The night that Jesus was arrested, He showed the greatest courage of any human being in history. After coming to the Garden of Gethsemane, the Scripture says that Jesus was “amazed” (Mark 14:33, KJV) with the realization of what it would be like to drink the cup of God’s wrath. He had been born to die, and that was what He was always willing to do. But now, in the Garden, God the Father revealed to Jesus, perhaps at a very deep and personal level, just what it would be like physically, emotionally, and spiritually to drink the cup of God’s wrath for the sins of the world. Jesus agreed to do this willingly, though the effort in prayer was so extreme that He was sweating great drops of blood.
Having decided to bear our wrath, Jesus got up and went out to confront Judas, His betrayer, and the soldiers with him. The betrayer had arranged a signal and kissed Jesus to mark Him as the man they were to arrest. The account from Matthew goes as follows:
Matthew 26:50-56 Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?" At that time Jesus said to the crowd, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled." Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
When Peter (the companion who wanted to save Jesus by fighting the soldiers) drew his sword and began to fight, Jesus stopped him with a three-fold answer:
- All who draw the sword will die by the sword.
- If I were trying to avoid arrest, I would simply call on the Father and He would send a heavenly army large and powerful enough to conquer the world.
- BUT how then would the Scripture be fulfilled that say it MUST happen in this way?
The first answer is obvious. Peter has a small personal sword (Greek machaira) and he is facing as many as six hundred Roman soldiers (the word speira in John 18:3 implies the tenth part of a Roman legion). He will immediately be cut down and slaughtered if he tries to fight.
The second answer is stunning, because it shows the incredible power of Jesus and the heavenly armies. “Twelve legions of angels” would have come if Christ had called on His Father: that is perhaps 72,000 angels. And one angel killed 185,000 Assyrian troops in the Old Testament in one night (Isaiah 37:36). The angels would be “put at Christ’s disposal” by His heavenly Father, and happily willing to do anything the Son of God commanded, they would immediately make short work of these soldiers.
"Jesus would rather die than break Scripture!"
But Jesus had a deeper concern:
Matthew 26:54 “But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”
A moment later, Jesus proclaimed to the arresting mob the real reason for that evening’s events:
Matthew 26:56 “This has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.”
To Jesus, this is the real issue. Jesus would rather die than break Scripture! Let me say that again: Jesus would rather die than break Scripture! In this, He stands alone atop the human race. There is not a human being in history who had a higher view of Scripture than Jesus Christ did. We prove that every time we sin, thus disobeying one of God’s commands as recorded in Scripture. Even the holy martyrs, who died rather than denying Christ, still sinned at other points in their lives:
Hebrews 12:4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
Jesus resisted sin to the point of shedding His own blood. Jesus’ view of Scripture was that His life was forfeit to fulfill Scripture’s prophecies. Our life ambition should be to rise ever upward to His standard in our estimation of the Word of God.
