Upon ending His prayer to His Father (having spoken these words) Jesus went (from Jerusalem) with His disciples (with the eleven) over the ravine of the Kidron (east of and a few hundred feet below the temple mount), where there was a garden, in which He entered with His disciples.
The ravine of the Kidron was the place where David was betrayed by his son Absalom (2 Samuel 15:23).
Across the Kidron valley was the western slope of the Mount of Olives, where there was a garden. John does not name the garden but Matthew and Mark called it Gethsemane which means “oil press,” signifying that this was an olive orchard on the hillside of the Mount of Olives.
Christ went to Gethsemane because it was a secluded place where He could pour out His heart to the Father in private and not be disturbed. But even more significantly Jesus went there on this night because He knew that is where Judas would look for Him. Thus, the Lord sovereignly arranged the time and place of His betrayal.
All previous attempts to arrest Jesus had failed, because His hour had not yet come. But now in the fulfillment of God’s eternal plan, the time had arrived for Him to offer His life a ransom for many.
The evil plans of the false disciple Judas were about to come to pass (understanding that God was using the plans of evil men to accomplish His eternal plan of redemption).
CHRIST’S DEITY ON DISPLAY 18:4-6
How do you catch the God/man by surprise or sleeping when He knew exactly when they were coming? Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him went forth out of the garden and met those who came to arrest Him.
Jesus had no intention of hiding or fleeing. Instead with incredible calmness, absolute self-control, and fearless courage, Jesus, met His enemies head on and voluntarily (no one could take His life) gave up Himself to be arrested and put to death.
Jesus, the intended victim, took charge of the situation and said to them, whom do you seek? The temple police answered: we seek Jesus the Nazarene.
The reply of Jesus was an explosive display of deity when He answered “I AM”. The pronoun “He” is not in the original Greek, so that as He had done before on a number of occasions, Jesus was claiming for Himself the name of God from Exodus 3:14, “I AM.”
All Jesus had to do was speak His name (the name of God) and His enemies were rendered helpless.
CHRIST’S LOVE FOR HIS OWN 18:7-9
After His spectacular display of divine power, Jesus again asked, whom do you seek?Picking themselves up off the ground, they replied, Jesus the Nazarene to which Jesus said, I told you that I am He and He then commanded them to let His disciples go to fulfill the word which He spoke, Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.
Jesus in John 6:39-40 & 44 had said: 39 This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
Jesus in John 10:27-28 had said: 2My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
And Jesus in John 17:12 had said: 12 While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.
Each one of the disciples was a gift from the Father to the Son and Jesus will not lose one!
The implication is that if they had been arrested, their faith would have failed. So Jesus made certain that they would not be taken.
If dependant on us, if left up to us, our faith would fail too. But He who began a good work (good work of faith) in us, will complete (will finish, will perfect) it until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).
The faith of a true believer will never fail because the God of our salvation keeps us secure. He never allows anything to come upon us that would be more than our (God-given)faith could handle.
Christ must and will win the battle for those the Father has given Him. Is that right?
The disciples were told by Jesus in Luke 22:36-37 to sell their coats and buy a sword. Because they will be identified with Jesus (in the eyes of God’s enemies a transgressor: And He was numbered with the transgressors) they might need a sword to defend themselves.
Rather than allow Jesus to be arrested, and feeling invincible in the wake of the Lord’s display of power, Peter intended to defend Jesus with a sword. Most likely, Peter aimed for the high priest’s slaves head, but missed (or Malchus managed to duck) and cut off his right ear.
Jesus was not an earthly king, who needed His followers to fight to protect Him. Jesus (God in the flesh) did not need anyone to defend Him. He could have killed them all with the word of His power had He chosen but He had a greater purpose to accomplish.
Peter’s brave but reckless act revealed his continued failure to understand the necessity of Christ’s death. Thus, Jesus said: The cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?
The cup of which the Lord spoke was His excruciating death on a sinner’s cross and momentary separation from His Father. It was therefore a cup of suffering and anguish as He paid for the sins and endured the judgment due those the Father had given Him. Christ, out of love for His Father, obeyed Him to the end. “Father Your will and not Mine be done.”
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