Shane Kirkword - Class 5: Behold The Man

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   This is day five of the 2010 Idyllwild Bible School. Our first period teacher is Brother Shane Kirkwood. His general topic is, Our Lord's Last Week. Today's topic is, Behold the Man. Brother Shane. Good morning, everyone. Nice to see you still all happy and smiling. Well, there's a lot of material in front of me here, and forgive me that I'm not going to be able to colour everything in anything like any detail.

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   I'm dragging the chain, so please bear with me as I pick out just some snippets of events to look at for today's study. Today, I do want to deal with where we left it from yesterday, which was the Lord rousing his disciples from their sleep and the approaching of Judas with the soldiers.

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   And so, as they got up in the Garden of Gethsemane, we're told in John 18, verse 2, And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place. For Jesus oft times resorted thither with his disciples.

4. 1:42

   So what was the betrayal? What did it mean when it says that Judas betrayed Jesus? I think there's a number of elements to it. And as I said the other day, I think there's clearly a difference between a denial and a betrayal. Sometimes people put both what Judas and Peter did in the same class.

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   I don't think they're in the same class at all. A denial is something that's done because of human weakness. So when we fail under pressure, and every one of us has done this, we are apt at times to deny our Lord. And that brings with it a recrimination that we feel within ourselves for our own weakness and faithlessness to him.

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   A betrayal is someone who charts a deliberate course, who makes a deliberate decision. And that's what Judas did for the sake of money. So what constituted the betrayal? It was that Judas knew the place because they wanted to be able to take him in a place that wouldn't cause an uproar. It was more than that also.

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   He knew the timing. When was the best time to take the Lord? Now it's possible that they first went to the upper room because Judas had been there. And he may well have said to the chief priests and the rulers, we'll go first to the upper room. It may be that they're still there.

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   Now having gone there, of course, they found the place empty. They then may have said to Judas, okay, well that's far, where do we go next? And he says, I know where we go. In fact, this location is better than the upper room. It's the garden. Because Jesus had a habit of going to the garden.

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   So there are those two things. There's the timing, there's the location, but there's something else as well. It was that Jesus was talking about dying. And they may well have said, well, how do we know we can take him? And Judas would have said, he is talking about dying. And when you go to take him, he will go willingly.

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    And that tells us that Judas was listening more intently than any of the other disciples. He was aware of what was going to happen.

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    But there's also another aspect. And in Luke 22 and verse 6, we're told that Judas promised. It says in Luke 22 verse 6, He promised and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude. What did he promise? Is the question.

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    I think what he promised was when they finally got hold of Jesus, he would be witness for the prosecution. And I think all of those elements are bound up in Judas' betrayal of his Lord. And so there they stood at last in the garden. And it says, Judas having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees came with, thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.

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    Matthew says, And while he yet spoke, that is while Jesus yet spoke to the disciples and said, rise, let us be going. He says, low. In other words, whoa, it's Judas. Judas.

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    There's an element of shock about this. It's Judas. One of the twelve. Came and with him a great multitude with swords and stays from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign saying, whosoever I shall kiss, the same is he. Hold him fast. And forthwith, he came to Jesus and said, hail master.

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    And kissed him. And that phrase means, joy to thee master. What hypocrisy. Joy to thee master. But Jesus was no longer the master of Judas, if he ever really had been. Judas had now charted his own course and was master of his own destiny. As tragic as that would be. So he kissed him.

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    It's been called the most infamous kiss in history. And there are other occasions when deceit was used in a kiss. There was the occasion in 2 Samuel 14, just before Absalom was about to usurp his father to take the throne of Israel. David kissed Absalom. And there's no ill intent on David's part, but there certainly was on Absalom's.

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    There was the kiss that Jacob took to his father, Isaac, before he began his subtlety and deceit to grab the birthright. But this, by far, outweighs them all. The kiss of a traitor to an innocent man. More than that, to a sinless man. And Psalm 55 says, verse 20 to 21, Proverbs 27, verse 6, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

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    What was Jesus' response? Jesus says to him in Matthew 26, verse 50, Friend, why have you come? And we know that when Jesus said things, he meant it.

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    And what was the Lord hearkening back to when he used that term, Friend? Surely the Last Supper. Surely the occasion when just between the two of them, the Lord took the sop and handed it to Judas in an offer of friendship. And again, right here at the very end, just before they're about to bind him and take him, he says, Friend, why are you here?

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    It means comrade, companion. But there's no reply from Judas, is there? These events now had become irreversible. The Lord was destined to go to Calvary. And in John 18, verse 4 to 8, it says, Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth and said unto them, Who do you seek?

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    And just for a moment, contrast that because we're in the garden. Contrast that with Adam and Eve. Where Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves and their shame in the garden. And look at the contrast with the Lord here. There is no fear. Look at the difference between what had just transpired in the garden moments before as he was on his face to the ground, praying with every strength in his being that he could accept his father's will.

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    What a difference as his mind had been completely resolved to do that which his father wanted. So he goes forth and he said, Who do you seek? And they answered, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said to them, I am he.

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    And they fell backwards to the ground. And they fell backwards to the ground. Now I want you to think about this. He says, I am he. And it says, Judas also which betrayed him stood with them.

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    And I said that only one pair of feet that the Lord washed never returned. And it's true. because while Jesus was face to face with Judas, the feet of Judas firmly stood with the enemy. They never came back. He was gone.

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    And when Jesus says, I am he, they go over backwards. It's a very strange incident. One of those things that the gospels sometimes throw up and you say, well, wow, where did that come from?

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    Psalm 27 verses 1 to 3. I'll read it for you. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? And how true that was. All his strength now was in his father. When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

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    Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, in this I will be confident. Now consider for a moment if you're one of the soldiers. you've just been thrown backwards by no human element. What are you thinking?

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    I'd be thinking it's time to get out of here. I'm not hanging around. There's a lot more going on here than we know about. This is no simple arrest.

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    And he asked the question again, who do you seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Well it doesn't say that in the record, but I'm sure that's how it came out.

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    And he answered and said, I've told you that I'm he. If therefore you seek me, let these go their way. You've got no argument with them.

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    And again the Lord is thinking of others right at the point of his capture. let my friends go. He would tread the path to Calvary alone. And he told his disciples that. He said, all you will leave me and I will be alone, yet I'm not alone, the Father is with me.

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    That the saying might be fulfilled which he spoke of them which thou gave us me, have I lost none. And they thought they were ready to die for their faith in Jesus.

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    They said they could drink the cup. Peter said, I'll go with you to prison and to death. Luke 22 verse 49. When they which were about him saw what would follow. just think about this from the disciples point of view. They're looking at all this, they've been woken out of sleep, they're seeing what's gone on between Judas and the Lord, they're listening to the words of Jesus and he's saying, let the others go, I'll come, and they're going, no, no, it's not going to be like this.

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    And Peter had said before, Lord, this won't happen to you. And Jesus had said, get behind me, Satan. And here it was in real time, it wasn't just words, it was a real event. And as far as Peter is concerned, this cannot happen. This is your best friend. He says, do you want me to smite with the sword?

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    And one of them smote the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. And we're told it's Simon Peter. John tells us in 18 verse 10, then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and smote the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear. And the servant's name was Malchus.

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    Now, was it really the high priest's servant that Peter was after? We don't know, do we? It's one of those questions we'll have to ask him in the kingdom. About that incident in the garden, Peter, who was it you're really trying to get with the sword?

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    I think it was Brother Norris suggests that it was actually Judas that Peter was after. And we can imagine that because Peter was a loyal friend and when it dawned on him that Judas stood with the enemy. That was good enough for him. In Australian parlance we would say he was having a go.

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    If he was going to go down, he was going to go down fighting. He was going to have a red hot go. What does the Lord do?

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    He heals the servant of the high priest. It's interesting that Malchus' name means kingly. It's also interesting that he smote off the right ear of the high priest servant. You can go back to Leviticus and check that out for yourself in your own time. The right ear of the high priest and of course the right thumb and the right toe.

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    But before him actually stood the real high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ and in him was the power to perform miracles. And if the soldiers weren't already quaking at what had happened as they'd been thrown backwards, how about this now where the Lord puts forth his hand and the last miracle he performed was to heal the enemy.

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    Right up until the end he was living out the words of his own ministry, love your enemies, do good to those that despitefully use you.

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    So he heals the right ear of Malchus. Jesus answered and said, suffer ye thus far and he touched his ear and healed him. And then Jesus turns to Peter and he says, put up again the sword into its place for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Now the debate is raised over people taking up arms for a just cause.

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    And we hear it used in Australia as you would in America when they send American troops off to war and they say it's a just cause. Was there ever a just cause like this one?

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    The defence of a sinless man? Can you think of another cause that would rank anywhere near? Defending Jesus. And if the Lord on that occasion said you want to take up the sword you'll die by the sword he's told us the consequences. We know. This was a just cause if ever there was one.

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    But the Lord said put away the sword. And more than that he said don't you think that I cannot now pray to my father and he shall presently give me more than 12 legions of angels 72,000 angels and they came out with swords and staves against him.

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    It was farcical. They didn't need swords and staves. Had he wanted to he could have obliterated them. He could have called fire from heaven like Elijah did. All this would emphasise that the Lord was a willing sacrifice. Now imagine how Peter felt about that.

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    That his last efforts to defend his Lord had been rebuked. And Jesus had said how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be.

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    It's got to be like this Peter. I have tried to tell you. And how many times have we read scripture scripture and it's gone straight over the top.

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    How many times have we read that unless you take up the cross and follow me you cannot be my disciple. And it goes straight over the top. And we think we can mess around with discipleship. we think that Jesus doesn't mean what he says. We think we can cut ourselves a lot more latitude.

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    We're no different to these men. We don't listen. We don't let it penetrate. Just as Peter couldn't on this occasion. And again to use that proverb but give it a different slant. Faithful are the wounds inflicted by a friend. That was Peter. He inflicted a wound but he did so for a cause that he thought was right.

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    But the kisses of an enemy Judas are deceitful. There were far greater forces available than the sword. So Peter must have been demoralised by these events. As the Lord went on to say look I sat daily with you in the temple and you've come out now. with swords and staves to take me.

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    I taught you and you laid no hold on me. But all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. And from the age of 12 the Lord had visited the temple. He'd been there. And he'd also seen what happened to criminals from the age of 12. And in his mind there must have been that imprint of the crucified criminals around the walls of the city at the time of Passover.

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    And he'd known that eventually would come a time that it would be him. And he carried the burden of that in his mind from the age of 12. I just want you to think if you can what it meant when they finally took him. it cannot be said the Lord that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem.

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    And so all those nights when he laid down on mountaintops and under trees and in the garden he knew they couldn't take him because the time was not yet. But he knew eventually there would come a day a time a moment in which he had to deliver himself to the hand of the enemy in which he would actually feel their hands enclose around him.

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    Psalm 91 had said that he would give his angels charge over the Messiah lest he dash his foot against a stone. So he had divine protection for all that time that there would come a moment in time in which he would go with them and they would bind him. There was no way out once he committed himself to the hand of the enemy.

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    What did that feel like? He had resigned himself in his mind but when it actually happens when you know there's an event that you have to go through in order to get to the other side when that moment arrives it's just so difficult isn't it? And yet in the mind of the Lord there was peace there was acceptance there was understanding and it must be this way and so he went they bound the sacrifice as Psalm 118 said they would they got their hands on him and for all of those years they had been unable to take him they had been frustrated they had been humiliated every time they tried to beat him and now when they finally got him where they wanted him just imagine what they would do to him and we see it in the gospel records when they would take out the years of frustration and humiliation on their enemy and the disciples for them it was all now too much it had all come crashing down he gone with the enemy the confusion in their minds must have been amazing as they saw him go down with the enemy into the valley of the shadow of death and so the scripture was fulfilled the shepherd had gone the sheep were scattered all the disciples forsook him and fled and we're told in the gospel of Mark that as they all forsook him and fled there followed a certain young man having a linen cloth cast about his naked body there was one and it's often said to be John Mark there was one who perhaps had come from the upper

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    room and had followed at a distance as the soldiers had gone with Judas and he witnessed ! this whole thing unfold and saw the others run into the night and he followed at a distance and someone pointed out look there's one of them and they grabbed him and the cloth came off and he too ran into the night the last vestige of human support for the Lord was gone nonetheless as he said he was not alone and at some point the disciples had to stop running you know when you've been really afraid and you've played some sort of game with the enemies after you and you run and you run and you're out of breath and it almost seems like it's real and you stop and you gather your senses and you skirt the horizon and you're breathing heavily and you're saying what's the next move where do we go from here and perhaps it was Peter and John that came together and just imagine what they were talking about what are we going to do where have they taken him how do we deal with this and so they gradually came back together and we're told that they followed at a distance and somewhere in that mob in that torch light was Jesus they couldn't leave him although they said they'd go with him they they'd been unable to sustain the bravado nevertheless they had to find out what was going to happen and so it says particularly in verse 57 of Matthew 26 they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest where the scribes and the

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    elders were assembled so the news had gone out all night we're having a special meeting we've got the prisoner we know what we must do now there were in fact six trials that they put Jesus through and I don't intend to go through them this morning because they are a subject that could take up a weekend all in their own right nevertheless I just want to highlight for a moment the illegalities of the trial of Jesus all the meetings were supposed to be held between daylight and dusk and it was now midnight or later they were not allowed to meet for special meetings on feast days or sabbaths it was the Passover the defendant had to be allowed 40 days to assemble his evidence for defence they hadn't even given him 40 minutes they had taken him by surprise in a garden of prayer one could be acquitted on the day of the trial but condemnation had to wait for the following day they didn't have a following day in capital cases the arguments for acquittal were to be presented first then those for conviction in doubtful cases the benefit of doubt always had to be given to the accused so there are at least six illegalities on the trials they subjected the Lord to and if the witnesses didn't agree the charge had to be immediately dropped and the trial began and it says in verse 59 of Matthew 26 the chief priest and the elders and all the council sought false witness against Jesus to put him to death but found none now you would think and these men were meticulous you would

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    think they'd already sorted it all out and I think they had the witness was Judas and if Peter followed at a distance with the other disciples so did Judas and Judas had come and stayed in the background because when he'd seen the Lord go doubts had begun to arrive in his mind he was thinking and as he saw them take the Lord in to the palace of the high priest I believe he distanced himself as Peter did and mingled somewhere unable to be seen perhaps tried to get him to testify and he had refused to and so there's a desperation now in these men they are seeking desperately for false witnesses to put Jesus to death and they can't find any and at last came two false witnesses !

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    Who were they? We don't know but I'm going to suggest to you that they were two thieves the one that would be crucified on his right hand and the other on his left why? Because that's the way these men operated these men were unscrupulous these men were not interested in anything but the death of Jesus and if you could get two false witnesses and you could put them with the Lord and you could later accuse them of being false witnesses !

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    You could make a nice neat package! Isn't that Jewish thinking? What about we sort the whole problem out and we get the whole three of them and we put them together and we kill them and there's nobody to talk they were masterly in the way they operated but they were sinful and they were ungodly and these men were supposed to be the high priests of the nation a trial was never intended never intended it was judicial murder and they were supposed to be adjured with certain adjurations and of course they never were properly conducted either and at the end of the trials we're told in Isaiah 50 verses 5 to 9 they spat at him they pulled out his beard they blindfolded him they struck him they said prophesy they humiliated him and in all of that the Lord was suffering for our sake and it's hard to look at that isn't it it's hard to understand that all of that was for our sake that the sins that we've committed he bore to the cross and while all that was going on Peter was outside Peter followed a far off we're told at first Peter stood at the door without Peter stood with them Peter sat down in the courtyard and this is progression in Peter and he's trying to work up the courage to be with Jesus gradually he's trying to work up the courage have you ever had that experience have you ever felt like if I can just just get a little bit further on I'll have the courage to defend him and someone says something about your Lord at work

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    at school and you're saying I really should stand up for him I really should stop this I really need to defend him but somehow you just can't quite get up the courage to defend your Lord and master oh we can feel for Peter can't we every one of us has been in this position we've just let the conversation tail out instead of stepping in and when someone has maligned him we've remained silent when we should have spoken Peter was uncommitted and that's the absolute worst position to be in uncommitted wavering wavering standing on the edge trying to have a bit both ways I want to be in with him but I really don't want to take the risk because I've seen what's going to happen they've bound him and if I align myself I could end up inside with him they pronounced the sentence he is guilty of death and they spat in his face as told us in Matthew 26 verse 67 and while all that's happening Peter's out in the courtyard and a damsel came to him saying you were with Jesus of Galilee and he denied before them all I don't know what you're saying and he moves out into the porch it's getting too despite the fact it's a cold night it's getting too hot in there and when he was gone out into the porch another maid saw him and said unto them that were there this fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth I recognize him and again he denied with an oath I don't know the man well if he didn't what was he doing there what's a man

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    who doesn't know Jesus doing in the courtyard of the high priest just trying to get warm on a cold night there are other places you could get warm without taking that sort of a risk and after a while they came unto him that stood by and you just imagine them examining Peter so while there's an examination going on inside of his Lord there's an interrogation going on outside as well and he's standing there and you just get the picture in your mind of Peter if I had a hoodie on I'd pull it a bit closer and I'd just kind of try get a little bit of warmth of the fire and I'm backing away and there's people coming towards me and the fear starts to take hold and there's nowhere really to run because run would be an indication of guilt you just want to dig a hole he just wants to disappear and they came up and they look at his face in the flickering light of the fire you are a Galilean you definitely are a Galilean and it's not only his appearance it's the way he talks it's his accent we've talked about accents this week haven't we even though I know I haven't got one you all tell me I have my speech betrays me just as it did for Peter there was a distinction about the Galilean accent that couldn't be denied and they said to him your speech betrays you you're a Galilean and he began to curse and to swear it wasn't only his accent that indicated he was a Galilean it was the words that now came

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    out of his mouth he gone back to the fishing village hadn't he the days on the boats and isn't that what happens to us can't you feel for Peter here how many times have you done that yourself you've tried to stamp your discipleship you've tried to stand up for Jesus and when the real pressures come on you've gone back you've retreated into your old life you've forgotten who it is that you really serve you've been mastered by the situation instead of taking control and while Jesus was in control of all that was happening from that time that he gave himself to the enemy in the garden it was he that was in control not them it was he that was in control in the trials it was them that were out of control and their speech and their language inside was worse than Peter's outside these were supposed to be godly men their language was worse their attitude was worse but Peter now lapses back into his former life just as we're prone to do under far less pressure I might add than Peter just for the very fear perhaps of losing our status for the fear that our work might say oh you're one of those people are you do you believe that rubbish and so we lapsed back into our former way of life just like Peter and he swore and cursed and said I know not the man but you know it wasn't Jesus that he didn't know he was himself isn't that true isn't that so often true of us it's ourselves that we don't know we haven't plumbed the depths

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    of our own commitment of our own dedication when the pressure's on we fail and Peter remembered the word of Jesus which he'd said before the cock crow you shall deny me thrice and in Luke it says the Lord turned and looked upon Peter you imagine that what did Jesus look like now his face was bleeding he chunks of his beard pulled out he had spit all over him he'd been lashed and the last vision that Peter saw at that moment was the Lord in his suffering and they must have just met momentary eye contact as they led the Lord out and Peter had just carried for that moment before he fled and the Lord turned was he angry no he wasn't angry he said Peter I prayed for you that your faith wouldn't fail and it did fail it was a momentary failure he wasn't angry with Peter he loved Peter just as Peter loved him and Peter remembered the word of the Lord and he went out and wept bitterly you ever wept bitterly for what you've done you ever just sobbed for the fact that you're not as good as you thought you were that you couldn't live up to the declarations you'd made how does it feel to weep bitterly for the Lord it feels like a great weight has been lifted that's how it feels it feels like there's nothing else you can do but weep doesn't it but when !

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    when you weep you unburden and that's what Peter had to do his was a denial not a betrayal and there is a difference and I'm out of time but I want to go to momentarily just for the last couple of minutes to John 19 because I said that was the heading for this study so I have to get there don't I and in John 19 after all the trials and him having been sent to Herod and they mocked him and they smote him with a reed and they spat on him and they bowed the knee in mock worship and they put on him a purple robe and then they placed on him the crown of thorns and when I say placed I don't mean placed I mean jammed and the thorns were about an inch long and they got them and they jammed them onto the head of Jesus and all around there are those capillaries the blood vessels and as those thorns dug into the capillaries the blood would have spurted out and run down his face and down his body and his back was lashed open so that the robe was clinging to the wounds and Pilate had said I find no fault in him I can't find anything wrong with this man and he unwittingly proclaimed Jesus the Passover lamb without blemish that would take away the sins of the world and he brought Jesus forth and he said behold the man look at him is there no pity is there no mercy the high priest was supposed to be the one who led the nation in spirituality in mercy and justice

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    in truth the real high priest was Jesus wasn't he and he was there because he was merciful he was just he was faithful but to that appeal there was no mercy no response and Pilate had unwittingly quoted Zechariah 6 verses 6 to 11 you look that up in your own time when Joshua is crowned and they would have known that and that would have only infuriated them and so eventually Pilate says shall I crucify your king is that what you really want and they signing their own death warrant said we have no king but Caesar a