CHAPTER 18

(A.D. 33)

THE BETRAYAL

¹When Jesus had spoken these Words (probably refers to everything said in Chapters 14 through 17), He went forth with His Disciples over the brook Cedron (the brook Cedron [Kedron] runs in a deep valley between the Mount of Olivet and the City of Jerusalem), where was a garden, into the which He en tered, and His Disciples (spoke of Gethsemane).

²And Judas also, which betrayed Him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with His Disciples (seems to be where He spent most nights while in the City of Jerusalem).

³Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the Chief Priests and Pharisees (proclaims John completely omitting the Passion of Christ in the Garden, and cutting straight through to His arrest), coming thither with lanterns and torches and weapons (being Passover, it was a full moon; but treachery and hatred distrusted its pure and gentle light; therefore, His enemies brought torches and lanterns).

⁴Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon Him (speaks of being perfectly led by the Father and through the Ministry of the Holy Spirit), went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? (This speaks of His arrest as He is met by the soldiers and Temple guards; such is evil; and above all, such is religious evil.)

⁵They answered Him, Jesus of Nazareth (proclaims them speaking the Greatest Name in the annals of human history). Jesus said unto them, I am He (should have been translated, I am, for the pronoun He was added by the translators; as such, He was saying the same thing He said to Moses some 1600 years earlier [Ex. 3:14]). And Judas also, which betrayed Him, stood with them (Judas had a choice to make; he could stand with Jesus or with the religious hierarchy; he could not stand with both!).

⁶As soon then as He had said unto them, I am He (describes that Power and Force were in these Words), they went backward, and fell to the ground (there could have been a hundred or more men present; His Answer and their response fulfilled the prediction by David concerning this moment [Ps. 27:2]).

⁷Then asked He them again, Whom seek ye? (He asked this question again, because with this demonstration of Power He wants them to fully understand what they are doing, and exactly Whom they are arresting.)And they said, Jesus of Nazareth (it would seem that His display of Power would have spoken to them, and given them pause; however, the human heart, in its hardness, does not easily give way to Righteousness).

⁸Jesus answered, I have told you that I am He: if therefore you seek Me, let these go their way (speaking of His Disciples, and presents a request which they dared not disobey):

⁹That the saying might be fulfilled, which He spoke (is an insertion into the Narrative given by John), Of them which You gave Me have I lost none ([Jn. 17:12], the Lord is speaking of this moment concerning His arrest).

¹⁰Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the High Priests servant, and cut off his right ear (presents Peter, I think, attempting to cleave the mans skull; the Holy Spirit, no doubt, turned aside his aim, with the sword severing the ear only). The servants name was Malchus (the servants name was given by John only; however, John does not mention the healing of the mans ear as did Luke [Lk. 22:51]).

¹¹Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up your sword into the sheath (in one sentence, Jesus is proclaiming to the Church that the Gospel is not to be spread by the sword and, in fact, cannot be!): the cup which My Father has given Me, shall I not drink it? (This proclaims that which must be done.)

CAIAPHAS

¹²Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound Him (this was a part of their procedure for all who were arrested),

¹³And led Him away to Annas first (he was perhaps the head of the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of Israel); for he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, which was the High Priest that same year (this office was now by appointment of Roman authorities).

¹⁴Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people (this counsel would destroy their Nation!).

PETER

¹⁵And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another Disciple (refers to John the beloved, who wrote this account): that Disciple was known unto the High Priest, and went in with Jesus into the palace of the High Priest (how well John knew Caiaphas is not known).

¹⁶But Peter stood at the door without (which probably meant that even though John had permission to enter, Peter did not). Then went out that other Disciple, which was known unto the High Priest, and spoke unto her who kept the door, and brought in Peter.

¹⁷Then said the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Are you not also one of this Mans Disciples? (This now begins the scenario that will be so hurtful to Peter and to Jesus.)He said, I am not (this was a terrible sin; and as sin does, the failure would become increasingly worse).

¹⁸And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it was cold: and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself (pictures Peter taking up position with the enemies of the Lord).

THE TRIAL

¹⁹The High Priest then asked Jesus of His Disciples (refers to all followers of Christ), and of His Doctrine (pertained to the things He taught).

²⁰Jesus answered him, I spoke openly to the world (means that He had said nothing in secret); I ever taught in the Synagogue, and in the Temple, whither the Jews always resort (in essence says, if you are claiming that I preached or taught something wrong, why did you not arrest Me in one of the Synagogues, or in the Temple? Why did you not accuse Me before the people?); and in secret have I said nothing (there was no sedition).

²¹Why do you ask Me? (In effect, this punches through their hypocrisy.) ask them which heard Me, what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said (the spirit of Darkness in them fought against the Spirit of Light in Him; admittedly they were religious, but in truth, they were religious devils, which in one form or the other characterizes all religion).

²²And when He had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand (probably did this in order to curry favor with the High Priest), saying, Answerest Thou the High Priest so? (This answers the fact that they were looking for a reason to strike Him.)

²³Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil (in essence says, if I have spoken or committed some type of evil, tell Me what it is!): but if well, why do you smite Me? (What have I said or done to deserve this?)

²⁴Now Annas had sent Him bound unto Caiaphas the High Priest (spoken in the past tense and, therefore, speaks of Jesus being sent from Annas to whom He had been sent first).

PETER

²⁵And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself (now picks up the account of Peter as it ended in Verse 18). They said therefore unto him, Are you not also one of His Disciples? (This presents others taking up the accusation, along with the damsel of Verse 17.)He denied it, and said, I am not (presents the second denial).

²⁶One of the servants of the High Priest, being his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off, said, Did not I see you in the garden with Him? (This presents the occasion for the third denial.)

²⁷Peter then denied again: and immediately the rooster crowed (proclaims the fulfillment of the prediction of Jesus [Lk. 22:34]).

PILATE

²⁸Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment (speaks of Pilates judgment hall): and it was early (represented the fourth watch of the night, which was between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. in the morning, but closer to 6 a.m.); and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled (ironical! they could murder the Lord of Glory, but their religion forbade them to enter the house of a Gentile; such is self-righteousness!); but that they might eat the Passover (has reference to the idea that cleansing from such defilement would take a period of time and, therefore, they would not be able to partake of the Passover that day; they did not even remotely realize that they were killing the True Passover).

²⁹Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring you against this Man?

³⁰They answered and said unto him, If He were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered Him up to you (actually records no answer at all, simply because they did not have a case against Him).

³¹Then said Pilate unto them, Take you Him, and judge Him according to your Law (proclaims him desiring to rid himself of this matter). The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death (they had already condemned Him in their hearts; they wanted Him dead!):

³²That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which He spoke, signifying what death He should die (Jesus had foretold this in Jn. 3:14; 8:28; 12:32; the Mind of God had long since settled this question [I Pet. 1:18-20]).

³³Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus (refers to him calling Jesus to his side, out of hearing of the crowd), and said unto him, Are You the King of the Jews? (He expected a negative reply; should He answer in the affirmative, it might easily suggest to Pilate that He must be under some futile hallucination.)

³⁴Jesus answered him, Do you say this thing of yourself, or did others tell it to you of Me? (This question, as asked by Jesus, is meant to take the Governor beyond the hurled accusations of those who were thirsty for blood.)

³⁵Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? (The question is asked with some sarcasm, and is actually more of a statement than a question.) Your Own nation and the Chief Priests have delivered You unto me (in effect, says, I am not making the charge, they are!): what have you done? (This is as much asked of himself as it is of Jesus.)

³⁶Jesus answered, My Kingdom is not of this world (in no way denies His Kingship, but does claim that the origin of His Kingdom and Kingship are not of this world): if My Kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews (in essence, says that if He was what the Jews claimed Him to be, a usurper over Rome, His followers would have long since been incited to use force): but now is My Kingdom not from hence (now its not of this world, but in the future it will be [Hab. 2:14; Rev., Chpt. 19]).

³⁷Pilate therefore said unto Him, Are You a King then? (This question is not exactly asked in sarcasm or sincerity; quite probably, there is a little of both!) Jesus answered, You say that I am a King (is the same as saying yes, it is so!). To this end was I born (addresses the Incarnation, God becoming Man [Isa. 7:14]), and for this cause came I into the world (He is to be King in the hearts of all who believe Him), that I should bear witness unto the Truth (carries in its statement the entirety of the embodiment of the Ways of God). Every one who is of the Truth hears My Voice (only those who sincerely desire Truth will know Christ, i.e., hear His Voice).

BARABBAS

³⁸Pilate said unto Him, What is Truth? (Pilate shows himself by his question to be a cynic.)And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and said unto them (is done so in the midst of tumult), I find in Him no fault at all (Pilate knew that Jesus was not guilty of treason against Rome, or any other type of infraction).

³⁹But you have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the Passover (seems to have taken place immediately upon Jesus being returned to him from Herod): will you therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? (This is said with some sarcasm, but yet as an appeal to the absurdity of these charges.)

⁴⁰Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas (Pilate thought maybe he could get off the hook, thinking surely they would not prefer a robber over Jesus! he was to be sadly disappointed!). Now Barabbas was a robber (they chose a robber, and they have been mercilessly robbed ever since).