CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 14
In Scripture every little incident is like a tree of blessing. The Lord had to be betrayed. He did not take a conspicuous place. He was not distinguished [p. 186] from the twelve. Unlike a leader among men, one intimate with Him had to betray Him. “Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he”, that was the sign. When Satan enters into a man, he makes him do much more than he intends to do.
Verse 13: “A man shall meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him” - that was a token given them that it was the right place to which to go. There is a divine principle in it. Wherever there is divine refreshment, there God is leading. The manna and the cloud always go together. “Have ye any meat?” is a very serious test now for many places. There must be nurture, and there must be the cheer and the support of the Lord wherever He is. If I have good food in a place, I need not be anxious about guidance. How do I know that I am guided? By finding that I am fed. “And he will shew you a large upper room”. How carefully the Lord does everything if it is left to Him! In a company of twelve think of one being a treacherous person. The Lord knew who it was, and what quiet waiting there was in Him till the time came for it to be manifested! It was grace, not indifference. Then He gives Judas the sop.
Verse 22 is a new subject - the supper. He took the cup, etc. The disciples were not thinking about their sins, but about losing Him, that death was what would take Him away from them. ‘O head so full of bruises’ was really what their thoughts were at that moment.
In commemorating the Lord’s death the true sense of it is more what it was to Him than what it has effected for me. It is not so much the Lamb slain for sinners (though that is true) as the sense of His having entered into death, and being in the place where He died which intensifies the thing to me. His death casts its shadow over the place. His death was what was before the disciples. The advantages to flow from it they had not learned yet. They were [p. 187] behind us in some things, but before us in others. They sang a hymn - it was a solemn moment to sing a hymn.
Peter’s self-confidence is the opposite to the treachery of Judas. It was a fall which not only compromised Peter, but the Lord. He denies Christ and swears that he did not know Him, all this was from self-confidence - “he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool”. “Happy is the man that feareth alway”. If my will were broken, I should not say, I would not do that, but, May God preserve me from doing it!
There are few who have confessed their will. Many confess their acts or their conduct. Saul confessed his will in those three days of blindness. The sense of having a will is distressing to a godly soul. God wants me to go to that side. I want to go to this side. Circumcision (that is the will set aside) was the first thing after the entrance into the land; Joshua 5. The first great characteristic of breathing heaven is, ‘no flesh admitted here.’ I must have no confidence in my own will. If I like to do a thing, that makes me suspect it, but if I know that God likes me to do it, it is safe. In Proverbs 9 we have the two characteristics of wisdom and folly. Wisdom is characterised by forsaking - “Forsake the foolish, and live”. Folly is attractive and treacherous. Do not go there - the dead are there - her guests are in the depths of hell.
Verse 32. Gethsemane. In a few words is told the greatest occurrence that ever took place on this earth.
The Lord went through it first with God. Only a holy person could have any idea of what distance from God is. The holy Son of God taking the place of the sinner’s distance, Satan was here seeking to crush Him, by presenting to Him what death would be to Him - the character of Satan’s assault (as also with us) is first to seduce us and afterwards to crush us. He had sought to seduce the Lord in the beginning of His course here and was foiled - at the end he sought [p. 188] to crush Him. Before this time they could not touch Him - there was like a wall of fire round about Him - but now all was let loose upon Him; every power, sin, death and judgment. He is in the hands of the crowd - they all had their way with Him. “All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me”. “They laid their hands on him, and took him”. Peter draws a sword. In another gospel we have the Lord’s rebuke to him. What a rebuke! A person may have a false bravery - the unspiritual nature of an act is shown by the excess of it. The others forsook Him and fled; they were more right than Peter was, who followed Him, afar off, into the palace of the high priest. It is very bad to go to a place where there is trouble if you have not faith for it.
There followed Him a certain young man. It is beautiful to see sometimes that a man who fails in the bright morning turns up faithful in the dark evening. Mark failed in the bright day of Acts, but in 2 Timothy, when everything had failed, he turns up. It is very cheering to see one come out in faithfulness, in the closing hour of weakness.
Verse 42. Every power is now let loose on Christ. Satan’s first temptation was to divert Him from God’s service; here at the end it was to divert Him from serving man.
Peter called to mind the word that Jesus had said to him. “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten”. When the word comes home to me I call to mind that the Lord had warned me of this. Why do we not listen to His warnings? We can never say, He neglected me, if we are walking with Him. A person who is walking with the Lord finds out what his natural tendencies are by watching the Father’s discipline and the Lord’s word. We are warned by the ministry of the word and disciplined by the ordering of circumstances.