Sept.

14, 2008 The Sword and the Cross Kathleen Maples

Part 6

Joh 18:4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and
said unto them, Whom seek ye?
Joh 18:5 They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas
also, which betrayed him, stood with them.
Joh 18:6 As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to
the ground.

They are in the garden of Gethsemane. Tension is so thick. Emotions are running
high. The would-be captors are nervous and unsure of themselves. (Joh_18:6) Two
of His disciples hold swords, having been awakened abruptly out of a depression
and fatigue induced sleep. They are not exactly sure what is happening or why.
These disciples are loved by Jesus, they are saved. They are Christians. They are
also carnal, and emotional and volatile when things don't go like they think they
should. These last few days as they headed to Jerusalem for the Passover, Jesus
had began to speak to them about the trial He would have to endure; His suffering,
rejection and murder, and the cross anyone who would follow Him must pick up
and carry daily.

His message confused, burdened and depressed them. When they should have been
praying, they were sleeping (Luk_9:32; Mar_14:39-40) When Peter, James and John
followed Him off the mount of transfiguration, He healed a man's son who was
tormented by a devil. The crowd was delighted and amazed, but in the midst of this
crowd's pleasure with Him, He quietly warns His disciples "let this saying sink
down in to your ears for the Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men."
Jesus has begun to refer to Himself in the third person, distancing Himself from
this flesh He walked in. He takes a small child and begins to teach about humility
(Luk_9:45-48) because they began in their confusion to argue about who would be
the greatest. I believe they were bragging about defending Him from those He said
would seize Him. As flesh always does, it boasts in its own strength, and so did
theirs.

As they travel into a village of Samaritans, there is prejudice in their hearts.

Samaritans thought they had the truth and tried to worship God in the light they
had. The Jews despised them and considered them lower than dogs. Here, the
Samaritans refused to accept Jesus because they could see He did not intend to
stay. (Luk_9:53-56) James and John got offended and asked the Lord to allow them
to call fire from heaven and consume them just like Elijah did. He rebukes them for
their negative and destructive spirit. He reminds them He did not come to to
destroy men's lives but to save them.
When Jesus wanted to feed the multitudes who'd been on the mount with Him,
hearing the Word of God for 3 days, they wanted to send the crowd away hungry.
When the woman who's daughter was grievously vexed with a devil came to Jesus,
they complained about how she cried for them when He wouldn't answer her. Even
when He told her it wasn't right to give the children's bread to dogs, she answered
with humility and faith and perseverance. When the woman came weeping in
Luk_7:37-40 and poured out a sacrifice of worship on Him, His own disciples were
critical and in agreement with the Pharisees here at this dinner. They considered
it a waste, just as Simon, the host, did. They thought her behavior out of line.
They were emotional, and carnal men. They loved Him, but in their own way, their
actions, had He not been there to restrain them, could have been just as destructive
to the people as the Pharisees.

Joh 18:10 Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant,
and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.
Mat 26:52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that
take the sword shall perish with the sword. (Mat_12:36-37) Heb_4:12)
Mat 26:53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give
me more than twelve legions of angels?
Mat 26:54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?

Now, here they stand, two of them with swords, and a group of officers, with
Judas, carrying torches and lanterns and weapons. They come for Him. One
disciple says "Should we smite them with the sword? Should we fight,
Lord?" (Luk_22:49) Peter doesn't even wait for the Lord to answer. He just starts
swinging the sword because he's in a situation he doesn't like, and he thinks to
defend the Lord. Ask yourself, does the Creator of all things really need flesh to
defend Him? No, He doesn't need our help. Never.

Peter cuts off a man's ear, named Malchus, whose name means 'counselor or king'.
Malchus was a servant of the great high priest. He was a servant of the religious
high priest. Consider that carefully then think about how many people are bound
today by religious attitudes and spirits, people who struggle with fear and guilt
and condemnation over every little failure. These were a people who ruled strictly
and harshly over the Jews. They had so many rules and regulations the people
could never hope to live up to their interpretation of the Law of God. But the Lord,
seeing how His own had wounded this man, stops everything. He tells them to
allow this-don't fight it. Don't resist this for it must be. He reaches out to this
wounded man, who probably couldn't hear because of the pain roaring in his
head, and He restores the ear. He heals the man. The pain vanishes. The ear is
made whole. The bleeding stops. He can hear again out of his ear.

Luk 22:51 And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and
healed him.

I've seen this in Pentecostal circles. I once visited a church during their camp
meeting a couple years ago and sat alone in the back. The place was packed and
the service had already started. The visiting evangelist and his wife knew me and
my love for the Lord. But the other folks in this church didn't. Some had seen me, a
few times there, and at other churches in the city where I live, but these folks were
never very friendly, and were of the opinion that women's hair should never be
cut, they should never wear any makeup or jewelry, not even wedding rings. They
consider it sin if women wear pants, and if their sleeves aren't long, if their dresses
aren't long, and their collars aren't high and then they consider that one is dressed
'worldly'. They even frown on men having facial hair.

True worldliness is trying to do anything apart from the power and will of God.
We are born in self, raised in self, walk, live, eat, sleep and breathe in self. Self
always wants to be first-even in religious circles. It takes the miraculous power of
God to separate us from ourselves. To show us what self really is so we will want
to reject self completely and totally embrace HIM. It takes the power of the Holy
Ghost to work in us and overcome that self. If we ever overcome what we are apart
from God, it must be by HIS Spirit, by HIS power and HIS might-not human effort.
When the altar call came at this service, I remained seated, bowed my head and
prayed, for I had struggled to get there. It had cost me something personally that
night to get there. During this altar call, a couple ladies of the church approached
me and began to pray for me. I realized as I heard their prayer they thought I was
a sinner-that I had never met God. My heart sank, for I knew I'd been examined
and found wanting. My hair wasn't as long as theirs, my dress wasn't quite as long
but it was below my knees. I felt so uncomfortable. I knew I didn't measure up to
their idea of what holiness is. I felt out of place and sad. The evangelist's wife
came to me and hugged me, and I saw the surprise on the other ladies' faces. They
asked me where I went to church. I told them, and they didn't have much else to
say. Still, I sensed their disapproval.

Religious people without discernment, and compassion have wounded so many. I

have seen people driven right out of the house of God because of these kinds of
attitudes. I have seen young women come in church, wearing pants, or having cut
their hair, but with a hunger for God, and they ended up wounded from the unwise
comments of those who are in authority, or church members who have been there
for a long time who should know better. At one time, I struggled with this same
spirit. I praise His Holy Name for delivering me from this critical spirit that tried
to grip me, as well. I've seen them leave feeling discouraged, and hopeless. I have
battled this sense of failure and hopelessness, too. When I was a teenager, I was
wounded in the house of God, told I was on my way to hell because I wore a short
sleeved dress and a bracelet my dad gave me a few years earlier when I was very
sick. My sleeves on my dress were short sleeves, but my dress was decent. I was 15
years old. She was an assistant pastor's wife. I looked at her, in confusion, hurt.
She knew I had been eyeing her 18 year old son, and she did not like it. She wasted
no time telling me they didn't believe in marriage. I said 'but you are married.' She
said that she had gotten married before she got saved. So, they were going to doom
their son to a life of loneliness because of their religion? I see this man from time
to time and to this day that man has not married.

I walked away from that lady and that church that day and I told my mother I
never wanted to go to church again. I was convinced if that was how God was, I
did not want any part of Him. I saw Him so misrepresented by religious people
that I began to think very unkindly of Him myself. I thought, I can't please these
people, how could I ever please God? If this is how He is I want nothing to do with
Him. All I had heard preached was the thundering against sin, and external things
the religious considered worldly, until I felt afraid to breathe wrong. I'm sure in
my young mind I misunderstood some things, but I don't ever remember feeling
love, gentleness or kindness or compassion in that place, except from one or two
people who were not in leadership.

The Word of God is a living thing, it's active, powerful, and sharper than any
double edged sword. It cuts on both sides. It penetrates and separates the soulish
and spiritual, is able to judge the thoughts and feelings of people's minds. It's the
most sophisticated and dangerous weapon that has ever existed. In the hands of
someone with out the heart of God for humanity it causes much damage. In the
hands of someone who is not led by the Holy Spirit, it can spiritually kill.

Jesus had told the disciples many things about the cross, the suffering, the
rejection and betrayal and death He would soon endure. They had not lived and
traveled with Him these past 3 1/2 years knowing He would leave them. He had not
told them these things until it was time. But even then, He had many more things
to tell them but in Joh_16:12 He says "I have many things to say to you but you
cannot endure them yet." Paul is preaching to a carnal church in 1Co_3:2, he tells
them he could only feed them with milk because they could not handle meat. They
couldn't bear it, he says. Ministers and laymen and women alike must depend on
God's Holy Spirit to guide them. His Word accomplishes what He intends when HE
sends it, and quickens it to the hearer. If we just wield it unwisely, we do damage.
It takes seeking God to know what is needed by the sheep. It takes being in
subjection to HIM, led by HIM or we wound and mischaracterize Him. We don't
know what people are able to bear. When I hear the term holiness preacher or
holiness people. I cringe inside. I've learned from experience to expect harshness,
legalism, and a critical attitude from those who identify themselves that way.
Something else I have learned-if we preach Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, and
we have had our own divine revelation of Him, His beauty, His holiness, we will
not be anything but humble, grateful, and eager to show Him to others. If we can
help others see Him and understand who He is and what He's like, by being an
accurate reflection of Him, then they will want Him, too. If this is our testimony,
the Holy Spirit can point us out to others and stir up a hunger in their hearts to
know this great Christ for themselves. The more I see of Him the less I want of this
world, self, or anything that would hinder or separate me from HIM. This is what
all preachers need to understand. Show them Christ and they will want Him. He
said if I be lifted up, I will draw all men to Myself. We lift HIM up for their
examination, and people will either want Him or reject Him. But it will be a
decision made based on truth, not a lie.

Peter lashed out and cut off this man's ear. Jesus restrained him and reaches out a
hand that would soon be pierced with nails, and healed Malchus' ear. As I was
reading back over these Scriptures I've been studying for a while now, I saw
something in these Scriptures I'd not seen before and it delighted me. Where I am, I
know there is a whole generation of people who were wounded in the name of
religious tradition, driven from God, and had God misrepresented to them, and
they shun Him now. I was one of them. But in the midst of His own carnal
disciples, and those who would be His captors, He reaches out, and restores this
man's ear. He can restore spiritual hearing, and spiritual vision to those who have
been wounded by the Word in the hands of unwise men and women. I wanted to
shout when I saw this. I know people who have been so wounded and so hurt they
run from God and want no part of Him. When I saw this, it gave me hope that they
could be reached. What a lovely Savior I am learning as I dig in this Precious
Book. He is so amazing. He did not rail on Peter, nor try to bring him under
condemnation for his rash behavior. He restrained him. He healed the wounded.
When we behold Him in the mirror of this Word, oh, it makes me long to be more
like HIM. We have the promise in 2 Cor 3:18. When we behold Him, we are made
like Him.

Peter could have been condemned and charged guilty for assaulting Malchus, and
could have gone on trial with Him. I want to share what I read about this in
Faussett's Bible Dictionary:

John was "known to the high-priest" and his household, so that he procured admission from
her that kept the door, for his close colleague Peter, and was able to state, what the
other evangelists omit, that another servant who charged Peter with being Jesus' disciple
"was his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off." Another incidental propriety confirming
genuineness is, Jesus says to Pilate, "if My kingdom were of this world then would My
servants fight"; yet none charged Him, not even Malchus's kinsman who was near, with the
violence which Peter had used to Malchus. Why?
Because Jesus by a touch had healed him (Luk_22:51), and it would have wonderfully
tended to elevate Jesus as one more than human in love and in power, in Pilate's
estimation, had they charged Him with Peter's act. Malchus was Caiaphas the high priest's
own servant, not a minister or apparitor of the council. 'There were but two swords in the
disciples' hands (Luk_22:38); while the holder of one was waiting for Christ's reply to their
question, "Lord, shall we smite with the sword?" the holder of the other, Peter, in the
same spirit as in Mat_16:22, smote with the weapon of the flesh. What a narrow escape
Peter providentially had of a malefactor's and a murderer's end! The sheath is the place
for the Christian's sword, except as the judicial minister of God's wrath upon evil doers
(Rom_13:4).
Jesus used His last moment of liberty in touching and healing afflicted man. This was
Jesus' last miracle relieving human suffering. The hands so often put forth to bless and to
cure were thenceforth bound and stretched on the cross, that form of His ministry in the
flesh ceasing forever.

In Zec 4:6 the Scripture tells us that it's not by human strength, or military might, nor
by human ability or power, but by HIS SPIRIT, says the LORD of HEAVEN'S ARMIES!
Anything that is accomplished in the kingdom of God is done by His Spirit. We can't do
anything but get in His way if we are not led by Him, and yielded to Him. If we don't
know Him we can do nothing but misrepresent Him. Don't take anyone's word for who
He is, we must seek our own personal revelation of Him. We must know Him
ourselves. No one can eat this Book for us. We have to eat it ourselves. If we don't we
have no life in us. His Word is Spirit and Life. He possesses eternal life-The Father,
The Son, and the Holy Ghost. We can only have it as we feed on HIM. The source
doesn't come from us but to us.

What compassion the Son of God displays every time His own act up in a way that
would be harmful. Now we have the Restrainer, the Holy Spirit, to guide us and
prevent us from this if we listen. In our zeal, let us not wound and maim others. He
empowered and changed them. When they saw flesh crucified, when they saw
everything they believed in and trusted in hung on a cross, and killed, I believe He was
showing them flesh is not where your confidence is to be. I know there was more to the
cross than this, but He did not come down from the cross. He let them nail His flesh to
the cross. He submitted to this torture, trusting the power of the Holy Spirit, and the
Word of His Father to raise Him back up in 3 days. He showed them I do not defend
Myself, I do not deliver Myself. I do not retaliate against those who hurt Me, not
inwardly or outwardly. That is in My Father's hands. God help us learn this and God
help those who both have wounded others, and been wounded. He forgave His own,
and He healed the one they wounded. If someone is overtaken by their zeal and
wounds another, there is hope of healing. There is hope of divine rescue, for the one
who hurts and the one who hurt them. The cross is the death of the flesh. Death of self,
that which would rise up in the name of religion and wound and maim. With flesh
dead, the Spirit of Christ is in full control and miracles happen. I believe God would
pour His power through a vessel who is dead to self and this world, who wants
nothing but HIM and HIS Will, because whatever miracle is done, self won't dare
touch the glory or exalt itself because it's dead. God alone is glorified.

Those who are bitter and wounded because they have been hurt by religion, He is able
to reach out His nail scarred hand and restore their ability to hear Truth again. This
man, Malchus, he was the servant of the high priest who was plotting the arrest and
murder of this Christ and I believe Malchus knew this. Servants hear talk, you know.
Imagine what he thought, looking in his pain, into the face of the Savior, and seeing
the compassion there. Seeing the Restorer reach out to him when he had been
wounded by one of this Man's very own. Oh, for those who have been hurt, He can
open their eyes. He can destroy the yoke and set them free. Hallelujah! Oh, the depths,
the great depths of the Truth of God. I praise His Holy Spirit for being willing to show
us these things! I praise God for each one of you who takes time to read these things
and share the Bread of Life with me. God bless you! Be strong, and encouraged. God is
mighty, and able to do more than we could ever even imagine!!!!