Betrayal and Arrest

Betrayal and Arrest
John 18:4-9

4 Jesus [Iesous] therefore [oun] , knowing [eido] all things [pas] that should come [erchomai] upon [epi] him [autos] , went forth [exerchomai] , and said [epo] unto them [autos] , Whom [tis] seek ye [zeteo] ?
5 They answered [apokrinomai] him [autos] , Jesus [Iesous] of Nazareth [Nazoraios] . Jesus [Iesous] saith [lego] unto them [autos] , I [ego] am [eimi] he. And [de] Judas [Ioudas] also [kai] , which [ho] betrayed [paradidomi] him [autos] , stood [histemi] with [meta] them [autos] .
6 As soon [hos] then [oun] as he had said [epo] unto them [autos] , [hoti] I [ego] am [eimi] he, they went [aperchomai] backward [eis] [opiso] , and [kai] fell [pipto] to the ground [chamai] .
7 Then [oun] asked he [eperotao] them [autos] again [palin] , Whom [tis] seek ye [zeteo] ? And [de] they said [epo] , Jesus [Iesous] of Nazareth [Nazoraios] .
8 Jesus [Iesous] answered [apokrinomai] , I have told [epo] you [humin] that [hoti] I [ego] am [eimi] he: if [ei] therefore [oun] ye seek [zeteo] me [eme] , let [aphiemi] these [toutous] go their way [hupago] :
9 That [hina] the saying [logos] might be fulfilled [pleroo] , which [hos] he spake [epo] , [hoti] Of [ek] them [autos] which [hos] thou gavest [didomi] me [moi] have I [ou] lost [apollumi] none [oudeis] . KJV-Interlinear

4 Jesus therefore, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth, and said to them, 'Whom do you seek?' 5 They answered Him, 'Jesus the Nazarene.' He said to them, 'I am He.' And Judas also who was betraying Him, was standing with them. 6 When therefore He said to them, 'I am He,' they drew back, and fell to the ground. 7 Again therefore He asked them, 'Whom do you seek?' And they said, 'Jesus the Nazarene.' 8 Jesus answered, 'I told you that I am He; if therefore you seek Me, let these go their way,' 9 that the word might be fulfilled which He spoke, 'Of those whom Thou hast given Me I lost not one.' NASB

Now we pretty much have the sequence of events in the garden down now. The apostles were sleeping. The large crowd arrived and they all woke up. Probably shocked and surprised at all of the activity. Judas approaches Jesus and identifies Him with his kiss and hug greeting.

Jesus remarks to Judas regarding the betrayal with a kiss, and brushes Judas aside, advancing toward the leader of the group. 'Whom do you seek?' Is the question, and the response, 'Jesus the Nazarene.'

Now to this point the group was either not paying attention to Judas, or they just missed seeing the kiss which he used to identify Jesus. It was dark, but they did have numerous torches and lanterns. One would think that the group would be watching Judas and therefore see who it was he was going to identify.

They did not ask Jesus, 'Are you Jesus the Nazarene?' But responded to His question as He stepped forward in obvious authority and asked whom it was they were looking for. Note also, Jesus did not ask, 'Hello. Is there something we can help you with?' But He stepped forward knowing that they were there to arrest Him, as mentioned in verse 4.

Jesus responded, 'I Am.' This is a quote from Ex. 3:14, as the Lord answered Moses, 'I Am.' We have already studied this, but take note of the reaction of the group. They fell back in shock.

They clearly saw Jesus, and clearly heard His voice. Prior to going to the garden, they probably all knew of His reputation, what with all of the miracles of the past three years, and especially in the past week and the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Now they see Jesus face to face (probably most of them had not seen Him before), but too, even those who had seen Him in the Temple, were taken back at His presence.

I Am, means eternal existence, followed by the logic of eternal self sufficiency, followed by an inexhaustible fountain of provision. Apart from God, there is nothing.

He must have said it in just the right tone and with authority, which took everyone by surprise. Judas included.

John in this book takes notice that Judas was now with the chief priests and not with the eleven. He was no longer a part of the apostles. Nor considered to be one of them.

Jesus repeats the question to, narrow their purpose for being there. They were there to arrest Him and Him alone, not the apostles. So they responded again and Jesus clarifies that those with Him, the apostles should be released. Note that the group obeyed this command. Only Jesus will be bound. None of the apostles were arrested. And John takes note of what Jesus had said in Jn. 17:12, just hours before, 'that none of them that belonged to Him would be lost.'

Even in the face of absolute and certain danger, and regardless of the circumstances of your life, if you have believed in Christ, then you are saved and will never be lost to oblivion. Heaven is your certainty and your destiny. You may undergo difficulty in this world, but no matter. When God calls you home, then heaven is where you will go.

The scriptures give us two categories of comfort. These are spelled out in the first few chapters of Leviticus. The first book in our study in Leviticus, covering the first seven chapters is now available by the way.

The first comfort is salvation. Once saved, then always saved. When you have been born, then you cannot be unborn. Likewise in the spiritual life, when you are born again (through faith in Christ) then that initial faith, that single moment in your life when you believed in Christ, cannot be undone. Once you have had the thought, you cannot go back in time and undo that thought. You have already had it.

The second comfort is in your spiritual life. In fellowship is where you should reside and there you live your spiritual life. Inside that sphere of Gods power there is every good thing made available to you. Advancing to spiritual maturity just serves to consolidate your spiritual position with greater spiritual muscle so to speak. This brings you confidence and therefore comfort.

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