“Jesus answered, ‘I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way.’ ” John 18:8
In John 18:1-12, we are learning how to endure difficult times. So far we have discovered we can do this when we…
– Learn about the love of Christ (John 18:1a).
– Look to the Lord in prayer (John 18:1b).
– Lean on the power of Christ (John 18:2-8a).
Next “Jesus answered, ‘I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way.’ ” (John 18:8). After identifying Himself as the One they are seeking, Jesus then commands this big bad army to “let these go their way.” He is telling them what to do. “An ordinary man would be in no position to command the arresting party to let his followers go. However, Jesus boldly did, and they obeyed Him.” 1
Christ wants them to arrest Him and let His disciples go free. “Being the commanding Leader He was, Jesus first made sure that His disciples would be safe before He allowed His captors to lead Him away.” 2 Doesn’t this seem a little strange? They came to arrest Jesus and Jesus is telling them what to do and they follow His orders. They don’t arrest any of His disciples because as God (cf. John 1:1; 8:58-59; 9:35-38; 18:5-8), Jesus has the power of command.
From this response of Jesus we have our fourth way to endure difficult times. LISTEN TO THE COMMAND OF CHRIST (John 18:8b). When we are facing difficult times, who do we allow to command us? That is a decision we face every day. Sometimes we listen to the wrong things to give us commands. We may listen to our sinful flesh, the world, or even the devil. Judas listened to Satan and he ended up betraying our Lord.
We can let the wrong things tell us what to do. Sometimes we get to the end of a day and we are all beat up and bruised emotionally or spiritually because we have been following the wrong commander. It happens to all of us. But praise God He’s willing to forgive us and give us new direction in our lives.
If you are a Christian, what does God tell you to do after you sin according to 1 John 1:9? God says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” To confess means to agree with God. The moment we admit to God that we have sinned, He forgives that sin we confessed and cleanses us of all the sins we are not even aware of so we can be restored to fellowship with Him and begin obeying His commands once again.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, after You revealed Your majesty as Almighty God in the Garden of Gethsemane to the well-armed army who came to arrest You, You commanded them to let Your disciples go, and they obeyed You. If this big bad army obeyed You, how much more should Your followers obey You? Thank You for showing us today that if we do not not listen to Your commands and obey them, we are not going to endure difficult times in a way that glorifies You. So often we can listen to the commands of our own sinful flesh or to this world which follows the orders of Satan, and we end up all bruised and defeated spiritually. Please forgive us, our Lord and our God, when we listen to the wrong commanders and sin against You. Thank You for graciously forgiving our sins and cleansing us of all unrighteousness in our lives the moment we confess our wrongs to You. Please increase our sensitivity to Your voice of truth and to the Holy Spirit’s leading in our lives so we place ourselves under Your authority and endure these challenging times in a way that magnifies Your name. In the powerful name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
ENDNOTES:
1. Robert Wilkin; J. Bond; Gary Derickson; Brad Doskocil; Zane Hodges; Dwight Hunt; Shawn Leach. The Grace New Testament Commentary: Revised Edition, (Grace Evangelical Society, Kindle Edition, 2019), pg. 550.
2. Tom Constable, Notes on John, 2017 Edition, pg. 325.