What in the world made you think that Jesus could not have stopped it? Just like the criminal who was crucified along with Jesus and another, said to Jesus, “If you are really the Son of God, why can you not save yourself and us”. Many people have asked this same question for generations; especially the unbelievers. But what most people forget, is that Jesus is God in our midst; who willingly forfeited His life for us, so that we may become reconciled back to God the Father. He knew what it would mean for Him to sacrificially give His life for us, but He did it because His love for us, compelled Him to. Isaiah 53:7, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth”.
Jesus did not resist though He had the power to stop His crucifixion. He allowed it happen because He was on a life-changing mission. His love, compassion and severity of His mission, drove Him to the point of complete surrender to the will of God.
I carried out a comprehensive study on why Jesus did not stop His crucifixion many years ago, and I came across an extra ordinary incident that transpired on the night of His arrest, which was not recorded in three of the Gospel books in the bible. It was not in Matthew, Mark, Luke, but it was in John. The truth that I discovered that day, changed my life amazingly. This truth that I ascertained was seen in John 18:2-11. There, we see that Jesus, when He was about to be arrested after Judas’s betrayer, asked the soldiers who came to arrest Him. “Who are you looking for?”. They replied; we are looking for Jesus of Nazareth. Then, Jesus proceeded to reply them and said, “I am He!”. As soon as He said that, they fell to the ground. Afterwards, another remarkable thing took place. John 18, further recorded that Jesus asked the soldiers a second time, “Who are you looking for”? This time, after the soldiers answered “Jesus”, they proceeded to arrest Him.
John 18, further went on to say that Peter then drew a sword and cut of one of the high priest servant’s ear. To which, Jesus rebuked him. Jesus proceeded to make a profound statement; that if He wanted help, His angels would fight to keep Him from being arrested. Here is the exact record of John 18:2-11, “Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?” “Jesus of Nazareth, “they replied. “I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. Again he asked them, “Who is it you want? “Jesus of Nazareth,” they said. Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go. “This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me.” Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”
Having read that passage of scripture, I will proceed to tell you what was profound about it. In the course of that incident that transpired in the Garden of Gethsemane, it was illustrated three times that Jesus has the opportunity and authority to stop His arrest, but did not. These three occasions are listed below:
1. When He first asked them, who it was that they were looking for, they fell down. This illustrated that Jesus was always in control of what happened to Him. They fell down because of the power of God in the Lord; and they would have remained there, if He hadn’t permitted them to rise up again. Therefore, when He proceeded to ask them the same question again, this time they could arrest Him because He permitted it to happen that way.
2. When Peter drew out a sword and cut off the High Priest’s servant’s ear, Jesus rebuked him. Jesus then proceeded to miraculously glue back the High Priest’s servant’s ear. Again, we see here that He had power to perform miracles. He could easily have caused the soldiers to become blind, but He chose not to. Instead, He willingly complied with His arrest.
3. Now, still on this incident that transpired in the Garden of Gethsemane, Matthew’s record of this event gives us the third clue that Jesus could have stopped His arrest but did not. This is what it says, Matthew 26:52-54 “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” Here, we see very clearly that Jesus did not stop His arrest thought He had the power to, because it was in accordance with the will of the Father God.
11 Reasons Why Jesus did not stop His crucifixion?
1. In obedience to God’ will: John 6:40, “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
2. To reconcile us back to God. Corinthians 5:18: “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation”.
3. He loves us dearly. John 3:16: ” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”.
4. To claim back the keys of hell and death: Revelation 1:18, “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen, and have the keys of hell and of death”.
5. To take those who were in Paradise to Heaven: Matthew 27:53, “They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
6. To defeat and shame the devil: 1 John 3:8, “The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work”.
7. To save and justify us: “To usher us into the Dispensation of Grace. (through the Holy Spirit)”.
8. To reveal God’s intention to us: John 6:40, “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day”.
9. To give us Revelation Knowledge: Ephesians 1:17, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him”.
10. To bless and empower us: Acts 1:8, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth”.
11. To give us eternal life: John 10:10, ” The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”.
Praise God!
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