“I will not speak with you much more. For the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me, but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, so I do. Arise, let us go from here”.
He now lets them know that He feels that He has said almost all that needs to be said for their encouragement, and that now He will prepare Himself for what He must face. He does not, He says, have much more to say. What He does have to say, however, will be important for it concerns the very purpose of His coming, and we find it in Chapter s 15-16. But He recognises that time is short because ‘the ruler of this world' was on his way, already gathering his contingents so that he can arrest Jesus and put Him to death.
‘The ruler of this world'. Humanly speaking this refers to earthly authorities (in this case Jewish and Roman), who rule in this world, seen as a unity, But behind them undoubtedly lies a shadowy figure who orchestrates their actions, Satan himself (compare his stated ability to guarantee Jesus political success on a large scale if He will only honour him - Matthew 4:8-9; Luke 4:5-7). While elsewhere ‘the ruler of this world' could be looked on as a general designation for any ‘ruling authority' here it is far more likely that Satan himself is primarily in mind. As John says ‘the whole world lies in the arms of the Evil One' (1 John 5:19). Judas was one who would come and we already know that Satan has entered him (John 13:27).
‘Has nothing in me.' This may partly signify that the ‘Accuser' has nothing to accuse Him of (‘nothing on Me'). And that his worldly counterparts too will challenge Him in vain. But it also speaks of all the efforts made by Satan to find a chink in His armour (he ‘has no way in'). For a while Satan and his minions probably thought that they were going to be hugely successful, and might possibly even thwart God, but their efforts would prove to be miserly and futile. They discovered that even in the few short hours of their ‘almost' success they had nothing in Him and could do nothing to Him.
Satan had probably been confident that once he had Jesus at his mercy on the cross some chink would appear through which he could attack Him. How he must therefore have gloried when he saw Jesus' anguish in Gethsemane, and the battered broken figure at the cross. It would have appeared to him that victory was at hand. But when the final moment came he found that he had failed, and that it was he himself who was defeated. There proved to be no chink in Jesus' armour, and so he himself, together with his minions, was bound and made captive (see Colossians 2:15. Ironically just as Jesus had been). Jesus not only proved Himself beyond their power, but also over them in power. And finally in the last analysis He has nothing to give them that they will receive, for they will not accept it. They are thus an irrelevance. The only worthwhile thing they will do is demonstrate to all that He loves the Father, for what He will go through is at the Father's command.
“Arise, let us go from here”.
At first this may appear to be a suggestion that they now leave the Upper Room. But the Greek word agomen (let us go) implies in normal Greek usage ‘going to meet the enemy', thus we might translate this as ‘let us march to meet him'. Compare its use in Matthew 26:46; Mark 14:42; John 11:16, where, in each case, it is used at a crisis point. Had the aim been just to leave the place another word would surely have been used.
So ‘Arise' may well be translated ‘bestir yourselves'. This might therefore indicate that this was not necessarily the end of the conversations in the Upper Room, but a rallying cry to the disciples in the midst of His discourse, and a declaration that He is not fearful of the ruler of this world. He may well be saying, “The ruler of this world comes --- bestir yourselves, let us go to meet him.” It is an indication that Jesus will not stay in hiding or flinch from what lies ahead, but is rather ready for all that they can do. In this regard we should note that it is quite common for preachers to include such stirring words in their sermons, and then to continue with their message.
On the other hand, it may be that at this stage they did perhaps begin to rise from their reclining positions and stand up to make preparations for leaving. Jesus is, however, then shown as having continued His teaching through Chapter s 15 and 16 followed by His final prayer in chapter 17. There is nothing unlikely in the suggestion. People regularly say ‘time to go', and then remain on for some time. The disciples would have been quite used to listening standing up (they were a lot tougher than we are) and it would have given them opportunity to relieve aching muscles while Jesus continued speaking. It is indeed possible that at the same time some of them cleared away the remnants of the meal, and put the room in order while Jesus continued to speak. But it seems more likely to us that it was simply a wake up call in the middle of His message.
(It is in fact quite common for someone today to say, ‘come on, it is time we were going', only for it to be followed by delay while certain things are done and further conversation takes place, often for some time. There is thus no unlikelihood in the above, whichever interpretation we accept).