John 18:3–8

He now came with the band. These were Roman soldiers from the fortress of Antonia, under the command of a chief captain, a military tribune. With them came officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, carrying lanterns, torches, and weapons (18:3). Those lanterns and torches cast a harsh light on the scene. The account does not say under what pretext they asked for the help of the Roman soldiers. But there they were. The Jewish authorities seem to have feared a disturbance, so they decided to make the arrest at night. And they had clearly gathered this formidable force to frighten the disciples out of any try at a rescue. These details as to the company are unique to John.

The swords show that the Roman cohort (John 18:3) was the centre of this crowd. The clubs and so on show that the Jewish temple watch, and other assorted fanatics, were there too. Jew and Gentile, men of different nationality and different classes, were ready to take part in the world's crowning sin — and they did.

Judas knew well the Lord's usual habits, but knew nothing of His heart. He could not find the Lord as his Savior, but it was no trouble at all for him to find Him so he could betray Him to His enemies! He brings the soldiers and officers, well equipped with lanterns, torches and weapons (v. 3). It was a formidable array to arrest a Man whom they knew was no revolutionary or rabble-rouser! All of this on their part was empty folly. They found that their show of strength was utter weakness in His presence, and He never offered the least physical resistance.

Think of what that garden had known! Communion with the Father, prayer, intercession, tender care for the feeble disciples. Self-sacrificing interest on their behalf, the watchful love of the good Shepherd, pity for Israel, a heart going out to the sheep not of this fold. Yes, Judas knew it, and he took his measures accordingly, under Satan, to please the chief priests and Pharisees.

Judas leads the band and the officers from His enemies to the place of the nightly prayer. They bring lanterns and torches and weapons to make sure of their prey — though a full moon was shining, and He had never struck a blow in self-defence. But Judas really did not know Him any more than his companions did. How terrible the sight of a soul blinded to the deadly malice at work, and to the Saviour's glory and His love!

Was this the time for flight or fight? For neither. Without panic, surprise, or hesitation Jesus faces the crisis. He never did hesitate. Not once in all His earthly life was He at a loss how to act, never had He to seek the advice of any, or change His mind or purpose.

Not all the treachery of Judas, not all the hatred and enmity of the Jews, not all the power of Rome could have seized the Lord. They could take Him only when the time had come for Him to give Himself up. His hour was now come. He could have destroyed the company that came to arrest Him. That was as easy for Him as making them fall face down before His Name.

Notice in verse 4 that He knew all things that would come upon Him. All the power of the enemy was being concentrated now. Religious leaders, the Jews, the Gentiles and their rulers would all unite in vicious hatred against the Son of God. A true disciple would deny Him. A false disciple was betraying Him. All would forsake Him. And far more than this, He would suffer the awesome judgment of God against sin on the cross of Calvary. Yet in calm, blessed dignity He went forth.

Compare this with chapter 13. Jesus knew that His hour had come to leave this world and go to the Father. He knew that the Father had given all things into His hands. Loving His own to the end, He made Himself ready to wash their feet. Here the end has come. Jesus knows all things that are coming upon Him. He knows He is to be cut off and have nothing. And He demands of His enemies that, if they seek Him, they let the disciples go... His foreknowledge was perfect; for Him there were no surprises. The loss of all things, His own cutting off here, was as present to His spirit as the receiving of all things from the Father was there.

First, we see the glory of His deity and the perfection of His humanity shining out, for we read, "Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward." A mere man, with the slightest knowledge of what was coming, would have turned back. Of no one but a divine Person can we say, in an absolute sense, that He knew all things. And of no one but a perfect Man who knew all things can we say that He "came forward." He submits to men, but in obedience to the Father. He was "not rebellious; I turned not backward" (Isa. 50:5).

He comes, with the agents employed by the malice of the priests and Pharisees, to seize the person of Jesus. But Jesus acts first. It is He who presents Himself to them. Knowing all that would happen to Him, He comes forward and asks, "Whom do you seek?" It is the Saviour, the Son of God, who offers Himself... No one laid hands on Him... Who will take Him? He had only to go away and leave them there. But He did not come for this; and the time to offer Himself up had come.

Men who do not know the Lord talk of His "limitations." They forget that He is God, the Word become flesh. He no more ceased to be God than a man can cease to be man. Jesus knew all things that were coming on Him. This is the same Jesus who went through it all in the deepest grief, yet in dependence on the Father, for He was just as truly man, the perfect man. Now, when the horrors began to thicken, what calm ran through His every word and act!

First, the perfect willingness with which Christ gives Himself up. He presents Himself without hesitating to the armed band that came out to seek Him, knowing fully what was to happen to Him. "Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward"; "I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go." This proves that, while He offers Himself, there is a full and perfect deliverance for us. "Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one." The Lord presents Himself so that the power of the enemy should not even touch us.

First, then, the glory of His Deity and the perfection of His humanity shine out, for we read, "Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forth." A mere man who knew even a little of what was coming would have turned back. Only of a divine Person can we say, in the full sense, that He knew all things. And only of a perfect Man, Who knew all things, can we say that He "went forth". He submits to man, but in obedience to the Father.

Face to face with this militant band He asks simply, "Whom are you seeking?" Their answer is "Jesus of Nazareth." Because Nazareth was a place despised by the Jews (compare John 1:46), they spoke this way to belittle Him. But He says only "I Am." This is His name as the eternal, self-existent One (compare Ex. 3:14), whose glory is infinite. (Note that John records at this point that Judas stood with them, on the side of those who defied the living God.)

Secondly, we see His mighty power as a divine Person, for having said "I AM", His enemies "went backward, and fell to the ground". They were in the presence of the great I AM, the One with all power. The world can do nothing against Him, despite all its forces joined together with their lanterns and torches and weapons. When the Lord of glory "went forth", His enemies "went backward".

He was not of Nazareth as to origin, He was the blessed uncreated God. And His testimony was so overwhelming that "As soon as He had said to them, I AM, they went backward, and fell to the ground." Our hearts have been opened to receive the wonderful truth of Who He is. So we fall forward and bow at His feet in worship.

How many things had taken place in that garden! What words came from a heart filled with God's own love, seeking to press that love into the narrow and dull hearts of His beloved disciples! But all was lost on Judas... Judas, too, was there, who knew Him well, and knew that voice, so long familiar to his ears. No one laid hands on Him. But as soon as His word echoes in their hearts, as soon as they hear that divine "I am" within them, they go backward and fall to the ground.

Who will take Him? He had only to go away and leave them there. But that is not what He came for, and the time had come for Him to offer Himself up... The first time, the divine glory of the Person of Christ had to display itself; and now His care for the redeemed ones. "If you seek me," said the Lord, "let these go their way"... He presents Himself as the good Shepherd, giving His life for the sheep.

John alone recounts the Lord's answer to the armed band that came to arrest Him, "I am [he]," which caused them to go backward and fall to the ground. Yet Matthew, who saw it, says no more about so striking an event than Mark or Luke. It did not come within God's design for their Gospels, but it did for John, who therefore records it. John, on the other hand, says nothing about the agony in Gethsemane, which the other three dwell on. Yet it was given to Matthew, and even to Mark and Luke, to record that, as dwelling not on His deity but on His human sufferings, in keeping with the design of each of their Gospels.

We see His mighty power as a divine Person. After He said "I AM", His enemies "went backward, and fell to the ground". They were in the presence of the great I AM, the One with all power. The world can do nothing against Him, despite its combined forces with their lanterns and torches and weapons. When the Lord of glory "went forth", His enemies "went backward". So the Psalmist, speaking prophetically of Christ, can say, "Let them be driven backward and put to shame who wish me evil" (Psalm 40:14; Psalm 70:2-3).

The Jews despised Nazareth, so they used the name "Jesus of Nazareth" to belittle Him. But He says only "I Am." This is His name as the eternal, self-existent One (see Exodus 3:14), whose glory is infinite. But it is no wonder that at the words "I Am" they all drew back at once and fell to the ground. Powerless, they lie at His feet.

They could not have taken Him had He not placed Himself unresistingly in their hands. Led by Judas, who was a devil, they come in the night to lone Gethsemane, and there they find Him. And now that they had found Him, how utterly helpless they are in His presence! … Despite all his wickedness, and even under the influence of the dread angel of the Abyss, how weak and cowardly man is! They have indeed found Him. He acknowledges that He is the Person they seek. But what can they do? What use to them are their weapons? They are absolutely powerless in His presence.

God indeed confirmed what was due to that Name; for Jesus was God no less than the Father and the Holy Spirit. Nor was there ever a moment more fitting. So Judas the betrayer stood with them, and he too with them fell to the ground. What a testimony to their conscience, as well as to His glory!

Under this veil lay a glory that could have destroyed its enemies at once, like the flames of the furnace in Babylon, if it had chosen to. For at the last, when the hour had come and the powers of darkness were to have "their hour," the servants of those powers stood in the presence of this glory. They "went backward, and fell to the ground." This teaches us that Jesus was a fully willing captive then, just as later He was a willing victim.

He goes over the brook Kidron, and still you get the same divine character. You have nothing at all, not a word, about Gethsemane, or about the praying and crying to His Father. That is not the side we get here. They came to take Him, and He puts Himself forward. You get a divine Person who is giving His life.

Even in the days when He willingly humbled Himself on earth, He showed the striking power of His word. He spoke His name "I Am" to the soldiers who came to arrest Him. They went backwards and fell to the ground. This word will be enough for Him to smite the nations.

But when He asked them again, "Whom do you seek?" they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." Now grace shone out, not power. Grace now, like power before, expressed the true God who was showing Himself on earth in His own Person. "If then you seek Me, let these go away. This was so that His own word would be fulfilled: Of those whom You have given Me, I have lost not one of them." Like the ark in the Jordan River, He would go alone into the waters of death, and His own would cross over on dry ground.

How strange that their eyes were not opened! They did not fall down before Him again and acknowledge His power. But the god of this world had taken full possession of them, and they could not turn back. And God stood behind it all, making their unspeakable sin work out His own purposes of love. So once again the Lord asks, "Whom do you seek?" and again they answer, "Jesus of Nazareth."

But who was it that they were seeking to take? Ah, they little knew. People thought He was born of humble parents. He was a Galilean too, from that despised town of Nazareth. Yet He was a Divine Person, and in His Divinity the Second Person of the Godhead. What company of men could take Him prisoner without His free permission? No creature of His could, however well armed and however bold.

Again His challenge falls upon their ear: "Whom do you seek?" And again they say, "Jesus of Nazareth." Had they not found Him? They had come to arrest Him. They found Him unarmed and looking defenceless, yet they cannot lay hands on Him. He says to them, "I have told you that I am He. So if you seek Me, let these go their way." He will lose none of those the Father has given Him.

"If you seek Me, let these go their way." He was not a hired hand who runs away at the sight of the wolf. The sheep were His. He was the Good Shepherd. He must and would stand between His flock and the enemy… The fangs of the wolf might tear His flesh, but not theirs. The cup He would drink for them would burn His very soul, but not one drop of it should touch their lips.

The Lord seems to say: "Take either Me or them; you cannot have both."… The truth of substitution stands out here.

He Whose name laid them prostrate could have in a moment consigned them to death for everlasting judgment. But no! He came that God might be glorified in His death for sin, to set free every sinner that believes in Him.

More than twelve legions of angels stand ready at His word. They are armed with the might of the Almighty, and could rain destruction on all who would raise a hand or a voice against Him. But that word will never pass the lips of the patient Jesus. "If you seek Me, let these men go" is at once His surrender to His enemies and the safeguard of His followers. Of the men the Father gave Him, He would not lose one. He was their defence while He was with them, and now that He was being taken from them He would still be their defence, until they were beyond the reach of every enemy.

In one sense He might have escaped what lay ahead, for two words from Him were enough to leave them powerless. But He would not use His divine might to save Himself. Had He done so, He must have lost His loved ones. In their eager devotion His disciples might well have driven that band away, but He would not let them fight… He saw what lay behind them — the terrible sorrow, the malice of Satan, the judgment of God. And He said, "Let these men go."

When the wolf comes, a mere hired hand leaves the sheep and runs away. He does not: He "gives His life for the sheep" (John 10:11-12). But though He gives Himself up, He will not let anyone touch the sheep… His poor sheep may fail. Peter denied Him, and all of them left Him. Yet on the Lord's side all is perfect, so not one of His own will be lost.

What grace He now showed to His own! They were so unworthy of His love, yet He loved them to the end. He loved them even though He knew they would all leave Him and run away. He knew, too, that the one who ventured nearer on that night of desertion would there deny three times that he knew Him. It was a fulfilment of John 17:12; but great as it was, how little compared with all that those words mean and guarantee!

He must be sacrificed, but they must be saved. Why? Surely because He loved them with a love that would die for them. That was a great reason, but there was an earlier reason… "This was to fulfill the word that He had spoken: 'Of those whom You gave Me I have lost not one.'" He had His Father's gift to keep.

Like the ark in the Jordan, He would go alone into the waters of death, and His own would pass over with dry feet… The great salvation, which cannot fail, includes every smaller rescue that suits and serves the glory of God along the way. And it is a blessing to trace all the passing mercies we know to that same spring of gracious power in Christ, where His hand shields us from the enemy's malice.