How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled? On earth as in heaven.

Matthew 26:47-68 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

⁴⁷ While He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came up accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs, who came from the chief priests and elders of the people. ⁴⁸ Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him.” ⁴⁹ Immediately Judas went to Jesus and said, “Hail, Rabbi!” and kissed Him. ⁵⁰ And Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you have come for.” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him.

⁵¹ And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew out his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. ⁵² Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. ⁵³ Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴ How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?”

⁵⁵ At that time Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against a robber? Every day I used to sit in the temple teaching and you did not seize Me. ⁵⁶ But all this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures of the prophets.” Then all the disciples left Him and fled.

⁵⁷ Those who had seized Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together. ⁵⁸ But Peter was following Him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and entered in, and sat down with the officers to see the outcome.

⁵⁹ Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death. ⁶⁰ They did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on two came forward, ⁶¹ and said, “This man stated, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.’” ⁶² The high priest stood up and said to Him, “Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?” ⁶³ But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, “I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.” ⁶⁴ Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

⁶⁵ Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy; ⁶⁶ what do you think?” They answered, “He deserves death!”

⁶⁷ Then they spat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him, ⁶⁸ and said, “Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?”

^“ Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?”       Peter was seeing and reacting to things in this natural physical realm. He was trying to defend Jesus, to protect Him from the physical circumstances. I have to wonder though, what was the real motivation for Peter’s actions? Was he really hoping to defend and deliver Jesus from this group of people? Or was he trying to prove and justify himself? After all, Peter had said he would stand with Jesus even to death and Jesus said Peter would deny Him.  Jesus did not need Peter’s protection. He is after all the same one who calmed the stormy seas, opened blind eyes, caused the lame to walk and even raised the dead. Jesus was and is the Son of God, He is God, as He said the host of heaven was and is at His disposal. Peter saw only the natural, Jesus was concerned with gaining the spiritual victory which was at hand. From the very beginning, when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God had a plan to redeem and restore man and all of creation. It was spoken through the prophets, the scriptures would be fulfilled.

Like Peter, many people today try to defend Jesus. They try to rationalize, debate and explain the cross and salvation in human terms, as if the human mind alone can comprehend God. 1 Corinthians 1:18 says:   For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Often people also concern themselves with Jesus reputation in the world. Just as Jesus did not need Peter to physically defend Him, Jesus does not need us to defend His reputation. He doesn’t need to prove He is God. Often our efforts to defend Jesus are really, like Peter, rooted in an effort to justify ourselves, to prove to those who doubt us that Jesus really is Christ the Lord, not for their sake but for our own.

As we walk through difficult circumstances and as the Christ in us is challenged by men, we need to remember to see the spiritual, heavenly realm. We need to focus there and not on the things and circumstances of this physical realm. We need to remember what it says in Ephesians 6:12.      Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.         Jesus did not focus on the circumstances and the challenges of this physical realm. He was focused on doing the work of the Father, completing the mission and purpose for which He came. He too could have engaged the enemy in the natural realm but He knew the victory was to be obtained in the spiritual realm.

We still fight battles every day and will until Christ returns. We need to choose where we will engage the enemy. Because of Jesus finished work on the cross and through the resurrection, the enemy has been defeated in the spiritual realm. Colossians 2:15 says: He (Jesus) had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them… Why do we choose to focus and fight in the natural physical realm when we can take the battle to the heavenly realm where Christ has already finished the work? When Peter acknowledged that Jesus was/is the Christ, Jesus said:  “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”(Matthew 16:17-19)    In the very next verses we see Peter again focusing on earthly things.   ²¹ From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. ²² Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” ²³ But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

If we will see and engage things as they are revealed by the Father, through the Holy Spirit, we have the authority and the power of the keys of heaven and Jesus says: “ whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”   If we on the other hand set our minds on man’s interests, if we choose to fight our battles in the natural realm, trying to justify our faith through our own actions we become a stumbling block to Christ. Jesus has already won the victory in the spiritual realm. He said on the cross, “It is finished”, it is complete in heaven. Why then would we focus on the things of earth? Jesus says pray this way:   “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come,
your will be done,  on earth as it is in heaven…

Thank You Jesus, that we are built and can stand upon the revelation, from the Father, through the Holy Spirit, that You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Redeemer, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The one at whose name, every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,  and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Help me to walk in the fullness of that revelation and its power. May Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, in and through my life.    Amen.