Betrayal Kiss

Matthew 26:47-56

Betrayer’s Kiss!

Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:1-11

Matthew 26:47-56, And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people. 48 Now His betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him.” 49 Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him. 50 But Jesus said to him, “Friend, why have you come?” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him. 51 And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. 52 But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. 53 Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? 54 How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?” 55 In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, “Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me. 56 But all this was done that the Scriptures of the

prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled. If there is a more ugly or repulsive word in the English language than the word “traitor,” it must be the proper name Judas. In this text we are face to face with Judas the traitor.

On Tuesday, our Lord arose in the morning with the disciples and sent them to prepare for the Passover feast. All preparation was done, and after sunset, He with His disciples, in a borrowed upper room celebrated the Passover.

Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. Then He taught them many things recorded in John 13-16. There, He prayed for them in the great high priestly prayer of John 17. He instituted His own supper, the Lord’s table, communion.

Near midnight of that Tuesday night, with His disciples, He left the upper room, headed out of the city. They ascended the Mount of Olives. A little way up the Mount of Olives they stopped, and He taught them that they were going to be facing a terrible trial.

When it came, they would not be able to stand it, and they would defect, and they would abandon Him.

They denied it, but it came to pass. It is still Tuesday night, and now they have reached a familiar spot, the garden of Gethsemane. A garden belonging also to a resident of Jerusalem, no doubt a follower of Jesus. A garden which was at the disposal of Jesus to use on any occasion which He desired. He went there very often with His disciples, and He finds Himself there again.

As He and the eleven go in because Judas has long since been dismissed, even from before the Lord’s table was instituted, and is busy setting up the betrayal. There are only eleven now, and as He enters into the gate of the garden of Gethsemane.

Jesus tells eight of the disciples to stay at the very entrance, and they are left there. He takes Peter, James, and John, with Him deeper into the garden, in a more secluded place, and then He leaves them and goes alone to pray.

There are eight to watch and pray at the gate, There are three a little further to watch and pray and be sure the Lord has some time alone. He goes in to pray. He has three great sessions of prayer.

• Satan came at Him in three great waves of temptation.
• Satan wanted to distract Him from the cross.
• Satan wanted to do anything He could do to divert Him from dying the redemptive death of the Lamb of God, who would die for the sins of the world.

The prayer time is over. Sadly, the disciples, instead of praying, slept through it all, wearied, no doubt, by a busy week, a busy day, a huge meal, a long walk. They slept instead of praying. After that third session of prayer, the Lord comes back.

V 45-46, Then He came to His disciples and 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. 46 Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.”

While Jesus saying that, awakening them from their sleep, rousing them, not to run, but to go toward the betrayer, and the crowd that He now can see moving along the trail in the Mount of Olives, with torches burning in the night.

He speaks to them to rise and move forward. V 47, “And while He was still speaking”. All is happening so suddenly, so fast.

V 47, And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people. “Judas, one of the twelve” it says. Quite an interesting statement.

A common designation for Judas, “one of the twelve.” At first, when you look at it, it does not seem like anything very special, but it is repeated so often, you get the idea that it is special.

Mark 14:10, “And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve.”

Mark 14:20, “And He answered and said unto them, ‘It is one of the twelve that dips with Me in the dish.’”

Mark 14:43, “And immediately while He yet spoke cometh Judas, one of the twelve.”

Luke 22:3, “Judas, one of the twelve.” V 47, “Judas, one of the twelve.”

This particular designation of Judas carries with it a certain amount of disdain. The Bible writers are rather kind in the way they speak about Judas. They could say other things “Judas, that wretched, vile, vulgar, repulsive traitor,” but they do not. They are restrained.

There is an apocryphal writing entitled “The Story of Joseph of Arimathea,” and it teaches that Judas was the son of the brother of Caiaphas, the high priest. Judas, by design, was sent to infiltrate the disciples, become one of the followers, as a spy and nothing more, with the deliberate intent of bringing to pass a scheme for the destruction of Jesus.

In another apocryphal writing called “The Acts of Pilate,” there is teaching that Judas went home, immediately after betraying Christ and he found his wife roasting a chicken. Judas told his wife that he was planning to kill himself, because he was so afraid that Jesus would rise from the dead and come after him.

His wife at that time replied that Jesus would no more rise from the dead than the chicken she was roasting would jump out of the fire and crow. At which very instant, the chicken did exactly that. Judas instantly went out and hanged himself.

It is Wednesday early morning when he arrives, this Judas, after midnight. He has already gotten all the people together to bring the final plot to a climax. He had left, long ago, the presence of the disciples.

John 13:30, Having received the piece of bread, he then went out immediately. And it was night. Judas went out and it was night. Judas went out before the Lord’s table was even instituted.

Upon leaving he went out and consummated his agreement with the Jewish leaders. He had already contracted with them for money.

Matthew 26:14-16, Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. 16 So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.

This is the night. It is the time, and it is the moment. Take advantage of the night that Jesus is away from the crowds. He has gone in a private place with His disciples, He is alone with them, this is the best time.

Luke 22:3, Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. Judas schemed to get compensation for what he deemed were wasted years of following one who did not turn out to be the earthly king he thought He would be.

• Bethlehem gave the world its most loved and respected person, Jesus Christ.
• A little town called Kerioth, 23 miles south of Jerusalem, made up of a group of farming villages, gave the world its most despised character, Judas.

The two come into stark confrontation in this very passage. The disciples were sleep. They have just made a long walk and climbed a very steep hill. They ate a huge Passover meal. All those things come together, along with their spiritual indifference, and along with their sense of victory, their sense of invulnerability, which they should not have had, contributed to their falling asleep instead of praying.

They are aroused by our Lord, and while He is still arousing them, Judas arrives. Early morning Wednesday, and Jesus will be crucified. In fact, He will be in the grave before sunset. Everything is going to happen rather rapidly, in a few hours. All starts with the arrest a little after midnight Tuesday morning.

Judas inexplicably and inconceivably one of the twelve. V 47, And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people.

John 18:3, Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.

We know that behind the whole thing were the chief priests and elders. The Jews were behind it. The chief priests were those who led the religious activity of Israel. The elders were representatives from the people who ruled.

It is a combination of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of Israel, and the priesthood, the chief priests. It would be made up of Sadducees and Pharisees. They were all there. The Sadducees were the chief priests. The Pharisees, for the most part, made up the regular priesthood, and then the Sanhedrims as well.

The high priest was there, because a little later we meet the servant of the high priest, who would be a very important person, who would be the adjutant to the high priest, the highest religious office in the land. All of them were there. The sum of that would be several hundred.

John 18:3, Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops,

They had solicited the Roman detachment of troops the Greek word is Speira.

Legion is made up of 6,000 Soldiers. Speira is one tenth of a Legion. The Roman detachment of troop is of 600 men, one-tenth of a legion, which came along. They were behind it all.

• A band at full strength, 600.
• Add to that several hundred priests,
• 70 from the Sanhedrin,
• Add officers and servants.

Around 1,000 people who are marching up the side of the Mount of Olives. It was they who wanted Jesus eliminated. The Romans really had no quarrel with Jesus. Even His cleansing of the temple was limited to a very private Jewish place, and had really no impact on Roman law, or Roman authority.

Jesus did not appear to them to be any threat to Roman power. But the Jewish leaders had convinced the Romans that indeed He was. They had convinced Pilate that Jesus was like Barabbas. He was an insurrectionist and would lead to a revolution if He was not dealt with immediately.

They thereby enlisted Roman help. They were not about to go alone. They tried that in John 7. The temple police went to take Jesus and came back empty handed. They are not about to be hindered again. This time they enlist the Romans, and the Romans must have been to an extent convinced of the threat of Jesus to Roman security, and so they agreed. A crowd somewhere near 1,000, very likely, comes clamouring into the garden to take Jesus Christ prisoner.

For there is still a world of people who attack Christ, who reject Him, who will not have Him as their Lord, God, King, but see Him as a threat to be eliminated. The characteristics of that crowd that day were these. Jesus had done no crime. It was utterly unjust to take Him prisoner and execute Him.

For if the truth were known, He is the King of righteousness, and to mistreat Him, or reject Him, is utter injustice. The mob today is equally unjust, rejecting Jesus Christ, refusing Him, denying Him to be the Son of God and the Saviour of the world, is an unrighteous, unjust, unfair, inequitable act.

Jesus said He would be turned over to the hands of sinners.

An inconceivable thing that the utterly holy Son of God should be put into unholy hands, that He should be stained by the filth of the sin of those who took Him captive. Whose sinful hands held His body, whose sinful hands tied Him up, whose sinful hands beat on Him, and slapped Him, and plucked His beard, and pushed a crown of thorns on His head, and drove a spear in His side, and nailed Him to a cross.

He should be so profaned, so treated with sacrilege is inconceivable. 1. False Discipleship. V 48, Now His betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him.” Here, a fervent kiss, a prolonged kiss, a kiss of affection, an embrace is the sign of betrayal.

What kind of deranged mind would choose that? Only one possessed of Satan himself as Jesus said, Satan entered into Judas. Kissing was the mark of honour. Kissing was offered from a pupil to a beloved teacher as a sign of respect and love.

It was only to be offered to a teacher when the teacher offered it first. It was very brash to walk up to a teacher and offer a kiss, unless it had been invited by his own first embrace. But a kiss was a sign of affection, of intimacy.

Inferiors kissed the back of the hand. If above the level of a servant, they might be able to kiss the front of the hand, the palm, in that day. Slaves would kiss the feet. Those who would come in to receive mercy from an angry monarch would also kiss the feet, begging for pardon.

Great reverence was expressed by kissing the hem of a garment. But an embrace and a kiss on the cheek was a sign of close affection, warm love, intimacy, unselfish love, esteem, so that the kiss of Judas then becomes the most despicable act of all acts.

He could have kissed the hand, he could have kissed the garment, he chose to go the whole way and feign affection for Christ – not only to provide a sign but thinking in his stupidity to deceive Christ and the disciples.

The most intimate sign of personal affection is the mark of betrayal.

Ezekiel 13:19, And will you profane Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, killing people who should not die, and keeping people alive who should not live, by your lying to My people who listen to lies?”

Amos 8:6, That we may buy the poor for silver, And the needy for a pair of sandals— Even sell the bad wheat?” Here Jesus is being sold by Judas and being betrayed with a kiss. Judas is no less guilty because Jesus accomplished redemption that does not mitigate his guilt at all. That only overrides his evil. V 49, Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him. Judas went ahead, and said, “Teacher, teacher,” and kept on kissing Him. Grab Him and hang on to Him. Judas kissed Jesus. Judas intensely, fervently embraced, and affectionately kissed Him.

It is used of a man kissing his own bride. It is used of the profuse kisses of the woman who kissed the Saviour’s feet.

Luke 22:48, But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” I daresay that Judas, who is in hell at this moment, must have ringing in his ears, and will have for all eternity, “Are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss? Do what you are here to do.” I believe he will hear those last words of Christ to him forever. That statement was the farewell of Jesus to the son of perdition. That was it.

Mark 14:45, As soon as he had come, immediately he went up to Him and said to Him, “Rabbi, Rabbi!” and kissed Him. Even the words of Christ, “Are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” could not stop this deranged man.

This is the profanation of a holy act.

Proverbs 27:6, Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Psalm 2:10, Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. Kiss the Son.

This is a profaning of the holy kiss which the Son desires. He is acting like one who grieves. He is run ahead of the crowd. Perhaps Jesus will not think he is with the crowd, but maybe Jesus will think he has come to warn Him.

Maybe the disciples will think he has come to warn Him, so he is separated a little from the crowd by now, and feigned sorrow and love. Jesus endures it. V 50, But Jesus said to him, “Friend, why have you come?” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him.

Jesus said to him, ‘Companion’ – or fellow, or comrade, and then this very interesting statement. It is not the word “friend.” This is not the word Philos. This is the word Hetairos means “fellow.” He never called Judas a friend at this point. That word friend was reserved for another kind of person.

Jesus used it in John 15:15, when He said to His disciples, “I call you friends.” Remember Judas had left in John 13 itself. Judas is not a friend. He is a companion. He is associated still with Christ. He is not a friend. “Comrade, companion, fellow,” these words: “On what you are here.”

The best translation is this, “Do what you are here to do carry it out, everything is ready.”

How could He say that? Jesus just spent time in prayer. Everything was resolved in His heart. He was moving to the cross. He endured those kisses of the betrayer, and simply said, “Do what you are here to do.” The Lord does not blast him out of existence, turn him into ashes with the fire of His fury. He rather submits to this indignity and this shame.

Illustration of false discipleship.

Here is the ugliest of all illustrations: one who feigned love and loyalty, and betrayed Christ. Judas is a classic. Judas is the epitome of all examples of lost opportunity. No one ever had greater opportunity and lost it.

He is the ultimate example of wasted privilege, and he is a perfect picture of the love of money. No greater illustration of the love of money could ever be found, because there was nothing more priceless than Christ, and he sold Him for 30 pieces of silver.

He is the classic illustration of the hypocrite. He is the supreme false disciple, who loses his opportunity, who wastes his immeasurable privilege, who loves money more than the Son of God, and who is the hypocrite of hypocrites, who can betray the priceless Son of God with a kiss.

Many today are the same. They are false disciples. The church is full of them. They fake loyalty to Christ. They fake love to Christ. They pretend to care, but they do not care, and they would sell Jesus for anything else that seemed more valuable at any moment to them, and they do.

When they see that it is not going the way they thought it would, and they are not getting out of Jesus what they thought He would deliver, they will go for something else. 2. Defeat of the disciples. V 50, But Jesus said to him, “Friend, why have you come?”

Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him. After Judas kissed on the face of Christ and embraced Him, then came they and laid hands-on Jesus and took Him. After the identifying kiss, the authorities do not waste any time. The sign was the kiss, Judas gives the kiss, they act fast.

John 18:12, Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him.

The Roman soldiers, the temple police, the Jewish authorities they all did it together and they all worked together. They came and grabbed Him. They grabbed Him to tie Him up, as you would any prisoner that you wanted to take away, and not have him escape or give you trouble.

But before they could tie Him up something else happens.

Luke 22:49, When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” Lord, do You want us to fight?

Do You want to have a battle here in the garden? Scripture indicate that the Lord had a no chance to answer the question. Someone acted on it.

Guess who? Peter. V 51, And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. The Greek word Machaira, his short sword.

• Matthew does not tell us who it was.
• Mark does not tell us who it was.
• Luke does not tell us who it was.

John tells us who it was.

John 18:10, 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.

Why did John tell us? Because John was written long after this, many years after this. The gospel of John was the last one penned, and it was safe to say who it was then. It is as if the earlier writers, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, do not want to identify Peter, lest Peter come under some kind of difficulty for his act against the Jews and against the Romans in drawing a sword.

There is a certain amount of protection even accommodated by the Spirit of God in this text. When John writes and everything is by the board by then. John tells us it was Peter. V 51, stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.

John also tells us his name as Malchus, and he must have been a very important personality, like an adjutant to the high priest. Peter was not going for his right ear, but he was not that good with a sword. He was going for his head, and he ducked, obviously.

He would just get him and go through the crowd.

What gave Peter such boldness?

John 18:5-6, They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am He.” And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. 6 Now when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground. Peter had the idea in his mind, “If I get into trouble the Lord will knock them all down anyway.” He had to draw a sword and do something. After all he must keep up his reputation, and he said, “I will never deny You, I will never be offended by You, though I die first, I will never be offended.” He had to keep up his boast. Furthermore, it was just part of his impulsive nature to react rather loudly and violently to the scene. Of course, he knew Jesus was with one who could knock everybody down anyway, so he could not lose, he thought. Peter hacked off the ear of the servant of the high priest. Where did Peter get a sword?

Luke 22:36-38, Then He said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. 37 For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors.’ For the

things concerning Me have an end.” 38 So they said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” And He said to them, “It is enough.” Lord, we are ready for anything, we have two swords. Some people think what the Lord meant was that will be enough to win the battle, but obviously that is not what the Lord meant, because the Lord said to Peter as soon as he pulled out his sword put it back.

What the Lord meant by “that’s enough”? Enough of that we are not into that. Peter had no business having that sword and acting that way. Hadn’t the Lord said take your coat, and take your sword? Yes, but the Lord said that, but that is not what the Lord meant.

The Lord again was speaking to them in spiritual terms, and blockheads that they were, they saw everything only in its physical form. What our Lord intended to say was there is going to come a time when you are going to need resources, there is going to come a time when you are going to need to defend your life.

But, in the words of the Holy Spirit in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments

and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, When they pulled out those two swords and said we have got two swords the Lord said that is enough of that.

Christianity makes no advances by weapons. There are no holy wars. The so-called holy war in the name of Christ is utterly unholy. The Kingdom of God does not advance with fleshly weapons. We do not conquer that way, but with spiritual weapons, tearing down the dominion of Satan that rules and reigns in the hearts of men and women.

Peter is out of line. He is out of sync with spiritual reality here. He starts swinging his little Machaira around like a Roman soldier would swing a Rhomphaia, which is a four-foot broadsword, and cuts off the ear of this servant.

What Jesus said to Pilate?

John 18:36, Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

Christianity gains nothing by using military might! Nothing. There are no holy wars. They are all utterly unholy. Anything done like that in the name of Christ is an affront to Christ Himself, such as the Crusades, or even the terrible terrorist kind of things that go on today. Spiritual battles are never won with military power.

John 18:11, So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?” Peter reacted, cut off his ear Jesus reached out, touched and healed the ear of Malchus and gave him a brand-new ear.

This is the only miracle recorded in Scripture where Jesus heals a fresh wound. It is also very insightful because there was no faith on the part of Malchus. The miracles of Jesus were sovereign miracles. Sometimes there was faith, sometimes there was not.

Malchus just stood there, lost his ear and the next thing he knew, got another one. It was a sovereign act of Christ. Peter put away the sword.

Why didn’t the Lord allow a war? Jesus gives three reasons.

Three key words will unfold these reasons.

• a) Lethal

V 52, But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Jesus says that people who use a sword for personal acts of violence will be punished with execution. You use a sword then you will die with a sword.

Genesis 9:6, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man. You kill someone, you die. God’s law. Jesus reiterates it right here. Peter, put that thing away. You take a life, and they have a right to take your life. That is God’s divine law for the preservation of the sanctity of human life.

Romans 13:4, For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.

Why does God give a sword to the government? You do not get spanked with a sword, but you get killed with a sword. Governments have a sword to use it. God has given to government the right to take the life of murderers. Jesus is saying, “If you kill somebody, they have a right to take your life. You will die that way.”

When Paul was confronted with the law, he said, “If I have done something wrong, take my life.” He was upholding the law of God. If I deserve death, then take my life. It is an unacceptable thing for anyone to take a life.

Peter,

• I do not care if this is unjust,
• I do not care if this is unfair,
• I do not care if this is ungodly,
• I do not care what this is,

You have no right to personal vengeance, because if you take a life, you forfeit your life. It is just that simple. God-ordained law.

No Christian, under any circumstances, has the right to ever take a life, not even to defend Jesus Christ’s honour. We are not talking about self-defence and defending yourself from someone who is trying to kill you or those around you.

• b) Reckless.

V 53, Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? What are you doing with that dumb sword, Peter? If I want help, I will just tell the Lord, and He will send Me twelve legions of angels, 72,000 angels.

2 Kings 19, there was one angel who slew 185,000 Assyrians all by himself. 72,000 angels could do a lot of damage.

How foolish it is? You do not need to defend the Kingdom of God with your sword. God is not without resource. The Lord does not need that. But I am not doing that. Christianity does not need to conquer that way. God will conquer on God’s own time, and God’s own way, and God’s own place, by His own power.

Jesus voluntarily yields to the murderous plot. It is not an attack on Him outside the law. It is unjust, but they are doing it within the framework of a supposed legal approach. They are not murdering Him in the garden.

They are going to give Him a trial. It is the government of that nation, it is the law of that people, being exercised, even though it is unfair, unlawful, illegal from the viewpoint of the Lord and His disciples. It is nonetheless an act of that government.

When governments do things that are unfair, we have no right to draw the sword. If the Lord wants to deliver us, He can deliver us. If we use personal vengeance and violence, we bring upon ourselves the death penalty.

• c) Fulfilment.

V 54, How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?” Scripture says it must be this way. Jesus must be taken captive. Jesus must be led away like a sheep to slaughter, not with a war, but a sheep is led to slaughter quietly, peacefully, calmly, not violently.

• It must be like Psalm 41:9, that Mine own familiar friend has lifted up his heel against Me.
• It must be like Psalm 55, that one with whom I break bread is turned against Me.
• It must be like Zechariah 11 that I be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.
• It must be the way Psalm 22 says, with all the events of the crucifixion.
• It must be like Isaiah 53.
• It must be like Jeremiah 23.
• It must be like Zechariah 13:1.
• It must be like all the prophets said it would be.

Put that sword away, or the Scriptures cannot be fulfilled. Peter, who boasted too loudly, prayed too little, slept too much, acted too fast, was still off base. V 56, But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.

It had to be that way. Jesus gives him three good reasons not to use the sword. V 56, “All the disciples forsook Him and fled.” All is emphatic.

V 31, Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ They all fled. They fled out of fear.

By now, Jesus was tied up, being taken off. Peter, when he drew the sword, thought if he got into trouble the Lord would knock everybody over. The Lord did not do that. The Lord let Himself get tied up, and now they were afraid.

They did not trust that Jesus would deliver them, and so they probably missed out on a great miracle of their own deliverance.

Mark 14:50-52, Then they all forsook Him and fled. 51 Now a certain young man followed Him, having a linen cloth thrown around his naked body. And the young men laid hold of him, 52 and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked. A certain young man, the only place he was ever mentioned. He had a loin cloth on, and then over that he had thrown a linen cloth, which meant he probably had come hurriedly. Some people conjecture that it was the house of John Mark, but we do not know that. He threw his outer linen cloth on hurriedly to follow and be there, and there he was in the garden, and when everybody else left, he followed along.

It is hard to understand dogmatically, that is why the Lord put that little incident in there and did not tell us anymore about it. He would have had some wonderful deliverance planned for the disciples, even if they had been faithful.

But they never knew what that deliverance might have been because they fled fast at the very beginning before there was anything that could happen. The trial was too great. When the trial came and their life was on the line, they ran.

How could they do that to the beloved Son of God?

Have we done that? Have you run from the moment of trial, run from the moment of testing, abandoned Christ? They are good illustrations of a defecting disciple, of one who runs when he should stand with his Lord. 3. Defective disciple.

They were unprepared. They were sleeping instead of praying.

Why? Because they thought they were confused good intentions with strength. They confused good wishes with true courage. They were overconfident, and so they did not need to pray.

They did not need to take into heart the marvellous teachings that Jesus gave them that would have strengthened them. The promises of John 13-16, given them that very night. If they had listened to His prayer in John 17, as He prayed for the Father to hold on to them, and keep them, and uphold them to Himself.

But they did not listen with the ears that they should have listened to, so we could say they ignored the Word, and they ignored prayer, and thus they were unprepared. People defect when they are weak in the Word, and they are weak in prayer.

They were impulsive. They acted on impulse rather than reason. They acted on emotion rather than revelation. They did not think through what was right. They did not reason through what was best. They just reacted to the moment.

Out comes a sword, whack goes the ear. They are running out of the place, totally impulsive, with no sense of what was going on and what would be a proper reaction.

Many Christians who are unprepared, who are not in the Word, not saturated with biblical thought, do not spend time in communion with God and they sense the thoughts in the heart of God for a given situation. People who do not do that have to react to their impulses and their emotions and their feelings, and they run here and there, depending on how they instantly feel.

Your Christian life where your involuntary and immediate responses are godly. This only happens when you are controlled by the Word of God and the Spirit of God. The are impatient. They cannot wait for the deliverance of God.

They cannot wait to see what wonderful thing God would have done. The young man that was attempted to be captured was free, and maybe by the providence of God they perhaps, might have seen a greater miracle if they had waited patiently to see God deliver them.

There are many Christians like that. Rather than wait to see God deliver us, we take the easy route of escape, and we bring reproach upon the Saviour because we are not up to the task.

If we endured it, then we would see the delivering hand of God and give Him glory and praise. They are carnal. They are dependent on their fleshly power, weapons, and when they lose their fleshly weapons and their resources must be put back in their sheaves, they do not know where to go.

4. The triumph of the Saviour. Matthew’s special joy to preserve Christ from any diminishing of His glory, no matter how ugly the scene gets. The world hates Him and wants Him dead. One of His own, who has spent three years sells for the price of a slave.

The rest of the disciples flee and get out for their life.

What does that say about Christ? He cannot even hold on to those who are your most devoted friends when the stress is difficult.

This could look like something that tears down Christ’s glory, something that robs Him of any majesty. But on the other hand, through the words of the Spirit of God and the heart of Matthew, we see just the opposite. We see the triumph of Christ in His confrontation with the crowd.

V 49, Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him. Sometime in the moment when Judas arrives and comes to kiss Christ at that moment, something remarkable happens.

John 18:4, Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, “Whom are you seeking?” As if to say you do not need this kiss, I am not hiding. As if to strip Judas from any satisfaction that he had accomplished anything or done anything in any way meaningful or necessary. He walks right up to the crowd and ask them who do you have a right to capture?

John 18:5-6, They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am He.” And Judas, who betrayed Him, also

stood with them. 6 Now when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground. A thousand people fell over like dead fish, hit the ground, flat on their backs.

Who do you think is in control here? He says, “I am” the name of God. They just went right down to the ground. In His confrontation with the crowd, we see Jesus was in charge. Jesus was not a victim for a moment. He is not a victim.

The fact that they were allowed to stand back up again was because He allowed them to. Then He asked them again, I suppose while they were all lying there in the dirt, and if they came up the hill they were lying at a slant.

Jesus was working out the disciples’ deliverance, which deliverance they never experienced because of their impatience. He was working it out. But the amazing thing is that He had total control of that mob. But a mob is so mindless, and so

stupid, that they crawled up out of the dirt and went on with what they were doing as if it never happened. V 55, In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, “Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me.

Why didn’t you take Me then? As if He is saying to them, you know that I am not the robber, but you are. You know that you would have taken Me any day this week in the temple if you had justification for it. But you did not take Me because you knew you had no right to do this, and you feared the people.

He is unmasking their evil. They did not take Jesus in public, because they knew they had nothing against Him. They feared the crowd, who thought Him to be the Messiah. He is not the thief, they are. “This is your hour and the power of darkness.”

You are under the control of hell. By God’s sovereignty He has given hell this moment. This is hell’s day, from midnight until just after dawn on Sunday, when the tomb is burst. This is hell’s moment.

One is to show them that what they did was evil and they knew it, or they would have done it in public. Two, they were acting under the direction of Satan himself, and he had brought it to this. We see Jesus’ total triumph, even as He faces the crowd. It is God who controls it all. The crowd is a victim.

They fall when they meet Him, and they do what they do under the power of hell, because God has made it so.

Where are you in the scene? You are there, so am I, everybody is there.

Are you with the rejecting mob? Jesus said, “He that is not with Me is against Me.”

Are you one of the false disciples? Maybe you are one of those false disciples, who pretends to love God, and serve the Lord, and if you do not get what you want you are going to get something else.

Are you a weak disciple? Or are you a part of those disciples who are so weak that when the temptation gets hot, they run and lose the battle?

Are you standing with the Saviour? Or do you stand there with the triumphant Savior, victorious, willing to endure whatever comes along?

You are there somewhere!