Jesus Betrayed and Abandoned

Transcript

GR 735
1/26/1986
Jesus Betrayed and Abandoned
Matthew 26:31-56
Gil Rugh

Matthew recorded events from the closing hours of Jesus Christ’s ministry on earth in Matthew 26. He gave a concise summary of the Last Supper when Christ had intimate time with His disciples in preparing them for the coming crucifixion. Matthew then told about what transpired at the Garden of Gethsemane.
Matthew 26:30 says, “After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” The
Garden of Gethsemane is located on the Mount of Olives, just across the valley to the east of Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives got its name from the fact that this side of the mountain was covered with olive trees. The name Gethsemane, the garden where Christ was going, means olive press or oil press. Evidently in that olive grove there was a little garden where the olives were pressed for their oil. John 18 indicated that it was Christ’s practice to retire to that garden with His disciples on numerous occasions. John also tells that Judas, being one of the twelve, was well aware of Christ’s practice. Being intimately associated with Christ, Judas had probably been to that garden many times as Jesus often retired there with the disciples from Jerusalem. That helps explain how Judas knew that Christ would be in that garden. Christ left the supper in the upper room and He came to the Garden of Gethsemane.
Jesus gave some important information to the disciples as they walked from Jerusalem over to the Mount of Olives. It is just a short walk down through the valley from there up the side of the Mount of Olives. He talked to them during the Last Supper about the betrayal. He told them previously that He would go to Jerusalem and that He would be crucified there and be raised from the dead. At the Last Supper He made clear that the one who would betray Him would come from among the twelve disciples, and during that meal He made clear that Judas would be the one who would betray Him. The disciples did not pick up on the fact that Judas was the one, but Jesus pointed it out to Judas very clearly. As they walked to Gethsemane, Jesus told the disciples that all of them would abandon Him at the time of the final conflict. He wanted to make it clear so that they would understand that He was in control of this happening and that His Father was directing the details. As the events unfolded, He wanted them to know that things were not out of control.
After the singing of the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. “Then Jesus said to them, ‘You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, “I will strike down the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered”’” (Matt. 26:31). The term “fall away” means “be offended.” It is the Greek word that is carried over into English as “scandalize.” Jesus told them that they would be “scandalized” because of Him that night. To be offended or to fall away gives the idea of the word. He said that what was going to happen was going to cause the disciples to turn from Christ and to run in fear. This would be striking information to them, and He told them that all of them will fall away because of Him “this night.” Jesus was giving the disciples clear information that they were not listening to in these days. Matthew continued his pattern of wanting to demonstrate that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. The fact that they would all turn from Him, and it would happen that night, fulfilled the Scripture which He quoted to them from Zechariah 13:7, “Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered.”
Jesus made a key statement in Matthew 26:32, “But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” The Shepherd would be struck down; the sheep were going to be scattered, but that would not be the end of things. Jesus was not telling them how His movement would come to a close, but rather giving them a word of encouragement. But the disciples don’t hear it. They’re not listening. It falls on deaf ears, if you will. He was telling them that He would rise from the dead and go before them to Galilee. He would meet them in Galilee!
The fulfillment of this is in Matthew 28 where an angel spoke to the women at the tomb and told them that Christ had been raised. The angel says in Matthew 28:7, “Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him.” They would all be gathered back together again, after His resurrection, at Galilee. So in Matthew 26:31, Christ would fulfill Old Testament prophecy; and in Matthew 26:32 He gave a prophecy that would be fulfilled in connection with the resurrection and gathering of the disciples after the resurrection to meet Him.
This was shocking news. Jesus told them they would all be offended, scandalized, and fall away because of Him that very night; but after His resurrection they would be gathered together again with Him at Galilee. If you were going to close your eyes and read this section, who would you think would speak up? Peter! Right! Matthew 26:33, “But Peter said to Him, ‘Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away.’” Peter was manifesting self-confidence, confidence in his own self, in his own strength. Peter in effect says, “I can ’t speak for the rest of these. It is possible that they will fall away, but even if all the rest do, Lord, You can count on me. I’ll never fall away! ” That was self-confidence, fleshly pride.
Christ has a severe word for Peter. Not only would Peter not be the one to stand with Him, he would be the most outspoken in his denial of Christ. Jesus addressed Peter in Matthew 26:34, “Jesus said to him, ‘Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times.’” Jesus had told them that “this night” they would all fall away. Then He told Peter that “this night” he would deny Him, three times before the rooster crows. That watch of the night, the cock crow watch, was from 12-3 a.m., a time when the rooster crows. Before he crows Peter would deny Him three times. Not once. Not twice. But three times, Peter! If Peter was really listening, you would think his response might be to fall down before the Lord and say, “Oh, Lord, strengthen this wretched man that I might not do such a horrible thing. ” But Peter was so sure he was strong enough to stand that instead of submitting himself to what Christ said and look to Christ for strength for what was coming, Peter was involved in an argument with Christ.

Matthew recorded Peter’s response in Matthew 26:35, “Peter said to Him, ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You.’ All the disciples said the same thing too.” Peter argued with Him saying even if it came to the point of dying, he wouldn’t deny Jesus. All the other disciples chimed in, but Peter was the leader. Note the use of the word, “all” in this passage. In Matthew 26:31 Christ said, “You will all fall away.” Then in Matthew 26:35 all the disciples say they won’t deny Him. And at the conclusion of the passage in Matthew 26:56, “Then all the disciples left Him and fled.” Christ told them they would all deny Him; they all said they would not, but the conclusion was that all of them did just what Christ prophesied.
Peter’s self-confidence and pride ought to serve as a warning and a reminder to us. Any time I get into a situation in which I am confident in my own strength, I need to be careful because as soon as I start to think I can handle it, I am in for trouble. Have you ever observed a Christian involved in sin and found yourself thinking, “How could they do such a thing? I would never do that. I am better than that.”? I find the longer I’m a believer and the more I grow and mature in Christ, the more I recognize what a wretched man I really am. And as I examine myself, the potential for sin and vileness and unfaithfulness to my Lord in my own life scares me. I realize I have the potential to do wretched things.
Peter wasn’t honestly looking at himself. He had confidence in himself, and it was a prideful confidence. There’s a danger as I look at Peter on this last night to wonder how he could blow it. Christ warned him! He had a unique chance! These eleven men had a chance that no other man on the face of the earth would ever have, and that was to stand with Jesus Christ on His last night and be faithful in the face of those who would crucify Him. But not one of them would be true. Peter would become such a weak, unfaithful man that even in the face of a slave girl he would curse and deny that he ever knew Jesus Christ. It is easy for me to look at Peter and almost have a despising attitude wondering how he could be so weak. Then I am amazed. I realize that what happened to Peter could have happened to me. I have the same vile potential.
Paul wrote about that in 1 Corinthians 10. In the first part of the chapter, Paul unfolded the experience of Israel in the Old Testament and their unfaithfulness to God. Then in 1 Corinthians 10:11 Paul wrote, “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction.” These things were written down so we could learn from them. The danger is that I might read about the experience of Israel in the Old Testament and find myself thinking, “How could they be so unfaithful? How could they do such sinful things? I would never even think of doing those things! ” Then Paul continued in 1 Corinthians 10:12, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.” Your only hope and my only hope is the sovereign power of God at work in our lives. As I rest in that power, recognizing my weakness and holding on to Him for dear life, then I do have victory. As soon as I think that I can handle a certain area; that I’m strong enough; or that I’ve been a Christian long enough that there are some things I can trust myself with, then I am being set up for a fall. That was Peter’s situation. Peter thought he would not deny Christ; after all he had walked with the Lord three years. He thought he knew himself and knew that he would be faithful to Christ. But Peter did not know himself yet and how wretched he really was.
Jesus and the eleven disciples retired to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives, a quiet place of solitude. “Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray’” (Matt. 26:36). Christ broke the disciples up into two groups. A large group of eight was left in one spot. “And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed” (v. 37). These three, Peter, James and John, formed an inner circle with Christ on a number of occasions.
The time in the garden gives a glimpse into the personality of Christ, His emotional life, that isn’t as clearly presented anywhere else in the Word. Christ was weighed down with deep grief and distress as He anticipated what was about to take place. Note that He was a man in the center of the will of God. He was a man exactly where God wanted Him to be, exactly at the time God wanted Him to be there, doing exactly what God wanted Him to do, and He was so deep in grief that He told the disciples that it almost killed Him. This is a good reminder for us. You can be in the exact center of the will of God and there can still be great distress and grief in your life. That was true of the Son of God who is also the Son of Man on this occasion.
This weighed upon Christ so greatly that He despaired almost of life. “Then He said to them, ‘My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.’”
(Matt. 26:38). That tells you how great the agony was that He was experiencing, as He confronted not only the reality of the events that would lead to His crucifixion, the agony of crucifixion itself, but also the fact that when He dies on that cross, He was going to bear the full brunt of the wrath of God in paying the penalty for sin. The recognition of the awfulness of what loomed before Him, the wrath of His Father being poured out, caused Him to be deeply grieved to the point of death. The agony He would experience in spiritual death would be almost more than He could bear.
Again He said something significant to the disciples, “Remain here and keep watch with Me.” He was not telling them to put up a physical watch. If He had wanted to do that, He could have had the disciples spread out on the side of the Mount of Olives, climb the trees, or get higher up the mountain so they could watch for anybody who would come. That was not the point. He took them into the garden in under the trees. He wanted them to set up a spiritual watch with Him. He wanted them to join with Him in prayer. I think this is tremendously significant. We fail to understand the importance of prayer.
The Son of God, who is also the Son of Man, is the One who addressed His Father as Father with a depth and a relationship that only He could have. And He found it necessary to have the believers closest to Him join with Him in this kind of prayer. This is tremendously crucial. “And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will’” (Matt. 26:39). Isn’t it remarkable that at this point in Christ’s ministry, the point toward which He said that He was moving His entire ministry, He fell down in prayer before His Father and said, “If it’s possible, I’d like to avoid this. " He was the one who was telling everybody it was not possible to avoid. This gives you a sense of the tremendous burden and pressure that the Son of Man was under.
When He said “this cup pass from Me,” the significance of that is from the Old Testament. It was used repeatedly as a symbol of the wrath of God. Jeremiah 25:15-16 is one of the many passages where the cup is used to represent God’s wrath, “For thus the Lord, the God of Israel, says to me, ‘Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. They shall drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.’” God speaks of giving the cup of His wrath to the nations to drink of it, to Israel to drink of it, to the lost to drink of it. When you drink of that cup, you bear the wrath of God. That was what Christ was talking about, “If it’spossible, to let this cup of wrath pass from Me, let it be so. " He said that if there was any other way than for Him to have to bear His wrath, to let that happen. But there was complete submissiveness to the Father.
Jesus was a complete man. He did not go to the cross unmoved and unaffected, thinking “This is God’s plan and that’s just the way it is. " Some Christians have the idea that this is the way you ought to always live your life—there’s no grief, there’s no sorrow, there’s no heartache. As long as you are in the center of God’s will, so to speak, everything will be fine. But that just isn’t the way it is. Sometimes when you are in the center of God’s will, it’s the way of stress and grief and agony. It was the way of grief and agony in a special way for Jesus Christ because He was anticipating that when He went to the cross, it wouldn’t just be the agony of the cross. As He hung on the cross, the full blast of God’s wrath directed toward the sin of every man, woman and child would be focused on Him. And the agony that He would bear would go beyond anything that any ever person ever has or ever will be able to suffer.
You have to understand what Christ was anticipating to appreciate the agony that He was going through in the garden. Paul unfolds the plan of God in reconciling sinful men and women to Himself in 2 Corinthians 5:19-21, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus Christ becomes sin. Our sin is placed on Him. That’s what’s going to happen at the cross. It’s more than just a man being crucified. When that man is crucified, all of my sins are going to be placed upon Him so that God’ s entire wrath which was directed toward me will be directed toward Him. Is it any wonder Jesus said that He was deeply grieved. He was in distress as He contemplated that. He knew something of what it meant to bear the brunt of God’s wrath for sin, being Himself not only completely man but also completely God.
Peter came to understand what was going on in the garden, and in 1 Peter 2:24 he wrote regarding Christ, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross.” That’s what was happening when Christ hung on the cross. He was bearing our sins and God’s entire wrath was directed toward Him so that according to Matthew 27:46, “Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani?’ that is ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?’” Jesus endured the spiritual death in agony that was due you and due me as the penalty for sin. He was deeply distressed and grieved as He anticipated what awaited Him.
In contemplating the events that led up to the cross, it becomes clear that the only hope for mankind is Jesus Christ: the Son of God on earth as the Son of Man to endure the full blast of God’s wrath to paying the penalty for sin. But there are people who think they are going to heaven because they do good works or because they are religious or because they were baptized. They fail to understand what sin is all about. They fail to understand the wrath of God. Sin necessitated the death of His Son! A person appropriates the effects of Christ’s death when he believes Jesus Christ died there for him. Jesus paid the penalty for my sin on that cross, and the moment I trust in that, God cleanses and forgives me in Christ; I am reconciled to God. But anyone who fails to believe in Jesus Christ and recognize that He was bearing his sins on the cross is going to bear the full brunt of the wrath of God himself. Is it any wonder that people will spend eternity in hell when you see what the Son of God was going through to provide salvation as a free gift? You can appreciate the fact that those who reject that free gift are destined to bear God’s wrath themselves, and that means eternal separation from God in hell.
The agony of what awaited Christ would have caused me to cry out, “If there could be another way. " In Matthew 26:39 Jesus said, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” In Philippians 2:8 Paul wrote, “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Did Jesus Christ go to the cross? Yes. That means God is saying there is no other way! No other way! That answers the question of whether Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven.
What did Christ ask in the garden? “Father, ifpossible, if there’s any other way, let this cup pass. " There is no other way of salvation but through His Son, Jesus Christ, and Christ’s death on the cross.
Then in Matthew 26:40 Jesus returned to find the disciples sleeping, “And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, ‘So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?’” Shortly before this, the faithful band had proclaimed their unyielding allegiance, even if it meant death, they stated they would die with Him. Jesus spoke to Peter since Peter had taken it upon himself to speak out. Those who were willing to die with Christ couldn’t even spend an hour in prayer with Him. This reminds me again of the importance of prayer. The most significant and the most important thing that these men could be doing on this night was to be praying. It is so easy for me to think, “I would suffer humiliation for Christ. I would suffer persecution for Christ. I would die for Christ if I need to. " But how much time did I spend in prayer yesterday?
Christ was not calling on these men to die for Him that night. He was not calling on them to suffer ridicule and persecution. All He demanded of them was to pray with Him! They couldn’t even do that. I’m afraid our prayer life sometimes reflects the depth of our commitment. It’s easy for me to think of what I would do if called upon for Christ, but I can measure something of my commitment in how disciplined I am to come apart and spend time with Him in prayer. If the Son of God needed these men to join together with Him in prayer on this occasion, how much more do we need to be joined together for one another in prayer for the strength and the enablement, for the deliverance that only He can bring?
The disciples couldn’t watch with Him even for one hour in prayer. What an opportunity! These eleven men were called to the unique privilege of spending this last night in prayer with Christ before the crucifixion. But they were tired. So in Matthew 26:41, Jesus gave a word of exhortation and warning, “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” You ought to mark that verse in your Bible and fix it in your mind. Keep watching and praying. He was talking about spiritual alertness. Keep spiritually alert! Keep praying so that you do not enter into temptation.
If you have been a believer very long, you have probably experienced an occasion when you have gone through a dry time in your life; it seems like time has gone by and you have not been in the Word like you should have been. Somehow you didn’t have time to be in prayer with the Lord like you should have been. All of a sudden something happens, and it seems like you are hit right in the face! And you are run over before you know what happened. You wonder what happened. You weren’t expecting that opportunity or that temptation; you were just caught off guard. That’s what Christ was telling the disciples. They didn’t know that at that very moment Judas had arranged the betrayal and was on his way to the garden! They just knew they were tired. He warned them to keep watching and praying so they won’t enter into temptation.
Note that Jesus said their spirits were willing, but their flesh was weak. He did not say that they don’t have a willing spirit. We sometimes write our resolutions as believers for serving the Lord, for leading disciplined lives in service for Christ, for being used of Him, for being men and women of the Word, for spending time in prayer. We could fill notebooks on the kind of zeal we have for the Lord! But the problem is that the flesh is weak. Jesus was talking about the physical body, not the sinful flesh or old man as we sometimes call it. The disciples were up early! They had a full day! They had a full evening! And it was getting late.
Have you ever noticed how that works? I really want to be a man of the Word of God. I really want to be a man of prayer. I want to be a man God can use. I want my life to count for eternity. Then I get up and I get to running around in the morning. And I’m not a morning person so I don’t want to spend any time in the Word and in prayer in the morning. My day gets busy and all of my evenings get busy, and when I go to bed I’m tired at night, and I don’t like to spend time in the Word and in prayer when I’m tired, so I missed today. All right, tomorrow. And life goes by. My spirit is willing, but this dratted old body of mine, it’s weak! Tired!
Matthew 26:43 says the disciples’ eyes were heavy. Sometimes we get so tired that we feel like we just can’t hold our eyes open. It seems like even if someone were to hold them open with their fingers we would still go to sleep. That’s the way these men were! Christ didn’t debate the fact that they were tired or that their flesh was weak. He said that was why they needed to pray!
That’s why they needed to watch and be spiritually on the alert. They did not know temptation was on the way. They may have been thinking, “Why can’t we get up tomorrow morning and spend some time in prayer? ” But tomorrow morning would be too late.
There are things I can do to discipline myself. I need to be in the Word. I need to be listening to what God says to me just like these disciples should have been listening to what Christ said. I need to be talking things over with Him. Sometimes I set myself up for failure. For example, I decide to have my devotions when I get in bed at night. It’s quiet and private and comfortable. And I lay back. “Dear Lord, it’s good to talk to you again... ” We sometimes joke about it, if you can’t get to sleep at night, try praying. I used to get down on my knees because there’s something about a spiritual posture. And I had a favorite chair, and I’d get down on my knees in prayer and I tell you I had the best rest of my life at that chair! Do you know what I have found? I can read the Bible when I walk back and forth. I may have to get a large print Bible! But I can read it as I walk around. I can pray. I can pray out loud walking back and forth and I rarely fall asleep when I’m talking out loud walking back and forth. No matter how tired I am, I can keep those legs going, walking back and forth, talking out loud. And that keeps my mind on the subject.
Christ left them again to pray. Matthew 26:42-44 says, “He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.’ Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.” He
prayed basically the same prayer that He prayed the first time, “If possible, let the cup pass away; if not, Your will be done.” He was in agony! It was burning Him, “Lord, if there’s any other way, let it be. But let Me be in Your will. Whatever Your will is, I’m available to You. ” There will be times when we, as believers, will pray in a similar manner, “Lord, this is not what I want, not what I would choose, but Lord, I lay myself before You. If this is what You want, Your will be done, even though I desire something else. ”
Jesus came back again and the disciples were sleeping. This would have been the greatest hour and the greatest opportunity and certainly was the time of greatest need for the disciples to be praying! “Then He came to the disciples and said to them, ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners’” (Matt. 26:45). This is it! If you stop and think about it, there will come a time when you will have prayed for the last time for other believers; either the Lord will come at the Rapture or you will die. And there will be a last time that you will minister by giving yourself for others. For me, there will be a last time when I have communicated the Word. I remind myself of that and it keeps me from falling into the pattern of thinking of my sermons as becoming routine. This may be the last one! How would I want it to be? This was the last time these disciples had opportunity to pray for Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.
How quickly it came! “‘Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!’ While He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs, who came from the chief priests and elders of the people” (Matt. 26:45-47). These men, with their heavy eyelids, were shaken out of their sleep when Christ told them the hour was here. While He was still talking, Judas arrived accompanied by a large crowd. John 18 indicates there were probably hundreds of Roman soldiers included in this contingent. The Romans weren’t going to take any chance that things were going to get out of hand.
Judas led them to Christ. Matthew 26:48-49 says, “Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign, saying, ‘Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him.’ Immediately Judas went to Jesus and said, ‘Hail, Rabbi!’ and kissed Him.” The idea of the kiss is intensified. He fervently kissed Him; he was real warm in his greeting. What was Judas doing? Why didn’t he just say “That’s Him right there! ” Judas carried on with his hypocrisy and the charade continued. Perhaps he thought he could carry this off and none of the disciples would know. Judas might claim that he didn’t know about this and the crowd must have followed him to the garden.
Jesus’ response was to the point. Matthew 26:50, “And Jesus said to him, ‘Friend, do what you have come for.’ Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him.” The word ‘friend’ doesn’t denote intimacy but Judas has been the companion of Christ. He has been one in that close circle, so it is a fitting greeting. But Jesus told him to do what he had come for. In other words, “Put aside all of the games. Just do what you came to do. You came to betray Me. Do it. ” And they seized Christ. Christ knew exactly what Judas was doing. This was no surprise for Christ. The agony of anticipation was past; the arrest took place. But, the story’s not over.
As they grabbed Christ, Peter charged into action. “And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear” (Matt. 26:51). The disciples weren’t listening when they should have been; they were arguing with Christ about His Word. And they were sleeping when they should have been praying. With that kind of background, you might expect that when Peter finally charged into action, he did the wrong thing. Some Christians do the same thing. They are dull toward the Word of God; they are insensitive to their need of prayer, but the situation comes that seems to demand you do something, so they charge in. We tend to think that we had better do something, but that is not always the case. If you are not spiritually prepared, there is a good chance that you will do the wrong thing and that is what Peter did. He whipped out his sword and cut off the ear of one of the servants of the high priest.
Do you get the idea that Peter was a little bit confused? What good does it do to go around cutting off ears? I mean that is not exactly the best warring tactic. The captain doesn’t usually say, “We ’re surrounded by these soldiers, men, charge! Let’s see how many ears you can get! ” Peter was in confusion and turmoil because he just woke up! He was not prepared for the temptation and the battle, so he just did the first thing that came to mind. John identified that it was Peter who did it. John wrote later, and it may have been that it was safe at that time to reveal that Peter did it. Peter was already dead probably when John wrote. The other gospel writers just say one of the disciples did it. I’m glad John told us it was Peter because otherwise we would have been guessing that it was probably Peter who did it, and he did.

John also told us that Malchus was the servant’s name. Evidently the servant of the high priest was one of those assigned to go up and lay hands on Christ when He was identified. Luke relates that Christ immediately healed the ear. Matthew just passes over some of these details. I have often wondered why healing the ear did not cause everybody to be amazed and recognize Jesus as the Son of God. Imagine what Christ could have done. After Peter sliced off the ear, you can imagine there would have been a scream by the servant. Jesus could have held up the ear, dripping blood and gore, and announce to everyone, “'Look at this ear; look where the ear used to be. Watch this as I reattach the ear! ” That would have been amazing. He did put the ear on, but they were in the garden under the bushy olive trees, in the darkness, and there were multitudes, hundreds of men, spread out through the trees and throughout the Mount of Olives.
In the darkness not everybody would see what was going on. In addition there was much confusion. When Peter cut off the ear, probably only the servant and one or two right there were even aware of what happened. Christ seems to have immediately taken charge and put that ear right back on. So if the servant ran around saying “Hey, my ear was cut off and He just put it on!” there would have been very few who could confirm this, and even fewer who would believe him.
Christ did not take advantage of the situation to make this a spectacular event. He simply told Peter to put the sword away in Matthew 26:52, “Then Jesus said to him ‘Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.’” Some people use this verse to encourage pacifism and against going to war or using weapons. But this passage has nothing to do with that. If you’ve been following the context, you know that this verse doesn’t have anything to do with pacifism. It’s similar to what Christ said in John 18:36 when He confronted Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” The point is that Jesus did not have an earthly kingdom to defend at that time.
In fact, Jesus told Peter He didn’t need his help, “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?” (Matt. 26:5354). Jesus said that if He needed help He would simply ask His Father who would immediately dispense twelve legions of angels or more at once! A full complement in a legion, if you had a legion at full strength, was 6,000 soldiers, so that would be over 70,000 angels immediately at His disposal. Jesus was reminding Peter that this was not happening because Jesus did not have anyone to defend Him but because it was the Father’s plan in carrying out redemption. And the Scriptures prophesied that the Messiah must suffer and die. He must bear the sins of the people. How would that happen if He was delivered?
Then Jesus addressed those who had come to seize him, “At that time Jesus said to the crowds, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against a robber? Every day I used to sit in the temple teaching and you did not seize Me. But all this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures of the prophets.’ Then all the disciples left Him and fled” (Matt. 26:55-56). The crowds knew what they were doing was wrong. They wanted to do this under the cover of darkness when the wrongness of their actions could be covered up. That was what Jesus was driving home. He pointed out that He sat unguarded, unprotected in the temple day after day teaching, but they did not arrest Him there. Instead they snuck out in the middle of the night with soldiers armed to arrest Him. They were acting like cowards because they knew what they were doing was wrong.
Remember Zechariah 13:7, “Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered.” All the disciples left Him and fled. It had to happen this way because Zechariah 13:7 said it would. Immediately all the disciples fulfill the Scriptures by running. In fact, one of them ran so fast, his robe got caught on the trees and he was stripped naked as he was running along because he was in a panic. This is one of those who were so composed earlier, saying that he would never deny the Lord, even if he had to die. People are intimidated by everything and everyone that comes along if they do not maintain time in the Word allowing God to speak to them and if they don’t take time in prayer with God. The circumstances that come up seem to overwhelm them and cause them to fear. And that was what happened to these disciples. If they had been listening to what Christ had to say, if they had been watching in prayer, it seems that their response would have been totally different. And that’s true for you and me as well.
The Scripture has been fulfilled. It’s God’s plan to accomplish redemption by the death of His Son. If you don’t get anything else out of this passage, it ought to be fixed in your mind that there is no other way for salvation. Christ had to go to the cross. Peter himself will say, in Acts 4:12, “there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” There is no other way; there is no other person on the face of the earth but Jesus Christ that provides salvation.
The question of eternity is where are you in relationship to Jesus Christ? Do you understand the significance of this passage? The Scriptures have to be fulfilled. God’s plan is that His Son would go to the cross, and by dying on the cross He would pay the penalty for my sins so that God can offer me the free gift of eternal life, IF I will believe in His Son. Have you ever come to believe in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? The question is not are you a member of this church, have you been baptized, do you teach Sunday school, are you one of the best teachers in the community? But the question is, have you ever come to recognize your sinfulness and believe that Christ took your sins, paid your penalty when He died on that cross and trusted Him as your Savior? Unless you do that, you will bear the full brunt of the wrath of God in hell for all eternity. But Christ has done it! Why not accept what He has done and believe in Him?
If you have believed in Him, what’s your life like? Perhaps you are a believer who has wandered. You have allowed yourself to cool. Have you really been in the Word? Does prayer characterize your life? Perhaps you find yourself having wandered from the Lord, wondering how you got to this place, and thinking that you would have never thought this would be true of you. Perhaps you are thinking that you need to get back to where He wants you to be. We need to be submissive to His Word and walking with Him in prayer. We need to maintain that daily because the temptation will come and the battle will come when we are not expecting it. It may
come when the flesh is worn down and weary. We need to discipline ourselves. Paul said in writing to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 9:27, “I beat my body and make it my slave.” Paul used a word here that means to beat black and blue. Paul had to discipline himself to be the man God wanted him to be. Paul knew that he could not do it in his own strength, but he drew upon the strength and power of the Spirit of God that indwelt him to discipline his body and make his body do, in the power of the Spirit, what God said was necessary for him to be an effective and faithful servant of Jesus Christ.
Are you going to be in the Word today? Are you going to spend time in prayer for yourself and for other believers today? I trust that God will use us in a special way that we might seize the opportunities to be everything that He wants us to be.