Ep. 246. John 18 | Betrayal and Arrest
EPISODE 246
BETRAYAL AND ARREST: JOHN 18
One of my favorite tidbits of this chapter is found in verses 8 and 9. "Jesus answered, ' I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these go.' This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: 'Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.'" I love this so much because Jesus had just prayed that in the previous chapter during his time of prayer. It is a prophecy wrapped in a prayer, and it comes to completion hours later. None of the remaining eleven, Judas already excluded, were caught up with Jesus in betrayal and arrest.
I also want us to consider verse eleven, "Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?" I was taught that Jesus was referring to the "cup of God's wrath" in this text. The problem with that is threefold:
Nowhere in the Bible does it say that Jesus was under God's wrath, only that he removed God's "coming" wrath from those who were saved through him.
In Matthew 20, Jesus told James and John that they were absolutely going to drink the same cup he was about to drink. Obviously, James and John were not under God's wrath.
Philippians 2 (along with John 12 and John 17) tells us that Christ going to the cross was for the glory of the Father and for the glory of Jesus.
Philippians goes further to tell us that it was because of the cross that Jesus was exalted to the highest place and given a name above every name. Most people point to the phrase, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me," but we've already dealt with that at some length in our lesson on Psalm 22.
Finally, I want to address Peter's denial of Christ. Some people will argue, based on this, that Christians can deny knowing God. Again, there is nothing to indicate that Peter is what we would call a Christian at this point:
He still doesn't understand that Jesus had to die.
He didn't believe Jesus had been raised from the dead until Christ showed up in the upper room.
Peter was not yet filled with the Holy Spirit.
Gospel Peter has little in common with today's true believers. If we want to compare ourselves to Peter, we would do much better to compare ourselves to the one with the Spirit. If someone today calls themselves a Christian but denies Jesus, I would have to argue that they don't have the Spirit and, therefore, don't actually know Jesus.
ADDITIONAL READING: John 17:12; Philippians 2:5-11; John 11:49-52; Psalm 22; Matthew 20:19-23; John 3:14; Matthew 26:2
