FROM JESUS’ REASSURANCE TO PILATE’S JUDGMENT
Now if there is any reality within the whole sphere of human experience that is by its very nature worthy to challenge the mind, charm the heart and bring the total life to a burning focus, it is the reality that revolves around the Person of Christ. If He is who and what the Christian message declares Him to be, then the thought of Him should be the most exciting, the most stimulating, to enter the human mind.
—A. W. TOZER1
JESUS SPEAKS WITH HIS DISCIPLES; I AM THE WAY, AND THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE (JOHN 14:1–17:26)
Continuing His discussion at the Last Supper, Jesus reassures His disciples that even though He’s leaving, He’ll come back for them:
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
Jesus never ceases to amaze. As He’s about to be lawlessly crucified, the victim of the worst injustice in human history, He seeks to comfort His disciples. It’s not that Jesus is impervious to pain and suffering—His full humanity guarantees, and His experience proves, He suffers more than any other person could. He even acknowledges His agony directly, exclaiming, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this purpose I have come to this hour” (John 12:27). Additionally, recall that when predicting His betrayal, Jesus said He was “troubled in his spirit” (John 13:21). While Jesus is assuring His disciples, His gentle spirit speaks to all who face troubling times. We must abide in Him, as He will go on to say.
His disciples are distressed over Jesus’ imminent departure, not understanding that He must die for their benefit and for the benefit of all believers. He needs to go prepare a place for us before He can come back for us. He has to die on the cross for us to have a path to salvation.
When Thomas expresses confusion over Christ’s destination and how believers will get there, Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Where He’s going is not as much a location as a spiritual state. We are going to be with Him wherever He is. But the only route to the Father—to eternal life—is through faith in the Son. Those who say all religions are similar because they all lead to God, though through different paths, directly contradict Scripture and Christ’s unambiguous words. “Jesus,” says D. A. Carson, “is the way to God, precisely because he is the truth of God and the life of God. Jesus is the truth, because he embodies the supreme revelation of God . . . He is His Word made flesh. . . . Jesus is the life, the one who has ‘life in himself’ (5:26), ‘the resurrection and the life’ (11:25), ‘the true God and eternal life’ (1 John 5:20). Only because he is the truth and the life can Jesus be the way for others to come to God.”2 Jesus is the only way to eternal life because He is the only sinless person who can pay for our sins, and our perfectly just God cannot allow sin to go unpunished. He punishes an innocent substitute in our place—His only Son.
Since Jesus is the way to the Father, Philip asks Jesus to show the Father to them. Having previously stated, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), Jesus declares that He and the Father are mirror images. The writer of Hebrews explains, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (1:3). They have already seen the Father because they have seen Him, lived with Him, and worked with Him.
When I was a new believer, I was particularly moved by this passage because it assures us we know exactly what the Father is like if we know what Jesus is like—and we know what He is like because Scripture reveals Him to us—we meet Him in the Gospels. Yes, the mysteries of God are beyond our ability to fathom, but we also have a personal God we can know and with Whom we can have an eternal relationship. We don’t have to wonder about the Father’s nature. If we know Christ, then we can’t envision the Father as an angry old man with a flowing beard. He is exactly like Christ—an infinitely loving and merciful being Who created us in His image.
JESUS PROMISES THE HOLY SPIRIT (JOHN 14:15–31)
Jesus further engages His disciples in a compelling discussion about the Holy Spirit:
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
“You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.”
When Jesus is gone, He’ll ask the Father to send them a helper, or an advocate. He’s referring to the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. As the disciples later learn, Jesus will send them the Holy Spirit on Pentecost after He ascends into heaven. The Holy Spirit will indwell them and all believers, empowering them to overcome sin (Romans 8:9; 1 Cor. 12:13). The Holy Spirit will work silently through believers when they evangelize and transform them into new creatures in Christ.3 Those who love Him will keep His word as a natural outgrowth of their love. The Holy Spirit will also teach the apostles and remind them of everything He’s taught them. But for the inspiration and promptings of the Holy Spirit, the apostles could not have written the New Testament.4
It’s hard to overstate the significance of Christ’s assurances about the Holy Spirit. “It will make a great deal of difference in your own life,” John Piper writes, “if you believe that you are being indwelt and led and purified not by impersonal forces from a distant God, but a person who in his essence is the love of God” (Romans 5:5; 1 John 4:12–13). It’s a most glorious truth, Piper adds, “that when the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, he comes not merely as the Spirit of the Son, nor merely as the Spirit of the Father, but as the Spirit of infinite love between the Father and the Son, so that we may love the Father with the very love of the Son, and love the Son with the very love of the Father.”5
The Holy Spirit indeed comes to us as love, but as J. I. Packer laments, “The average Christian is in a complete fog as to what work the Holy Spirit does.”6 Theologian James Montgomery Boice helps to clarify the issue, explaining that the Holy Spirit reproduces Christ in believers by leading Christians to greater victory over sin, praying for them, teaching them to pray, and showing them God’s will for their lives and enabling them to walk in it.7
Jesus reassures His disciples again not to be troubled that He’s going away because He will return. But for now, He’s going to the Father, Who is greater than He. Jesus, as we’ve pointed out, is not a lesser being than the Father, however—He and the Father are equal in essence (John 1:1; 8:58; 10:30; 20:28). Norman Geisler and Ron Rhodes point out, “The Father is greater than the Son by office, not by nature, since both are God. Just as an earthly father is equally human but holds a higher office than his son, even so the Father and the Son in the Trinity are equal in essence, but different in function.”8
I AM THE TRUE VINE (JOHN 15:1–17)
Jesus describes Himself to His disciples as the True Vine:
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
As the vinedresser, or gardener, the Father removes unfruitful branches and prunes the others to maximize fruit production. We are to abide in Christ by having a personal relationship with Him through the study of Scripture, trust, prayer, obedience, and joy.9 Jesus says His word makes the disciples clean, and His word is memorialized for us in the Bible. God’s primary way of pruning us (making us more fruitful) is working in us through His word,10 which is why we must habitually read and study Scripture. We’re unable to bear fruit on our own, but when we abide in Christ, we bear much fruit and glorify the Father (Philip. 1:11). We must abide in His love, just as He abides in the Father’s love, so that His joy may be in us. It follows that as Christ is love, we will become more like Him and thus more loving and joyful by abiding in Him.
We must love one another as Christ has loved us, and He proved His love by laying down His life for us, the greatest possible act of love. Though the disciples do not fully understand His message at the time, they will when the Holy Spirit reminds them of the things Jesus said to them (John 14:26).11 Placing the interests of others above our own is the model of sacrificial Christian love. “The command is not—abide with me—abide near me—abide under me; but, abide in me,” British theologian and pastor John Brown notes. “The fruit-bearing branch is not only in the same place with the vine—near it, under its shadow—it is in it, and it abides in it. It is difficult—it is impossible—to bring all out that is in the expression. It is not the obscurity of the expression, but the magnitude of the thought, that perplexes us. The statement, though perfectly clear, is unfathomably deep. Let us endeavor to draw from a fountain we cannot exhaust.”12
THE HATRED OF THE WORLD (JOHN 15:18–16:4)
Jesus warns His disciples of the hardships and persecution they will encounter as they spread the Gospel:
If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: “A servant is not greater than his master.” If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: “They hated me without a cause.”
But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.
As the world is under Satan’s power (John 14:30), it’s no surprise that it’s hostile to Christians, yet Peter suggests Christians might be surprised at the fiery trial they will endure (1 Peter 4:12–13). The world into which Jesus came hated Him from His birth and will hate His followers for their obedience to Him and for spreading His message.
Recall that Jesus told his “brothers” He would not go to the Jews’ Feast of Booths because they hated Him and were trying to kill Him. The world hates Him because He is the light of the world and He shines brightly on man, testifying as to his evil deeds (John 7:7). People who are friends with the world—the system of evil in the world under Satan’s control—are enemies of God (James 4:4). Those who organize themselves against God love the darkness rather than the light because their works are evil (John 3:20).13 Some people feel threatened by those who adhere to the truth and honor God’s standards. They oppose those standards because they expose their darkness. The world organized under Satan’s control is hostile to the Father, the Son, and the Son’s disciples.
Since a servant is not greater than his master, the world will surely hate Jesus’ disciples because it hated Him. It will hate them for following Him and for emulating His behavior. “Jesus modeled the standard of God (15:10, etc.),” Gerald Borchert writes, “and that meant his very presence in the world was a reminder to the world of its evil works and God’s resultant judgment.”14 R. Kent Hughes explains that Jesus’ “inner righteousness drew [the people’s] abiding hostility because it revealed the shabbiness of their external goodness.”15
Jesus says if He had not done unique works among the people and had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. This doesn’t mean man was sinless before He came; the Bible clearly teaches that all of us are sinners (Romans 3:23). Rather, those who reject Him after hearing His word and witnessing His actions are guilty of the sin of rejecting Him and God’s revelation manifested in Him.16 Those who hate Him also hate His Father.
Jesus’ message is unmistakable: if you reject Him you reject the Father. Your attitude toward Him will necessarily be your attitude toward the Father. This is another way of saying, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Faith in Jesus Christ is the exclusive path to God. Jesus says this hatred of Him “without a cause” is in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy (Psalms 35:19; 69:4).
The Holy Spirit will come to them from the Father and bear witness to the world about Christ—just as they will. Knowing this will comfort them and keep them from falling away when they are hated and persecuted by those who don’t know Jesus or the Father.
THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (JOHN 16:4–15)
Jesus then expounds on the benefits the Holy Spirit will bring:
I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
The Holy Spirit will be such help to them that His coming will justify Jesus’ departure—while Jesus is on earth He can only be in one place at a time, but the Holy Spirit will work in believers throughout the world at all times.17 He’ll be their best asset in spreading the Gospel. Not only will He indwell believers and empower them to defeat sin in their daily lives, but He’ll also convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment—that is, He’ll bring truth to the world and more people will be convicted of their own fallen condition, which will lead to their repentance and trust in Christ. He will guide them into all the truth which, writes E. A. Blum, “was a promise to the apostles that their partial understanding of the person and work of Jesus as the Messiah would be completed as the Spirit would give them insight into the meanings of the soon-to-come Cross and the Resurrection as well as truths about Jesus’ return (cf. 1 Cor. 2:10). The New Testament books are the fulfillment of this teaching ministry of the Spirit.”18
YOUR SORROW WILL TURN INTO JOY (JOHN 16:16–24)
As the disciples grow concerned about Jesus’ remarks, He consoles them with a glimpse of what’s to come after his departure:
“A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.”
So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father?’” So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while?’ We do not know what he is talking about.”
Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me?’ Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
Shortly, Jesus will die on the cross and within no time be resurrected, and they will see Him again. They’ll be inconsolable over His death, but the world will rejoice—including even the authorities and His other opponents, who will believe that they’ve finally stopped this menace.
Jesus’ analogy of a woman giving birth is fitting because she goes through intense pain in childbirth, but once the baby is born she forgets her anguish. In the same way, once Christ returns the disciples’ joy will overshadow their sorrow because His death and resurrection will finally bring God’s salvation plan to fruition, and they will come to understand all that has happened and its eternal significance. Their joy will be permanent—“no one will take your joy from you.”19
Jesus says they will no longer ask anything of Him. “When Christ has promised the disciples ‘joy’ from their unshaken firmness and courage, he talks about another grace of the Spirit which will be given to them,” explains John Calvin. “They will receive such a light of understanding that they will be raised to heavenly mysteries. At the time they were so slow that the slightest difficulty of any kind made them hesitate; as children learning the alphabet cannot read a single line without many pauses, so the disciples stumbled at almost everything Christ said. But a little later, when they had been enlightened by the Holy Spirit, they no longer suffered any delay in becoming familiar and acquainted with the wisdom of God, so as to progress among the mysteries of God without stumbling.”20
Leon Morris states that in prayer Christians generally approach the Father on the basis of Christ’s atoning work on their behalf. “The words do not, of course, exclude the possibility of prayer to the Son,” argues Morris. “But they remind us that, for Christians, prayer is normally addressed to the Father in the name of the Son.”21 We should be careful that when we say we are praying in Jesus’ name we are not just throwing His name in by rote. The ESV Study Bible offers wise counsel on this subject: “Praying in Jesus’ name means praying in a way consistent with his character and his will (a person’s name in the ancient world represented what the person was like); it also means coming to God in the authority of Jesus. Adding ‘in Jesus’ name’ at the end of every prayer is neither required nor wrong. Effective prayer must ask for and desire what Jesus delights in.”22
I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD (JOHN 16:25–33)
Jesus proceeds to speak more directly about Himself and His fate:
“I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”
His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, the disciples had difficulty grasping the complete salvation plan and continually faltered in their faith. He spoke to them in ways they could understand at the time, but He knew they would understand more after witnessing His death and resurrection. As noted earlier, in His resurrection appearances He opens the scriptures to them and improves their grasp of redemptive history and His central role in it. The disciples’ response in this passage shows they’re coming to understand the whole picture even though they will falter again during His trial and crucifixion and desert Him (Matt. 26:56; John 18:17, 25–26).
Jesus repeatedly reinforces these themes because even if they don’t fully understand yet, they will when the events unfold, and especially when the Holy Spirit comes and assists them in remembering. Jesus assures them that while they’d abandon Him for a time, He would not be alone because the Father is with Him (John 8:29)—though the Father would forsake Him during His passion to consummate their salvation plan. He brings them peace and comfort by reinforcing their faith in Him and assuring them victory is at hand, though they would experience tribulation. They must take heart because He has overcome the world and defeated Satan and his evil forces.
THE HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER (JOHN 17:1–26)
In front of His disciples, Jesus utters what Warren Wiersbe calls “the greatest prayer ever prayed”:23
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Jesus has just finished teaching His disciples—giving them His word—and now He’s praying for them. Prayer and the Bible go hand in hand. If we just read the Bible and don’t pray, we have the truth but forego the power prayer can give. If we have prayer without Bible teaching, we rely too much on our subjective experiences. We need to be anchored in the word.24 As Paul writes, “We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). Warren Wiersbe comments, “The only way the Word of God can become real in our lives is through prayer and obedience.”25 If Jesus needed prayer, how much more do we need it!
In the first five verses of this passage, Jesus prays for Himself. Though He needs strength to finish the greatest work ever performed by a human being, His work is for us. Unless He receives the Father’s glory and returns to Him in heaven, our salvation will be impossible. His prayer is for us. In His greatest distress, He petitions the Father to fill us with Jesus’ joy. What an awesome display of His sacrificial love for us. In His greatest hour of need, He focuses on His followers, not Himself.
For me, the most moving part of this wonderful prayer is when Jesus asks that His followers all be united as one, and united in the Father and Son like He and the Father are united. Timothy Keller elucidates God’s desire to share His glory with us:
In that incredible statement we learn something. As lofty as this is, we know what he’s talking about because we’re made in the image of God. There is nothing more incredible and wonderful than to be in love with someone and simply to affirm each other’s gifts and strengths and beauty, just enjoy each other, just build each other up, just be ravished with each other. What we have known in drops, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit have known in infinite oceans. From all eternity they’ve been glorifying each other, which is what you do when you’re in love, building each other up, doting on each other, enjoying each other, appreciating each other, loving each other, rejoicing in one another. They’ve been doing it from all eternity, and there is nothing better. You know that, except we’ve only had drops and they have had the ocean.
This is the answer to the big, philosophical question. If it’s true God is a Trinity, then when he created us, he wouldn’t have created us because he needed us to glorify him. Right? It couldn’t be. He already had that. Then why would he have done it? Jesus actually says so. “Father, I want them, my disciples, to see my glory, the glory you gave me from the foundation of the world because you loved me.”
The only reason God could’ve created you and me is not because he needed glory, but to share it. He didn’t need this incredible circle of rejoicing in and loving in and glorifying in one another. He already had it, so why would he have created us? Only because he wants to make us capable of reflecting his glory, capable of praising his glory, capable of also giving and reflecting love and joy and glory. He made us capable of entering into the cosmic joy of the Godhead.26
I want to add something to these wise words. Please reread the entire prayer and notice how many times and in how many different ways Jesus expresses His desire that we share with Him and the Father. He wants us all to be one: “I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one.” He wants us to bask in the joy of our mutual love. Though He, the Father, and the Holy Spirit are infinitely superior to us, they want to delight in us and for us to delight in them. They want us to radiate their infinite love. We just have to believe it, accept it, and live it.
As His people are in the world but not of the world, He asks the Father not to take them out of the world, but to protect them from Satan. He’s not trying to remove us from life on earth and immediately zap us into heaven—we will remain here until we die. So He asks the Father to protect us from Satan, and to make us holy in the truth—the word of God. We should immerse ourselves in the Bible and in prayer, but not puff ourselves up with Bible knowledge. God blesses us for doing His will, not for being faithful Bible students. Prayer and reading the scriptures, however, are necessary to understand and do His will. “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (James 1:25).
JESUS PRAYS IN GETHSEMANE (MATT. 26:36–46; MARK 14:32–42; LUKE 22:39–46; JOHN 18:1)
Jesus goes with His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane, where He takes Peter, James, and John aside and begins to pray. His soul is sorrowful as He asks them to stay with Him and keep watch. He falls on His face and pleads, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as you will.” An angel then appears from heaven to strengthen Him.
This is one of the most arresting passages in all of Scripture, for it demonstrates Christ’s acute agony and His raw humanity followed by His expression of unreserved obedience and commitment. He asks the Father to remove Him from this unbearable situation. But in the next breath, He says, “Not as I will, but as you will.”
Jesus’ humanity is wrestling with His divinity. Though He knows He’ll be reunited with the Father in a matter of days, and notwithstanding that He was a co-planner of these events from before creation, He is truly suffering—He’s literally sweating blood, and His flesh wants to escape. He knows He cannot, but He’s undergoing indescribable physical and spiritual torture. His anguish is exacerbated when He returns to His disciples and finds them sleeping instead of keeping watch.
Thus, just as He’s about to be betrayed, just as the Father is about to visit His wrath upon Him for all the sins of mankind, and just as He’s about to be forsaken by the Father and separated from Him for the first time, He finds Himself alone. Yet, He selflessly instructs His disciples to rise and pray that they may not enter into temptation—temptation to abandon Him when He’s arrested and put on trial, and then again after He is ascended, when they will be persecuted for preaching the Gospel on His behalf.
The Bible provides many other examples of Jesus sharing human experiences: He was born as a human being (Luke 2:5, 120); He grew physically and intellectually (Luke 2:40, 52; Matt. 26:39); He experienced human emotions—anger (Mark 3:5), grief (John 11:35), close affection (John 13:23), and agony (Luke 22:44); and He became hungry (Matt. 4:2), thirsty (John 4:7; 19:28), grew weary (John 4:6), and slept (Matt. 8:24). Then He suffered and died.27
It’s clear Jesus was fully human as well as fully God, though certain cults throughout history have denied His humanity. John, in his first epistle, stresses the importance of believing Jesus came in the flesh, insisting that to deny His humanity is to be in concert with the devil: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already” (1 John 4:1–3). I find this particularly interesting because in His Gospel John strongly stresses Christ’s deity. This, coupled with his emphasis on Christ’s humanity in his first epistle, underscores the necessity of grasping His dual nature.
I wonder if Christians often consider this. Sure, we commonly acknowledge that unless we believe He’s divine we do not have faith. But it’s equally important that we confess His humanity, for if He hadn’t become one of us, we could not be saved. “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).
JESUS IS BETRAYED AND ARRESTED (MATT. 26:47–56; MARK 14:43–52; LUKE 22:47–53; JOHN 18:2–14, 19–24)
While Jesus is still speaking, Judas comes with a great crowd carrying swords and clubs, sent by the religious leaders. Approaching Jesus and calling out, “Greetings, Rabbi,” Judas kisses Him, thereby identifying Jesus to His captors. Jesus says, “Friend, do what you came to do.” They seize Jesus, and Peter strikes the high priest’s servant, cutting off his ear. Jesus commands Peter to put his sword away. “Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” asks Jesus. “For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” Jesus tells the crowds, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples leave Him and flee—which is such an embarrassing admission that it’s highly unlikely any writer would have made it up.
God is in control, but Peter still hasn’t caught on. Jesus could have summoned legions of angels to rescue Him, but His decision to “drink the cup” the Father has given Him was made in eternity past, and nothing would interfere with the sovereign design for man’s salvation. Jesus is always a willing participant (John 10:18) in their plan that He lay down His life in a supreme act of sacrificial love (John 15:13; 10:11).
They lead Jesus to Annas, the father-in-law of the high priest Caiaphas, who questions Jesus about His disciples and His teaching. “I have spoken openly to the world,” declares Jesus. “I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.” One of the officers strikes Jesus for talking disrespectfully to the high priest. Jesus responds, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong, but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?” Annas then sends Him bound to Caiaphas.
Jesus tells His arrogant adversaries that His teaching and actions have been public, not secret. They invent false scenarios to justify their malicious deeds, which is a testament to the monumental injustice they’re inflicting upon Him. But Jesus will have no part in it—He has nothing to hide. His accusers have no case, and by demanding they specify their allegations against Him, Jesus exposes their wrongdoing.
PETER DENIES JESUS (MATT. 26:58, 69–70, 71–75; MARK 14:54, 66–72; LUKE 22:54–62; JOHN 18:15–18, 25–26)
Peter and another disciple follow as they lead Jesus to Annas. The unnamed disciple enters with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest while Peter stands outside the door. This disciple goes out to get Peter, and when they’re at the door a servant girl asks Peter, “You also are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” Peter replies, “I am not.” He goes out into the gateway and the rooster crows. The servant girl sees him again and says to the bystanders, “This man is one of them,” and Peter denies it again. A little later the bystanders say to Peter, “Certainly you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” (Except for Judas, Jesus’ disciples are Galileans, and Judeans living in Jerusalem recognize their accent.)28 Peter invokes a curse on himself and swears, “I do not know the man.” And the rooster crows a second time. Peter then remembers Jesus’ prediction, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he goes out and weeps bitterly.
Peter acts differently than he’d planned. He genuinely believed he would stand up for Jesus and willingly go to prison or die for Him (Luke 22:33–34; Mark 14:29–31). When the time comes, however, he loses his courage and so thoroughly betrays his friend and Lord that he weeps in anguish, disgusted with himself and disgraced. Before harshly judging Peter’s betrayal, however, we must ask ourselves whether we’ve ever failed to stand up for Jesus when it was uncomfortable or inconvenient. This story reminds us that because Jesus died for us, we must stand by Him even when it’s difficult.
JESUS BEFORE CAIAPHAS AND THE SANHEDRIN (MATT. 26:57, 59–68; MARK 14:53, 55–65; 15:1; LUKE 22:54, 63–71; JOHN 18:24)
Jesus’ captors lead Him to Caiaphas, who is with the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. The entire council seeks false testimony against Jesus to justify His execution. Though many false witnesses come forward, no two can agree on any charges against Him until finally two men declare, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’” The high priest asks Jesus if He has an answer, and Jesus remains silent. The high priest says, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus responds, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
The high priest tears his robes and declares, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment?” They reply, “He deserves death.” They spit in His face and strike Him. They blindfold Him, and some slap and mock Him, saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?”
In the morning, the chief priests consult with the elders, scribes, and the whole council. Deciding to put Jesus to death, they bind Him and lead Him away to be delivered to Pilate.
Many false witnesses came before the council, but the law requires two witnesses before putting someone to death (Num. 35:30; Deut. 19:15). The witnesses were each called separately, which made collaboration more difficult.29 Two witnesses finally leveled a charge against Him—that He said He could destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. But Jesus didn’t say that—He said if they destroyed the Temple He could rebuild it (John 2:19). Furthermore, He was not referring to the Temple in Jerusalem but to His body—His death and resurrection after three days. Jesus’ silence in the face of His false accusers frustrates Caiaphas, but it’s in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent” (Isaiah 53:7). This is yet another depiction of Jesus as a lamb, as discussed earlier.
When Jesus finally spoke He plainly asserted His deity, which the religious leaders considered blasphemous. Moreover, since He admitted it, they felt no need for corroborating witnesses. But He hadn’t committed blasphemy because it’s impossible for Jesus, being God, to commit blasphemy.
The Sanhedrin can’t, by itself, condemn Jesus to death because the Romans prohibit the Jews from inflicting capital punishment, which requires the sentence of a Roman authority. But blasphemy is not a capital crime in a secular Roman court, so they would have to find another angle. This would be to frame Jesus for treason—for claiming to be king of the Jews.30 Jesus’ prediction that He would be crucified (Matt. 10:19; 26:2; John 12:32–33) is all the more amazing because, despite the prohibition against Jewish executions, the Jews did carry out some death sentences—but they were through stoning, not crucifixion (cf. Acts 6:8–7:60). The Romans, however, used crucifixion to execute foreigners and traitors.31
JUDAS HANGS HIMSELF (MATT. 27:3–10)
After Jesus is sentenced to death, Judas remorsefully brings back the thirty pieces of silver to the religious leaders, saying he has sinned against an innocent man. They respond, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” He then throws the silver into the Temple and goes and hangs himself.
The leaders say they can’t keep the silver because it’s blood money, so they use it to buy a potter’s field as a burial place for strangers. This fulfills the Old Testament prophecy, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them to the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.” Matthew attributes the prophecy to Jeremiah, but its wording more closely resembles Zechariah’s prophecy (Zech. 11:12–13), which has caused some confusion and debate over the years. D. A. Carson explains, “The quotation appears to refer to Jeremiah 19:1–13 along with phraseology drawn mostly from Zechariah 11:12–13. . . . Jeremiah alone is mentioned, perhaps because he is the more important of the two prophets, and perhaps also because, though Jeremiah 19 is the less obvious reference, it is the more important as to prophecy and fulfillment.”32
PILATE AND HEROD QUESTION JESUS (MATT. 27:2; 27:11–14; MARK 15:1–5; LUKE 23:1–12; JOHN 18:28–38)
Jesus is led from Caiaphas’ house to the governor’s headquarters. Pilate goes outside and asks what charges they bring against Jesus. They answer, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” Pilate orders them to take Him and judge Him by their own law. The Jews say, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” So Pilate asks Jesus if He’s the king of the Jews. Jesus responds, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate replies, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Pilate asks, “So you are a king?” Jesus says, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” After scornfully asking, “What is truth?” Pilate goes back outside to the Jews and reports, “I find no guilt in him.”
When the chief priests and elders accuse Him, Jesus gives no answer. Pilate asks, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” Jesus does not reply to any of the charges, which amazes Pilate. But the religious leaders persist, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.” Pilate then asks if Jesus is a Galilean, under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas. Discovering that He is, Pilate sends Him to Herod in Jerusalem.
Jesus’ arrival pleases Herod, who has long heard about Him and wants to see Him perform a sign. Herod questions Jesus at length, and Jesus doesn’t answer while the religious leaders stand by vehemently accusing Him. Herod and his soldiers mock Him, and Herod arrays Him in splendid clothing and sends Him back to Pilate. Though they’d been enemies, on this day Pilate and Herod become friends. “The irony here should not be lost,” notes Robert Stein. “Jesus’ passion brings reconciliation even between such people as Herod and Pilate.”33
Pilate’s cryptic question to Jesus, “What is truth?” is rich with spiritual significance. Pilate is cynically mocking Jesus, as if to say, “Is there any such thing as absolute truth? Who are you, Jesus, to say what truth is?” If only he had known. People today may think moral relativism is a new construct, but Pilate is an early practitioner. Absolute truth does exist—Jesus is Truth. He tells us so: “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He is the source of all truth. He embodies truth, and He represents and commands the absolute moral standard against which to measure our hearts, actions, and intentions.
Truth is not what we wish it to be. We cannot manipulate it to conform to our standards. “For the Christian, the starting point is God,” Ravi Zacharias writes. “He is the eternally existent one, the absolute, from whom we draw all definitions for life’s purpose and destiny. . . . Truth by definition is exclusive. If truth were all-inclusive, nothing would be false. And if nothing were false, what would be the meaning of truth? . . . Therefore, when Jesus said, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes to the father except through me,’ He was making a very reasonable statement by affirming truth’s exclusivity.”34
Moreover, if truth doesn’t matter, why do we describe Satan as the father of lies? Deceit leads people away from eternal life and into death, for it distorts the nature of reality, obscures man’s vision, and obstructs his spiritual path. It steers people away from He that is truth and from the salvation He offers. Satan fundamentally attacked God’s word and the truth itself to seduce Adam and Eve into sin. Let us never underestimate the divine significance of truth or fail to see that our Savior Himself is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
PILATE DELIVERS JESUS TO BE CRUCIFIED (MATT. 27:15–26; MARK 15:6–15; LUKE 23:13–25; JOHN 18:38–19:16)
Calling together the religious leaders and the people, Pilate says, “You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. I will therefore punish and release him.”
They all cry out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas”—a man in prison for insurrection and murder. The governor’s custom is to release one prisoner at the Passover Feast at the people’s request, and the religious leaders had persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas instead of Jesus. When Pilate asks them whether they want him to release the “King of the Jews” or Barabbas, the people cry out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!”
Pilate is reluctant to condemn Jesus because he believes He is innocent. Adding to his consternation, his wife had sent word to him not to do anything to “that righteous man” because she had suffered much because of Him that day in a dream—during these times people placed great importance on dreams and sometimes considered them to be oracles from the gods.35 Pilate asks again, but they continue shouting, “Crucify, crucify him.” Pilate reiterates, “What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving of death. I will therefore punish and release him.” But the people insist on His crucifixion.
Pilate’s soldiers take Jesus into Pilate’s headquarters to flog Him before the whole battalion. They strip Him and put a purple robe on Him, then twist together a crown of thorns and put it on His head. They kneel before Him and mock Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
Pilate goes out to the crowd again and says he finds no guilt in Him. When Jesus comes out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate declares, “Behold the man!” On seeing Him, the religious leaders shout out again, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate again insists he finds no basis to charge Him and tells them to crucify Him. The Jews say their law requires that He be executed because He claims to be the Son of God.
Upon hearing this, Pilate becomes afraid and goes back inside his palace. He might have become scared when considering he could actually be dealing with a god, especially when factoring in his wife’s ominous dream. Or he could have been fearful that a riot was about to ensue among the Jews.36 He asks Jesus where He comes from, and Jesus refuses to answer. Pilate taunts, “Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus says, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” “From then on Pilate seeks to release Him, but the Jews cry out, ‘If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.’” Pilate brings Jesus back out to them and says, “Behold, your king.” But they shout, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate asks, “Shall I crucify your king?” The chief priests reply, “We have no king but Caesar.”
Pilate, realizing he’s getting nowhere and that a riot is erupting, washes his hands with water before the crowd and proclaims, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” The people answer, “His blood be on us and on our children!” Pilate then releases Barabbas and sends Jesus to be crucified alongside two criminals.
Pilate is not a Jew; he’s not the one charging Jesus. When Jesus won’t fall into the trap and admit He’s asserting His political kingship—as opposed to His divine kingship—Pilate finds no guilt in Him because he knows Jesus does not plan to oust the Roman authorities. Pilate tries to pass the buck and asks the Jews whether they want him to release Jesus to them. Pilate could have released Him outright—because He is innocent—and still allowed them to free the guilty Barabbas. But he takes the cowardly way out, proving that to display apathy or indecision in the face of evil, and failing to prevent evil when you can, are themselves evil acts.
While the Jewish leaders certainly schemed to have Jesus crucified by the Roman authorities, it’s a horrible injustice that Jews have suffered centuries of persecution due to these events. Jews may have been the active agents, but as others have noted, we are all responsible for Jesus’ fate. Jesus, Himself a Jew, died for all people’s sins, and it was God’s sovereign will for Him to die to enable our salvation. Jesus chose not to summon the Father’s angels to rescue Him. He came to earth to die so that we could live. No one should ever use this momentous history—or any other excuse—to justify infernal prejudice against the Jewish people.