Matthew 26:55-56

Jesus was in complete control, even though he was vastly outnumbered by a weapon-wielding mob and looking quite defenseless. Yet there was nothing they could do to him if he would not allow it.  In fact, when the mob came close, John – the writer of the fourth Gospel and an eye witness of the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane – recorded: “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. … When Jesus said, "I am he," they drew back and fell to the ground.

They must have looked rather silly, picking themselves up and dusting themselves off, wondering what hit them.  Everything, though, was under Jesus’ control, even his arrest into the hands of his enemies.  He rebuked those who had come to take him into custody.  Was he such a radical revolutionary that they needed to come with large numbers bearing many weapons?  Hardly!  Did he hole up in secret locations so that it was necessary for the authorities to follow the lead of his betrayer and apprehend him in darkness?  No, he conducted his ministry publicly.

All of this emphasized that the arrest of Jesus happened exactly as God had planned and predicted it.  For God had spoken through the prophet Zechariah, “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered” (Zechariah 13:7).  When Jesus was arrested, “then all the disciples deserted him and fled.”  The Word of God spoken centuries before was now fulfilled.  In fact, every detail of God’s plan of salvation that he spoke beforehand in the Old Testament was fulfilled in what Jesus did and what was done to him.

God carefully planned our salvation through Jesus.  It was all under God’s control.  Therefore we can have the firmest confidence that Jesus is our Savior, our only Savior.