“…Roman soldiers and Temple guards…with blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons…arrived at the olive grove. Jesus…stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” He asked’ – John 18:3-4 (NLT)
John 18 tells us that Jesus and His disciples went to the garden. Verse 2 says: “Judas, the betrayer, knew this place, because Jesus had often gone there with His disciples.”
The garden was a favourite spot for Jesus to pray and teach His disciples, and Judas had prayed there with Jesus. Thus, bringing the soldiers and Temple guards to arrest Jesus in that place of solitude was a dark and sinister move by him. It was calculated evil. John tells us in Verse 5:
“Judas, who betrayed Him, was standing with them.”
Theologically: the Roman soldiers and Temple Guards represented the Gentile world; the Jewish officials represented Jesus’ own people; and Judas represented satan himself. The group that came to arrest Jesus represented all of creation conspiring against Him. All of humanity, Jews and Gentiles, and the demonic realm – they have plotted together and set themselves against the Lord, hoping to destroy Him.
In John 10:18, however, Jesus tells us in advance that He’s in complete control of His suffering that will come, and at that moment, His suffering was no longer in the future. It began unfolding rapidly. The only thing that does not make this a knock-out punch for Judas is that Jesus knew it all along. Praise God!
Every time Jesus had been in the garden with His disciples over the last three years, He taught them and prayed with them there. Every time Jesus saw Judas’s face in this garden, He knew Judas would betray Him. Every moment in the garden before this moment, He knew this moment would come, and He allowed it to happen to Him. Why? He’s in control! He desires to bring you and me back to fellowship with Him. What an awesome God!
Read: Ephesians 1:22; Colossians 1:16-17
Bible Reading Guide: Proverbs 20:25-30; Proverbs 21:1-4; 1 Corinthians 15:50-58; 1 Corinthians 16:1-4; 2 Chronicles 21:4-20; 2 Chronicles 22; 2 Chronicles 23