John 18 Jack D. Terry, Jr.

In this passage from the Book of John, Jesus and his disciples are in the temple area and are making their way to the Garden of Gethsemane. The Garden of Gethsemane is a place Jesus often went to pray and spend time with his disciples. Judas, who is betraying Jesus, arrives with a group of soldiers and temple police to arrest him. Jesus willingly surrenders himself and tells the soldiers to let his disciples go. Peter tries to defend Jesus by cutting off the ear of the high priest's servant, but Jesus tells him to put away his sword. Jesus is fulfilling scripture and accepting the cup of suffering that his Father has given him. The events in the garden mark the beginning of Jesus' arrest and the start of his journey towards crucifixion. All right, turn your Bible, if you would, please, to chapter 18, Book of John. Last week, we finished with the high priestly prayer in the temple. They are not yet to the Garden of Gethsemane. They are still coming across the city of Jerusalem. They were in the temple, probably in the women's court, where the huge Nicanor gate was that had the beautiful grapevine beat into it. And when the sun rose and the sun hit that gate, everybody said, wow, isn't that beautiful? And so instead of calling it the Nicanor gate, they called it the beautiful gate. And you probably knew that gate better by its acronym, by beautiful, than you did by Nicanor. He was the one, he was a Jewish Alexandrian, an Alexandrian Jew, and he gave the money to build that gate. And they named it for him, Nicanor. And yet it was so beautiful when the sun hit it and it just glistened all over the city of Jerusalem. Wow, isn't that beautiful? And so that's how it got its name, they called it the beautiful gate. Now, this particular chapter begins, it says, when Jesus had spoken these words, so he had just finished praying, they were still in the temple area, probably still near the women's court, near the Nicanor gate, and they're getting ready to go down to the east side of the temple mound. They're going to go down through a little gate and go down into a valley, a little valley on the eastern side is called Kendron, and the valley on the western side is called Hinnom. So you have two valleys that kind of come together and they meet at a peak down at the bottom of the temple. One on the left side is called Hinnom, the one on the right side is called Kendron. Very very little bitty creeks, you could walk across them barefoot, except at flood time. At flood time you have to be careful. And right across the way was the foot of the Mount of Olives. And the Mount of Olives, as you will remember, was a mountainside that was full of olive trees. And they did a lot of olive gathering in that area. They had great groves of olive trees in there. And they cleaned a lot of olives from that area, but also they pressed the oil out of the olives in that area as well. And they had a huge olive press that they would put the olives in and they would run this great stone, you've seen how they run the stones over the presses, and they would run these great stones over the press, they'd squeeze the olives, and the first liquid that came out was called virgin olive oil. Okay, so the very first that came out was the virgin olive oil, and then they kept pressing them, kept pressing them, until they pressed them down to nothing, and then they pressed the seeds, and even crushed the seeds and got oil, but that oil was not as good as the virgin olive oil. So virgin olive oil is always the first oil that comes out of the olive when they first press it. Well, that name, olive press, is Gethsemane. Geth means press, semene means olive, or the place to press the olive. And surely enough, somewhere on that hillside, there may have been more than one olive presses that they would use because the whole hillside was covered with olive trees. Now this garden was called the Garden of the Olive Press, the Garden of Gethsemane. And it was a favorite spot of Jesus. He and his disciples went there on many, many occasions. It was a place where they could go and rest, they could relax, they could have time to talk with each other. It was a wonderful place where Jesus enjoyed going to pray, and he did a lot of praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Of course, it would have been another place where Judas would have known where they would be. And so since Judas was in the process of betraying them, he would of course bring the people to arrest Jesus to that garden, knowing that that would be the place where Jesus would be going. And surely enough, he's going to be right. Now this particular passage goes in and out of about three stories, and I'm going to try to help you as we read through the passage and see what's happening. One of the major stories in here, of course, is Jesus' relationship to being arrested. And we'll talk about that. That's kind of the first story that goes on, is Jesus' arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. And then the second story begins with Peter and Peter's approach to what we're later going to call his denial, of which Jesus, you know, told him early on, Peter, before the rooster crows on the morning, you're going to deny me three times, and Peter said, I will not. You know, impetuous Peter, I will not. Well, Jesus knew he would, and this is where we're going to get to see that. It's in this chapter. So what happens is, the first story is the story of the rest. The second story is Jesus being led to the house of Annas, the old high priest, the retired high priest, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the present high priest. Now, the thing you've got to understand about the relationship of the high priest and the relationship of the Temple administration, this was done in families. And when a family got hold of it, they never let it go. The father would give it to either a son or to a son-in-law, and a son-in-law who became the father would give it to a son, and they kept the high priestly relationship in a family, and it was in this family, and the old high priest's name was Annas, and the high priest who presently was in power during the time of Jesus was named Caiaphas. And Caiaphas was the present high priest, Annas was his father-in-law, but they were together co-high priests of the Temple in Jerusalem. And so we're going to go into that story, because that's where they're going to take Jesus to the house of Annas, and then they're going to move into the story of Jesus being accosted by the Jews, and then the story of Peter, and finally we're going to end this up by having Jesus taken in the last trial before power, and he's going to be presented to the Roman Empire, and there's a reason why he's going to be presented to the Roman Empire is because the Jewish people had no provision for putting a person to death by any other means except stoning, and that was the only way that they could kill people, and they had to do a lot of gyrations in order to get that provision given to them. And so the Jewish leadership could hardly do anything to condemn a man. They could get him flogged, they could get him beaten as much as they want to, but as far as killing him, they had a strong provision against being killed, and so the Jews knowing that, the leadership knowing that, knew they needed to take him to Pilate, because Pilate would then take the power of the Roman Empire, and they would do what had been predicted he would be crucified. And Jesus talks about the manner in which he would die, and he knew that the manner in which he would die would be crucifixion. So it says when Jesus had spoken these things, when he had finished his prayer, they walked across the little brook Kindron, and he and his disciples went over the brook where there was a garden which he and his disciples entered. And so we have Jesus and the disciples going across the little brook, going into the Garden of Gethsemane. If you ever have the opportunity to go to Jerusalem, you can walk the same path. You can come down from the Temple Mount, you can go across the brook, you can go up a little hill, and there's the Garden of Gethsemane. And right across the way is the church, it's a beautiful church called the Church of Many Nations. And you can't have a gorgeous, beautiful front, you can't, and to the left of it is the Garden of Gethsemane. We have been to the Garden of Gethsemane in prayer time and in devotional time, many, many, many times. And it's just right across from the Eastern Gate, and so you can't miss it. So they go into the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is sitting down to pray to his Father, and now we are introduced to the evil one. It says, And Judas, having received a detachment of troops and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Now here's kind of an interesting thing. These Roman leaders, Ptolemy in particular, always had with them what was called a cohort. Now in the Roman Empire, a cohort was a large group of Roman soldiers. It could be as many as 600, it could be as few as 300, on occasion they could call a cohort 15 Roman soldiers. Anytime you had a group of Roman soldiers together, they would identify it as a cohort, but actually a cohort was a major part of a legion. It was one-tenth of the size of a legion. So if you ever want to know how large a legion was, a legion was 600 men times 10. So a legion was 6,000 men, and each of these cohorts had up to 600 men in them. And so in Jerusalem, there were a number of troops that stayed with Pilate down at the coast at Caesarea Marantima, down on the coast, and when he came up to Jerusalem, a cohort came with him. Now was there 600 men in the garden? No. Were there 600 men in Jerusalem? Probably not. Because many of them probably stayed down at Caesarea by the sea, at Caesarea Marantima. But there was a large cohort, a number of them, who came up to Jerusalem with Pilate to protect Pilate. They were his protection. And so he had a large number of troops there. And here's the interesting thing. The high priest always had an opportunity to use the Roman soldiers if he needed them. And it appears that what's happening here is, it says, when Judas, having received his detachment of troops, it appears that the leaders of the Jewish people had convinced the Roman Empire that if they arrest Jesus, there could be a riot, there could be a rebellion, if you arrest this man. By the way, that's why they did not arrest him in the daytime. They knew that if they attempted to arrest Jesus at the temple in the daytime, or they attempted to arrest him somewhere in Jerusalem in the daytime, there would be an absolute rebellion of the people. Because they had seen how Jesus had healed the people, how he fed the people, how he'd taken care of them, how he'd ministered to them. And there would have been a human rebellion had they done it in the daytime. And that's why they did it at night. They did it in order that the people would not see. They did it under the cover of darkness, which is always the place where evil works its best, right? Under the cover of darkness. So they're up there. Now they have these Roman soldiers, we don't know how many, probably as many as 50, as few as 30, and could be as many as 600, but I don't think that large a cohort would be up there. But they were soldiers up there, along with the high priest had his own police department in the temple. So he had what was called temple police. And they too were able to arrest people. And it says here that there was some temple, that the chief priest had some of his temple troops there with him. So you had the Roman soldiers, you had these temple policemen, and you had the Pharisees, and you had the high priest, and you had all of his henchmen. So they were all up in the garden. And they came with lanterns and torches and weapons drawn. They were ready to get this guy in the event that he attempted to escape. They would chase him and chase him down. And that's exactly what's getting ready to happen. So they come into the garden. And Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that would come upon him, went forward and said to them coming, whom do you seek? Now, Jesus knows what's getting ready to happen. And he says, whom do you seek? And the leader of the group of these arresting people said, we seek Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus said to them, I'm he. This was something these kind of people never expected. Most of the time, these arresters expected to be chasing all over the garden trying to catch these people, trying to catch them to put them under arrest and to take them to where they needed to be taken. And here Jesus is saying, I'm he. And the scripture says that it was such a shock to them that they fell backwards. Some of them even fell onto the ground. And I can imagine that the power and presence of Jesus before them would cause that to happen. And it says that some of them fell down and I am he, and whom do you seek? And there was Jesus, Judas, to betray him. Now, here's an interesting thought. In all the other synoptic Gospels, in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Judas is identified as giving Jesus a kiss. And it's called a kiss to betrayal. John is the only of the Gospel writers who does not record the kiss. And again, I'm going to take some leeway and I'm going to tell you why I think he did it. It was done in all the other three. John said, why should I do it again? Just like he didn't give the information about what was happening at the Last Supper, it was done in all the other three. Why should I do it again? He knows that if the story is told that the betrayal kiss is going to be part of the story. So he said, I don't need to tell it again. They already know that. And so it says, and Judas was standing there. Then when he said to them, I am he, they fell back. Then when they gained their composure, the scripture says, they asked him, then they asked him again. He said to them again, who are you seeking? This is the second time Jesus asked him and they said, we're seeking Jesus of Nazareth. To which he said, I have told you already that I am he, therefore you seek me. Let these of my disciples go. Now, this was the fulfillment of scripture. Jesus said, of them thou hast given me, and I have lost none except one, the son of perdition. And Jesus is not going to lose his disciples here. Jesus is taking care of his disciples in his last hour. He's taking care of his disciples. He's saying to them, if you want me, take me, but please, these men have nothing to do with this. You let them go. And the scripture says that they let the disciples go. Now, there is an interesting passage in the book of Mark that's kind of interesting. There's a story in this particular experience in the book of Mark where a young man who was wrapped in a sheet went up to the garden with these people. And when he ran, when they saw him, he made a noise, they grabbed for him, they grabbed the sheet and he ran across the city of Jerusalem naked. And we're thinking that it was John Mark who came with them from his mother's house where they had the supper in the upper room. Now, let me pause for just a moment here and back up one step. Prior to this happening, in the Gospels, you have three occasions of Jesus praying to the Father before these arresters appear. And in each of the three Gospels, it talks about a cup. And Jesus is praying to his Father. Now, I tried to write into your material in paragraph two of the first page, what was the cup? It's a very important piece of what's going on. Some see the cup as death and that Jesus prayed he would be spared of the cross. I don't think so. Jesus knew all along he was going to the cross, but he'd known that all along, and that the cross awaited for him. And he did not lose courage, even as it neared. Others see that Jesus was praying that he did not lose courage, and that the Father would raise, that there would be a resurrection. The Father would raise him from the dead. There was no question about resurrection. Jesus already knew that the Father was going to raise him from the dead. Was there any other way to save mankind? And the answer was no. And Jesus knew that there was no other way to save mankind. So what's in this cup? What did God have to put in the cup? And we have to go to the Apostle Paul in the second Corinthian letter, when he's speaking to the Corinthians, when he writes these words, he who knew no sin was made sin in our behalf. And so what happened was, his atoning death, he was made the very essence of sin. God turned all of the sin of the world on Jesus, on the cross. Your sin, my sin, the sins of the entire world. God was going to lay all of those sins on his sacrificial lamb. Pause. At Yom Kippur, every year, there was a scapegoat. There was a goat of sacrifice that they got his blood. There was another goat that was called the scapegoat. And after the priest had done all of his ministration in the Holy of Holies with the blood, he then came out to this scapegoat. And with bloody hands, he would put his hands on the top of that scapegoat. And when he did that, God put all of the sins of the people of Israel who had prayed for the ten days prior to Yom Kippur, all who had prayed and asked God to forgive them, all who had prayed and asked that their sins would be forgiven. Not everybody got forgiven. Only the people who prayed the ten days before Yom Kippur. And all of those people who prayed were in the priest's hand with the blood. And when he put his hands on top of that scapegoat, all of those sins which had been asked by the Jewish people for God to forgive, all of those sins were put on that scapegoat. And they were relieved. Can I share something with you? Every day at Yom Kippur, if you had prayed for the ten days, and if all of your sins were in that priest's hand when he laid it on the head of that goat, on that day as a Jewish person, you were born again. Every year. If you don't believe me, go read the 8th and 9th chapters of the book of Hebrews. The 8th and 9th chapters of the book of Hebrews talks about this very thing. It says, as it was annually, the priests had the forgiveness of sin. But now, in Jesus Christ, once for all, remember? In the book of Hebrews, now once for all, sin has been forgiven of the people. So what was in that cup? Your sin, my sin. What else was in that cup? That cup actually had everything of evilness in the entire world put into that one cup. And God asked Jesus to drink it. And he drank it. He resigned himself to the cross. He knew that the horrible activity that he was thinking about, it would happen. And he was ready to go, having won the victory in his own soul, our Lord was ready for the unthinkable ordeal to begin. And here it is. It's beginning in the garden. And these people are arresting him. And he let these people go, because he fulfilled the scripture, of those whom thou hast given me, I have lost none. Pause. Here's impetuous Peter. He's got a sword. Okay? So now we turn to Peter. And Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and he struck the priest's servant and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. And Jesus said to Peter, Peter, put your sword away. Shall I not drink the cup which my Father has given me? Is it not important that you back off and I drink this cup, in order that I might be the provision through which the entire world, the scapegoat, the lamb to be redeemed, the one that will be killed, the one who carries all the sins of the world and his body to the tree? Don't you know, Peter, that I have to do that? That's kind of interesting about this. Later on, we're going to see where Peter could get into real trouble about what happened in the garden. If you go to the garden, here again, in order to understand the gardens, in order to understand everything that happens in this last week, if you don't read relationally with all the other Gospels, you miss half of the story. Because all of the Gospels don't contain all the story. You've got to read all of them to see what the story is. In fact, next week, when Dr. Draper will be teaching on the cross, in order to see all of the seven words from the cross, you've got to read all four of the Gospels. Because none of the four Gospels put all of the seven words. Four of the seven words are statements, and three of the seven words are prayers. But no one Gospel puts all four, all seven of them together. Mark and Matthew puts a couple, Mark puts one or two, Luke puts a couple or three, John puts a couple. And you've got to read all four of them in order to see what the statements from the cross were. And so now what's happening is, he's healed the man. What happened is here, only the Gospels are talking about the fact that Jesus replaced his ear. He healed the man's ear, the servant's ear. You don't see anything about him healing the ear here. It just says that he drew it, he struck it, and the high priest's servant cut off his ear and the servant's name was Malchus. My goodness, they went to the high priest's house and his ear was still laying on the ground in the garden of Gethsemane, according to Peter. But that's not what happened. If you go pick up the other stories, you realize that Jesus healed his ear. In fact, later on, when Peter gets to a place where he could be in real trouble, even John talks about the fact of the servant whose ear was healed in the garden. But he doesn't talk anything about it here. Now all the other Gospels do, they say that Jesus healed the ear of Malchus the servant. Now verse 12 says, then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and tied him up. Can you imagine? Now if he had been running amuck all through the olive groves and he was running away from them, they were chasing him, and he was trying to get away from them, then I could see the reason for tying him up, couldn't you? But he said, here I am, come get me. And they grabbed him and tied him up with ropes. And they led him away to the house of Annas. Now, pause, Annas was the retired high priest. He was the father-in-law of Caiaphas. They lived in one of the most expensive areas in the city of Jerusalem. I wish I could take you there and show you where they lived. There is a beautiful cathedral up there now, of course there is a cathedral everywhere there. But there is a beautiful cathedral up there now, called Peter Gallicantu. And there is a beautiful cathedral sitting there, and that cathedral is purported to be sitting on top of the place where Caiaphas' house was located. Not Annas, but Caiaphas. And that's going to be important in just a few moments. And so on this, it was kind of a scarp, it was kind of a hillside, a big hillside that was above the valley of Hinnom. In fact, coming down that hillside today are a number of stairwells coming down from that hillside. Because if you don't come down that stairway down into the valley, you've got to go all the way around the city of Jerusalem to get to the temple. And that was why it was so easy for the disciples to come from the upper room, which is just beyond that area, come to the scarp, go down the scarp on those long stairwells, go into the valley of Hinnom, go up the southern steps of the temple, into the temple in Jerusalem, and there they are. Otherwise they'd have to walk all the way around the city of Jerusalem. So these stairwells were there for the high priest and all of his cohorts to come down to the temple. And those stairs were there. They're still there. I can show you those stairs. And so his house was sitting up there. Annas' house was here. It appears that Caiaphas' house was next door. Now the interesting study is here. In a few moments, we're going to see that the beloved disciple who is identified as John, you remember, John does not mention his name in his book, but he calls himself the beloved disciple. And he's going to be mentioned here in a minute, and it's going to be mentioned that John grew up next door to the high priest. Hello. He was well known in the house of the high priest. Have you ever had kids in your neighborhood that came over and got popsicles and cokes at your house? We lived next door to a wonderful couple in Abilene. She would make those little popsicles, you know, out of juice, and she would freeze them in her fridge. And our little girl, Tricia, was about three, three and a half. She would climb over the fence. She'd go into the back door of Moselle, her name was Moselle, and she'd go in and she'd say, it's me, Mo. And Moselle knew she was getting her a popsicle, and she'd get that popsicle, and she'd go out, she'd eat it, but she'd always brought the stick back. And she'd come back in, she'd say, here's a stick, Mo. She'd bring it, right, Barbara? Every day, two or three times a day, she'd get a popsicle. Well, you know how kids hang around other people's houses, right? Now this is going to be important, because in a few minutes after they get Jesus to the house of Annas, John's going to get to go in. Why? He grew up there. Now John's father was Zebedee, James and John and Zebedee. He was a magnificently wealthy fisherman. He had a summer house in Jerusalem. He had a working business house in Capernaum. When it was fishing season, and it was spring and summer, they lived in Capernaum. When it was cold and freezing up in Galilee, guess what? They went to Jerusalem, okay? So there was a house that was next door to the high priest, and John would be very well known of the high priest. And they led him away, verse 13, they led him away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year. Oh, listen to that. Who was the high priest that year? It could be that Annas would be the high priest the next year, should he choose to be. And so it was in the family. Annas could identify anybody he wanted to be to be the high priest. Now it was Caiaphas who had talked to the Jewish aristocracy and had told them something which Pilate is going to pick up at the end of this study. In fact, ladies and gentlemen, when we get to the end of this study, Pilate is going to be sucking for air. He is in trouble. He's got a man that he cannot condemn, and he's got people out in front who are going to rape his hide. He's sucking for air, and he's going to look for anything that he can find to get rid of Jesus. Okay, so it says, and it was Caiaphas who gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. Did you know that? Did you know that that was a, not a law, it was a possibility that at every Passover, if they wanted to reduce sinfulness in the camp, and they had a person who was a rebellious insurrectionist, they could kill him, rather than killing all of his cohorts. And they could get him, they could kill him. Oh, by the way, Barabbas is him. They already had Barabbas in prison. They were going to kill Barabbas anyway. He was this man the high priest was talking about. You with me? See how it's all going to play out, eventually? And he said, well, son, you know that one man should die for the people. Now we pick up Simon Peter again. Simon Peter doesn't know the high priest, and so he's having to stand outside. And so Simon Peter followed Jesus, so did another disciple. That other disciple is John, okay? Now that disciple was known to the high priest. How? How? Well, he went over to his house and got a popsicle. He played with his boys. They probably threw rocks at each other. If they had a ball, they probably played ball out in the yard somewhere. John was known to the high priest. He knew him, and went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest. John could go with him, because they said, hey, come on in, John, we know you. You used to be a kid over here playing on the block. They brought him in. But Peter had to stand outside the door, because the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, a little slave girl, about 14, 13, 14, and said to her, let my good friend Peter in, okay? I mean, what harm could it be if he comes in? So, verse 17, and the servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, aren't you one of this man's disciples? In your book, write number one. And Peter said, I am not. Number one. Now, let me ask you a question. What kind of danger was a 13-year-old girl at the gate? What kind of danger was that to Peter, that he'd have to say, I don't know him? Now, later on, danger is going to raise its ugly head. And at that point, Peter better say he doesn't know him. But at this point, Peter is in no danger here. But because that scripture can be fulfilled before Galicantu, which is Latin for the rooster crowing. And this big church up there is called Peter Galicantu, and it sits right over the place where Caiaphas' house once sat. And there is a beautiful garden in the back. And you can stand in that garden, and when you stand in that garden, you can see all of the eastern side of the city of Jerusalem. You can see the steps going down to the Valley of Hinnom. You can see the way going to Jerusalem. It's beautiful back there. I've been there many times. In fact, I've left four attached glasses there, four times, because it's kind of a shame I have to take them out so I can talk to the people, and then I walk away and forget I'm there. Still, it's Peter Galicantu. Galicantu is Latin for the rooster crowing, and the place is named Peter Galicantu. And the servants and the officers, and I want you to take your pen, I want you to circle something, and the servants and the officers who had made a fire of coals, circle that. That is extremely important for the end of John. May I share something with you? The Jewish people never burned wood. Wood is too very expensive for them to burn. And besides that, if you burn wood inside a house, you make a lot of smoke. And you can't make a really hot fire with wood. But you make a lot of smoke with wood, and if you put it inside a house, you'd have a big smoky house. Now, they had some coal. In the Greek word, it is called anthrakion. In English, we call it anthracite. You ever had any anthracite coal? Anthracite coal does the following. It burns extremely hot and puts out no smoke. That's what they cooked with inside their houses. All of their cooking activities were done with anthrakion, with anthracite coal. They would build a little fire, and every time, they never built a fire out of wood. That was against the law. We don't have enough trees. Don't cut out our trees. In fact, the only time that you can even get olive wood to make these beautiful figurines that they make out of it is when the high linemen are trimming the olive trees for the wires not to be caught in the trees, and all of the olive carvers follow them, and they get to get all of those olive pieces, all those pieces of olive wood that comes off those trees, and that's where they make all of their stuff from. They cannot go out and cut those olive trees. They have to be given the olive wood by the high line people who are cutting the trees to be sure that the high lines aren't covered up. So, Peter's warming himself by fire of coals, and it was cold, and he warmed himself, and Peter stood with them and warmed himself. Now, from there, you've got to wait because you're not going to pick it up again until 26, because in the middle, you're going to see what happens to Jesus inside. And all of a sudden, John changes venues, and all of a sudden, he says, in verse 19, the high priest then asked Jesus about his disciples and his doctrine. He said, I want you to tell me what you really are, what's your doctrine? I know what the Jewish doctrine is, I've been teaching that forever. I was a Pharisee, I know the law, yadda yadda yadda. Jesus said, I spoke openly to the world, I always taught in the synagogues and in the temple where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing. Why do you ask me, ask those who have heard me what I said to them, indeed they know what I said. Jesus never did refute him. He simply said, if you want to know what I taught, because you weren't there, ask the people who heard me. I did nothing in secret, I did everything in the open. I was in the synagogues, I was in the temple, I was in the women's court, I taught, I taught, I was everywhere. This is what my doctrine is. And when he had said these things, one of the officials of the high priest reached over and slapped him in the face. Do you answer the high priest in such a manner? Now pause. In one of the gospels, Jesus says, is he the high priest? I apologize. You see, Jesus knew that Caiaphas was the high priest, and Annas was the has-been. And so when he answered Annas, he could answer him as he would because he was not the high priest, Caiaphas was. And so Jesus just answered him the way he would answer any man, and one of his officials reached over and slapped the living daylights out of him. And Jesus said, do you strike me because of what I said? I'm sorry, I didn't know he was the high priest. And then Jesus said, if I have spoken evil, bear witness of evil, but if I have spoken well, why did you hit me? Then Annas, up to here, with it, he'd heard enough, sent him bound to Caiaphas, which was right down the street. Now, here's where we get into some interesting stuff. In the cathedral, Peter Gallicantu, there is a large dungeon. Every one of these high priests had a dungeon. They would oftentimes keep political prisoners there, and oftentimes they would keep religious prisoners there because they could judge religious and actually regular people, but they could not judge criminality. And there was a large dungeon in the house of Caiaphas. In fact, if you have an opportunity to go to the church, Peter Gallicantu, you can go down into the dungeon. You can go right there where they took Jesus. That's where they took him. That's where they slapped him. That's where they blindfolded him, pulled out his beard, then took the blindfold off and said, who plucked out your beard? Well, of course, he didn't know. And when he didn't know, they blindfolded him again and plucked it again. They beat the living daylights out of Jesus in the dungeon of Caiaphas, the high priest. He was already a bloody mess by the time he got to Pilate, and Anna sent him to Caiaphas, the high priest, and that's what happened to him. Now we go back to Peter, verse 46. Now Simon Peter stood and warmed himself by the fire of Coles. Therefore they said to him, you are not also one of his disciples, are you? Okay, now we're getting close to danger. If they can prove he's one of his disciples, they can arrest him too. They haven't arrested him yet, according to verse 8, because they let him go. But if they can convince themselves in the garden that Peter's one of his too, they can arrest him. Are you not one of his disciples? He denied it, marked number two by your scripture, I am not. The first denial was to the little girl at the gate. The second denial was in the teeth of possible arrest in the garden by the warming fire. And Peter said, I'm not. Then, here comes the kicker. Then one of the servants of the high priest, a relative of him whose ear Peter cut off. What do you know about an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth? What do you know about old Hebrew law, that if you cut off my arm, my relatives can cut off your arm, an eye for an eye? You see, the New Testament, ladies and gentlemen, has not been written yet. These people are still working on the Old Testament. They're still working on the law. They're still working on an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. That's why they had these cities of refuge. When somebody killed somebody during the Old Testament, they ran to the city of refuge because they couldn't arrest them there and they could stay there until they were even proven guilty or not guilty or manslaughter or murder. The relative always had the privilege of taking up for his kin. The guy that's talking to Peter is related to Malchus. Do you know what he had the privilege of doing had he chosen to? He could cut off Peter's ear. How does that sit? You see, there was no danger with the little girl at the gate. A little bit of danger when they said, are you his? Lots of danger here. Lots of danger here. Did I not see you in the garden with him? Number three, Peter then denied again. Galicanthus. And the rooster crowed. Now, there is kind of a pause in John's gospel because we go to the last part of the book. And as we go to the last part of this of this chapter, we see what's happening in the praetorium. The word praetorium means the dwelling place of the commander-in-chief of the military cohort that happens to be in that part of the city for the Roman Empire. Pilate had two residences. He had a temporary residence in Jerusalem, which was a five-story praetorium. And that's where they took Jesus to the basement when they beat the daylights out of him. They had their horses down there. They had a cavalry. They had the horses down there. The first and second floor were billets for the military. They were barracks for the military. The third, fourth, and fifth floor was the palace of the praetorium general, whose name was Pachys Pilate. He was a high-ranking military officer. He was called the governor of Judah. And they took him to the praetorium. It was early in the morning. Now, watch this Jewish thing. But they themselves did not go into the praetorium lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat, continue to eat on the Passover and unleavened bread. You see, folks, if they had gone into that Gentile house, they would have been totally defiled and all of unleavened bread would have been wiped out. So they stood out in the garden. They never did go into the house of Pilate. Pilate had to come out to them. Finally, he's going to bring Jesus out later on in chapter 18 to an archway called the Ekehomo. Behold the man. And he's going to bring Jesus out, beaten, torn, bloody, looks like a mess. And he's going to say to them in chapter 18, Behold your king. So they're outside. They're not going in. They're not going to defile themselves. Pilate then went out to them and he said, what accusations do you bring against this man? OK, I want you to think about something here. Are they bringing Jesus for judgment or are they bringing him for execution? In the next two verses, it's going to tell you what they're bringing him for. Watch. They answered him and said to him, Sir. And they were very insolent, by the way. The Greek here indicates that they sneered at Pilate. Sir, if he were not an evildoer, do you think we would have brought him to you? Can you see him saying that with a sneer? Do you think if he wasn't evil, you think we'd have him here? Come on, wake up, man. What are you thinking? Then Pilate said to them, you take him and judge him according to your law. Whoops. The only way they can kill him is by what? That would not fulfill Scripture. There, according to your law, therefore, the Jews said to him, here is the kicker. It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death. That's a lie. Twice. The first lie is that they could put somebody to death for adultery. They could stone them. They could put somebody to death for lying. They could stone them. That's a lie. They're lying to Pilate. But they are also showing their hand. We can't kill him. You Romans will not let us do it. So, we're not bringing him for judgment. We're bringing him for execution. That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spoke, signifying by what death he would die. The only people who used crucifixion at that particular time in the world were the Romans. And Jesus had said he would die. And of course, Pilate entered the praetorium and called Jesus to him. Watch this encounter. This is a beautiful encounter. Jesus, are you king of the Jews? Jesus answered and said, are you asking me for yourself? Is this for your information? Or did some other people tell you that I said I was king of the Jews? Pilate said, am I a Jew? Your own nation and chief priests have delivered you to me. What have you done? Pilate's trying to get some answers. Jesus answered and said, my kingdom is not of this world. If, sir, my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now my kingdom is not from here. Pilate said, then you are a king. You are a king. You just admitted to me you're a king. Jesus answered and said, you have said right that I am a king. You're right. I am a king. For this cause I was born. For this cause I was born and for this cause I have come into the world that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth bears, hears my voice. My kingdom is a kingdom of truth. Your kingdom is a kingdom of lies. Do you remember when Jesus said to them, your father, the devil, who has been a liar from the beginning, get the two kingdoms together, folks. He said Satan was the kingdom of lies and his was the kingdom of truth. Jesus had just told the disciples up on the mountain in the women's court, I, Thomas, am the way. Thomas, I am the truth. Thomas, I am the life. You don't get to God except through me. That's the only way you get there. Pilate said to him, what is truth? By the way, ladies and gentlemen, in literature, there have been more books written on that little question than any other question ever put out. Did you know that? What is truth? Pilate said to him, and when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and he said to the Jews, I find no fault in this man. But he knows these people are venomous. And he knows these people are vicious. And he knows these people are bent on getting him on the cross. So, he placates them with the same thing that Caiaphas had talked about. I find that so interesting. That Pilate would pick up the same thing that Caiaphas picked up. I never knew that, ladies and gentlemen, until I studied this chapter. Okay? Does that help you to know that I don't know everything in the world? Barber's known that all over a lot. I close with this. But you have a custom. And your custom is that one man can die for the sins of the past people at Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the king of the Jews? Now, I already told you, Barabbas is in prison. They already erected him. Barabbas, ladies and gentlemen, was a false messiah. Put that down. Anybody who led a rebellion against the Roman Empire to replace the Roman Empire with himself and his cohorts is a false messiah. He is an anti-Christ. Okay? He's a false messiah. Barabbas was a false messiah. He was an insurrectionist. He led a rebellion. He murdered people. He killed people. He killed a lot of Roman soldiers. He was a murderer and he was a robber. He was a vicious, ugly, insurrectionist, mean Jew. And he was in prison getting ready that afternoon to be crucified. They had him ready to put him on the cross. And so Barabbas says, what do you want me to do with this king of yours? Then they all cried again, saying, not this man, but Barabbas. We would rather have the false messiah among us than we had the true messiah. Now later on, when he's standing up on Ekehomo, behold the man. Pilate's going to say, behold your king, to which the Jewish people are going to break the first commandment. We have no king but Caesar. Goodbye, God. See you later, buddy. You're not our God anymore. You're no longer our king. See ya, buddy. We have no king but Caesar. Wow. Brother Jimmy's going to have a good time next week, isn't he? Thank you all for listening so carefully. You listen so well. You listen so well. Thank you. The scripture is so wonderfully true. And the stories in it, as they meld themselves together, are so wonderfully great. Thank you for reading the word. Read chapter 19 next week. It is the crucifixion. Read the crucifixion in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Read all four of them. So that you can see how all four of them are treated. Because they're all treated a little bit differently. You're going to see words in one that are not in the other. You're going to see, forgive them for they know not what they do. Prayer. You're going to see, behold thy son. Mother, behold thy son. You're going to see, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise. God, why have you forsaken me? I thirst. It is finished. Into thy hands, my spirit. That's the seven words from the cross. Not all in John. But all four of the other gospels. They're there. Okay? Let's pray. Sovereign God, our hearts are overwhelmed with the fact that our Christ was so positive about what you and He were going to do together. He even faced with a cup of all the sins of an entire humanity to be placed upon you on the cross. So that you take your sins and your body on the tree in order that we might have redemption through your blood. Father, thank you for being so positive about that. Thank you for walking on. Thank you for not turning back. Thank you for not chickening out. Thank you, Father, for going to the cross. But thank you most of all that going there, you knew that in three days, resurrection was coming. And so, Father, we give you great praise for this story. May we always hide in our hearts what you said. This kingdom, my kingdom, is not of this world. My kingdom is a kingdom of truth. Your kingdom is a kingdom of lies. Thank you, Father. And we pray it in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.