June 8, 2010

John 18:1-18
John says that Jesus "knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward" What did Jesus know? He knew they had come to arrest Him. He knew the beating He would receive. He knew the agony of the crucifixion. But more than this, He knew that, although He had never committed sin, He Himself would become sin. He knew that as our sin was placed upon His body on the cross that His Father would, in a sense, forsake Him. His Father would punish that sin with death. He would for the first time experience the wrath of His Father. He would offer His own life a sacrifice for the sins of the world. That was an agony far greater than any physical beating or any capital punishment. Knowing this, He went forward. What courage! What knowledge! Indeed our King is a glorious King!
In midst of that turmoil, He controlled His own arrest and the arrest of His servants. When He declared, "I am," His glory for just an instant broke through. The detachment, overwhelmed by His glory, fell back to the ground. It was almost as if He had to coax them off of the ground and say, "Come on, here I am. Come arrest me. You can do it! Don't give up." He instructs them to come arrest Him but to leave His servants alone. Indeed our King is a glorious King!
In the midst of this turmoil Peter doesn't understand and seeks to start an armed resistance. Seeking to decapitate the servant of the High Priest, he misses and merely cuts off the man's ear. Still in control Jesus rebukes Peter. In the midst of this turmoil He simply asks a question, which begins His ascent to trial and the cross, "Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given me?" He was pressing them on to that for which the Father had sent Him. Despising it, still He sought it; still He controlled the actions of those around Him. Indeed our King is a glorious King!
There is no circumstance which He does not know about. There is no happening that He does not control. Indeed there is nothing in which He cannot bring glory to Himself, if we will but trust Him. Indeed our King is a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John