| “Jesus … said to them, Whom seek ye? They answered Him, Jesus the Nazaraean. Jesus says to them, I am [He] … When therefore He said to them, I am [He], they went away backward and fell to the ground” (John 18:4-6 JND). |
| Here we have an account of how the chief priests and Pharisees had sent a band of men to arrest the Lord Jesus. In order to do this, they had paid one of the Lord’s disciples, Judas Iscariot, a lot of money to show them where the Lord was. Judas knew exactly how to find the Lord Jesus, and brought the band of men and officers to arrest Him. The Lord Jesus eventually submitted to them, but first of all, as the Son of God, He showed them who He was. |
| When the men told the Lord Jesus whom they wanted, He readily identified Himself, but instead of saying, “I am Jesus the Nazaraean,” He said, “I am [He].” Then something happened. All the men who had come to arrest Him, including Judas Iscariot, fell backward to the ground. Can you imagine their surprise? They had come with lanterns and weapons, yet all the Lord Jesus did was say those few words, and they all fell backward to the ground. Why did this happen? |
| If we go back to the Old Testament, in the time of Moses, there came a time when the Lord sent him to Egypt, to deliver the people of Israel from the power of the Egyptian king, Pharaoh. Moses asked the Lord, If they ask me who sent me, what shall I say? God said to him, “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you” (Exodus 3:14). |
| When the Lord Jesus referred to Himself in this way, He immediately connected Himself with the Jehovah of the Old Testament. He had the same power as the God Israel had known in the Old Testament; the same power that had worked miracles before Pharaoh, king of Egypt; the same power that had brought plagues on the land of Egypt, and divided the Red Sea so that the Israelites could escape from the Egyptians. One word from the Lord Jesus could cause all those men and officers to fall to the ground. Yet they were bold enough to scramble to their feet and go on with their arrest. |
| Yet the Lord Jesus submitted to them, and allowed them to tie Him up and take Him away. Why did He do this? Why did He not simply escape, as He had so often done before? He submitted because He was here to do the Father’s will, and because He loved you and me so much. |
