126(約18:1–27) GUILT AND GRACE IN THE GARDEN 伊甸園中的罪與恩典 04/08/2025

126(約18:1–27)        Guilt and grace in the garden.         伊甸園中的罪與恩典                 04/08/2025

CHAPTER NINETEEN                                第十九章                                                                                John 18:1–27                                                  約翰福音 18:1-27                                                                  GUILT AND GRACE IN THE GARDEN    伊甸園中的罪與恩典

我們主與門徒的私人事工現已結束，救贖的公開戲劇即將開始。人會盡其所能，而上帝會以祂最好的回應。 「只是罪在哪裡顯多，恩典就更顯多了」（羅馬書 5:20）。或許，理解約翰福音 18:1-27 中的真理並掌握其中所傳達教訓的最佳方式，就是留意其中所包含的象徵意義。約翰福音充滿了象徵，有些比其他的更為明顯，這些象徵傳達了一些重要的屬靈真理。本節中有五個這樣的象徵。

伊甸園－順服（18:1）汲淪谷位於耶路撒冷以東，在城牆和橄欖山之間，而客西馬尼園位於橄欖山的西坡。耶穌常常和門徒去這個園子，無疑是為了休息、默想和禱告（路加福音22:39）。耶路撒冷擠滿了參加逾越節的朝聖者，耶穌想離開擁擠的城市，到一個僻靜的地方。他知道猶大會來找他，他已經準備好了。人類歷史始於一個園子（創2:8及以後），人類的第一個罪就是在那個園子裡犯下的。第一個亞當違背了上帝，被趕出了園子，但末後的亞當（哥林多前書15:45）順服了上帝，進入了客西馬尼園。在園子裡，第一個亞當為人類帶來了罪惡和死亡，但耶穌因著祂的順服，為所有信靠祂的人帶來了公義和生命。祂「存心順服，以至於死，且死在十字架上」（腓立比書2:8）。歷史終有一天會在另一個伊甸園終結，那就是約翰在啟示錄21和22章所描述的天城。在那個伊甸園裡，不再有死亡，也不再有咒詛。生命水的河要不住地湧流，生命樹要結出豐盛的果實。伊甸園是悖逆和罪惡的花園；客西馬尼園是順服和順服的花園；而天堂將是永恆的喜樂和滿足的花園，榮耀歸於上帝。客西馬尼園的名字意為「榨油機」。即使在今天，客西馬尼園裡仍然有古老的橄欖樹，儘管肯定不是耶穌時代的那些。橄欖會被採摘下來，放入榨油機榨出油來。這是多麼痛苦的畫面啊！所以我們的主要經過「榨油機」和「榨酒機」（以賽亞書63:3），為我們嚐到審判的滋味。汲淪溪也意義非凡。這個名字的意思是“昏暗、陰沉”，指的是經常被聖殿祭祀的血染紅的黑色水域。我們的主和祂的門徒即將穿越“黑暗的水域”，耶穌也將經歷上帝憤怒的“波浪和洪濤”（詩篇42:7；另見約拿書2:3）。

The private ministry of our Lord with His disciples has now ended, and the public drama of redemp tion is about to begin. Man will do his worst, and God will respond with His very best. “But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom. 5:20).                                                                                           Perhaps the best way to see the truths in John 18:1–27, and grasp the lessons they convey, is to pay attention to the symbolism that is involved. John’s gospel is saturated with symbols, some more obvious than others, and these symbols convey some impor tant spiritual truths. There are five such symbols in this section.

The Garden—Obedience (18:1)                                                                                                                  The Kidron Valley is located east of Jerusalem, between the city wall and the Mount of Olives, and the garden of Gethsemane is on the western slope of Olivet. Jesus often went to this garden with His disciples, no doubt to rest, meditate, and pray (Luke 22:39). Jerusalem was filled with pilgrims attending the Passover, and Jesus would want to get away from the crowded city to a pri vate place. He knew that Judas would come for Him there, and He was ready.                                                                              Human history began in a garden (Gen. 2:8ff.), and the first sin of man was committed in that garden. The first Adam disobeyed God and was cast out of the garden, but the Last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45) was obedi ent as He went into the garden of Gethsemane. In a garden, the first Adam brought sin and death to mankind, but Jesus, by His obedience, brought righ teousness and life to all who will trust Him. He was “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8).                                                                   History will one day end in another garden, the heavenly city that John describes in Revelation 21 and 22. In that garden, there will be no more death and no more curse. The river of the water of life will flow ceaselessly, and the tree of life will produce bountiful fruit. Eden was the garden of disobedience and sin; Gethsemane was the garden of obedience and submis sion; and heaven shall be the eternal garden of delight and satisfaction, to the glory of God.                                                                        The name Gethsemane means “oil press.” Even today there are ancient olive trees in Gethsemane, though certainly not the ones that were there in Jesus’ day. The olives would be picked and put into the press for their oil. What a picture of suffering! So our Lord would go through the “oil press” and the “winepress” (Isa. 63:3) and taste our judgment for us.                                                                                           The brook Kidron is also significant. The name means “dusky, gloomy,” referring to the dark waters that were often stained by the blood from the temple sacrifices. Our Lord and His disciples were about to go through “dark waters,” and Jesus would experience the “waves and billows” of God’s wrath (Ps. 42:7; also note Jonah 2:3).                                                                                                                                The Kidron had special historical significance, for King David crossed the Kidron when he was rejected by his nation and betrayed by his own son, Absalom (2 Sam. 15; also note John 18:23). Jesus had been rejected by His people and at that very moment was being betrayed by one of His own disciples! It is interesting that David’s treacherous counselor Ahithophel hanged himself (2 Sam. 17:23), and David’s treacherous son Absalom was caught in a tree and killed while hanging there (2 Sam. 18:9–17). Judas, of course, went out and hanged himself (Matt. 27:3–10).                                                                   Jesus fully knew what lay before Him, yet He went to the garden in obedience to the Father’s will. He left eight of the men near the entrance, and took Peter, James, and John and went to another part of the gar den to pray (Matt. 26:36–46; Mark 14:32–42). His human soul longed for the kind of encouragement and companionship they could give Him at this critical hour, but, alas, they went to sleep! It was easy for the men to boast about their devotion to Christ, but when the test came, they failed miserably. Before we judge them too severely, however, we had better examine our own hearts. 

The Kiss—Treachery (18:2–9)                                                                                                                  Judas had lived with the Lord Jesus for perhaps three years, and had listened to Him teach, yet he knew very little about Him. The traitor actually brought a com pany of temple guards, armed with swords and clubs (Matt. 26:55)! Just think of the privileges Judas despised and the opportunities he wasted! The word band in John 18:3 could be translated “cohort.” A Roman cohort was a tenth of a legion, and this would be six hundred men! It is not likely that Judas brought that many to the garden, but apparently a full cohort was made available to him had he needed it. Did he not realize that the Lamb of God would meekly submit and that there would be no need to battle?                                                                                       Jesus was in full control; He knew what would happen (see John 13:1, 3, 11; 16:19). Judas expected some kind of deception, so he arranged to identify Jesus by kissing Him (Matt. 26:48–49). But Jesus shocked both Judas and the arresting officers by boldly presenting Himself to them. He had nothing to fear and nothing to hide; He would willingly lay down His life for His sheep. Furthermore, by surrendering to the officers, Jesus helped to protect His disciples. He kept them safe not only spiritually (John 17:11–12) but also physically.                                                                                                     Why did the arresting soldiers draw back and fall to the ground when Jesus told them, “I am he”? The Jews present would be struck by His “I am” statement, an affirmation of deity. The Romans, who were in the majority, would be struck by His bearing, for it was obvious that He was in command. It was an emotion ally charged situation, and we do not know what Judas had told them about Jesus to help prepare them for this confrontation. The Jewish leaders had tried to have Jesus arrested before and always without success. The band was prepared for conflict, and when they met with surrender and calm, they were overwhelmed. Perhaps it was a manifestation of divine power, or an exhibition of the majesty of Jesus Christ. “When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell” (Ps. 27:2).                                                                                                           Judas’s kiss, which was given repeatedly to the Lord, was certainly one of the basest acts of treachery recorded anywhere in sacred or secular history. In that day, a kiss was a sign of affection and devotion. Members of the family kissed each other in meeting and in parting, but Judas was not a member of God’s family. Disciples greeted a rabbi by kissing him; it was a sign of devotion and obedience. But Judas was not truly a disciple of Jesus Christ, though he belonged to the disciple band. In the garden, Judas stood with the enemy, not with Jesus’ friends!                                                                         When people today pretend to know and love the Lord, they are committing the sin of Judas. It is bad enough to betray Christ, but to do it with a kiss, a sign of affection, is the basest treachery of all. It was born in the pit of hell. 

The Sword—Rebellion (18:10)                                                                                                                   All of the disciples had courageously affirmed their devotion to Christ (Matt. 26:35), and Peter decided to prove it, so he quickly drew out a small sword and started to fight! He certainly misunderstood what Jesus had said about swords earlier that evening (Luke 22:35–38). He had warned them that from now on the situation would change, and men would treat them as transgressors. He was not suggesting that they use material swords to fight spiritual battles, but that they get a new mind-set and expect opposition and even danger. He had provided for them and protected them while He was with them on earth, but now He was returning to the Father. They would have to depend on the Holy Spirit and exercise wisdom. Peter apparently took His words literally and thought he was supposed to declare war!                                                                                                                                                                              Peter’s sword symbolizes rebellion against the will of God. Peter should have known that Jesus would be arrested and that He would willingly surrender to His enemies (Matt. 16:21ff.; 17:22–23; 20:17–19). Peter made every mistake possible! He fought the wrong enemy, used the wrong weapon, had the wrong motive, and accomplished the wrong result! He was openly resisting the will of God and hindering the work that Jesus came to accomplish! While we admire his courage and sincerity, it was certainly a demonstration of zeal without knowledge.                                                                                             Why did Peter fail so miserably? For one thing, he had argued with the Lord when Jesus warned him that he would deny his Master that very night. Peter had slept when he should have been praying, and he talked when he should have been listening. He imitated the very enemies who came to arrest Jesus, for they too were armed with swords. Peter would discover that the sword of the Spirit is the weapon God’s servants use in fighting their spiritual battles (Heb. 4:12; Eph. 6:17). He would use that sword at Pentecost and “slay” three thousand souls!                                                                                               Jesus did not need Peter’s protection. He could have summoned legions of angels had He wanted to be delivered (Matt. 26:52–54). Luke tells us that Jesus healed Malchus’s ear (John 22:51), which was cer tainly an act of grace on His part. It was gracious from Peter’s point of view, for had He not healed Malchus, Peter might have been arrested and crucified! Peter was acting like one of the Jewish Zealots and not like a dis ciple of Jesus Christ.                                                                                                                     But it was also an act of grace toward Malchus. After all, he was only a servant, and why worry about what happens to a servant? He was also an enemy, standing with the men who came to arrest Jesus, so he ought to suffer! Is it possible that Malchus had actually laid hold of Jesus? We do not know, but if he did, he laid hands on the holy Son of God. However, our Lord did not judge Malchus, though he was a sinner deserv ing the wrath of God. Instead, He healed him! It was our Lord’s last public miracle before the cross.                                                                                                                                            Keep in mind that this miracle reveals His grace toward us. If Jesus had the power to stun an armed mob and heal a severed ear, He could have saved Himself from arrest, trial, and death. But He willingly submitted! And He did it for us!                                                                                                                   It is a sad thing when well-meaning but ignorant Christians take up the sword to “defend” the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter hurt Malchus, something no believer should do. Peter hurt the testimony of Christ and gave the false impression that His disciples hate their ene mies and try to destroy them. (Note our Lord’s reply to Pilate in John 18:36.) 

The Cup—Submission (18:11–14)                                                                                                        Peter had a sword in his hand, but our Lord had a cup in His hand. Peter was resisting God’s will but the Savior was accepting God’s will. Earlier, Jesus had prayed, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matt. 26:39). The cup represented the suffering He would endure and the separation from the Father that He would experience on the cross. He prayed this prayer three times, evidence that His whole being was sensitive to the price He would pay for our salvation. His holy soul must have been stirred to the depths when He contemplated being made sin!                                                                                                                                                                  The drinking of a cup is often used in Scripture to illustrate experiencing suffering and sorrow. When Babylon captured Jerusalem, the city had “drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling” (Isa. 51:17). Jeremiah pictured God’s wrath against the nations as the pouring out of a cup (Jer. 25:15–28). There is also a cup of con solation (Jer. 16:7) and the overflowing cup of joy (Ps. 23:5).                                           Jesus had compared His own sufferings to the drinking of a cup and the experiencing of a baptism (Matt. 20:22–23). When He instituted the supper, He compared the cup to His blood, shed for the remission of sins (Matt. 26:27–28). The image was a familiar one to His disciples, and it is not an unfamiliar image today. To “drink the cup” means to go through with a difficult experience, and “not my cup of tea” means saying no to a certain course of action. The fact that some trophies are designed like cups suggests that win ners have been through demanding experiences and had to “swallow a lot.”               Jesus was able to accept the cup because it was mixed by the Father and given to Him from the Father’s hand. He did not resist the Father’s will, because He came to do the Father’s will and finish the work the Father gave Him to do. “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Ps. 40:8). Since the Father had mixed and measured the contents of the cup, Jesus knew He had nothing to fear.                                                                                                                                                          This is a good lesson to us: we need never fear the cups that the Father hands to us. To begin with, our Savior has already drunk the cup before us, and we are only following in His steps. We need never fear what is in the cup because the Father has prepared it for us in love. If we ask for bread, He will never give us a stone, and the cup He prepares will never contain anything that will harm us. We may suffer pain and heartbreak, but He will eventually transform that suffering into glory.                                   Jesus deliberately gave Himself to His enemies. They bound Him and led Him to the house of Annas, which was not too far away. Annas had served as high priest until he was deposed by the Romans; now his son-in-law Caiaphas was the high priest. God had ordained that one man should serve as high priest for a lifetime, so it is easy to see that the Jewish religious establishment was in sad condition. It is generally believed that the high priest’s family was in charge of the temple “business,” and the fact that Jesus twice cleansed the temple must have aroused their anger against Him.                                  The “trial” before Annas was more like an informal hearing. It was illegal and it was brutal. Imagine a guard being allowed to strike a prisoner! Imagine a man not holding an office interrogating a prisoner!                                                                                                                                                                     Annas, of course, was looking for some kind of evi dence on which to base an accusation that would lead to a verdict of capital punishment. What doctrine was Jesus teaching? Was it subversive? Jesus told him to ask the people who listened to Him, because He had said nothing secretly. In fact, Annas himself could have come and listened!                                                                                                           What about our Lord’s disciples? Were they organ ized to overthrow the government? Did not one of them use his sword in the garden? Jesus was careful to say nothing about His disciples. Think of it: while Peter was in the courtyard denying his Lord, Jesus was on trial protecting Peter!                                        Jewish law demanded that witnesses be called before a prisoner was questioned. Annas defied this law, and eventually the council hired false witnesses. Jesus knew His rights (“bear witness of the evil”—John 18:23), but He did not insist on them. He is an exam ple to us when we suffer wrongfully (1 Peter 2:19–25; 4:12–19). 

The Fire—Denial (18:15–27)                                                                                                                      Jesus had predicted that Peter would deny Him three times (Matt. 26:34; John 13:38), but that he would be restored to fellowship and service (Luke 22:32). Peter followed the crowd when he should have been fleeing (John 18:8; and see Matt. 26:30–32). Had he gone his way, he would never have denied the Lord. While we certainly admire his love and courage, we cannot agree with his actions, for he walked right into temptation. This is what Jesus warned him about in the garden (Matt. 26:41).                                         We do not know who the other disciple was who went with Peter into the courtyard of the home of the high priest. It was probably John, though it is difficult to understand how a fisherman could be acquainted with the high priest and his household. Was this “other disciple” possibly Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea? They would certainly have access to this home.                                                                       As you watch Peter, you see him gradually moving into the place of temptation and sin, and his actions parallel the description in Psalm 1:1. First, Peter walked “in the counsel of the ungodly” when he fol lowed Jesus and went into the high priest’s courtyard. Peter should have followed the counsel of Jesus and gotten out of there in a hurry! Then, Peter stood with the enemy by the fire (John 18:16, 18), and before long, he sat with the enemy (Luke 22:55). It was now too late, and within a short time, he would deny his Lord three times.                                                                                                                   First, a servant girl asked, “Art not thou also one of this man’s disciples?” The Greek text indicates that she expected a negative answer, and that is what she got! Peter denied Christ by denying that he belonged to the band of disciples.                                                                                                                     Peter remained by the fire, so it is no wonder that he was approached again. (That same night, Jesus had been perspiring as He had prayed in the garden!) Another servant girl asked the same question, again expecting a negative reply. The pronoun they in John 18:25 suggests that others in the circle around the fire took up the question and one by one hurled it at Peter. The third question came from one of Malchus’s rel atives! The Greek construction indicates that he expected an affirmative answer: “I saw you in the gar den with Jesus, didn’t I? Yes, I did!” After all, this man had gotten a good look at Peter because he was proba bly standing with Malchus when Jesus was arrested. Some of the bystanders took up the discussion (Matt. 26:73; Mark 14:70) so that Peter may have been sur rounded by challengers.                                                                                                                                                              At that point, Peter’s resistance broke down com pletely. He began to “curse and swear” (Matt. 26:74). This does not mean that Peter let loose a volley of blas phemies, but rather that he put himself under a curse in order to emphasize his statement. He was on trial, so he put himself under an oath to convince his accusers that he was telling the truth.                                                                                                   It was at that point that the cock began to crow (John 18:27) just as Jesus had predicted (Matt. 26:34). There were four “watches”: evening (6–9 p.m.), mid night (9–12), cockcrowing (12 midnight to 3 a.m.), and morning (3–6 a.m.) (see Mark 13:35).                                                                                                  The crowing of the cock reminded Peter of the Lord’s words, and he went out and wept bitterly. The crowing of the cock was assurance to Peter that Jesus was totally in control of the situation, even though He was bound and being harassed by the authorities. By controlling one bird, Jesus affirmed His sovereignty. According to Genesis 1:26, God gave man authority over the fish, the fowl, and the animals. Peter had seen Jesus exercise authority over the fish (Matt. 17:24–27; Luke 5:1–11) and the animals (Matt. 21:1–11), but now he recognized His authority over the birds.                                                       But the cockcrowing was also an invitation to repentance. “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:32). Luke tells us that Jesus turned and looked at Peter (Luke 22:61), and this look of love broke Peter’s heart. Peter had been a witness of Christ’s sufferings (1 Peter 5:1), and by his own denials he added to those sufferings.                                                                                                                  Keep in mind that the crowing of the cock was the announcement of the dawning of a new day! “Weeping may endure for a right, but joy cometh in the morning” (Ps. 30:5). It is worthwhile to contrast Peter and Judas. Peter wept over his sins and repented, while Judas admitted his sins but never really repented. Judas experienced remorse, not repentance. When Judas went out from the Upper Room, “it was night” (John 13:30), but when Peter went out to weep bit terly, there was the dawning of a new day. It is the contrast between godly sorrow that leads to true repen tance, and the sorrow of the world (regret and remorse) that leads to death (2 Cor. 7:9–10). We will discover that Jesus restored Peter (John 21) and enabled him to serve with great power and blessing.                                                                                           In the garden that night, you would find both guilt and grace. Peter was guilty of resisting God’s will. Judas was guilty of the basest kind of treachery. The mob was guilty of rejecting the Son of God and treating Him as though He were the lowest kind of criminal.                                                                               But Jesus was gracious! Like King David, He crossed the Kidron, fully conscious that Judas was betraying Him. He went into the garden of Gethsemane surrendered to the Father’s will. He healed Malchus’s ear. He protected His disciples. He yielded Himself into the hands of sinners that He might suffer and die for us. “Love so amazing, so divine / Demands my soul, my life, my all!”                                     What is in your hand today—the sword,  or the cup?