With these simple words the Son of God instituted this new Memorial, whose observance should be co-extensive with the Conclusion of the Communion Service Christian Dispensation of the world. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper points backward to the Covenant of Hope which was sealed by the Death of Christ, and forward to His Coming again in royal glory for the consummation of His Kingdom. Thus this intimate scene in the Upper Room came to a close with the suggestion of a shadow, but also with the assurance of ultimate triumph. Christ, Who had thus accomplished His great desire for this Communion with His Apostles before His Death, looked beyond the shadows, and upon the glory, in His last words: "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's Kingdom." And then, after He had spoken these final words, they sang a song, and went out to the Mount of Olives. CHAPTER XX THE LAST HOURS WITH THE APOSTLES "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, ‘I go away, and come again unto you.' If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, because I said, 'I go unto the Father.'" John 14:27-28. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord." 2. Timothy 1:7-8. "And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name." Acts 5:41. "For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. for whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:12-13. This chapter surveys the events that occurred between the departure of Jesus, with the Eleven Apostles, from the Upper Room and His Arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. This period marks the last hours which Jesus spent with the Apostles before His Trials and Crucifixion. During these hours, He talked to the Apostles mainly about the unseen and heavenly aspects of His Kingdom: how His Spirit should work in the hearts of men; and how the work of His spiritual Kingdom should culminate here and hereafter. This chapter will bring under consideration two groups of events. The first group was the Farewell Addresses of Jesus, and His Intercessory Prayer, both of which occurred on Thursday night, soon after the departure from the Upper Room. The second group was the Agony in the Garden, at about the hour of midnight, and the Arrest of Jesus, soon after midnight on Friday morning. The general outline is continued from the previous chapters. VII. Thursday Night-The Farewell Addresses and the Intercessory Prayer of Jesus From the Upper Room, as suggested above, Jesus went, with the Eleven Apostles, out to the Mount of Olives. There they spent the time until about midnight. While they lingered on the Mount, perhaps pausing at some familiar point, the Lord Jesus delivered His Farewell Messages to the Apostles. This scene He closed, before He retired to the Garden, with a fervent Prayer of Intercession to His Father in Heaven. The Lord's thought, as He spoke on that evening, seemed more and more to have arisen from the depths of His Divine Nature, and to partake of His Heavenly glory. 1. Christ's Farewell Addresses. "Until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's Kingdom." In these last words of Jesus in the Upper Room, He sounded the keynote of His thought for the remainder of this last night with the Apostles, before His separation from them in His arrest, and trial, and death. The same general thought of spiritual fellowship in a spiritual Kingdom is felt in all of the Farewell Addresses to the Farewell Addresses Apostles on that night. During these discourses the mind and heart of Jesus were busy with the deeper interests of the unseen world of the Spirit, and with the problems of His own Kingdom in the hearts of men. His thoughts were of His Father and Himself in their divine relations and purposes; of His own disciples as related to their temptations, spiritual problems, and assurances; of the inner principles, and the indwelling Spirit, by which His followers must live and serve Him and His Father; and of the perfected joy that shall be to them, and to Him, and to His Father, when they shall have been gathered home to Himself eternally in Heaven. Christ spoke, in these last addresses, probably the most profound words of all His ministry; but His messages can be only summarized here in topical outlines. Christ spoke first of His own Glorification, and of what was involved in that accomplishment. "Now is the Son of Man glori 1. Discourse on fied," He began to say, "and God is glorified in Him; and God shall glorify Him in Himself, and straightway shall he glorify Him." In these words Christ was speaking of His own Death. But His thoughts were of Himself only as the Savior of those for whom He should die. For their sakes He was willing to die; for through them redeemed by the Cross His Death was the way of glory to Himself and to His Father in Heaven. Therefore Jesus, at once, turned his thoughts affectionately to His Disciples, those "little children," whom He would soon leave behind in the valley of the shadows. He loved them, and knew their honest desire to exalt His glory. He told them, therefore, how this glory might be attained. His suggestion was "a new commandment, . . . That ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another." Such love is the proof of that discipleship whereby men may glorify God the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ.' The testing of their love was immediately before the Apostles. They were to be tested in the event of Christ's own death. This fact He announced, when He said, "All ye shall be offended in Me this night: for it is written, 'I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.' But after I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee." These words of their Master made a profound impression upon the (1) Immediate Test of Love for Christ Matthew 26:31-35 Mark 14:27-31 Luke 22:31-34 John 13:36-38 minds and hearts of His Apostles. Prophecy of Their response was a re-affirming of their loyalty. The narrative follows especially the strong assertions of Peter, who was over-confident in thinking that a denial on his part was impossible. Matthew and Mark speak of Peter's declaration of loyalty as growing immediately out of Christ's suggestion of offense on the part of all the Apostles. Probably Peter did so affirm his fidelity at that time. But Luke connects this declaration of Peter directly with Christ's suggestion concerning Satan's special desire to tempt Peter; and John gives it as growing out of Peter's willingness to follow Christ, even unto death. Probably they are all correct. Peter could easily have asserted his superior fidelity three separate times, with increasing strength of statement each time, as Christ led the thought from one point to another. Such a confident repetition would greatly emphasize the startling statement of Jesus, that, on that very night, by the dawn of morning, Peter should three times deny his Lord, even affirming that he did not know Jesus. But this immediate test was of small moment in comparison with the great permanent testing of fidelity that lay ahead of the Apostles, and of the whole Church of Christ in the world. That the immediate failure of Peter and the others should be neither 1Compare Matthew 22:34-40, and the discussion of it in Chapter XVIII above. See Galatians 5:14; and I. John 2:10; 3:14-24; 4:7-13, 19-20. 2This idea of repetition seems the more probable, since Matthew and Mark alone give the assertions of fidelity on the part of all the Disciples, similar to that of Peter, and link those assertions with the suggestion of their being offended in Christ. After this first assertion, it seems that Peter alone was involved in the discussion. fatal to their faith, nor final, was indicated in three ways. First, Jesus made a post-Resurrection appointment to meet with all the (2) Permanent Testing of Love to Christ Luke 22:35-38 Apostles in Galilee. Again, Christ gave a special charge to Peter, saying, "when once thou hast turned again, stablish thy brethren." Finally, Jesus laid out in detail this permanent testing of the Apostles and others which shall arise out of the inevitable opposition between the ideals of His own Kingdom and the standards of an evil world. Cf. Eph. 6:10-18 a. Nature of This Greater Test The progress of Christ's Kingdom in the world was to be made under conditions of conflict. Hitherto the Apostles had enjoyed comparative ease, and protection, and sufficiency, in the presence of Jesus. Even the conflicts that had been waged against Jesus had not yet touched the Apostles in a personal way. But henceforth they were to be His representatives in the world, and should receive in themselves that opposition which the evil powers of the world should continue against His Kingdom of life and truth and love. In the steadfast loyalty of His followers amid the conflicts that awaited them in the world would be realized the honor and the glory which they should bring to the Son of God. For this greater testing of their faith and love, His disciples would need to exercise every possible care, both to provide them b. Provisions for This Greater Test selves for the work, and to protect themselves against persecutions. For defense, they would need "the whole armour of God," which Christ here vivified under the figure of a sword for the conflict. In explanation of His meaning, He pointed to the Fifty-Third Chapter of Isaiah, as a record of facts that must be accomplished in Himself. When the Lord Himself was thus to be numbered with transgressors, His followers could expect nothing but hatred and persecution. For the moment, however, the Apostles misunderstood His meaning. With childlike simplicity, they took His words literally, and presented two swords. At once Jesus brought the discussion to a close, saying, "It is enough." He knew that the full meaning of His words would eventually come to His disciples, and that they would, through love and loyalty, help to accomplish His glory in time and in eternity. Such was His theme and His purpose in this first discourse to His Apostles in those last hours with them before His own Death. |