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Matthew 26:48-56
Have you ever heard the saying, “Betrayed with a kiss”? That’s what happened to Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. That was the sign that Judas gave to the mob that had come to arrest Jesus, as is stated in Matthew 26:48.
As they took Jesus into custody, the Bible teaches us in John 18:10, (NKJV), “Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.” But Jesus rebuked him for doing so and declares in Matthew 26:52-54, “52But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. 53Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? 54How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?” How powerful might twelve legions of angels be, we might ask? In 2 Kings 19:35 one angel, the angel of the LORD, killed 185,00 Assyrian soldiers in one night. This number is not a maximum possibility but a simple example of the power of the LORD God Almighty. The point is that Jesus did not need His servant Peter to come to His rescue, He could very easily have overpowered all the troops in the mob that night in the garden of Gethsemane. More importantly, Jesus states, “But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled” (Matthew 26:54;56).
And then, as an explanation mark to the fact that Jesus had to take this punishment on His own, the Bible teaches us in Matthew 26:56b, “Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.”
This is the example of the One who stood tall as everyone else fled.
This is the fulfilling of the promise that Jesus alone took upon Himself the sins of humanity.
We have all experienced times when people support each other in numbers, but when the going gets tough, that support has a way of diminishing, leaving us alone to face the punishment. When all left Jesus, He stood tall in humility to take all our sins upon Himself, knowing that He alone would die only to rise again in victory calling everyone back to Him to receive the prize that we do not deserve, but through the love of God in Christ Jesus – by His grace, He accepts all who will come to Him. Come to Jesus today and receive the gift of a lifetime – a lifetime of eternal forgiveness by putting your faith in Jesus and believing that He can set you free!
Dear LORD,
We like to pass blame. We like to point to others when the punishment is being handed out. We run from adversity as did the disciples of Jesus at His arrest. Please help us to see that this all happened so that the Scriptures would be fulfilled in Christ Jesus. Jesus declares in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” Jesus fulfilled the requirements of righteousness because we cannot – He came to save us from our own sins so that we may live and be forgiven. Please help us to return to You through our faith in Jesus our Savior – the Savior of the world. In Jesus name I pray, amen.