(43) And immediately, while he yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. (44) And he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and lead him away safely. (45) And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him, and saith, Master, master; and kissed him. (46) And they laid their hands on him, and took him. (47) And one of them that stood by drew a sword, and smote a servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. (48) And Jesus answered and said unto them, Are ye come out as against a thief, with swords and with staves to take me? (49) I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took me not: but the scriptures must be fulfilled. (50) And they all forsook him and fled. (51) And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him: (52) And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.
I beg the Reader to observe, and to observe with the awakened attention so infinitely an interesting subject merits, the order in which the LORD JESUS proceeded in this business. The agonies in the garden were finished, the temptations to be endured there from the powers of darkness gone through; and now the LORD JESUS as one hastening with holy zeal to the close of his sufferings, calls upon his disciples to arise, and go to meet the traitor and his party for the execution. Reader do not overlook this! Remember it is one of the great features in the merits of CHRIST's death the freeness and voluntary offer of the LORD. See John 10:17; Psalms 40:6-19. He had said before to Judas at the table, that thou doest do quickly. But no man at the table knew for what intent JESUS said this unto him. John 13:27-28. But we may learn from it, that it shewed the promptness of CHRIST's heart to the work. And though he knew the sorrows which it must induce, yet, for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despised the shame. Yea, JESUS called the time, the hour of his glory. And as soon as the traitor had left the company, Jesus declared that he was now glorified. See John 13:31-32. Reader! do not over look these precious traits of character in the person of thy Redeemer!
I request you never to lose sight of those two grand points, in the sufferings and death of the LORD JESUS. The one is, the infinite dignity of his person, GOD and Man in one. The other is the free-will offering of the LORD. Behold him under these views coming forth from the garden to meet the traitor, and crying out, Rise up! let us go! lo! he that betrayeth me is at hand.
It is a matter worth attention also, to observe how the traitor came, with a band of armed men. To take whom? The meek and lowly JESUS, in whose mouth was found no guile, and who when he was reviled, he reviled not again. But we must not overlook in this the LORD 's hand. Here was JEHOVAH's purpose in all this. The HOLY GHOST, by the Psalmist had prophesied, that both the heathen should rage, and the kings of the earth with the rulers take counsel together against the LORD, and against his CHRIST, his anointed. Psalms 2:1-19. And here it is: Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Roman soldiers, all Gentiles, or as they are called, the Heathen, shall have their hand in the death of CHRIST, as well as the rulers of the Jews. And where fore? Surely, because CHRIST died, both for Jew and Gentile; and therefore both shall be involved in the guilt, as CHRIST is JEHOVAH's salvation for both to the ends of the earth. Isaiah 49:6.
As the season of the Passover was nearly, if not at the time of the full moon, unless it was a cloudy night, it should seem that they could not have needed lantherns; but yet the Evangelist John, in his relation of this circumstance, of Judas and the band, saith, that they came with lantherns and torches and weapons. John 18:3. And it is further remarkable, that not only the Roman soldiers, but the party which came with them, should be so ignorant of CHRIST's person, that Judas should think it necessary to give them a token, by way of discovering the LORD JESUS. But I rather think, that the horrible state of the traitor's mind was such, that though he had sold himself to this most detestable deed, yet his sense of CHRIST's GOD HEAD was such, that as he knew what JESUS had before, wrought in moments of danger, so he might accomplish the same and escape out of their hands. I pray the Reader, in confirmation of this, to turn to Luke 4:28-30; John 8:59; John 10:39. In short, the man was desperate, and acted desperately. He went before the band, (Luke saith,) and he repeated Rabbi twice, when he kissed CHRIST, as if to imply, how much he loved him. But what a heart-cutting answer the LORD JESUS's must have been to him, had he not been wholly graceless: Judas! (calling him by his name, as if to shew him that he not only knew him, but knew his whole heart,) betrayest thou the SON of Man with a kiss ? Reader! ponder over the awful subject! Surely the HOLY GHOST hath designed in the history of this man, to shew to what a depth of iniquity the mind of man is capable of falling, See John 13:18, etc.
The one of them that stood by, John saith, was Peter. John 18:10, which drew his sword and cut off the ear of Malchus. It was a zeal to their Master which prompted all the disciples to declare their re solution to die with CHRIST. And here was a proof of it in Peter. The deed gave occasion for a new miracle to be wrought by CHRIST, in healing the wound, and restoring the ear; but no miracle could affect the heart of those which were given up to a reprobate mind. See that awful scripture. Jude 1:4.
If we gather into one point of view, all that the LORD JESUS said, after this action of Peter's, in cutting of the ear of Malchus, we shall find large room for improvement. According to Matthew's account of this scene, Jesus first addressed Peter: Put up again thy sword into his place, etc. See Matthew 26:52, etc. JESUS next addressed the multitude, according to chap. Luke 22:51; Suffer ye thus far; and he touched his ear and healed him. He then remonstrated with the Chief Priests, and Captains of the temple, and Elders, in that they were come out as against a thief, to take him, and then asserted his supreme power in common with his Father, for deliverance, had he pleased; but declared the absolute necessity of the measure, for the accomplishment of the scriptures. And which by the way, I beg the Reader not to overlook, in relation to those numerous scriptures, which so largely dwell upon it. Psalms 69:22; Isaiah 53; Zechariah 13:7, etc.
Mark is the only Evangelist which relates the circumstance of this young man following CHRIST, and he doth not give us the least traces to form any opinion who he was. But all the historians of this awful scene agree in describing the desertion of the whole body of disciples. Did Peter flee? did John and James? those who were in the Mount with CHRIST? they who were just before in the garden with him? Alas! what is man, even the highest of men, if grace be suspended but for a moment? And how was it, the band of armed men, who seized upon the person of Jesus, and laid hold of this young man who fled from them naked, suffered the Apostles to escape? Read what John hath recorded of the words of die LORD JESUS at this time, and learn the cause.
If therefore ye seek me, (said JESUS,) let these go their way, that the saying might be fulfilled which he spake of them which thou gayest me, have lost none. John 18:7-43. I shall have occasion, when we come to this passage, in the Gospel according to John, to speak more largely upon it; but, in the mean time, I would have the Reader ob serve, that from the miracle JESUS then wrought, of causing those who came to apprehend him to fall backward to the ground, (which take it altogether, is perhaps as great a miracle as the LORD JESUS ever wrought upon earth,) and the authority with which he pronounced these words: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way. From both these concurring causes, the LORD JESUS secured the flight of his disciples. A certain authority accompanied what JESUS said: let these go their way; that is, they shall go their way, touch not mine anointed, and do my Prophets no harm. Psalms 105:15. Reader! think how safe, how eternally safe and secure the LORD's people are, when the LORD gives command concerning them. Isaiah 27:2-23.