The Gethsemane Arrest and the Gospel

Introduction: Gospel Depths

John 14-17 - teaching/propostions

John 18 - begins the passion narrative

Preaching narratives is often a most difficult task.

the purpose of preaching isn’t simply elaborating on historical detail - John hasn’t included these details simply to give an accurate account of the events.

He wrote these details down in a particular way that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30)

So when we look at a narrative passage like these we have to ask, what is unique about this particular account, why does it matter, and how does it relate to the entirety of scripture and its witness to the gospel - then we can preach in a way that helps us understand the depths of the gospel and make more potent applications from the text to our lives.

Direct you attention to JHN 18:1-11 - read the text with some brief comments

The Relationship Between the Garden of Gethsemane and The Garden of Eden

Unique features of John’s account

John is unique in his account because he does not name the garden Gethsemane, he simply says that Jesus and his discipled entered a garden.

Matthew and Mark name the place Gethsemane, yet never refer to it as a garden. Luke does not name it or call it a garden at all, but locates it with the mount of olives.

Only John refers to the place of arrest as a garden and only John refers to Crucifixion and the tomb of Christ and his resurrection as taking place in the midst of another garden.

What is the theological importance of this picture within the scope of redemptive history?

John is giving us a very subtle hint that this Garden is an allusion to the Garden of Eden, yet with a different representative of humanity.

The actions of Jesus are to be contrasted with the actions of the first Adam.

Gethsemane is a familiar garden that Jesus frequents with his disciples as a quiet place to commune with the Father.

This is a parallel to Eden, Eden was the place where God came to walk in the garden with Adam and Eve, it was the place of man’s fellowship with God.

Here uniquely, Jesus is in fellowship with his father, while his very divine presence makes this garden God’s dwelling place with his redeemed people.

When sin came into the world, Adam and Eve hid from God in the garden, but here Jesus the 2nd Adam, in his darkest hour, does not hide from God or his enemies, he knows his purpose is to restore the fellowship that mankind had with God that was broken by the first Adam.

In the garden the strength and resolve of Jesus is contrasted with the weakness of those born under the curse of Adam’s original sin. Mark 14:42

Mark 14:42 ESV

42 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

The disciples, unable to watch or pray with Jesus for even a moment, slept, Jesus prepared to face his betrayer, walk in humble obedience, and face the cross.

The first Adam led all of his descendants into sin and death, Jesus, the second Adam is ready and willing to rescue us from that cursed state.

Who is do you want as your representative? Or who do you want to be united to - Adam or Jesus? Adam plunged us into sin and death! Jesus is Strong to Save and Deliver You! He is sinless, he communes with the Father face to face without shame, without guilt, and was obedient unto death - even death on the cross!

The Relationship Between Satan’s Deceptive Temptation in the Garden of Eden and the Betrayal of Judas in Gethsemane

Judas enters the garden with a band of Roman soldiers and some Chief Priests and the Pharisees to arrest Jesus. There are some very important elements to this picture.

First - when Judas comes, we know Satan has entered the garden.

Luke 22:3–4 “3 Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. 4 He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them.”

Just as Satan entered Eden to have Adam expelled and dead, so he enters this Garden to remove Jesus have him put to death.

Second - the chief priests and the pharisees represents the leadership of his own people and how they are against him.

John 1:10–11 “10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

Third - The roman soldiers represent the entirety of the gentile world against the Christ.

Do you see - Satan has aligned the whole world against Jesus!

John gives us a powerful allusion to the fact that all the powers of darkness, the might of Rome and the religious piety of the Jews are no match for the power of Jesus Christ.

The irony of the soldiers with their torches, lanterns, and weapons. Did they really believe they could arrest Jesus without his consent?

Judas, indwelt by Satan, stands with the soldiers against the Lord, There is a real Genesis 3:15 feel here…the Lord curses Satan outside of the garden and promises that the seed of Eve would crush his head. Here Satan is trying to thwart this by removing Jesus from Gethsemane to Golgotha where Jesus will crush his head anyway, only the heel of Jesus will be bruised. (SATAN has such disregard for God’s word he not only twists it, he disbelieves it himself and ignores it to his own demise)

Satan went into the Eden to defile it and claim it yet he was cast out and cursed, he went into gethsemane to lay claim to Eve’s seed, yet Jesus willingly gives himself up in order to crush his head and cast him into the bottomless pit.

Jesus is not afraid of his enemies.

Jesus goes into a garden as the 2nd Adam, holy and powerful. He is the presence of God with his people.

The 2nd Adam is also divine and the presence of God is in the garden. When Jesus tells them “I AM he” he is using the greek construction for the great I AM...Jesus is claiming the messianic title and his own divinity.

His divine glory is manifest and all who came to arrest him fall down. This demonstrate that Jesus is in complete control of these events. He is not taken by force!

Psalm 27:1-3/13-14 (ESV)

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When evildoers assail me

to eat up my flesh,

my adversaries and foes,

it is they who stumble and fall.

3 Though an army encamp against me,

my heart shall not fear;

though war arise against me,

yet I will be confident… …

13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living!

14 Wait for the Lord;

be strong, and let your heart take courage;

wait for the Lord!

What a strong Savior we have!

“the first Adam had everything that was pleasant in the Garden of Eden, and yet fell. The second Adam had everything that was painful and trying in the Garden of Gethsemane, but was a glorious conqueror!”

b. Satan is a cosmic loser…why would you side with him? Yet so often even God’s redeemed will side with Satan....side with Christ, he is your champion, he is the victor! To him and his people go all the spoils of victory.

c. This also teaches us powerfully that all the world and devils can be against us, but what can they do if Christ if for us????

d. Rev 1:12-18

Revelation 1:12–18 ESV

12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

e. I am convinced that Christians need to be much more bold about the truth in our world today…we spend far to much time worried about what man thinks of us and can do to us. But we have Christ on our side, his spirit within us, and heaven in front of us....why do we live such small and fearful lives, why do we live for the things of the world, why do we side with Adam and Satan? Christ is your strength!

We See the Contrast Between Adam’s Failure to Protect Eve that Leads to Their Exile from the Garden and Jesus Willingly Removed from the Garden to Protect His People.

Jesus gives himself up to set his people free. (8-9)

The fulfillment is clear, this selfless act of Jesus points to the near future act of the cross.

The Sons of the first Adam are rescued by the willing sacrifice of the 2nd.

Where the 1st Adam did not protect Eve in his charge, the 2nd Adam willingly becomes sin, and bears the weight of the curse in order to rescue his people from their sin.

Peter in trying to protect Jesus, highlights man’s ignorance

Jesus is not in need of protecting, it is his act of willing sacrifice as the faithful 2nd Adam that protects his people, grants them the right to be children of God and to live in God’s presence forever.

The kingdom doesn’t come by the force of man, but by the power of God through the sacrifice of the son and the proclamation of the gospel message until his return.

When Jesus gives himself up, Satan thinks he is leading Jesus to his demise.

Where Satan led Adam to the cursed tree to eat and plunge mankind into sin, he also leads Jesus to a tree, yet this tree will end up becoming his demise.

The cursed tree outside the garden that will give people from every nation access to the tree of life by removing from his people the curse of the law that bars us from the blessed tree.

Galatians 3:13–14 “13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”

The 1st Adam was exiled due to sin, the 2nd Adam leaves this garden willingly, giving his life as a ransom so that all the redeemed can once again inhabit the garden of God.

Jesus is bound and taken to the cross to set us free - it is his willing act as our savior.

This is our message and mission.

Peter was off mission - he thought he needed to protect Jesus when he needed Jesus more than any of them.

Our mission is to proclaim Christ and the Gospel....and I hope the parallalels we have looked at this morning give us an even richer understanding of what Christ has done for us and who he is for us as our representative and savior.

Conclusion: How this Picture of the Garden Arrest Helps us Proclaim Christ in a Hostile World.

We belong to Christ, we are no longer under the curse of the law.

He stronger than all the powers of evil and all the nations of the earth.

Heard a line in a song recently - “We may not win every battle, but He wins the war!”

BE BOLD! LIVE FOR THE KING WHO WILLINGLY GAVE HIMSELF UP FOR YOU! HE IS THE VICTOR!