The Encouragement of Betrayal: 10 Lessons We Learn From Jesus' Betrayal in The Garden of Gethsemane

John 18:2-6

2 And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with His disciples.

³ Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.  

⁴ Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, “Whom are you seeking?”

5 They answered Him, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I am He." "And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them.

            ⁶ Now when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

Yes, God can use even the awful experience of a betrayal to encourage us.

This all started with a late-night conversation my sister and I were having about betrayal. She had said something that I'd either never noticed in the Bible nor gave much thought. Whatever the reason may have been, the Lord was speaking by highlighting this fact about His arrest and the chain of events happening at that time. Then I began to notice some interesting facts about His betrayal and arrest.

A few highlights before we get into the lessons Jesus modeled during His betrayal:

• Submitting to God in the betrayal, resisting the temptation to fight back, and instead giving in to God's plan, will yield a major harvest.
• Those who betray us will eventually regret it.
• Even at his time of apparent weakness, Jesus' submission to God invoked the full power of God into His circumstances to the point where those against Him could not stand in His presence. The full force of truth of that "I AM" statement hit them like a ton of bricks.
• The arresting party included a Roman Cohort, which is anywhere from 500 - 800 soldiers. Accompanying the cohort were temple guards and others from the temple --  all to arrest one nonresistant man.
• "The Encouragement of Betrayal" is the perfect title because, like Jesus, we will be betrayed; therefore, we can learn from Him how to walk in victory for a glorious result.

Here are 10 demonstrations we can follow when betrayed by a trusted one:

1. Jesus Did Not Revile His Betrayer But Continued in Love Toward Him

This is huge! A betrayer is really someone, trusted and close, who voluntarily becomes an enemy, often siding with those against us. Yes, Jesus told us to love our enemies. Talk about an impossibility in the flesh! It's not natural to love someone who has purposely harmed us -- at least without the power of God working in us to do it. Notice Judas, His betrayer, was standing with Jesus' enemies. The Bible tells us Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Can you imagine letting your betrayer kiss you knowing they have facilitated your death sentence? Incredible. Yet, Jesus allowed Jesus to kiss Him. What does that say about how we are to treat those who betray us.

2. Jesus did not Cower When Faced With His Enemies

Courage in the face of conflict comes from security in knowing Who you are and Whose You are. He was sent by the highest Authority for the highest purpose and He was not about to cower to any person. Yet, He was humble and meek. He showed no fear because all that was happening to Him was according to the Father's plan and would accomplish the Father's ultimate goal. He did not cower even when He knew the challenge and confrontation would result in His death. Neither are we told He showed any trepidation to the vast amount of Roman soldiers who showed up to arrest Him.

3. Jesus' Power Was Not Diminished Because of the Betrayal

He did not allow the betrayal to cause an emotional downward spiral. Notice when He proclaimed Who He was in verse 5, they all fell over in verse 6. The "I AM" was speaking and who could stand? You would think by that time they would know He was the Son of God. Did they all fall over voluntarily? I highly doubt it. Jesus allowed Himself to be betrayed and arrested. This was in the plan and His purpose from birth. Judas Iscariot played to that plan by allowing himself to become demonized and betraying the Son of God. (As an aside: you can see Judas did not have a very charitable attitude towards service.)

4. Jesus Continued to Honor the Father in His Submission During and After His Betrayal

We return to the subject of submission. (See 2 previous posts on Submission: Part 1 in February 2015 and Part 2 in March 2015) Do you get the idea that submission to God is  the crux of our walk with Him? Following Him requires submission and without it the life in Christ will be unfruitful. Unless we submit our sin knocks and walks right into our lives and sin unchecked leads us in the damnation and eventually hell. Sin is another form of betrayal and is against God Himself. Submitting to God is submitting to Love personified in Jesus. So hell is completely avoidable by placing our lives and trust in God.

His Continued Submission to God Made Him Formidable.

Notice that Jesus had to repeat to those who came to arrest Him several times that He was the One they were seeking. And when He told them, they all fell to the ground. Notice the Bible does not say some of them fell down, it simply states in verse 6 "they drew back and fell to the ground." They all fell. It brings to mind the Scripture that tells us that one day, "every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." (Rom. 14:11; Isaiah 4523). Well that day, they all fell.

5. Jesus never insisted on His own innocence.

Jesus trusted His Father, His mission, and purpose in coming to earth. He knew what would befall Him but He also knew it was the very thing for which He was sent. Therefore, He never insisted on His innocence, although He had committed no crime, except to say exactly Whom He was, Who had sent Him, and proclaiming His identity as the only Son of God. He was hated and treated as the worst criminal although He was the Son of the same God the chief priests and temple leaders claimed to serve. Remember when Jesus shared about the master who sent His servants on an errand and they were beaten, then he finally sent his son assuming a son and heir would be respected but the son was killed, treated with even more contempt than the servants. Just as God had sent His servants the prophets, who time after time lost their lives because the people, especially the leaders, did not like the message the messengers brought. (See the "Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers" in Mark 12:1-14).

6. He completed His task by allowing Himself to go with His captors

Jesus went with His captors, knowing what would happen to Him. He was obedient even to death because of what was on the other side of His torture and death. He knew that the other side of His suffering was glory the likes of which are not possible to experience before suffering. Yes, He came from glory, but in order to get back there He had to complete the task for which He was sent including the suffering. Short of that, He would not have been able to go back to heaven as His disobedience would have been sin. No one can enter heaven with sin and since He was the only one by Whom sin can be abolished, He would have had no hope, and the entire world would be damned forever. He would have stayed dead in that case and we would all be dead in our sin. Praise God He obeyed and was raised again from the dead.

7. Through His suffering of this Betrayal and Death Sentence, Jesus was glorified

Jesus was betrayed, suffered, and died but there came a time when He was raised to glory and the glory is eternal while the suffering was only for a short time. Most people would rather skip the bad stuff, like suffering, pain, lack, even inconvenience, and go straight to the glory. However, that is not the pattern and certainly not the case for Jesus. Since the servant is no greater than our Master, we, too, must suffer before enjoying glory.
In this fallen world that is how it works: The blood (suffering) comes before the glory. The Bible tells us that even Jesus learned obedience through suffering. (Heb. 5:8, 1 Peter 1:11, Heb. 2:9) Can you believe that?

7 who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, 

 ⁸ though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. ⁹ And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

Notice the process of being "perfected" involves suffering.

8. Those Who Betray a Man or Woman of God Will Someday Regret it

Look at the story of Judas, who went out and hung himself once the full weight of what he had done fell upon him and literally did him in. Consider on a lesser degree the story of Joseph, whose brothers sold him into slavery only to be in dire need of his help years after their hideous act of brutality. Joseph became vital to their very survival during a time of regional, if not global, famine. They came to regret their betrayal to be point of fearing for their lives.

Imagine those who betray God by falling away from Him only to regret it later on. It happened to Adam and Eve and it continues even today. The betrayer someone knows that he or she is doing something wrong but the desire to exact some form of revenge on the person being betrayed is much stronger.

9. SPECIAL NOTE TO THOSE IN MINISTRY: GREAT MINISTRY OFTEN EMERGES OUT OF GREAT BETRAYAL 

If you are in ministry, keep in mind how Judas betrayal set the course for Jesus to suffer for a short season, but even more so for His eternal reign of glory. No great ministry is without great betrayal. Often, that very betrayal forges the ministry ahead to birthing or greatness as the ministers remain loving to their betrayers and faithful to God.

10. The Two Greatest Betrayals on Earth Both Happened in a Garden

The First Great Betrayal happened in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve turned their backs on God and their faces to Satan, obeying the evil one rather that the One Who only made them in love and gave them everything good. The Second Great Betrayal occurred in the Garden of Gethsemane to redeem mankind from the First Betrayal. And the perpetrator of the first betrayal, Lucifer, had himself been the very first betrayer when he led a revolt in heaven against God His Creator.

This proves that at the base every betrayal you will find the evil one. That means that somehow betrayers get themselves into Satan clutches and it behooves us to pray for them. Judas because of his own dark and unrepentant heart was beyond even Jesus' help. But our betrayers are not beyond His help. We never know whether they would turn from their wickedness and come to God either for the first time or as a prodigal returning to His Father from a far-off land.

Do you see how we follow Jesus? We look at His life because He experienced everything we do. That is the why the Bible calls Him our Great High Priest who is not without understanding of what we face daily.

When you are betrayed, and if you have not yet experience betrayal you will at some point in your life, don't despair, follow Jesus' example and walk through that valley in divine victory. Then watch how God will use it for your advancement as you remain faithful to Him.