From the Garden to the Cross—Part of our Lord’s Last Earthly Journey
Introduction: When the LORD made Adam, He put Adam in a garden—Eden. Now that the last Adam, Jesus Christ, is about to die for the sins of the world, one of the last things He saw was a garden as well. Dr. A. W. Pink in his commentary on John’s Gospel has a lot of useful material to help one better understand some of the Biblical Text.
1 The Arrival at the Garden
Text: John 18:1-2, KJV: 1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his disciples. 2 And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.
All four Gospels have a particular focus or emphasis on this last few moments of freedom which our Lord endured. John is the only one to mention a garden, which could mean anything from a bed of flowers to a grove of trees, like here. I’ve sometimes wondered if the Lord, on this last night before He was crucified, ever remembered the times when believers would meet with Him and just fellowship.
John 14 closed with the Lord saying, “Arise, let us go from here” or similar words, and it’s likely he spoke the words in John 15-17 as the disciples made their way to the garden (Gethsemane, as it’s called in Matthew 26:36 and Mark 14:32). Luke (22:39) adds they went to the Mount of Olives. At any rate, it was not a short walk to get from wherever they were in Jerusalem to reach the Mount of Olives and the garden of Gethsemane in particular.
Then John adds that they went forth over the brook Cedron or Kidron as some render the word. This is also the same “brook” that David crossed over when he fled from Absalom and the revolt Absalom had engineered many years before (see 2 Samuel 15-18). The word “brook” here means a wadi or dry stream bed that usually only carried water when the rains came. This event, the time of Passover, was in spring and apparently the spring or “latter” rains hadn’t come yet.
Something to keep in mind is that these events, taking place in the Garden, took place at night and the early morning. These men were tired, physically and emotionally, and who wouldn’t be, after hearing some of the most comforting yet unsettling words ever spoken! The Lord had said, “Love one another” but added “The world will hate you” and other things that absolutely look like flat contradictions, but every one of the Lord’s sayings came true. And they’re still coming true even today. In one of Dr. Vance Havner’s written messages, there’s a sobering thought: anyone taking a stand for Christ will soon realize he’s a lone sheep among a pack of wolves (paraphrasing the exact statement).
The men finally arrived at the Garden of Gethsemane. John adds they had “ofttimes” resorted there, maybe when they had come to Jerusalem, but we’re never told anything about these retreats or withdrawals.
But lest we forget, there was another disciple who knew where the place was. He had been part of the group and had done all the things a disciple would do—except believe Jesus as Lord.
He was Judas Iscariot.
He had made arrangements with the chief priests and promised to lead them directly to Jesus, in exchange for 30 “pieces of silver” or coins worth a month’s wages. It’s ironic, because Judas had complained about Mary of Bethany anointing the Lord’s feet with ointment worth almost a year’s wages (see John 12:1-6) but settled for maybe 10 per cent of that to betray Jesus. I’m still shaking my head over that.
The disciples and the Lord had arrived at Gethsemane, seemingly alone. Few would probably be out and about in an early April morning in the Jerusalem of those days, but this was different. History was about to be made and these eleven men were about to be part of it.
2 The Alone Time in the Garden
Text, John 18:3-11, KJV: 3 Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? 5 They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. 6 As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground. 7 Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. 8 Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way: 9 That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none. 10 Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. 11 Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?
John’s gospel does not contain the account of how the Lord separated the Eleven into two groups. He took Peter, James, and John with Him and asked the other Eight to stay on the alert, so to speak (see Matthew 26:36-38 and Mark 14:32-34). These passages, in each of the first three gospels, show us, I think how seriously the near future affected the Lord physically. Remember, they had been awake for who knows how long, and for Jesus, He was particularly stressed. Luke adds that Jesus was in such distress, (being in agony, 22:44) that His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.
All of that for us.
Jesus prayed, maybe for strength to endure what was to come (it wouldn’t be pretty) and perhaps for other things. He knew that He needed the Father as never before—and He also knew that in a very short time, He would be forsaken by His own Father.
All of that for us.
But we read in Hebrews 12:2 that “Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Sure, “the cross” would involve the pain, suffering, and humiliation He went through before He even saw Calvary (take a look a little further in John 18, for example), but those six long hours He spent while nailed to a cross changed everything. He died for our sins, absolutely; but that’s not the end of the story, He’s alive and that sealed the deal, so to speak!
Even so, there was more going on in the garden. The soldiers, maybe 600 or so, followed Judas Iscariot directly to the garden. John wrote these men had “lanterns and torches and weapons” even though, according to Dr. A. T. Robertson’s “Word Pictures in the Fourth Gospel”, the moon was full. The soldiers were not taking any chances, though, because they knew they had one mission—to capture Jesus and bring Him to the authorities.
Jesus had been alone while He was praying but now He knew His hour was coming. He saw the soldiers and asked them, “Whom do you seek?” and their reply was, “Jesus of Nazareth”. Dr. A. W. Pink in his commentary on John remarked, “Why didn’t they say, ‘Thee!’”? And as if that wasn’t odd or unusual enough, when Jesus asked them the second time, “Who are you looking for?” they still didn’t say, “You!”
Now Jesus knew it was time and told them, “I’m He”, which could be a simple declaration (“that’s Me”, in other words) or a statement of Deity (like the “I AM THAT I AM” in Exodus 3:14), Besides, Judas and maybe some of the soldiers might have remembered when Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I AM (John 8:58).”
By this time, Peter was fully awake and rushed to defend Jesus. Now, we have to admire Peter’s zeal for protecting an innocent Man, and his teacher, from whatever he may have thought was about to happen. The problem, though, was that he was just one man, facing off against 600 professionals, who were armed with “swords and staves” or, maybe, clubs, Peter had only a small sword, something like a boning knife where the blade might have been 18 inches long. I remember a Bible teacher saying the soldier’s swords were 2 feet long so Peter would have lost even before he began.
Even so, that didn’t matter to Peter. He took his sword, swung, and succeeded in cutting off the ear of Malchus, a servant of the high priest. Humanly speaking, this man may have been the worst possible target, as once the high priest was done with Jesus, he might well have come after Peter for assault, battery, attempted murder, or any other charge he could think of!
Jesus, though, knew it was time to stop things before things got worse. He simply told Peter to put away his sword, then healed Malchus (Luke 22:51). The Father had given Jesus a cup, and now it was time for Jesus to drink that cup completely.
Part of that cup included being arrested. That came immediately afterwards.
3 The Arrest in the Garden
Text, John 18:12-14, KJV: 12 Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him, 13 And led him away to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year. 14 Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.
Now we read of one of history’s greatest miscarriages of justice ever. There is no record of a warrant, or any other reason to arrest Jesus, other than the greed of Judas and the desire of the religious leaders to get Jesus out of their way, once and for all, by any means necessary.
The first thing the soldiers did was bind Jesus. This may mean they tied only His hands; otherwise, how could He walk? The next thing they did was take Jesus to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, high priest that year. After that, each of the four Gospels list the various trials and hearings Jesus was led to and through during that early morning time. None of this was legal but that didn’t stop them from doing their worst. As an aside, there’s a book called “The Illegal Trial of Jesus” by Earl Wingo which goes into more detail. Full disclosure, I’ve only seen ads or blurbs and I’ve never read the book but intend to do so as soon as possible.
Besides the trials and hearings, each of the Gospels also records the punishments and the various humiliations our Lord endured. I won’t go into detail here but, again, the perfect, sinless Son of God endured more than any other person has ever gone through. Someone once observed that since Jesus was the perfect human, He felt every pain perfectly. Sobering,
Then He was led to Calvary/Golgotha. Jesus carried the crossbeam, maybe as big as a piece of 4 by 4 or 6 by 6-inch lumber, maybe a mile and a half (estimates vary). He collapsed under the weight but Simon of Cyrene was there to help. Blessings on a stranger who helped Jesus.
And lastly, Jesus was crucified. No need to go into detail here; most of us have a working knowledge of what happened and why. He—our Lord Jesus Christ—was nailed to those two pieces of wood for six agonizingly long hours. Every sin of every person was laid on Him, just as Isaiah had prophesied 700 years before: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isa. 53:6)”.
At the end of those six hours, the sin debt being paid, our Lord uttered some of His last words before He died: “It is finished!” That’s another way of saying something, any kind of debt, was paid in full! Several teachers and preachers have related that when a debt was paid, the original bill or statement was nailed to the house’s door, especially like a mortgage, and the Greek word translated “it is finished” was written in large letters across that bill!
And Paul would later add that Christ’s death did that very thing, when he wrote in Colossians 2:13-14, ” 13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;”
Let me try to pull this altogether here in closing. A few days after our Lord arrived in Jerusalem on a donkey, fulfilling Zechariah 9:9, He spent time teaching and preaching. He then celebrated the Last Supper and Passover with the Apostles and then walked with all except Judas Iscariot to the Garden of Gethsemane. He arrived there, asking eight of the apostles to stay and pray; then took Peter, James, and John with Him a little further.
While there, our Lord prayed alone. We can only guess what He was saying and praying as He talked to His Father but there is no doubt He prayed like never before. He needed that, as soon after He finished praying, He was placed under arrest and led away to trials, hearings, eventually punishment and humiliation, with the last steps of His earthly life heading to Calvary.
There He died after being crucified, with His body placed in a borrowed tomb. Most everyone believed, that was that, the Lord is dead, the Messiah was murdered, and hope was gone.
Then came that first Resurrection Morning—but that’s another story!
If you’re reading this and you realize you’ve never placed all your sins on Jesus, or you have never asked Him to be your savior and Lord, what better time than Easter time to do this?
That’s why He came! That’s why He died! And that’s why He rose from the dead—not just love, but His love for you and me. Let Him forgive your sins and give you His salvation!
You’ll never be sorry if you do. Happy Easter and best of all, The Lord Is Risen!
Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)
