A Daily Walk

John Randall: Sometimes submitting to the will of God can be difficult. But look at the result of obeying God's will versus the result of rejecting God's will. Are you walking in the will of the Father today? Have you made the choice and said, "Lord, not my will but yours be done"? Or are you still living for your own will? Are you still the lord on the throne of your heart? Or have you vacated that spot that's reserved for Jesus and submitted to his will for your life?

Jesus said, "Not my will but yours be done." I think this is a great example when it comes to prayer. Whether it's verbalized or it's understood as I pray, "Lord, if this is not your will, then let's do your will." Always submitting to the will of the Father in prayer because he knows what's best.

Guest (Male): Welcome to A Daily Walk, where you never have to walk alone. If you're a regular listener, you know that we've been spending a good deal of time in the Gospel of Matthew, just part of our through the Bible study. Today, Pastor John Randall will share a message centered around the arrest and trials of Jesus. We've all heard stories of unjustified arrests, but this one takes the cake. He was completely innocent, and yet he allowed it to happen. Turn to chapter 26, and we'll turn things over to Pastor John.

John Randall: Jesus was crushed in the garden. Luke tells us in his account that his sweat became like drops of blood. He was so vexed and overwhelmed through the circumstance that he was in that the capillaries on his forehead began to burst and blood began to run down. And he prayed that the Father's will would be done.

It says that Jesus went a little further and he fell on his face and he prayed, "Oh Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." Then he came to the disciples and he found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, "Could you not watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation." He said, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

And again, a second time, he went away and he prayed and he said, "Oh my Father, if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, your will be done." And he came and found them asleep again for their eyes were heavy. So he left them and he went away again. And then he came to his 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. Rise, let us be going. My betrayer is at hand."

Here we find Jesus three times agonizing in prayer in the garden and saying each time, "Not my will but yours be done." And each time he went back and found the disciples asleep. There was no other way, folks, for us to be saved. Jesus said, "If there is any other way, if there's any other way that I don't have to go through this and experience this, then okay." But there wasn't another way. This is the only way that humanity could be saved from eternal separation from God, was for Jesus to suffer and to take upon himself all of the sins of the world in that moment on the cross.

And if he didn't, then humanity would be lost. And so Jesus submits to the will of the Father. In fact, again, the writer of Hebrews gives us New Testament commentary as to what Jesus was experiencing in the garden at this moment. In Hebrews chapter five, it says this: "who in the days of his flesh," that's his humanity, "when he," Jesus, "had offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and was heard because of his godly fear, though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered."

There in the garden, just offering up prayers and cries. And if there's any other way in his humanity, he's feeling what we can barely scratch the surface of, what it would be like for him to be ultimately separated from the Father. And yet he submits to the will of the Father. And listen, folks, in that moment, having submitted to the will of the Father, everything was about to change.

You may recall that human history began in a garden. It was the Garden of Eden. And within the Garden of Eden, the first Adam failed. He failed. He did not submit to the will of God. In fact, he rebelled against it and sin was passed to all humanity. Because of one decision he made, one decision led to the trajectory of the human race, and sin and death passed to all people.

But now, in a different garden, the Garden of Gethsemane, the second Adam, as Jesus is called in scripture, is obedient to the voice of the Father and he submits to God's will. And now because of that, where humanity was destined to be destroyed and separated, now could be saved and restored. He submitted to the will of the Father. I also want to point out to you that submitting to the will of the Father was not easy. It was difficult. It was actually painful.

Sometimes submitting to the will of God can be difficult. But look at the result of obeying God's will versus the result of rejecting God's will. Listen, are you walking in the will of the Father today? Have you made the choice and said, "Lord, not my will but yours be done"? Or are you still living for your own will? Are you still the lord on the throne of your heart? Or have you vacated that spot that's reserved for Jesus and submitted to his will for your life?

Jesus said, "Not my will but yours be done." And I think this is a great example when it comes to prayer. Whether it's verbalized or it's understood as I pray, "Lord, if this is not your will, then let's do your will." Always submitting to the will of the Father in prayer because he knows what's best.

Maybe you're struggling, wrestling with the will of God for your life today. Listen, just surrender to it. Just say, "God, let your will be done." Stop fighting it. Just let him do what he wants to do. Trust him. Trust that he loves you and he's got a plan for you. He's not going to wreck you, he wants to bless you. So just let him do what he wants to do. Submit to the will of God. That might take some humiliation on your part, that might take some submission on your part, surrender, but it's worth it.

Well, while all of this is unfolding, it says in verse 47, "And while he was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now his betrayer had given them a sign, saying, 'Whomever I kiss, he is the one; seize him.' Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, 'Greetings, Rabbi!' and kissed him." And Jesus said to him, "Friend, why have you come?"

Judas now comes to the garden. We know from the other gospels collectively that he brought a cohort of soldiers with him, which is estimated between 200 to 600 men. And this arresting party would have included the Jewish temple police, Roman soldiers from the occupying garrison quartered in the tower of the Antonio Fortress, and officials representing the chief priest, teachers of the law, elders, and the Pharisees. And they came with swords, clubs, torches it says, lanterns of course, to arrest Jesus.

But I want you to understand something else. Between the dismissal of Judas from the upper room to the time of his arrival in the Garden of Gethsemane, it's estimated to be close to two hours. And in that two hours, Jesus could have fled. Could have escaped. The cross could have been avoided. But our Lord would finish the work. He would complete the mission. He did not forsake his calling or else we would have been forsaken. He endured so that we could be saved, and it was his love that constrained him to go forward.

And Judas comes into this garden and he betrays the Lord with a kiss. How insulting. Judas makes his way to Jesus and there is evidence of his treachery in that the standards of the day considered the disciple impudent who would kiss his master before his master kissed him. Which made Judas just even more disgusting. Jesus' response amazes me when he calls him "Friend." "Friend, why have you come?" Someone has referred to this response of Jesus as a rebuke by a question. I'm amazed that Jesus would call him that.

Then Jesus, after this, it says they came and laid hands on Jesus and they took him. Verse 51, "And suddenly one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear." But Jesus said to him, "Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to my Father and he will provide me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen thus?" And in that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, "Have you come out against a robber with swords and clubs to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple and you didn't seize me. But all of this was done," why? "that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled." Then all the disciples forsook him and fled.

Matthew tells us that one of his disciples drew a sword. Luke's gospel tells us who it was. It was Peter. And we find that Peter, as he began to swing his sword, cut off the ear of the high priest whose name was Malchus. And Jesus actually picked up the ear off the ground and healed Malchus there in the garden. And he reproved Peter again.

Peter was trying to keep Jesus from going to the cross, trying to keep him from fulfilling his mission. He still did not yet understand what was happening. And Jesus said, "Don't you realize that if I wanted to, I could call down twelve legions of angels?" One legion consisted of 6,000 soldiers. Jesus said, "In an instant, I could have 72,000 angels here." Really, one would do the job, but he said 72,000 could be here at my word. "But if I did that, then how could the scriptures be fulfilled?" It reveals what Jesus could have done and what he chose to do instead.

Following his arrest in the garden, John tells us that he was taken to the home of Annas, who was the high priest emeritus, that is, he was the former high priest who had passed it on to his son-in-law named Caiaphas. And in verse 57, "And those who laid hold of Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed him at a distance to the high priest's courtyard. And he went in and he sat with the servants to see the end. Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last, two false witnesses came forward and said, 'This fellow said, "I'm able to destroy the temple of God and build it in three days."' And the high priest arose and said, 'Do you answer nothing? What is it these men testify against you?' Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to him, 'I put you under oath by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.'"

Jesus was taken to this illegal preliminary trial in the middle of the night. According to Jewish interpretation of the law found in the Talmud, this was completely unlawful. You could not have a trial in the middle of the night. You weren't able to use one of the offender's or the criminal's, the so-called criminal's disciple to convict because that would make him an accomplice. All of it was wrong. Jesus wasn't going to get a fair trial. It was obvious.

They brought false witnesses. They took his words and they twisted them. Jesus never said that he would destroy the temple and then build it in three days. He was talking about the temple of his body. He said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." They twisted his words. They brought false accusation against him. And yet with all of the false accusations, with all the lies, do you notice that Jesus didn't say a word? He just kept silent. He didn't defend himself. What is there to defend if you're innocent? You don't have to say anything.

But then the high priest, so frustrated by Jesus' silence, he actually put him under oath. In a court of law, that was something to get the person to speak. And he said, "Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." And notice Jesus' response in verse 64. Jesus said to him, "It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven."

Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, "He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now have you heard his blasphemy! What do you think?" And they answered, "He's deserving of death." Verse 67, "Then they spit in his face, and they beat him, and others struck him with the palms of their hands, saying, 'Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck you?'"

As Jesus was put under oath, he did not deny that he was the Son of God, that he was the Messiah. And he even said, "You will see me coming on the clouds of heaven." And at that moment, everybody knew in that room what Jesus was saying. He was saying he was God. He was saying he was the Messiah.

And so the high priest, in this outward demonstration of anguish and anger, he tears his clothes. Rents his garments. Calls Jesus a blasphemer. And if it wasn't true, it would have been blasphemy. But it was true. He is who he claimed to be. And right after that happened, they began to spit in his face. How degrading. To come right up to the face of Jesus and just spit in his face.

And that wasn't all. They blindfolded him, they blindsided him, they took the palms of their hands and they just hit him with their hands, saying, "Prophesy! Tell us who hit you!" And the Bible also tells us in the gospels collectively they yanked out his beard.

God has made us in such a way that we can be very resilient. When you see a punch coming, if you see it coming, they say you roll with it. Roll with the punches. What does that mean? It just allows you to graze you and maybe not take the full impact of the fist because you roll with it. But if you've ever been blindsided, if you've ever been hit when you weren't expecting it, you feel the full force of that blow because you weren't able to brace for it. Imagine the Son of God just being pummeled and spit upon and beard plucked out.

Jesus was up all night, sweating great drops of blood in the garden, betrayed by a close friend, slapped in an illegal trial before Annas, now reviled and spit upon and beaten in an informal trial before Caiaphas, and he would be taken early in the morning to stand before a Roman governor by the name of Pilate.

The Bible tells us that in this process, as Jesus was being tried in the home of Caiaphas, that Peter was outside denying the Lord. And it says if you look with me in verse 69, "Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came and said to him, 'You were also with Jesus of Galilee.' He denied it before them all, saying, 'I don't know what you're saying.' And when he had gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who were with him, 'This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.' But again he denied with an oath saying, 'I don't know the man.' A little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter, 'Surely you are one of them, for your speech betrays you.' Then he began to curse and swear, saying, 'I don't know the man!' And immediately the rooster crowed."

Peter had said, "I'll never do that. That'll never happen to me. Anybody else, I understand. But you know who I am, you know how committed I am. I'm the guy. It's not going to happen to me." And here, as Peter is in the wrong place at the right time, suddenly a little girl sees him, he denies it. Another girl sees him, he denies it. Finally people say, "No, I know you're with him. Your speech betrays you." One of the other gospel writers tells us that he was a relative of Malchus. "No, you cut off my cousin's ear. You are definitely the guy."

And here when Peter, the final denial, when he says, "I don't know him," he's actually, when it says he cursed and swore, it doesn't mean he's using profanity. It means he is calling down curses upon himself saying, "I swear to God, may I be cursed, my family, may I be cursed if I know the man." I mean, that is the strongest denial that you could make. "Let a curse be on me if I know him."

And in that moment, it says the rooster crowed. In fact, Luke's gospel in the 22nd chapter, in the 61st verse, tells us that right after the third denial and the rooster crowed, that Jesus looked at Peter. Looked at him. They caught eyes. And then it says, "And Peter remembered the word of Jesus," verse 75, "'Before the rooster crows, you'll deny me three times.' And he went out and he wept bitterly."

I've often wondered, and perhaps you have as well, how did Jesus look when he looked at Peter in that moment? Certainly his face was swollen from all of the beating he had received. Perhaps bleeding from the beard being plucked out. Did he look at Peter and just say, "How could you do that to me?" Was it eyes of disdain and hatred? I don't think so. Jesus had told Peter before it ever happened what was going to happen. He knew. It wasn't a surprise to Jesus that Peter had done what he had done. It was a surprise to Peter, but not to Jesus. I believe that Jesus looked at Peter with eyes of understanding, with mercy. And that is why Peter went out and he wept bitterly. He had failed the one he loved.