John 18:5,6 - I am he

18:5

The soldiers give a straightforward answer. “I am he” could be taken to imply the deity of Christ. John makes little mention of Judas, not giving as many details as the synoptic gospels do. He obviously has great disdain for Judas from the various references to Judas in his gospel. In one sense Judas was an essential part of God’s plan, with the various Scriptural references in the Old Testament to someone betraying the Messiah. The chief priests also thought he was essential, or at least very useful, in helping deflect responsibility from themselves. If one of Jesus’ own disciples betrayed Him, then it would help make the crowds approve of the religious leaders’ actions, or so they thought. But in reality Judas was a bit part player of no lasting significance. We may be tempted to abandon Christ, either with the temptation of something “better”, or out of fear or weariness. If we do, then we will become utterly irrelevant. If we want to have true significance in life, and in eternity, then we must remain true to Christ.

18:6

It seems that “I am He” surely did have divine significance. Jesus was revealing Himself, and as a result the soldiers and officials drew back and fell to the ground. When God reveals Himself men are silenced. Our bravado or wisdom which seemed so solid and clever beforehand, quickly turns to nothing. Likewise, the world is very full of itself at the moment, but we can be equally sure that one day all their so-called wisdom will come to nothing. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess.

Whom will you fear? - John 7:1-13

A sermon on John 7:1-13

John 18:1-4 - An arresting time

18:1,2

We now come to the crucifixion and resurrection. Jesus had finished praying. So there has been Jesus teaching His disciples, and Jesus praying to the Father. Now comes the action, the working of things out in real life.

The “garden” in v1 is identified as Gethsemane in the synoptic gospels. The significance is that Judas knew where this garden was  and that Jesus often met with His disciples there. So Judas would know a good place to lead the soldiers to to find Jesus.

18:3,4

Judas came with a detachment of soldiers. The soldiers were a sort of local guard, there were also some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. The soldiers had torches, lanterns and swords. Jesus was not surprised at all about what was happening, indeed it was the very reason He had been sent by the Father. Jesus took charge of the situation, asking the soldiers who were they looking for. Superficially it looked as though men, or the devil, were in charge, but nothing could be further from the truth.

John 17:24-26 - Known

17:24

Jesus wants us to be with Him. It is His purpose, and therefore the Father’s purpose, that are with Him in heaven. See that it is His “desire”. This is not just a theological truth, but a heart matter, and a relational matter. He wants us to be with Him so that we can see His glory. Jesus had this glory before the foundation of the world. The Father gave this glory to the Son.

17:25

The world does not know God, but Jesus knows the Father, we know that the Father sent the Son. These are the foundations upon which the church is built, and it will topple over if it tries to build upon anything else. Notice again that we were given to Jesus, or sent to Him.

17:26

Jesus makes known to us the Name of the Father, the character of the Father. If you listen to atheists or sceptics talk about God you will find that they have a very distorted view of God. Even some so-called Christians will do so. Jesus makes known the true character of God. If we want to know who God is and what He is like we need to listen to Jesus.

This making know was an ongoing process, now being continued by the Holy Spirit. The goal is that the love the Father has for the Son may also be in us.

John 17:22,23 - Glory and love

17:22

Now what does this mean “The you have given me I have given to them”? I will use my twofold definition of glory, which is not complete, for we will need all eternity to grasp the fullness of God’s glory, but I think is helpful. So the twofold definition is (i) significance or weight; (ii) moral excellence. We do not appreciate the huge significance of the church (the church defined in God’s terms, not ours). The church is God’s primary instrument for achieving His purposes upon the earth. Then there is the moral excellence. Now this can be taken in two ways. One is the imputation of Christ’s righteousness upon us who believe. Then there is the transformation of our characters to become ever more Christlike.

The immediate purpose is that we become one, but we will say more about that when looking at the next verse.

17:23

Unity is not unity at any price, nor is it unity for no reason. Unity is built upon unity with Christ. It is to be the same as the unity between the Father and the Son, and on Christ in us. The purpose is that we may perfectly be one, and that the world may know that the Father sent the Son, and that He loves us as He loved the Son. Perfect unity only exists when we live in perfect obedience to Christ and have perfect trust in Him. The level of unity depends upon the level to which we trust and obey Christ. Then we need to be careful about the word love. We so often associate love with romantic love or sentimental mush. The love of the Father for the Son is far deeper than this. The Father’s love led Jesus to the cross, and raised Him from the dead. It is intimately tied in with the whole gospel.

John 17:20,21 - So that the world may believe

17:20

Jesus’ prayer is not limited to the apostles, but applies to all believers. Note that it is those who believe the apostles message. Those who deviate from the apostles’ message also remove themselves from the covering of Jesus’ prayer. This verse also highlights the purpose of the apostles, to preach the message of believing in Jesus. Jesus is the focus of it all, any “gospel” that focuses on anything or anyone else is no gospel at all.

17:21

Jesus prays that all of us may be one. So what do we see just now? On the face of it we are from this goal, and in a very real sense that is true. There are three main strands of Christianity: protestant, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox. Within these strands, especially within protestantism there are many divisions. Some of these are clearly between those who are faithful to Christ and those who are not, divisions on the issue of homosexuality is the most pertinent of these today. But there are also divisions between those who do believe the Bible, eg over baptism, over the age of the earth etc. So all this looks pretty depressing, yet here is also good news. I guess most of us have experienced the joy of meeting a Christian for the first time from some other part of the country, or from another nation, and finding that there is an immediate common bond between us. So there is both unity and disunity. When we are true to Christ it is the unity that dominates.

Jesus prays for us to have the same unity that He and the Father enjoy. And the purpose of this is that the world will believe that the Father sent the Son. In a time when society is increasingly hostile to Christianity I believe that as the opposition increases the unity, and the real expression of that unity, will increase, and the name of Jesus will be glorified in the midst of the opposition.

John 17:17-19 - Sanctified

17:17

Jesus then asks the Father to sanctify us. This involves a setting apart for His purposes, and a purifying, a cleaning out of the junk that is still within us. Now see here another hint of how predestination works. God has set us apart from before time began, yet Jesus is here at this point in history requesting that the Father do this. He did say earlier that He was asking these things now so we would know about it, but the events that happen in life, the decisions we make, the actions we take are real and they do matter. God is sanctifying us, and He does this by His word which is truth. We need to listen to His word, and to live His word. Then we will be purified.

17:18

“As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world”. As I have mentioned before, from about chapter 14 onwards the theme of His disciples being the continuation of His ministry on earth is a strong element in the latter part of John’s gospel. We need to give full force to Jesus’ words, instead of putting caveats on them. We are sent into the world in the same way as Jesus was sent into the world. Jesus was sent to fulfil the Father’s plans, we are sent to fulfil the Father’s plans.

17:19

Our fulfilling of this task in inextricably linked to the cross. Jesus set Himself apart so that we could be set apart for God. Jesus lived a life of perfect obedience to the Father, even to the extent of going to the cross to die on our behalf. The judgement that should have been ours was laid upon Him. We are sanctified in truth. It is a fundamental reality that we have been set apart for God, for His purposes. If we seek to find fulfilment in any other way we will find nothing but disappointment.