Well, please turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew's Gospel, Matthew chapter 26, using the passion narrative in Matthew for our Lord's Supper meditation. Tonight we find ourselves in the Lord's arrest in the garden. We saw the Lord's prayer in the garden in verses 36 to 46. Last time we saw the Lord's betrayal in the garden, verses 47 to verse 50a.
And then tonight we're looking at the Lord's arrest in the garden, verses 50b to 56. And there is structurally four things going on in verses 47 to 56. You have the betrayal of Jesus or the kiss of Judas in verses 47 to 50. You have the defense of Jesus, the sword of Peter, in verses 51 to 54.
You have the assertion by Jesus of the enmity of the mob in verses 55 and 56a. And then finally, the desertion of Jesus, the flight of the disciples in verse 56b. So I'll read this section, and then we'll look at this particular passage. So beginning in verse 47, and while he was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the 12, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people.
Now his betrayer had given them a sign, saying, Whomever I kiss, he is the one. Seize him. Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, Greetings, Rabbi, and kissed him. But Jesus said to him, Friend, why have you come?
Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took him. 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. But Jesus said to him, put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to my father and he will provide me with more than 12 legions of angels?
How then could the scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen thus? 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. But all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.
Then all the disciples forsook him and fled. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for this passage.
We thank You for the events that it rehearses to us and for our Lord's passion. And God, we know He didn't go to that cross because He was a criminal, because He was a sinner. He went to that cross for us men and for our salvation. And we give praise to You for this.
We give praise to You that You have made us partakers in the benefits wrought out by our Savior. And God, certainly we see the extent to which He went on behalf of the elect that You had given to Him. And God, this amazes us, and it causes us to want to worship and to glorify and praise. So fill us with your Spirit, encourage our hearts again, forgive us for all sin and transgression, and we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Introduction
Well, as I said, we're looking at the Lord's arrest in the garden, and essentially we have the defense of Jesus or the sword of Peter in verses 50B to 54. Then we'll look at the assertion by Jesus in verses 55 to 56 when he addresses the multitude or mob, and then finally the desertion of Jesus by the disciples.
Peter's Sword: Defense of Jesus
So let's look first at the sword of Peter or the defense of Jesus. Notice the arrest indicated in verse 50B. So Judas has betrayed Him with a kiss, he's identified correctly the person that they are seeking, and now they came, it says, and laid hands on Jesus and took Him. The language that is employed, they laid hands on Him, connotes hostility. were roughing him up.
This was an arrest of one they believed or one they thought was in fact a threat to the Roman Empire. Remember, these were not Jews. These were Roman officers or Roman soldiers that were tasked with this particular event. And so they had no concern whatsoever to make people feel comfortable.
They had no concern whatsoever to make people feel okay. There was no threat in terms of them violating somebody's civil rights. They laid their unholy hands upon the one that is holy, harmless, and undefiled." And you see that contrast here, that Christ ultimately is given into the hands of wicked sinners. The Geneva Bible says, Christ is taken that we might be delivered.
And that is absolutely precisely the truth. Christ is taken that we might be delivered. And then as we look at this passage and we think about what we saw last time in John 18.6, remember we compared that passage, John's account, when we saw the betrayal. When Jesus says, I am, all the people standing there withdrew and fell to the ground.
Certainly if Jesus wanted to withstand this arrest, he was more than capable to do so. But Jesus voluntarily surrenders himself again for us men and for our salvation. He is not an unwilling participant in the redemptive work that had been given to him. But rather, as the second person of the Trinity, he carries out perfectly the covenant of redemption.
Remember, the covenant of redemption is that covenant between the persons of the Trinity to save His people from their sin. The Father elected and handed a great mass of people to the Son, the Son covenants to be the surety and the mediator on their behalf, and the Son covenants to come into this world and to exact the penalty that is due for us in Himself in order to redeem us, in order to save us. So He voluntarily surrenders to this particular mob. Now notice the action taken by Peter in verse 51.
It says, 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. Now the apostle John identifies for us the swordsman as Peter and identifies as well this man who had his ear lopped off and his name was Malchus. And when we look at this, Calvin, I think, is perceptive. He says, we are much more courageous and ready for fighting than for bearing the cross.
I'm not altogether convinced that is accurate with reference to the church today, but I think we sort of feel his point. We're far more jumping into it when there's a fight to be had rather than to bear the cross. Remember, Jesus is resolved to do the will of His Father, and the will of the Father for Jesus is that He drinks the cup of God's wrath, that He undergoes this overwhelming baptism unto death, and yet here Peter is trying to mar that. Peter is trying to stop that up.
Intriguingly, it is as a result of this particular instance that Peter is ultimately identified because the servant in the courtyard was a relative of this man Malchus. So you see, in God's providence how all of these things unfolded. With reference to the condemnation or the reproof or the rebuke by Jesus with reference to him putting away the sword, there's a couple things we ought to consider.
Christ's Concern for Peter's Life
In the first place, Jesus is concerned for Peter's life. In fact, turn to John 18. Jesus is concerned for Peter's life. John chapter 18, specifically at verses 8 and 9.
Jesus answered, I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek me, let these go their way, that the saying might be fulfilled which He spoke, of those whom you gave me, I have lost none. The use of the sword invites a reciprocal use of the sword. And the reality is, is that if Peter engages in this kind of activity, they're going to take out their swords as well.
Only they're not going to miss the headshot. These are trained soldiers. They're not going to slip up and cut off Peter's ear. They're going to cut off Peter's head.
So Jesus chides him or Jesus tells him to put the sword away because he is concerned for Peter's life. But
The Nature of the Messianic Kingdom
secondly, the nature of the messianic kingdom. We are not to advance the gospel kingdom through the use of the sword. We're not to advance the gospel kingdom through the use of weaponry. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, Paul says in 2 Corinthians, but they are mighty for the pulling down of strongholds.
We see the same sort of thing in John 18, 37. My kingdom is not of this world. If it were of this world, I would fight, or my servants, rather, would fight. And the implication is, Pilate, we would win.
We would clean up. We would decimate your opposition. But the nature of Christ's kingdom is not advanced by the sword. Royal says the sword is not to be used in the propagation of the gospel.
Christianity is not to be enforced by bloodshed and belief in it. extorted by force. So we see Peter take out the sword, take this headshot, miss, cut off Malchus's ear, and then our Lord Jesus heals him, and then our Lord Jesus then rebuked Simon Peter. And so when he rebuked Simon Peter, I think we need to think in these terms, the concern for his life, the reminder concerning Messiah's kingdom, but then as well,
The Sword's Proper Place
notice what Jesus says in verse 52, put your sword in its place. That language indicates that swords have a place, and Peter was to put it in its place. Now, you might think this is an odd sort of a distinction to make, but several weeks ago we considered the doctrine of self-defense as taught by Holy Scripture. Swords are useful for self-defense.
Swords are given to the civil magistrate to engage in capital punishment. And obviously, swords, or guns now, are given to soldiers so that they may fight in legitimate wars. There is a time to raise the sword, but it was not in this particular instance. There was a time or is a time, even presently, if we go to legitimate war, or if the civil magistrate does execute criminal offenders, or if we are tasked with defending ourselves or those in close proximity to us, we are able or authorized by scripture to use that force necessary up to and including lethal force should it become necessary to protect our lives.
But that's not what's happening here. This is the messianic agenda. Christ has to be arrested. Christ has to be taken before godless men.
Christ has to be ultimately consigned to crucifixion so that he might die in the stead of his people. So he chides Peter, he rebukes Peter, and he tells Peter to put the sword back in its sheath. Now the parallel tells us that he healed Malchus. And he heals Malchus in order to show or verify or confirm what he says in verse 55.
He's not a criminal. He's not out here fomenting insurrection. He doesn't have an axe to grind against Roman soldiers. Rather, he healed them, but as well to protect Peter, because as Peter goes for that shot, As I said earlier, the use of the sword invites the reciprocal use of the sword, and Jesus doesn't want him to die.
Jesus rather wants him to hold off so that Jesus can go as it has been prescribed in order to save his people from their sins. And before we leave this portion, we see that Peter obviously had zeal. That's commendable, brethren, not the manner in which he chose to pursue it, but it is commendable that Peter has this zeal. 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.
But Jesus said to him, put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Now with reference to zeal for the kingdom, we admire it as displayed by Peter, but we need to qualify it and make sure that zeal for the kingdom is according to God's will. It is according to God's mind. It is according to God's revelation.
Not everybody who's zealous is necessarily zealous according to knowledge. And we need to make sure that our zeal for the kingdom is tempered by the written word of the living and true God. Because it's not right to express zeal without knowledge because we'll end up doing more harm than we will do good. Calvin makes the observation, in order that our obedience may be acceptable to the Lord, we must depend on his will so that no man shall move a finger except so far as God commands.
That is a great rule of thought with reference to this issue of zeal. Not everybody who is zealous is necessarily zealous according to knowledge. Sometimes you meet people with terrible theology, and they have all of this zeal. And you want to temper or tamp down their zeal, and then we, the Reformed, have all this great theology, but we don't have the corresponding zeal.
Brethren, we of all people ought to be zealous for the glory of God most high. And by saying this, I'm not suggesting go get swords and lop off Malchus's ear. That's not what I'm suggesting. But let that zeal affect us in such a way that we do what Paul told the Philippians.
We shine as lights in a crooked and perverse generation, and we hold forth the word of truth. that we seek to promote the glory of God, that we seek to evangelize sinners in the cause of Christ, that we point men, women, boys, and girls to that one who's altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. I've often thought that the theology that even our children have If our children are taught Westminster Shorter Catechism number four, what is God? God is spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Our children reciting that probably know about 80% more theology than pastors that are presently preaching in pulpits.
We have the goods, theologically speaking. We don't use the 1689 Confession of Faith because it's wrong. We don't use it because we're narrow-minded, bigoted people. We don't use it because we're fighting fundies.
We use it because it rightly identifies those things most surely believed among us. And to be quite candid, brethren, when it comes to Reformed theology, we have the goods. We ought to have a zeal that is consistent with having those goods, and we ought not to engage in the sorts of things we see condemned here, but we ought to be zealous for the glory of God Most High. That is a good thing.
That is a right thing. That is a blessed thing. So Jesus chides Peter with reference to the function of the sword. The sword does have its place, but not in this particular context, Peter.
Remember when Peter in chapter 16 tells Jesus, may it never be, after Jesus announces that he must go to Jerusalem, he must be tried, he must be handed over to death by lawless men, Peter says, may it never be. That's when Jesus rebukes him. Peter is thinking wrongly about the messianic mission, and Christ corrects him in Matthew 16, and he corrects him here. But he not only chides him with reference to the function of the sword.
Look at what he says concerning
Twelve Legions of Angels
the assistance of his father in verse 53. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to my father and he will provide me with more than 12 legions of angels? A legion at this particular time, you look at Wikipedia, it's gonna shift in terms of numbers. At this particular time, it was roughly 6,000 troops.
So Jesus says, don't you think I could ask my father and have 12 legions of angels sent to aid and assist me? Now this is consistent with his resolve in verse 39, not my will, but thine be done. He's resolved not to ask for that assistance. But it isn't the case that he couldn't ask.
It isn't the case that that blessed assistance wouldn't be there if, in fact, the agenda was different. So Christ is not at a position of disadvantage in the sense of, these men are going to be able to do whatever it is they want. No, they are under the direction of a sovereign God. If the sovereign God of heaven and earth wanted them rebuffed, wanted them put off, if He wanted them stopped, then He could have dispatched these angels to handily deal with this particular situation.
The statement further demonstrates His resolve to do the Father's will and to show that His Father is ultimately in the control of the situation. It isn't them. They are not authoritative. They are not the final game or the final sort of stage in this process.
It is the Father who is over all these things. And then
Fulfillment of Scripture
notice what He says finally, that this fulfills the Scripture. So all of this to answer Peter in Peter's impetuousness, withdrawing that sword, going for Malchus's head, missing and hitting his ear. Jesus heals Malchus and then Jesus chides Peter. The sword has a particular function.
There is assistance available to me should I want it. But as well, notice for Jesus, it is the fulfillment of scripture that is paramount. Verse 54, how then could the scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen thus? The scriptures are obvious.
Psalm 22 speaks of the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Daniel 9, the prophecy of the 70 weeks, speaks about Messiah being cut off. And of course, Isaiah the prophet in chapter 53. It is a chapter packed filled with substitutionary atonement concerning the servant of Yahweh who would come to save his people from their sins.
For Christ, it was the honor of his father. For Christ, it was the fulfillment of Scripture, and for Christ, that meant going to these lengths in order to save us from our sins. So again, I think as we look at this, our hearts ought to be warm, our hearts ought to be encouraged at the thought that the Lord Christ went to these lengths on our behalf. Spurgeon says, neither Jewish bands nor Roman ropes could have held him captive if he had not been under the bond of a mightier force, even that eternal covenant into which he had entered on behalf of his people.
Praise God Almighty that the Lord Christ never shrank back. never stop carrying out his resolve. We see it in Luke chapter 9, when he starts to make his trek to Jerusalem, the scripture says he set his face like a flint. That's the old King James. The new King James says he steadfastly went toward Jerusalem.
Nothing could shake him, nothing could detract him, nothing could stop him, nothing could stay the hand of the Savior when he's on that mission, to glorify the Father in the redemption of his people. Praise God, we are numbered among his people. So that's the defense of Jesus.
Christ's Assertion to the Mob
Now notice, secondly, the assertion by Jesus with reference to the mob, with reference to the crowd, the multitude. Notice his question. It's rhetorical. It is designed to provoke from them or evoke from them, not so much a response, but a hearing.
Look at what he says in verse 55. In that hour, Jesus said to the multitude, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to take me? Again, it's rhetorical. He's not asking for an answer, but he is rather highlighting the insanity of this, the ludicrousness of this.
He is not a robber, and the word that is utilized here, I'm sure we've looked at before in the past, it could also be revolutionary. It could also be terrorist. It is applied to the Jewish leaders in 2123, and it is there translated as criminal, and that is 2113. So now we have the criminals who've come to arrest an innocent man.
But he says, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to take me? Notice what he then says, I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize me. You could see this play out before us today on CNN. You could see this play out before us today.
This is absolutely backwards. He's not a threat to the civil polity. He is not a threat to the Roman Empire. He's only a threat to the Jewish leadership who are motivated by envy.
They are motivated by their hatred for him. And so they have aroused these troops, they have gotten the Roman Empire essentially to sign off on this deal, and now they've come with guns blazing to arrest a man who was holy, harmless, and undefiled. To arrest a man who, in the language of the Apostle Paul, knew no sin. There was no blemish in him.
He was, in fact, the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is the nature of the rhetorical question. Have you come after me as if I'm a common criminal? I sat daily with you in your temple teaching you the scriptures.
When's the offense? What's the problem? Why are you doing what you are engaged in? He is showing the folly that was theirs.
The Lord was not fomenting or thinking through or hatching this plan to overthrow the civil authority. The Lord was present in their temple teaching the Word of God Almighty. And it underscores the contrast between his nonviolent mission in saving his people from their sins and the violence that had to transpire in order for him to be able to do that. He had to die in accordance with the prophets.
He had to die according to the father's plan. We know that the prophet Isaiah says it pleased Yahweh to crush him, to put him to grief. Why? Again, for us.
If the table reminds you of anything, may it remind you of the great love wherewith He hath loved us, the blessedness, the goodness, the kindness, the compassion, the mercy and the grace of our Lord Jesus, that He goes through this. Brethren, we wouldn't do that. We'd say, I'm an innocent man. You have framed me.
I don't understand why you're putting a nice guy like me through this kind of stuff. Praise God that Jesus didn't have that mindset. Praise God that Jesus was willing to submit to the Father's will at every step of the way, in every jot and tittle, even to the extent that unholy hands were laid upon him, that charges were laid upon him that were simply not true, and that ultimately he would be drawn up on a cross and crucified for us and for our salvation. And notice in terms of his response, again, his appeal to scripture.
He says in verse 55, I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and you did not seize me. But all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Calvin says he was not dragged to death by external violence, except so far as wicked men carried into execution the secret purpose of God. It's an intriguing study, brethren.
We know that the hypostatic union of our Lord Jesus highlights the true divinity of Christ, second person of the Trinity, assumes our humanity with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof and yet without sin. So he is true divinity, but he's also true humanity. Look at the gospel of Luke for just a moment in Luke 2. Luke chapter 2.
Verse 39, so when they had performed all things, according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city Nazareth. And the child, this is Jesus, grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. And then notice in verse 51, then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them, but his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.
This increase in wisdom was not according to his divinity. There is no increase in wisdom for God. It is according to his humanity. And good commentators and good theologians have reflected upon the reality that Jesus as a young man, Jesus as a boy, when he spent time reading scripture, he was reading about himself.
It was informing him. It was filling the messianic consciousness of our blessed Savior. such that he was learning as he went along, again, according to his humanity, those things that would affect him. He understands this, he knows this, and he appeals to this reality in this particular setting. He does it elsewhere as well when he highlights the necessity that the Scriptures be fulfilled, but he does that here.
He says all of this occurs because God is sovereign, He has spoken through the prophets, He has given me my marching orders, and these things must come to pass in order for God to be glorified and in order for sinners to be saved. It really is glorious stuff that we see here. And then
The Disciples' Desertion
notice finally the desertion by the apostles. This is the most grievous passage of Scripture. Then all the disciples forsook him and fled. Let's look at their previous allegiance.
Go back to Matthew 19. Matthew chapter 19. or the statements of their allegiance. Matthew 19 at verse 27. And then look over at Matthew 20.
Matthew 20 specifically at verse 23. So he said to them, you will indeed drink my cup and be baptized in my name, be baptized with the baptism rather that I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by my father. So in that, Jesus is asserting they will continue with him to the end. But in this instance, they desert him.
We know that Simon Peter had announced his willingness to even die with Jesus should it be necessary. Look at 2633. But Peter answered and said to him, even if all are made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble. Well then we see Peter, along with the rest of the disciples, forsook him and fled.
They left him. At his hour of desperation, again according to his humanity, in his hour of greatest need, his closest friends abandoned him. He's kind of like that scapegoat. Remember the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement?
You had two goats in that formality or in that ritual. You had the one goat that was cut. You had the one goat that was slain. You had that goat whose blood was then taken and carried in to the Holy of Holies and poured on the mercy seat for the sins of the people, for the sins of the high priest.
And then there was that other goat, and the high priest took his hands and he laid his hands upon that goat, I was going to say the high goat, no it was just the low goat, and he confessed the transgressions of Israel, and then he sends that goat out into the wilderness all by himself. He expiates, or he carries away the sin of the people of Israel. Christ is alone on the cross. Christ does not have the benefit of friends and neighbors and close associates that are trying to help Him.
Christ is doing what He does as the alone Savior for sinners. This is why the angel announces, it is He who will save His people from their sins. And the fact that the disciples forsook Him and fled is most grievous. But before we rise up and wag our fingers at them and say to them, how dare you do that to our beloved Savior?
I love what Spurgeon says at this point. He says, human nature is such poor stuff, even at the best, that we cannot hope that any of us would have been braver or more faithful than the apostles were. Now, we may look at this and say, oh no, I would never do that. Peter does that thing in 2633.
We're not talking about, you know, years ago, Peter, remember years ago you said that? This is all happening within the Passion Week. In fact, we're still on the same day. as when Peter has said, I will die with you if need be. Do you see how bad, how quick, how easy it is to flip and to validate what Spurgeon says here?
Human nature is such poor stuff, even at the best, that we cannot hope that any of us would have been braver or more faithful than the apostles were. So before we rise up and wag our fingers at them, let us pray to God Most High to give us the grace and to keep us so that we won't deny, so that we won't desert, and so that we won't depart the Savior who never departs, who never deserts, and who has never denied us and has covenanted never to do so. I will never leave you and I will never forsake you, saith the Lord God Most High. We by grace need to say the same thing, praying to the Father that He would keep us by the power of the Spirit so that we would not decline with reference to our spiritual place before a holy God and deny Him to heathen, deny Him to pagans or to atheists.
Application
In conclusion, I want to draw out a few things.
Warning: Proximity Is No Guarantee of Grace
First, the warning in the text, Judas and the disciples. Judas and the disciples, Judas had close proximity to the Savior and yet he betrays Him. Judas had close proximity to the Savior and yet he betrayed Him. So we ought to glean from this or we ought to derive from this that external position that we assume in proximity to Jesus is no sure indicator of grace in the heart.
Just because we go to church, just because we own a Bible, just because we go to sermon audio, just because we listen to, you know, a lot of good preaching, doesn't necessarily mean. It isn't proximity in terms of locale, it is rather grace in the heart that is absolutely crucial and necessary. As well, the privilege we possess in the service of Christ is no clear indicator of grace in the heart either. We have no reason whatsoever to not believe that Judas did the same sorts of things that the other 11 disciples did.
There's nothing in the text that would keep us from believing that when the disciples were sent out by Jesus to preach and to heal and to cast out demons, that only 11 of them were doing it. No, Judas had that same privilege. So again, the privilege that we may possess in the service of Christ is no true indicator of grace in the heart. You talk to people sometimes.
Are you a believer? Will I teach Sunday school? Are you a believer? Will I go to Sunday school?
Are you a believer? Will I go to church? It's all this stuff that is out there. What it's truly about is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So we can't take proximity to Jesus or privilege with reference to Jesus as necessary indicators that there is grace in the heart. And then the theological comment concerning Judas' apostasy in John 18. John 18 5 tells us, and Judas who betrayed him also stood with them. Henry, Matthew Henry says, he that used to stand with those that followed Christ now stood with those that fought against him.
This describes an apostate. He's one that changes sides. He herds himself with those with whom his heart has always been and with whom he shall have his lot in the judgment day. You see, that little statement that Judas who betrayed him also stood with them is an indicator of the apostasy that this man underwent.
Again, proximity to Jesus was no sure indicator that there was grace in his heart. Privilege in the service of Jesus was no sure indicator of grace in the heart. The only sure indicator of grace in our hearts is what do we think of Christ? If we believe on Him, if He is our Lord and our Savior, that is the sure indicator of grace in our heart.
It isn't the mighty exploits that we undertake, it isn't the privilege that we enjoy, it isn't the proximity that we possess, it is rather the reality by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone. So we've got the betrayer, and I'm sure we covered this in the betrayal last time, but I thought it bared repetition. Study Saul, king of Israel, to see what apostasy looks like. Study Judas, one of the twelve, to see what apostasy looks like.
But with reference to the disciples, the apostle Peter takes up the sword and is rebuked by Christ. Again, we can commend Peter for his zeal, but it must be zeal with knowledge. It cannot be an ungoverned, untempered zeal. We're not the arbiters.
We're not the final authority. We don't have the wherewithal and the wisdom to rightly judge what action we ought to take. We ought to be prayerful and mindful to the divine will as revealed to us in both the Old and New Testament. We have this statement in verse 56, then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.
Brethren, let that be a warning sign to each and every one of us. All the disciples forsook him and fled. What a miserable statement. Now, praise God, there is forgiveness with him that he may be feared.
Remember, when Peter is speaking with Jesus and Jesus tells him that Satan has desired to sift him like wheat, Jesus says, but I have prayed for you. And then he tells Peter, and when you return, Jesus knows that Peter is going to do this, but when you return, strengthen your brethren. Don't be the sort of person that indulges that mindset that when it gets going tough, I'm going to just run off. No, you need to be faithful and strengthen the brethren.
And then the twelve had been the closest to him, heard the most of his teaching, and obviously, at least at this point, did not respond accordingly. They fled, they forsook, they left. Brethren, all of the knowledge of the scripture, all of the theology of our confession of faith, we need to pray at home. We need to ask God to make it practical.
We need to ask God to make it experiential in our lives. It can't simply be up here without affecting us in our day-to-day actions. We need the grace of God consistently and the Spirit of God working in through and by His Word to keep us on the right track and to keep us faithfully persevering to the very end. Let us guard against the tendency to overestimate ourselves and let us continually watch and pray.
Simon Peter, in 2633, overestimated himself. I think there's a place for resolve in the Christian life. I see it in Psalm 119. I think there is a place for resolve in the hearts of God's people to say, if somebody puts a gun to my head and asks me to renounce faith in Jesus Christ, that is not going to happen.
We need to have that resolution in peacetime so that we're prepared for wartime. But brethren, that resolution is not according to our own strength. It's not according to our own ability. It's not because we're great and powerful beings.
It's rather God, I make this resolve asking you to bless it and to bring it to fruition and to help me stay on the right path should it come to that place where persons are asking me to deny my Savior. May it never be, Lord God, and may you keep me such that I would never engage in such a horrific activity of denying the Savior. We've got this warning in the text. We've got as well this reminder in the text.
We've already covered it. I'll just repeat it. Zeal based on knowledge.
Zeal According to Knowledge
zeal based on knowledge. Oh, that every one of God's people had a great level of zeal. But may it always be according to knowledge. May it always be according to good theology and to scriptural teaching.
Again, sometimes you'll meet these people that their theology is about that deep, and yet they have all this zeal for the Lord, and it's wonderful and admirable to see it in its display, but then as soon as they start to talk and betray the reality that they only have a tiny bit of understanding of Scripture and theology, it's sad and unfortunate. We in the Reformed, we have a lot of good knowledge. May we pray for the zeal that is consistent with it. And then
The Glory of Christ's Resolve
thirdly, we have the glory of Christ in the text. He doesn't rely on Peter and he doesn't rely on the Father sending 12 legions of angels to deliver him. The Lord Christ is resolved. The Lord Christ set His face like a flint.
The Lord Christ is not going to be stopped in His pursuit of the salvation of His people. He always acts according to the Father's will as revealed in the Scriptures. Again, when he's a young man and he's reading the prophet Isaiah, he is reading what is in his future. He is reading the prophet Jeremiah, he is reading Daniel 9, and he is reading and understanding what is in his future.
This is why he invokes or appeals so often to this scripture is fulfilled motif because he is consistent in obedience to the Father. He voluntarily surrenders to the mob and he carries out the mission entrusted to him by the father. Listen to one commentator. He says, the narrative conveys sorrow through irony.
Judas is no stranger but one of the 12, verse 47. The crowd has swords and clubs, verse 47. While the man they seek resists not evil. While the man they seek resists not evil, and Jesus' own disciples, instead of standing by him, forsake him and flee.
At the same time, the sorrow is balanced by Jesus' authority and the motif of fulfillment. The Messiah's fate is his own will. He decides not to ask for legions of angels. Moreover, His resolution is determined by the voice of the prophets, which is to say Jesus' will is God's will.
He conforms to what the Father had given Him in that covenant of redemption to effect for us the covenant of grace by going to these lengths to save us from our sin. And before we close,
Kiss the Son: Psalm 2
we ought to think of one other place in the scripture where we are told to kiss the sun. We see the kiss of the betrayer in this particular passage. But there is a passage in Psalm 2 wherein David calls upon the kings and the authorities around Israel and says to them to kiss the sun. That kiss is not a kiss of betrayal.
That kiss is the kiss of faith. That kiss is the kiss of homage. That kiss is the kiss of worship and praise and adoration. So let us not be the betrayers of Jesus with Judas' kiss, but the worshipers of Jesus, complying with King David's instruction.
And the end of that psalm is most instructive. Psalm 2, verse 12 tells us, 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. There is a three-point sermon in that text, and here I'm stealing, borrowing, plagiarizing.
I guess it's not plagiarizing if I tell you it's Spurgeon. There is first of all a command, kiss the son. We are going to take the bread and we are going to drink the cup because God has saved us from our sins. If you are not able to take tonight because God hasn't saved you from your sins, then listen to David and kiss the sun.
Believe on him. He is most glorious and willing Savior for sinners. There is an argument in the text, and that argument is, lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. So here's the command, kiss the son.
Here's the argument, lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. We're heading to a time when his wrath will be kindled a lot. We're heading to the final judgment. We're heading to that day wherein we must give an account of deeds done in the body, whether good or ill.
We know for the righteous, who are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, who have been forgiven of sin, they will go into the presence of God Almighty. They will enjoy beatitude and blessing for all eternity. When we've been there 10,000 years bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. Do you know that 10,000 years is chump change?
It's a drop in the bucket? When we talk about eternity? We can't even quantify it because we have creatureliness running through us and it prohibits us from understanding what it is to enter into eternity. So the righteous enter into bliss, heaven, that wonderful place wherein righteousness dwells and where Father, Son, and Spirit are.
But the wicked will be condemned. The wicked will be cast off. We read it in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 25. Depart from me, for I never knew you, into hell which was prepared for the devil and his angels.
See, that's a good argument in the text. Kiss the son. Why should I kiss the son? Lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.
Imagine the wrath of God kindled a lot in that final judgment where he deals out retribution on all those who know not God and on those who do not obey the gospel. And then the third point of that sermon is a benediction. A benediction is a good word. And it says, blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.
So the argument is, lest he be angry. And then the benediction, the positive argument is, blessed are all those who put their trust in him. There's not blessedness outside of Jesus. I mean, there may be a temporal enjoyment of creaturely goods.
You may have a nice steak. You may have a glass of water. You may have a sunny day or a rainy day or a day at the mountain, you know, to snowboard. There are those temporal benefits that God in His grace and goodness gives to His creatures as creatures.
But blessedness, peace with God, comes only through our Lord Jesus Christ. So listen to David. Listen to Spurgeon's handling of David. The command, kiss the son.
The argument, lest he be angry and you perish in the way. And the benediction, blessed are all those who put their trust in him. That is where true blessedness lies. And again, as we eat this bread, as we drink this cup, let us rejoice that we are blessed in the beloved.
And if you are not a believer, kiss the son. Come to the Savior because blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for this section. As scary, as terrifying as it may be to see the disciples forsaking and fleeing from Jesus, to seeing one of the twelve betraying Jesus, but it's such an encouragement to see what our Lord went through on our behalf. His steadfastness, His willingness to set His face like a flint, even to the very end, even to bear the wrath and fury and judgment of God Almighty on that cross.
What a glorious Savior we serve. And certainly King David is right. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. Lord, put the fear of God in the hearts of men, women, boys, and girls here tonight.
Give the graces of faith and repentance so that sinners may kiss him and may find joy being in the presence of that one who is altogether lovely, that one who is chief among 10,000. And we pray in his wonderful name, amen.