Betrayal and Arrest of Our Lord, Part 1

Driving home: And notice he is described again as though to underscore the horrible nature of his crime. While he yet spake comes Judas one of the twelve.

Martin quotes Hendrickson's commentary to explain the nature and size of the Roman cohort, clarifying the 'band of soldiers' mentioned in John 18:3.

But not only does Judas, one of the twelve, come, but the text says, and with him a multitude with swords and with staves. We add to this the particular insight that John gives us in John 18 and verse 3, and we have a more complete picture of this mixed multitude that accompanied Judas. Judas then, having received the band of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. And so the picture, you see, is filled in by John's account that, first of all, there was a band of Roman soldiers, a cohort of soldiers. And to describe ...

11:15 - 12:34 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section identifies the immediate agents as Judas and the armed multitude, detailing Judas's role as 'one of the twelve' and the composition of the multitude (Roman soldiers…

He compares the 'staves' carried by the temple guards to modern billy clubs or riot sticks, helping the audience visualize the weapons used.

But then this mixed multitude was also made up, not only of a segment of this cohort of Roman soldiers from the temple area, but a group of the official temple guards or officers. At the temple, they had sort of an unofficial ad hoc police force to keep order. And they would be the ones, who carried what we would call billy clubs or riot sticks. Translated in the 1901 stage, they were clubs made of wood, much like the wooden clubs carried by riot police and the ordinary policemen on the beat in our day.

14:32 - 15:14 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section identifies the immediate agents as Judas and the armed multitude, detailing Judas's role as 'one of the twelve' and the composition of the multitude (Roman soldiers…

Martin describes how a large, armed group leaving Jerusalem would attract 'curiosity seekers,' illustrating the potential composition of the crowd following Judas.

as to bring together this strange combination of Roman soldiers, official temple guards, a representation of the Sanhedrin, and following that group could well have made their way to the entrance of Gethsemane with them. Try to picture the scene. Everyone has been in Jerusalem up until the picture painted before us, save this little band of ordinary Palestinians who had made their way out to this grove, this grove of olive trees. And just at the point that one of them at the head of three others joins a group of eight by the entrance of that garden of Gethsemane, coming out of Jerusalem is thi...

17:53 - 19:16 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He lets them know that if they do anything to him they do it because he wills that it shall be done to him it will be done because he voluntarily commits himself to their hands that he is not overcome and overpowered by …

He uses the metaphor of being 'zapped with stun guns' to describe the effect of Jesus' 'I am He' declaration on the soldiers, conveying the sudden and overwhelming nature of his power.

we do not know but this much is clear from the text that that immediate group that was close to him in the initial questioning including Judas when he asked whom do you seek and they say Jesus of Nazareth when he says I am he they go backwards to the ground of simply stumbling because they jumped backwards there is a picture of something that intimidated them start moving backwards and then they are prostrate upon the ground and I cannot go beyond the text of scripture and saying the precise manner and form in which our Lord did it this is why I've chosen these words purposely and carefully th...

34:06 - 35:33 Read in full sermon

Driving home: He is God's Isaac who submits willingly to be slain as the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world

Jesus is called 'God's Isaac' who willingly submits to be slain, illustrating his voluntary sacrifice as the Lamb of God.

in and what would it do if he unleashed the full fury of it well we read in 2nd Thessalonians 1 what will happen when he unleashes the full fury of it men shall be punished with everlasting power and destruction from the glory of his power so our lord gives this stunning disclosure of his inherent power glory and self possession and he does so at the very beginning of this section of the account of his death that we who read the account would know as they were meant to know that he is indeed the lamb of God going willingly knowingly to the place of execution that none brings him to the altar o...

37:01 - 38:30 Read in full sermon

Driving home: God's decrees never in any way cancel the sincerity of his overtures to men that they would find mercy from him if they would only seek it

Martin quotes an unnamed observer to emphasize the profound sacrilege of Judas's betrayal on the most sacred night, in the most sacred place, by the most sacred means (a kiss).

him that filleth all in all and so here on the threshold of his giving himself up to the betrayal and to the apprehension and all of the subsequent shame and death of the cross our Lord not only gives a stunning disclosure of his power but a moving disclosure of his determination to preserve his true followers but then thirdly there is this third attendant of the betrayal and the apprehension and it's what I am calling the amazing demonstration of his patience and forbearance to the vilest of sinners his amazing patience and forbearance to the vilest of sinners we go back to Judas as one has o...

45:57 - 47:27 Read in full sermon

Driving home: God's decrees never in any way cancel the sincerity of his overtures to men that they would find mercy from him if they would only seek it

He recounts the biblical narrative of Judas's remorse, his throwing down the silver, and his subsequent suicide, illustrating the tragic end of one who despised Christ's mercy.

and how can Lord Jesus saying to this evil wicked debased man friend giving him a final display of his inherent be something of the amazing patience and forbearance of Jesus with the vilest of sinners but it's interesting this is the last reference we'll find about Judas in our expositions of the gospel of Mark and the subsequent silence is frighteningly eloquent when a man can stand in face to face proximity to Jesus and his and the scriptures tell us and the other witnesses shortly thereafter with a conscience tortured with the torments of hell I betray don't want it and he opens up his bag

53:31 - 55:00 Read in full sermon