John 18:1-3 NIV
[1] “When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it.”

Jesus had a tryst to honour. He had to meet someone who would play a crucial role in the unfolding drama.

[2] “Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. [3] So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons.”

What an unusual situation! Written between the lines was Jesus’ prophetic word…

John 10:17-18 NIV
[17] “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. [18] No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

Step by step, through these dramatic events, Jesus demonstrated His absolute control over the story as it unfolded. He had a timetable to follow, and every detail had to fulfil all the prophecies about Him that covered this salvation event.

John 18:4 NIV
[4] Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?”

So, like a prearranged signal, Judas knew where to find Him.

Why a garden, why this garden? Again, there is symbolism in the story. How fitting that the death of humanity, when they rejected God as theie God, which happened in a garden, should be reversed by the one who came to do the Father’s will by dying, in a garden!

The Garden of Eden was a plethora of provision for the first pair, delights of every kind in the fruits of the garden. In that same garden, they forfeited everything by one choice and one decision, turning their lives from perpetual bliss into never-ending suffering and loss. Driven out of the garden, they and all mankind, were to live their lives in toil and struggle.

The Garden of Gethsemane was a garden of olive trees, the fruit of which demanded extreme pressure to release its bounty. Gethsemane, the name that always reminds us of His suffering, means “press”. As the oil is pressed from the olives to benefit humans, so our Saviour was pressed until all that remained was His loyalty to the Father and obedience to His will, the way of suffering that restored our bliss.

Mark 14:36 NIV
[36] “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Only when every shred of reservation, every atom of resistance was submitted to the Father, was He ready to move with the circumstances that took Him to the cross.

It was at the perfect moment, when the struggle was over, that Judas and his ignominious bunch of “religious and military might” arrive on the scene to arrest Him. Why the need for such a mob? Did they really think this was necessary to arrest one man…and the one man who would be willing to go because it was His destiny? How little did Judas know that he was not in charge, and that those with him were doing the Father’s will?

Acts 2:23 NIV
[23] “This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.”

So, the drama picked up pace. Arrest, trial…all in the perfect timing and purpose of the Father. How Jesus monitored the unfolding events until the moment when the cock crowed…the sun darkened…and the Passover lambs were slaughtered. The angel of death passed over, taking only the firstborn, the perfect Son of God…as the sacrifice for sinners.

How can we ever believe that Calvary was a random event, in which sinners carried out their own will? Far from this, Jesus is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He died in eternity, caused it to happen in time, carried it out according to a perfect timetable, and made salvation through faith in Him possible from before the beginning of history. Hence, the Old Covenant encapsulated, in a symbolic ritual called Passover, what Jesus did before time, and which Jesus fulfilled perfectly at Passover, so that we can know without a doubt, that His sacrificial death was all of God.

1 Peter 1:20 NIV
[20] “He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”

So, closely monitored by the Father, and fulfilled through the Spirit, Jesus walked the road to Calvary. Paul asserted that the Father was “in Christ” doing the work of reconciliation, while the writer to the Hebrews declares…

Hebrews 9:14 NIV
[14] “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!”

The Scriptures affirm that Jesus’ death was an event of the Godhead rather than just Jesus alone. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were in it together. The timing was perfect, prophecy was perfectly fulfilled, and the Father’s will done fully to the perfect moment.

How can we, then, not believe that the three-in-one God is sovereign in all He does. No matter what happens, as Jesus assured His disciples before these events unfolded…

John 14:1 NIV
[1] “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.”

If with Him, so with us, He is working in all things for our good, patiently and purposefully restoring in us the image of His Son.