Our Lord knew to what he was going. All lay naked and open before his eyes. He laid down his life of himself; but in this supreme act of love he suffered beyond words. It was not that he feared physical pain, but it was the horror of standing before the universe identified with the sin and sorrow of the world, as though these were his own.

In these instructions to his Apostles, as to wallet, purse and sword, we must understand that he meant them to realize that the storm was about to burst upon them with furious intensity.

Some think that our Lord prayed most of all that his body should not give way under his awful anguish. He feared lest he should die before he could reach the Cross! See Heb. 5:7. “Oh, my Lord, thy chosen disciples failed thee in that hour; but so have we! What can we say! Help us to share thy vigil and thy prayer!”

Luke 22: 47-53. It may have been about midnight when the lights and movement of feet indicated the approach of Judas and his band. The kiss of Judas was probably intended to hide his treachery from his fellowdisciples; but it did not deceive his Master, who even in that sad hour sought to touch his heart, v. 48.

When Malchus’ ear was almost severed from the body, it was needful that our Lord should interpose, because, if Peter had been arrested, the gaze of mankind would have been diverted from the spectacle of Christ’s atonement, and a struggle might have ensued at the gate of the garden which would have justified the worst accusations of the high priest.

The quiet remonstrance with which the Lord met that ruffian band, reminding them of their cowardice in the daylight and amid the crowds, was followed by his submission to be led “as a lamb to the slaughter.”