of the servant of Elisha, and lo, chariots of fire, myriads of angels round about Elisha, and they put the Syrian soldiers to rout, just as God drowned the army of Egypt. in the Red Sea. Now, we know throughout the life of Jesus that his every move is attended by the angels from heaven. You don't think Jesus knew that he was surrounded at that moment by the heavenly host? And why is the heavenly host called a host? Not because it's an emcee to a banquet The term host here means army. He knew the word of God, that God would give his angels charge over him, and Jesus knew at the moment of his arrest, after he had gotten off his knees from that agonizing prayer in the garden, Jesus knows all he has to do is say the word. And every one of those soldiers would be destroyed. And it's almost as if they understood that too, because they've never encountered anyone like Jesus before. So when he says, I am he, they fall back. What's he going to do? But he doesn't call on the angels. He asked them again, who are you looking for? Whom are you seeking? And again they replied, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus said, I've told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way, that the saying may be fulfilled which He spoke, of those whom you gave Me, I have lost none. Here I am, Jesus. I am the one you're looking for. Let these other men go. You don't need them. I'm the one you're after. Right now, Jesus is not concerned for Jesus' safety, but He is concerned for the safety of His disciples. Then Peter, the impetuous one, takes out his dagger, which is really what it was, more of a dagger than a sword, and takes a wild swing at one of the guards, cuts off his ear. Good aim, Peter. obviously wasn't very skilled in a dagger. John's the only one who tells us the name of the man. The other gospel writers tells us that Jesus put the man's ear back on before he rebuked Peter and told Peter, put your sword away. Now do you see what's happening? Jesus says, calm down Peter, put your weapon away. He says to them, you don't need your weapons. Take me away. Now in theology, when we talk about the work of Jesus by which we are redeemed, we talk about the obedience of Christ, which is the basis for our salvation. And when we talk about the merit of Christ and the righteousness of Christ and the obedience of Christ, we make this distinction in theology that I think is a very important distinction, one that's often overlooked, between what we call the active obedience of Christ and the passive obedience of Christ. I've said to you many times before that both are necessary. If Jesus would have come down from heaven on a parachute, gone straight to Golgotha, gone to the cross, paid for our sins, that would not be enough to save us. The cross pays the negative penalty that we deserve. But in God's covenant with His people, God required, A, that sins be punished, B, that true righteousness be achieved. And it's not only that Jesus died for our sins, but he also lived the perfect life of obedience for our justification. He earned the righteousness that you need, that you don't have, that I don't have, in and of ourselves. Jesus had to earn that. That's why he's born as a baby, and he grows up under the law, and his sinless life is absolutely essential to our justification. That is, he has to act out obedience to the law of God. We saw that at his baptism when John didn't want to baptize him and Jesus said, you have to baptize me. It's necessary, why? To fulfill all righteousness. So Jesus spends 30 years or so actively obeying every law that God had ever given, not only to the human race in general, but to Israel in particular. That's what we mean by His perfect, active obedience. But when we talk about His passive obedience, We talk about that obedience where he is not acting to acquire righteousness, but rather he's allowing himself passively to be the victim of our guilt. And his passive surrender to this punishment doesn't start at the cross. It starts the minute he gets off his knees in the garden of Gethsemane. That's when he takes the cup and he acquiesces to the vocation that the Father has set before him. And now he stands and says, here I am. I'm the one you're looking for. He's assenting, surrendering, acquiescing in obedience to the Father. to be our substitute in his death. And so he makes no attempt to flee. He will not allow his disciples to fight. Rather, he says, take me away. Like the lamb that is led to the slaughter. he opens not his mouth. Like the lamb before the shears is dumb, so passively Jesus goes to his rendezvous with death. Put your sword away, Peter. Shall I not drink the cup which my Father has given me." Jesus doesn't care about the priests or the Roman soldiers. He's not there to obey them. He's there to obey His Father, to drink the cup. And so they take Him. They bind Him. And they led him away first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. You remember it was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the nation. You're listening to Renewing Your Mind, Weekend Edition with R.C. Sproul. Even in times of great suffering, we can have a peace that passes all understanding. Where do you turn in your time of suffering? Are you seeking only to know why you are suffering, or are you seeking to know the God who controls and directs all suffering? Dr. Sproul reminds us that the time is coming when the full blessings of Christ's Kingdom will be ours, and our suffering will be finished forever. To help you understand suffering in light of eternity, we're offering a six-part CD series by Dr. Sproul entitled, Surprise by Suffering, for a gift of any amount to the ministry. To get your copy, call our toll-free number, 1-800-435-4343. Again, that's 800-435-4343. or visit rymoffer.com. That's R-Y-M as in renewing your mind and the word offer dot com. That web address is for this week's special offer only. In the Surprise by Suffering series, Dr. Sproul addresses the most difficult struggle in human experience, the problem of pain. He demonstrates that God is ultimately involved in our suffering and does not leave us or forsake us. To get your copy of Surprise by Suffering, call 1-800-435-4343. Again, that's 800-435-4343. 435-4343 or visit rymoffer.com. That's R-Y-M as in renewing your mind and the word offer.com. We're out of time for this edition of Renewing Your Mind. Thank you for listening. Join us again next weekend as Dr. Sproul continues to take us through the Gospel of John. Until then, join us on Facebook at facebook.com slash Ligonier. You're listening to Renewing Your Mind Weekend Edition, the listener-supported radio outreach of Ligonier Ministries in Orlando, Florida.