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Luke 22 "Getting Ready for the Cross"
Now the feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people. Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude. (Luke 22:1-6)
These last few weeks we have seen Jesus teaching in the
temple. And as He taught the chief priests and the scribes became more
and more angry. But during the day, there were always huge crowds of
people that came to hear him and during the night Jesus would go out
of the city. So these enemies "sought how they might kill Him,
for they feared the people." It was then that Satan entered Judas
and he made a deal with them to deliver Jesus up to them in a place
where there were no crowds. I always wondered why Judas needed to betray
Jesus in the first place. After all, Jesus was in the temple teaching
every day. It was not like they could not find Him. In fact Jesus tells
the chief priests this very thing, “Have you come out, as against
a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you daily in the temple,
you did not try to seize Me. But this is your hour, and the power of
darkness.” (Luke 22:53) They could not take Him during the day,
because the people would not permit it. But during the night, with their
own select mob, with Judas leading them to the spot where the Lord was
praying, they went to arrest Jesus.
As I read what happened that night, I am very impressed with the resignation
of Jesus. The outcome has already been decided. There is no doubt at
all about what will happen to Him. He knows that they will arrest Him,
that He will be betrayed by one of His own disciples, that the final
result will be death on the cross. What I would like to study with you
today are the preparations that Jesus made. What did He do to get ready
for His passion? Actually, you could say that Jesus’ entire ministry
was preparation for His passion. Without the ministry, the teaching,
the healings, the miracles of Jesus there would have been no reason
for the religious rulers to persecute Him. Without the life of Jesus,
perfect, without sin, His death on the cross would simply be another
criminal executed by the Romans. But let us focus on that last evening,
the night that Jesus was betrayed.
Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.” So they said to him, “Where do You want us to prepare?” And He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. Then you shall say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?” Then he will show you a large furnished upper room; there make ready.” So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover. When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 22:7-16)
The first thing that Jesus did that night was to celebrate
the Passover meal with His disciples. He said to them, “With fervent
desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”
I have been touched to hear of Louise with her friends these last few
weeks. She has just graduated from high school and will be leaving for
the U.S. to go to college tomorrow morning. As they all are leaving
they know that this might be the last chance they get to see each other
and so these last special times they have had together have been especially
sweet. Jesus enjoyed, longed for, this special time with these few disciples
before his suffering. But Jesus also wanted to teach the disciples the
fuller meaning of the Passover, what it’s fulfillment would be
in the kingdom of God.
Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this
and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of
the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And He
took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This
is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup
is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. But behold,
the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table. And truly the Son of
Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is
betrayed!” Then they began to question among themselves, which
of them it was who would do this thing. (Luke 22:17-23)
Jesus used the Passover meal to explain to His disciples
what His coming death on the cross would mean. If you remember back
to the original story of the Passover in the Old Testament, Moses was
trying to take the Israelites out of Egypt, but the Pharaoh would not
let them go. After many plagues were put on Egypt, finally the most
horrible one was that the Lord would pass over each house and kill each
firstborn son. However, Moses instructed the Israelites to take a lamb
and kill it and to mark the doors of their houses, both doorposts and
the lintel with the blood of this lamb. The Israelites did so and the
Lord “passed over” without killing the firstborn of each
of the houses that was so marked. Jesus, Himself is the fulfillment
of the Passover. He became the passover lamb for each one of us. When
Jesus Christ died on the cross His blood marked each one of us, so that
when God sees us He no longer sees our sins but instead, the blood of
Jesus.
Jesus made it even clearer by saying that “This cup is the new
covenant in My blood”. God promised through the prophet Jeremiah
that He would make a new covenant. In that prophecy there is one great
promise and two wonderful results for us. The great promise is this;
“I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember
no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34) I want to make sure that you understand
the difference between this promise and the old covenant that God gave
to Moses. In the old covenant every time someone sinned they needed
to make a sacrifice for that sin. But if you are really serious about
your spiritual life you would soon find yourself out of lambs, because
there are so many sins. I said a few weeks back to you that I am probably
more of a sinner now than before I got saved. One brother came and asked
me about that. And I would like to clarify it for you. I should say
that I know more of my sin now than before I got saved. I am much more
aware of my sin. Yes, God is cleansing me of my sins. But it is much
like an onion. Once God works one set of sins out of my life, there
is another set, even worse just underneath. But folks, here is the really
good news! God promises to forgive our iniquity and remember our sin
no more. He is not just talking about the sins that I am constantly
committing. He is talking about my sin nature. This is the great promise
of the new covenant, that God looks at me and no longer sees a sinner,
but only the righteous blood of Jesus Christ.
So what are the two wonderful results of our sin being forgiven? First,
God says that He will put His law in our minds and write it on our hearts.
You see, at first we look at God’s law and we think, “No
way, I can’t do this. It is too difficult” And it is! But
when your sins are forgiven, God starts the process of making His way,
your way. So that little by little, the things of God start to become
natural to you. Instead of being strange and difficult, the things of
the Bible seem to be just the way that you would have thought of it.
God changes your heart and changes your mind.
Second, God says “I will be their God, and they will be my people”.
When your sins are forgiven you can then start to have a relationship
with God. He is no longer “God” way off out there somewhere.
He is “My God.” You can come and talk to Him about your
life and problems and know that He cares. Imagine that you saw a beautiful
girl or a handsome man across the room. You would feel kind of shy to
go up and start a conversation. Even if you did start to talk, you would
not feel comfortable to really show your true thoughts. But what if
you realized as you got closer that this is not a stranger at all, it
is a dear friend that you have known all along. This is what Jesus has
done for us. Everything that seperated us from God has been bridged
by Him.
The first thing that Jesus did was to celebrate the Passover meal with
Disciples, teaching them the fulfillment that would come to pass in
His death on the cross. But the disciples really could not understand
fully what He was trying to explain. Later on, they would realize the
depth of meaning of that last supper, but at the time they were still
concerned about many other things that were not so important. I often
get so frustrated with the disciples when I read about them in the gospels.
It seems so obvious to me, why don’t they understand? There is
one thing that is very different between us and them. Today, as I speak,
Jesus is seated at the right hand of God, constantly interceeding for
us. And His Holy Spirit has taken up residence in each of our hearts,
bringing to our minds the things of God, convicting us of the things
that we should not do and the things that we should do. But the disciples
did not have this benefit yet, because Jesus was still with them. Each
of us Christians has the light of the world shining in our hearts, but
for the disciples they were following the Light as best as they could.
And Jesus knew that they would all be in for a terrible black time soon,
in which even that light would be extinguished.
Luke 22:24-48 "Preparing for the Cross II"
We are studying what Jesus did the night that He was betrayed to prepare both Himself and His disciples. The first thing that He did was to celebrate the Passover meal with his apostles, greatly enjoying this last supper with them and also teaching them through the bread and the cup about the meaning of the cross. The second thing that Jesus did that night was to prepare His disciples for the coming darkness.
Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority are called ‘benefactors’. But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves. “But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.” Then He said, “I tell you, Peter the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.” (Luke 22: 24-34)
The disciples were by no means perfect. They were not
super spiritual. On this eve of their greatest trial, one was now on
his way to betray Jesus and the others were arguing amongst themselves
about who would be the leader if Jesus was killed. How did Jesus encourage
these men, who could not know how bad it would be, and did not have
the Holy Spirit to comfort them? Let me tell you something that might
surprise you, these men were not even Christians yet! None of them were
even saved. Because Jesus had not even been to the cross yet! They could
not be saved because Jesus had not even been put in the tomb, let alone
been raised from the dead. I tell you, that the worst struggles of my
life were before I became a Christian. And I have the most pity for
those people that I see who are struggling with the decision to believe
in Jesus or not. Many more difficult trials came after I became a Christian,
but they were much more bearable because of the comfort of the Holy
Spirit and the power of prayer. But those dark nights when I did not
know Jesus and did not know why I was suffering so were the worst I
can remember. If you are suffering today, and you’re not a Christian,
Jesus would help you the same way He helped these disciples. First,
know that Jesus is with you, no matter how great or lowly you are. You
are not alone. When they argued about who was the greatest, He said,
look at Me. I am not seated on some special table above you. I am right
here with you, eating together with you. If you would be great, be a
servant of all. This is what Jesus did, He put Himself in the lowest
position so that He could help everyone. Second, know that Jesus is
praying for you. You do not know what will happen to you in this life.
You do not know what kind of struggles you will have to go through.
Peter did not know what the trial of that night would be. But Jesus
did. And Jesus knows what you must go through as well. And He is praying
for you that your faith will not fail
The last thing that Jesus did before He was betrayed was to go to the
Mount of Olives to pray, to prepare Himself for the events of the next
day.
Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed,
and His disciples also followed Him. When He came to the place, he said
to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt
down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this
cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”
Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being
in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great
drops of blood falling down to the ground. When He rose up from prayer,
and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. Then
He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter
into temptation.” And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude;
and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before and then
drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, “Judas,
are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:39-48)
Jesus told His disciples to pray that they may not enter into temptation.
I believe that Jesus was following His own advice. The book of Hebrews
tells us that Jesus “sympathizes” with us, because He “was
in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
Do not think that Jesus walked peacefully into the garden and had a
sweet time of fellowship with the Father. This was not that kind of
prayer time. Everything in Jesus wanted to escape what would take place
the following day. His physical body wanted to escape the pain of scourging
and crucifixion. His emotions wanted to escape the pain of rejection
by the very people He had come to save. His spirit wanted to escape
the pain of being seperated from God. Jesus was desparately searching
for any way out, that would still be in the will of the Father. In agony,
He prayed, so much that His sweat became like drops of blood. Jesus
said to pray so that you may not enter into temptation. The part of
this scene that we cannot see are the temptations that swirled around
Jesus that night. There must have been hundreds of ideas that came to
His mind, but none of them were in the Father’s will. Are you
struggling with something today? Perhaps you know deep inside you what
God wants from you, but you are still wrestling with it, searching for
a way to avoid what God requires from you. Perhaps you are thinking
that prayer is the last thing that you want to do because then you will
have to do what God wants. Look what happened when Jesus prayed. “An
angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.” The struggle
did not go away. But Jesus was given the strength to rise up and face
the will of God. Pray, lest you enter temptation.
On that last night Jesus did three things. First He celebrated the Passover
with His disciples, teaching them through the bread and cup the meaning
of the cross. Second, He prepared them for their hour of trial letting
them know that He would be with them, and that He would pray for them
that their faith would not fail. Precious people, know this! No matter
how far you run away from God. No matter how much distance you try to
put between yourself and Jesus. Jesus will still be with you. He does
not forget about you or give up on you. And finally Jesus fortified
Himself against temptation through prayer. Even though God did not take
the cup away from Him. Even though the cross still lay before Him. Prayer
made all the difference as Jesus was strengthened to do what He had
to do. I have told you many times about the power of prayer. I have
told you that prayer changes things. I am convinced of it. But even
when the situation I face remains the same, even though God, in His
wisdom leaves me in the trial, prayer has still changed something. Prayer
has still been effective. Prayer has still been powerful. Because even
though the situation remains the same, I am different. I have been changed.
Prayer has worked powerfully in me.
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