While the Lord was handing Himself over to the people, He took good care of His disciples in a very easy manner. In 18:8 Jesus said, “I told you that I am; if therefore you are seeking Me, let these go away.” This was the fulfillment of the Lord’s word in 17:12, where He said, “Of those whom You have given Me, I have not lost one.” We see here that under the suffering of the betrayal of His false disciple and the arrest of the soldiers, the Lord still took good care of His disciples. This reveals His easy manner in passing through the process of death. He was not at all frightened by the environment of death.
His willingness to die was also proved by the incident of Peter’s cutting off the right ear of Malchus, the slave of the high priest (18:10-11). Peter, a very rough brother, did not know the purpose of the Lord. Although he intended to help the Lord, he only caused trouble. The Lord Jesus said to him, “Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” The Lord told him to sheath his sword because He had come to fulfill the purpose of the Father, which was to give Himself as life to others. The Lord willingly took the cup from the Father; He was not forced to take it. Therefore, the Lord was not forced to die; He willingly delivered Himself to death so that He could release His life to bring forth much fruit.
In 18:10 and 11 we see that the Lord did not offer any resistance to His arrest. By delivering Himself up to death, the Lord proved that He was life. Without death, how could He have proved that He was life? When the Lord became a man, He firstly proved that He was God. From chapter one through chapter seventeen, the Lord was among men proving that He was God. Now, in chapters eighteen and nineteen, He was going into death to prove that He is life. How can we know that the Lord is life? It is by His going into death and not being subdued by it. The Lord was not frightened, troubled, controlled, or governed by death. As we read these two chapters, we discover that when the Lord went into death, He conquered and subdued it.
There are many proofs in these two chapters that the Lord conquered and subdued death. Firstly, the Lord was not frightened by death. When the Lord knew that the religious with the political ones were coming to arrest Him and put Him to death, He was not fearful. He went boldly to meet them and delivered Himself to them. Secondly, the Lord was composed when death came to Him. In the face of death, He took care of His disciples in an easy manner telling His arrestors to let His disciples go. Suppose a group of policemen came to arrest you. Would you be at ease? But in every scene depicted in these two chapters, the Lord was at ease; He was neither moved nor influenced by the fear of death. Likewise, the Lord was composed before the high priest and before Pilate. He was so much at ease that He was not troubled even when He was crucified. While He was on the cross, He could even take care of His mother. Troubles were heaped upon Him during that time of suffering, yet the record discloses that He was always composed.
The Lord’s life was a life that could subdue and conquer death. He went into death by crucifixion and came out of it by resurrection. What better proof can there be than this that He is the life that death cannot influence, subdue, or conquer? He conquered death because He is the resurrection life (11:25). John 18 and 19 show how strong and powerful the Lord was when He went into death. When death was threatening, He was strong, powerful, and not subdued by its influence. He could go into death and come out of it without being hurt by it or held by it. What a proof that He is life!
The Lord was examined in His dignity by mankind (18:11—19:16), being examined as the Passover lamb was examined (Exo. 12:2-6). The Lord Jesus was crucified on the Passover as the Passover lamb. According to the type, before the Passover lamb was killed, it had to be examined to determine whether or not it had any blemish. The examination of Christ by mankind was the fulfillment of this type. After Pilate examined Him, he declared, “I find no fault whatever in him” (18:38; 19:4, 6). There was no blemish in this Passover lamb; He was fully qualified to be the lamb for God’s people.