Lessons from John 18: Jesus is Our Help

Where is it that you find your quiet time alone with the Lord? A place where you can get down on your knees or on your face as I have recently been challenged to do and spend some intentional alone time in prayer and in Bible study. Maybe it’s in the privacy of your own home, or in your cubicle at work, in your car, or maybe you find your quiet place in the midst of the world going on around you, like Starbucks or Panera Bread or some other place like these. The point is, it doesn’t matter where your quiet time alone with God is. But what is important is that you have one?

Tonight in our lesson we see that Jesus had a regular place that He went too, a place that He and His disciples were familiar with, including Judas and it is in this quiet place that Jesus will be arrested and then taken to Annas, the father in law of the high priest Caiaphas that year and also denied three times by His disciple, Peter.

Yet, through it all we will see that Jesus Christ remained true to His Father, true to His Word, true to His work and true to His disciples.

Jesus Christ would voluntarily surrender His life to the Father and suffer for the sins of the world, so that sinful human beings wouldn’t be eternal separated from God and the things of God.

Jesus Christ would give His life as an atonement for the sins of the world. He would bear the wrath of God, His Father, so we wouldn’t have too. Aren’t you grateful for Jesus Christ and the cross! I know I am!

So for the purpose of tonight’s lesson I have two divisions:

I. Jesus Arrest~~~John 18:1-12

II. The Jewish Trials and Peter’s’ Denial~~~John 18:13-27

After having prayed for Himself and committing His precious disciples to God, the Father in prayer, Jesus intentionally left the upper room with His disciples and set out in the night for Jerusalem to the place where Jesus knew Judas who would soon come and betray Him. And so Jesus and His disciples stepped out into the cool of the night, under the light of a full moon and walked outside of the city walls. They traveled down the steep mountain side where they entered into the Kidron Valley.

The Kidron Valley was a flowing creek in the winter time and a dry brook in the early spring and it was set between the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives. And it appears that Jesus destination along with His disciples was found in the familiar setting of the Garden of Gethsemane. It appears that some of the wealthy people owned private gardens or olive orchards here in this place. In fact the word “Gethsemane” means “olive press” and so it is thought that a press for extracting oil from olive trees was probably somewhere nearby.

This particular garden was apparently owned by a friend of Jesus, who had invited Jesus and His disciples to come and use the beautiful garden that was shaded with olive trees whenever they wanted. And as we will soon learn it was the place that Judas knew Jesus would be. Jesus and His disciples had been here often and used this garden as a place where they could seek solace and time alone with Jesus. It was the place where Jesus could be alone with His Father and pray!

And so, with the Passover quickly approaching, only hours away, Jesus and His disciples arrive at the Garden and enter in. Now remember that these men had just finished eating their last supper with Jesus, though they didn’t know it at the time. They had also listened to Jesus’ teachings and careful instructions as to what they were to do after His departure.

They had witnessed Jesus closing this time in prayer to His Father for Himself, for His disciples and for all believers to come, and before they left they sang a hymn together we are told in Mark 14:24. And now they are traveling in the night, to the secret garden, where they had met with Jesus time and time again to teaching and training and prayer. We can only imagine how weary and tired and emotionally drained these men were.

But, instead of sleeping as they may have thought, Jesus instructs them to sit, while He goes to pray. Jesus takes with Him, Peter, James and John and instructs them to keep watch while He goes to pray and Jesus expresses that His reason for seeking prayer is that His soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.

Giving them His prayer request and then turning to go a little further into the garden to be alone with His Father, Jesus was confronted with the darkness of evil that was headed His way. Going a little further into the garden, Matthew 26:39 tells us that Jesus fell with His face to the ground and prayed. Jesus said,

“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet, not as I will, but as you will.”

Ladies, we must remember that though Jesus was fully God, He was also fully man and the pain and the anguish of suffering a physical death, the thought of being separated from His Father, and bearing the sins of the world brought Him to His knees before His Father in heaven. Though the divine course had been set, Jesus in His human nature still struggled.

Hebrews 5:7-9 tells us, “During the days of Jesus life on earth He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission.Although, He was the Son of God, Jesus learned obedience from what He suffered and, once made perfect, He became our source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him, who has been designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.”

In other words, ladies, Jesus knows what it is to be overwhelmed or deeply troubled by situations and circumstances. He knows what it is to face suffering! And to face death! And yet He also knows whom to go to and what to do when confronted by such things as these! Jesus went to His Father! God the Father strengthened Jesus and now since the cross Jesus strengthens His people.

And because of Jesus great faithfulness Hebrews 4:14-16 tells us that, “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet is without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Principle: Jesus is our help in times of great trouble and need.

Terri Hamman

Faith & Fitness Coach