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16
THE ARREST OF JESUS-Jesus had been expecting Judas to betray Him at this
hour and He was willing to take upon Himself the sorrows and anguish of
mankind, mentally and physically. Judas's act was more despicable by the fact
that he continued to eat together with Jesus after the payment arrangement.
The act of betrayal was not the outcome of a sudden impulse at The Last
Supper but was planned with the priests beforehand. The Chief priests had
been too afraid to arrest Jesus during the previous days so they were very
willing to be involved in paying Judas to hand Jesus over to them. Jesus had
known this from the beginning.
Judas, by
His own choice allowed himself to surrender to Satan. Because of anger and disappointment,
Judas allowed his selfish desires to place him in a position where Satan
could easily manipulate him. Satan had entered Judas to have his way and not
God's way and directed and influenced Judas' activities.
Jesus
Himself knew Judas to be deceitful and treacherous. He knew of his criminal
acts and confidences with The Jerusalem Temple priests, which had culminated
in the betrayal of The Messiah. Jesus mentioned the loss of Judas in His
Highly Priestly Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane just before His arrest.
"I have kept all except the one doomed for destruction." John 17:12
The
patience of Christ was with Judas throughout His years of ministry, knowing
the so- called disciple would be a traitor to Him. Judas had tried to force
Jesus into a revolution against Rome and had received the reward money. He
was given a contingent of Jewish Temple police as well as some Roman soldiers
in order to seize Jesus and bring Him before the religious court for trial.
The priests had issued the warrant for Jesus' arrest.
Judas had
told the Temple guards to arrest the man he greeted. Judas pointed out
Christ, not because He was hard to recognise but because Judas agreed to be
the formal accuser in a trial. Judas led the arresting party to one of Jesus'
prayer retreats where no one would interfere with the arrest. He took the
band, all who were carrying swords and clubs to arrest Jesus in the olive
grove late at night and by a pre-arranged sign of a friendly greeting kiss,
Judas singled out Jesus.
When Jesus stepped
forward and announced who He was, the guards fell backwards to the ground.
The disciple Peter, wanted to fight against them and struck the servant of
the High Priest, cutting his ear off with a sword. Jesus immediately stopped
him and healed the man's ear.
Judas
betrayed Jesus for personal gain, through a bargain, and coldly carried it
out with the symbol of love and faithfulness, a kiss. It was Satan's attempt
to make Jesus display His powers improperly. Judas showed his wicked heart in
his crime when he gave the enemies of Christ his acknowledgement of betrayal
by a deceitful kiss.
All these
events happened because Jesus allowed them to happen. Jesus had chosen Judas
to be His disciple and the other disciples, who also abandoned Him. They had
all shown a misunderstanding of Jesus' mission, but they sought Him for their
forgiveness.
It was
neither His own sorrow nor His own grief that He was going to bear, and
because mankind did not understand the immensity of His commission, He was
left rejected by all those around Him. He was immediately taken before the
High Priest and later examined by the Jewish Religious Court, the Sanhedrin.
He was to be seen before the religious and civil courts.
Another young man unknown to the
disciples was a witness to Jesus’ arrest. The soldiers had seized him, but he
was able to struggle free and escape.
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