He said, “Go into a city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The teacher says, my time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.'” And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.

I had mentioned this, and we’ve been telling you all along that we were going to shift gears when we got to this point, five weeks leading up to Easter. And so we’re taking a break from our Revelation study. We will come back to it in April, April the 12th, I guess it is. But although we have stepped away from Revelation for the Easter focus, the inspiration for this series actually comes from my reading for Revelation. And so this morning there are two overlaps with the Revelation series to get us started this morning.

The first overlap was this statement. It’s always interesting, the things Jacob said this morning and whenever Scott or Jason speak, it often corresponds with what I have beginning to say at least, or something along the way. But in Greg Beal’s commentary on Revelation, he made this comment. He said, “God’s people exercise kingship in their suffering, and just as Christ did from the cross.” In other words, Jesus, as He’s hanging on the cross, is reigning. And that is so counterintuitive to our thinking today.

One of the challenges for the Christian church in America is that the church and the world are on the same trajectory. We’re on different tracks. We’re on different tracks, and maybe the tracks meander through different scenery. But we’re going the same direction. There is virtually no difference between the Christian in America and the typical American who does not know Christ. And this is something I was deeply intrigued by. God’s people, you and I, exercise kingship in our suffering. This is so counterintuitive and so contrary to the culture.

Notice how especially the charismatic church focuses on us being children of the king. And they talk about all the privileges we have as children of the king. And it never has anything to do with suffering or difficulty or trial. It’s always about victory and overcoming and healing and prosperity. Reigning and authority are seen as the end of suffering rather than a manifestation of suffering. And you see this throughout the book of Revelation.

I wanted to, and forgive me, you know how it goes with your pastor. And I go through these messages and I see things. And my messages, by the time I get here, have about 23 different notes on them in addition to the 10 pages I have printed out. Listen to this, this thing. In Revelation chapter 1, he freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom. Priest to His God and Father to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. He’s made us a kingdom. He’s made us priests. And yet the rest of the book is about the suffering of Christians. We are kings and priests in our suffering. Not after the suffering is over.

Isn’t that what Paul says in Romans chapter 8? He says, “In all these things, and he listed, you know the list. Famine, persecution, tribulation, the sword, distress, whatever. He says, ‘In these things we are more than conquerors.’ Not after we’ve gotten rid of them all and overcome them all. While we’re dealing with those things, we are more than conquerors.” And so I was deeply intrigued by the idea of Christ reigning as king at exactly the moment, at the precise moment that the world thought Him defeated. He is reigning. And this I thought was very intriguing.

From the perspective of the world, Jesus’ death is a sign of defeat rather than victory. The Jews of His day, in accordance with the Old Testament law, viewed a hanged person as a sign of God’s curse and disapproval. The people of Jesus’ day perceived Him as a misguided charlatan who died as a result of His delusions of grandeur. While He’s on the cross, they say, “If You’re God’s son, come down from there. Prove to us who You are.” And it is exactly that moment that Christ is reigning, even as it seems to be defeat.

So the first overlap with Revelation is that concept that we are reigning with Christ, even in the midst of suffering. The second overlap that I will use comes from a statement I made in an earlier message that I tell you, children, the Christian must get a hold of this. You must get a hold of this. You must pray for God to make this real in your heart. Christ is sovereign over time and circumstance. Whatever I face, whatever you face, the only way we will ever survive—that’s too strong a word, but that’s the only one I got in my mind—the only way we will survive at this is because we believe Christ is sovereign over time and circumstance.

In contrast to the world’s view cited above, the testimony of the Bible is that everything that happened to Jesus up to and including His death was part of God’s predestined plan for redeeming mankind. It was not accidental. It was not a second, what are we going to do, plan B? It was always exactly what God had wanted done. Listen to Acts chapter 2, verse 22 and 23: “Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst. As you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

Chapter 4, verse 27 and 28: “Truly in this city, there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your plan had predestined to take place.” Christ was predestined, predetermined to die for human sin. It was not an accident. It was not because He said the wrong thing to the wrong people. It was exactly what God wanted. His life was lived in the plan of God.

Now, I wanted to jump off of that, if I could, this morning, into this series over the next five weeks. And what I want to show you is that Jesus, in His capacity as sovereign God, was in full control of each and every facet of His life. And I want to do this over the next five Sundays in five different categories that we’ll look at individually leading up to Easter. Today, we’re looking at the Passover dinner and looking at how Jesus is in control of the things that are happening at the dinner.

And then next week, we will talk about the garden and how Jesus is exercising. He’s reigning even in the garden amidst His anguish about the cup that He’s about to endure. Then we will look at His reigning in the trials that He faced before the Sanhedrin. Then, of course, on Palm Sunday, we will talk about how He’s reigning from the cross. The very moment where the world screams defeat, Christ is victorious. And then finally, we will look on Easter Sunday appropriately enough about how Christ is reigning from the tomb.

Today, we want to focus on Christ’s reigning control at the Last Supper. And I am arguing that it is evident in five ways. And I’m going to argue from the most to the least significant. This is how I’ve laid it out. Number one, He is reigning at seeing the fulfillment of the Passover dinner accomplished. Listen to Luke chapter 22: “When the power came, He reclined at a table, and the apostles with Him. And He said to them, ‘I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.'”

Note that phrase, “earnestly desired.” It’s like this in the Greek. And again, we don’t want to get too off in that and make you feel bad that you don’t know any Greek. But there are all kinds of commentaries to help us with this. “Urgently desired. I have desired with desire.” It’s the way one commentator renders it. It’s very, very, it’s not just, “hey, let’s sit down and eat.” It’s very much, “I have waited for this moment.” There is a sense in which Jesus’ temporal success at getting to the dinner assures His ultimate success in offering Himself for His people. This isn’t just one of the steps along the way. This is something that has to be accomplished in God’s plan for redemption.

Now remember, you have to be familiar with your Bible for this, but all through this time leading up to this moment, there have been people opposing Jesus. They’ve been debating with Him. Things are beginning to get heated. He’s gone in. He cleansed the temple. And everybody’s mad at Him now. And so there’s this ugly situation developing. And the Word Biblical commentary observes this. Despite the ugly situation that has been developing, Jesus has successfully made His way to this final Passover with His apostles. The understanding of the Bible commentary says, “Jesus has anticipated this final Passover. Not because He looks forward to His death, per se, but because He will be able to establish a new covenant in His blood.”

He said, “Now listen, this isn’t the first Passover. If Jesus is a typical committed Jewish man, and He was, then He’s gone to other Passover dinners. What makes this one so much different? And part of the answer is, because at this one, He takes the cup, and He says, ‘This is my blood.’ He’s never done that before. This is my blood. This is my body. It’s broken for you. And there’s new redemption breaking forth.”

Jesus has been waiting to get, and by the way, get a low gear, Pastor. Take a breath between words. There are other things that have to happen at this dinner. The betrayal of Judas, which we will come back to, has to happen at this dinner. “Someone who’s my friend who lifted up his heel. He that has eaten bread with me has betrayed me.” You see, there’s other things that are happening at this dinner that have prophetic significance. And so Jesus demonstrates His control, preventing anyone from interfering with Him getting to this point.

Now that flows neatly into the second area of control, His awareness of the end. His awareness of the end. Listen to these passages before and after the Passover dinner. Chapter 13 of John, verse 1: “Now, the feast of the Passover, where Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father. He loved His own to the end.” Jesus knew. Jesus knew. John 17, verse 1: “When He had spoken these words after the Passover, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son that Your Son might glorify You.'”

Notice also Matthew, chapter 9, verse 18 of chapter 26: “Tell the certain man, the teacher says, ‘My time is at hand.'” Jesus knows this is it. This is my last night. This is my last opportunity. Again, not a surprise to Him. He knows exactly what’s happening. Now, this is made interesting because there are other passages of Scripture where Jesus is delivered from harm. Where it looks like they’ve got Him. Only He gets away.

Listen to this passage from the book of Luke: “They rose up and drove Him out of the town and brought Him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built so that they could throw Him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went away.” Now, it’s very important to get this. There seems to be a mob situation going on here. It doesn’t say, “Hey, Jesus, we got this view over here. We would really like You to see this view.” And then when they get Him over there, they throw Him down. They don’t entice Him to come. The language is they brought Him. This suggests they’re manhandling Him. Getting Him up to the… They’re a mob and a crowd that’s carrying to the cliff of this city. And then suddenly, He passes through the midst.

Now, this is before the resurrection. So, no, He did not dematerialize like He did after the resurrection. He still has a physical body at this point. But some other mysterious thing has happened for Him to be delivered from the potential harm that they intended. Why is that then? And not now. Because now, tonight, is when He is destined to die. Or the next day, rather. He’s destined to die.

Listen to John 8:59: “They picked up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.” Again, you have to read verse 58. There’s been this long going on discussion. And in verse 58, Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I am.” And the Pharisees think this is a blasphemous statement. And Jesus is not whispering over in the corner, “Hey, hey. Before Abraham was, I am.” He says it out loud. He’s there to testify to Himself. He says it out loud. And the people, having heard that, are incensed. And they pick up stones, stone Him. And it says, “He hid Himself. And got away.”

Look at the next verse. Chapter 10, verse 39: “Again, sought to arrest Him. But He escaped.” Get the word. Escaped. He escaped. They’re getting, they’re trying to do harm to Him. But He escapes out of their hand. And I tell you, children, all of these things indicate that death isn’t sneaking up on Christ. It is unfolding exactly as He predicted. Remember how many times during the Gospels He says, “I’m going to Jerusalem. I’m going to be killed.” Jacob even read that verse this morning. He predicts it again and again. It isn’t sneaking up on Him. It’s not an accident. It is unfolding exactly as He predicted.

Now get this. Get this. The disciples’ despair after His death might have been greatly diminished if they could have got a hold of these predictions. When they come to this point, they shouldn’t be surprised that He’s dying. They are. But they shouldn’t be because He said all along, this is what He was going to do. Listen to John chapter 10, a very familiar passage for all of us: “For this reason, the Father loves me because I lay down my life that I might take it up again. No one takes it from me. No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again.”

Jesus is in control of when He dies. He’s in control of when that happens. Oh, by the way, we’ll get to this, of course, in our journey through these next weeks. But remember when He’s on the cross in the book of John and the soldiers come to break His legs because when you were crucified, you had to push up, as all of you know, they hung you and through the course of the day, your body would weigh down like this and you would get to where you couldn’t breathe. And so you had to push up against the nails and breathe. And to hurry the death process, they would break your legs so you couldn’t push up anymore and you would suffocate or asphyxiate.

But when they come to Jesus, what does the Scripture say? “He was already dead. He gave up the ghost at the appropriate time.” He was in control of His entire life up to the last moment, the last breath He took. He was in complete and total control. He is not a victim. He is not suffering as a victim suffers. He is suffering by choice to accomplish the redemption of His people. Amen?

Now listen, not only is He fully in charge of getting to the Passover and fully in charge of He dies, He’s also fully in full control over Satan’s desires to destroy the disciples. Jesus, in other words, controls not only His destiny, but the destiny of His disciples as well. I hope none of you, myself included, will ever have to die for Christ. But as we said some weeks ago and come back to it briefly after a while, if that happens, you’re going to have to believe you’re there because that’s where God wants you to be at that moment. You can’t go running looking for answers. You must trust that God controls your destiny. He controls your destiny. I know. I’m with you.

I talked about using this illustration and I haven’t got around to doing it yet. Most of us are familiar with the dot-to-dot picture. You follow the dots to make a picture. One, two, three, four, five. Assume there are no numbers and all you see is dots. And you don’t know how to connect the dots, but there’s a picture there. And we can’t connect the dots of everything that God is and everything that God does, but there’s a picture there whether we can connect the dots or not. And I don’t understand every detail of God’s plan for my life, but I tell you, God controls my life. He controls your life. He controls the life of all those who are His.

The Bible says what, children? “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” He’s not saying, “Okay, that’s the road. Good luck to you.” He is ordering our steps for us to bring glory to His name and to be a blessing to other men and women all around us. Listen to this concept. This comes from Luke chapter 12, or chapter 22, rather. 31 and chapter 22, verse 31 and 32: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that He might sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

I want you to notice three things here that demonstrate Christ’s sovereign control. First, He’s aware of the plot. He’s not surprised by what the devil’s trying to do. Secondly, He’s aware of the extent of the plot. What we miss, again, is those things that I’m not trying to, I’m not trying to coerce you into any kind of study, but I just want you to know that in the Greek, the word “you” is in the plural. Satan wants you all. He wants you all. Not just this person, not just Peter. He wants all of you. And He’s demanded you, and He’s going to work to destroy you.

So first, there’s the awareness of this plot. Second, there is the extent of the plot. And thirdly, children, there is the assurance of restoration because of Jesus’ prayer. “I have prayed for you.” I’ve got a new printer. It prints both sides now. That’s kind of got me mixed up here. Peter, think about it a minute. I want you to see something here. Remember a few weeks ago, we had a message and we talked about people say, “I’m not sure I have enough love for Christ. I’m not sure I have enough faith to die for Him.” And remember, we said that what’s wrong with that is it’s looking inward. I’m looking into my strength. I need to be looking out to His strength.

And here’s the same thing. Jesus doesn’t say, “Peter, the devil wants you, boy, and you better get your act together. You better buck up. You better find the strength within yourself or you’re going to miss it.” He doesn’t say that. He says, “Peter, you’re going to fall, but it will not be an ultimate failure because I have prayed for you.” Do you see the significance of that, children? He is in control. It doesn’t matter what the devil wants to do. It doesn’t matter what the devil wants to do to our church. It doesn’t matter what the devil wants to do to our country. God is sovereign and He is in control and He is ever living to make intercession for His people.

In the interest of humanity, I will say nothing more, but that’s… He’s praying for us, children. We do not look inward and find the strength to resist the temptation, though there is an application to that. I don’t deny. But in this instance, Jesus doesn’t say, “Peter, you’ve got to speak the words to yourself. Speak over yourself. You look deep inside and find the strength.” He says, “No, Peter. I’m praying, and because I have prayed for you, your failure will not be final.” Isn’t this incredibly important? The strength doesn’t lie in Peter, but in Christ’s intercessory prayer.

Let’s quickly remember that, what happens afterwards. So here at this dinner, Jesus says, “You’re all going to deny me.” And Peter says, “Not me. I’ll never do that.” What’s Peter doing? He’s looking inward. But at the end of the book of John, Jesus says to him, after the resurrection, Jesus says, “Do you love me?” Three times. And the third time, Peter says, “Lord, you know everything. You know I love you.” See, children, he’s no longer relying on his own strength, his own perceptions. He’s trusting in Christ, and that’s what we have to do with our destiny and our effectiveness.

Now, this doesn’t diminish it. Craig Evans says this. Craig Evans says, “The danger here is so grave that Jesus assures Peter that he has prayed for him in order that his faith may not fail.” In light of Peter’s impending denials, this failure of faith concerns more than this temporary lapse. The idea is that in the wake of the denials, Peter may be tempted to abandon his faith altogether. This, however, will not. It happened because of Jesus’ intercessory prayer. Peter will suffer a momentary lapse that he will then recover from, and he will return to Jesus and be a blessing to his brothers.

They all have been looked, the devil’s tried to get them all, and though we’re not told about anyone about Peter, we can assume the rest of them were also failures in some way. But God says, “I’m good. All this is in my hand, and I’m going to restore you and use you.” Have you ever felt like you’ve come to the end of your story? Have you ever felt like there’s nothing left? I did the best I could with my children, my family, my job, my career, my health. I did the best I could, and there’s nothing left. Have you ever felt that way? And I tell you, if you have, look to Christ because he’s praying for you, and his prayer will guarantee you. My prayer will not guarantee you success. That doesn’t say that you shouldn’t call on the pastor to pray for you, but I cannot guarantee success with my prayer because I don’t know the fullness of God in your life.

But Jesus, as God, knows all there is to know, and when He prays, He’s touching. He’s connecting all the dots when He prays. Amen? Now notice this, number four. So Jesus has control over the getting to the Passover, over the reality of His death, over the devil’s desire to destroy the disciples. He has control over the elements of Judas’ betrayal. Judas is going to betray Him. In Judas’ mind, he’s just doing what he wants to do. But from a Scripture perspective, even this act of betrayal is in the hands of Christ.

Listen to this passage. Now by the way, the betrayal begins, as you can see, at the supper, and it ends in the garden. So next week, when we come back to the garden, we will see the end of the betrayal. But notice this. Jesus knows about the looming betrayal of Judas, and he plans accordingly. Now in point number five, we’ll visit this, but I have to say it here, because there are people that say he arranged this dinner ahead of time. But even if that’s true, and it’s true in a sense, and we’ll talk about it, if Jesus arranged in this, so I’m stumbling here, because originally it was in a different order. And then I decided to rearrange the order. And when I rearranged the order, then I have stuff I already said that I got.

Now that you’re sufficiently confused, I will continue. So Jesus sends the disciples to find this house where they’re going to be having the Passover. Why, when he says it, and we’ll look at Luke in a moment, I maybe should have read the Luke passage here. Maybe I’ll just do that now. No, I can’t do that now. When he arranges the dinner, he keeps it quiet. He says to Peter and John, according to Luke, “Go into the city, you’ll find this man, follow him to his house, and there we’ll do the Passover.” Why the secrecy? Why the secrecy? And the answer is, in Matthew 26:16, which we did not read, from that moment, Judas sought an opportunity to betray Jesus. All the commentaries agree that he wanted to betray Jesus away from the crowds.

Now, there’s still a lot of popularity for Jesus, and if Judas had betrayed Him in the middle of the day, there could have been a mob scene that accomplished nothing. So Judas is looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus where nobody’s around. Guess what? There’s only two of those. At the dinner and in the garden. And we know what happens, right? In the garden, he comes back with the soldiers, and we’ll look at that next week. But the question is, why this secrecy? And the answer is, or Leon Morris, in his commentary says, that Jesus kept the details secret so that Judas would not be able to betray Him prematurely. He’s being betrayed exactly when God has said he should be betrayed at the supper. And it’s kept silent.

This kind of secrecy, by the way, can also be found in John 13. It’s a big section. And so I have to read it all. But listen, it’s at the supper. And we read this. “After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in His spirit and testified, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.’ And the disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom He spoke. And one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved, we assume this was John, leaning on next at Jesus’ side, one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining a table at Jesus’ side. They laid down to eat on their side. They didn’t sit in chairs like we do. So that disciple, so Simon Peter motioned to Jesus, a motion to this disciple, whom we assume to be John, and says, ‘Hey, ask him who it is.’ He doesn’t say, ‘Hey, hey, John, ask Jesus who He’s talking about.’ No, he motions to him. Who is it? And Jesus has a quiet answer. You can miss this if you don’t follow the story. Listen to it.

So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” Once again, Jesus does not make this next statement out loud. Jesus answered, “It is He to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. And then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. And Jesus said to him, “What you’re going to do, do quickly.” Now, no one at the table knew why He said this to him. Well, of course, he would know why He said it to him if He had said, “It’s the person I give this bread to.” And everybody had heard that. Everybody didn’t hear it, or they would have all known it was Judas. But they didn’t know. And they thought, some thought, that because Judas had the money back, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what you need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor.

So after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out, and it was night. What did Jesus just give Judas’ permission to do? Betray Him. He gives him the full. Go ahead. We all know what’s happening here. I’m not surprised. You’re not surprised. You’ve already made. Verse 16, he sought opportunity to betray Jesus. Here is the opportunity at the dinner. And he’s doing exactly what he was supposed to do.

So, Jesus is in control of every aspect of His life from getting to the dinner, awareness of the end of His life, His control over the disciples’ destiny, and then fourthly, His control over Judas’ betrayal. Now, finally, we come to the fifth area of control, the arrangements for the dinner. Now, give me a second, because I don’t have another slide. Jesus sent, now this is Luke’s version of what we read in Matthew, okay? So it’s more detail. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” And they said to Him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” And He said to them, “Behold, when you’ve entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters, and tell the master of the house, ‘The teacher says to you, where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ And he will show you a large upper room furnished, prepare it there.” And they went and found it just as He had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

Now, a pertinent question at this point is, how much of this was arranged ahead of time? There are commentators who say there’s nothing miraculous in this. Jesus, knowing He’s going to have a Passover dinner, arranges with someone to have the dinner, and then sends His disciples to that house to prepare for Him. But if that’s the case, children, why this elaborate description and instruction? Why does He say, “When you go to the city, you’ll see a man with a water jar? Follow him, and say to the master of the house…” Why does He say that? I’m struck by this, and again, I’m a little, if this was, if Jesus arranged a location ahead of time, why didn’t He just say to Peter and John, “Now listen, I want you to go down to the house. You remember the house last year where we had the Passover? That’s where we’re going to do it again this year. Go down there and prepare for it.”

Why this elaborate description and instructions for them to get there? Now, it is probable that He arranged for a particular house, but why didn’t He just say, “Go to the baker’s house, or go to the weaver’s house, or go to the corner of 15 and Main, and you’ll meet this guy who’s standing there with a water jar, and then he’ll take you where you need to go.” Why didn’t He just say that? Why do we have this elaborate description of how this is going to come about?

And so, although there are commentators who say there’s nothing miraculous here, I want you to know that I disagree with that. And let me give you a couple reasons. Now, of course, I’m a little bit, I don’t know what the word is. I’m trying to make a point about Christ’s supernatural control of the last events of His life. That requires Him to be in control of how these people get to this house in a miraculous, supernatural way. And so, I embrace a supernatural perspective.

First, and by the way, I’m not the only one, we’ll close in just a moment or two more with this from John Gill. Jesus would have to know how long it’s going to take His disciples to reach that spot in the city. When He says, “Go into the city,” on our day and age, we just don’t think about that. I always get amused when I’m watching a police detective show in New York City and the phone rings and he picks up the phone and they say something. He says, “I’ll be there in 15 minutes.” It’ll take them 15 minutes to get to the garage. To the garage. They can’t get across Manhattan in 15 minutes. It’s not a realistic thing. They got to say it like that or they’ll lose the viewer, you know. But in reality, you’re not going to get out of the building in 15 minutes, much less across town to this crime scene, which sometimes is in Brooklyn or Queens or wherever else, you know. They’re 15 minutes, but it’s indicative of our culture. We do not realize how long it takes to get somewhere, even in cars.

We live five miles from Woodstock, five miles from Walmart. And if we go to Walmart for something, it’s a half an hour. You just don’t realize it, but it’s a half an hour to Walmart and back. And this is important because when Jesus says, “Okay, guys, go into the city,” they’re walking. They’re walking into the city. And yet, Jesus says, “When you enter the city, you will see a man.” How did the man get in that exact spot? Yes, you can argue that it was prearranged, but there are problems there. I’m arguing that Jesus has given them instructions and He’s ordained all the events that happened after that. It’s uncertain whether they spoke to the servant.

Here’s an important point. It says, “It says, a man carrying a jar of water. Not a man standing at the corner with a jar of water, carrying a jar of water.” Now, this is important because in that culture, women carried the water jars. Men carried water bags or water skins. It was the women who carried water jars. So, here’s a person doing something that is unnatural. Notice also that if this was supposed to be a secret arrangement, there’s not much very secret about a man carrying a water jar when that culture didn’t do that. It’s as big a way of saying, “Hey, something uniquely strange is happening here and would call people’s attention.”

And all the commentators affirmed that about a man would not be doing this. And so, you have all of these considerations. I think it’s unlikely the servant was sitting around waiting for the disciples to show up. Okay, I want you to go to 15th and May. We don’t read that. He says, “You go and you will see a man carrying a water jar. There’s something unique about this. Follow that man.” And then I would have you notice especially the last phrase which I do not have time to unpack fully today. Notice the last phrase. “They went and found it just as He had told them and they prepared the Passover.”

If this was merely a prearranged event, then Jesus could be said to be a good manager. He arranged things in a proper, sufficient way. Why would they be surprised to find it happen? Just like He said. By the way, that same phrase is found in Luke 19:32. For those of you who know the story, it’s when Jesus says, “Go down and find this colt, this donkey. He’s tied. Untie Him and bring Him to me. And if anybody says, what are you doing? Tell them, the Lord has need.”

Now, I’m not a farmer. I don’t know about farming. I don’t know about animals. But I’m pretty sure you just don’t take an ox or a donkey or whatever and just tie it up somewhere and leave it tied up for the whole day because you have the same problem as before. How long will it take the disciples to reach the point where the donkey’s tied off?

And finally, I will leave this thought with you. Jesus is getting ready to die. He knows how His disciples are going to be affected by His death. He wants to remind them who He is. And you see this again. There’s many passages that I can’t take time to get into. But again and again, Jesus, He says, “I’m telling you this now so when it happens, you’ll know who I am. I’m telling you this now so when it comes to pass, you may believe in Me.” And I’m arguing that’s what’s happening at the end of this passage where they found it just as He said. They are amazed. They are marveling at it. And this gives them strength to hold them over even though He dies the next day.

In closing, John Gill died in 1771, said this is a very, he’s a noted British commentator who died in 1771. He says, “This is a very considerable instance of our Lord’s prescience of future contingencies. He knew beforehand exactly the time that the disciples would enter Jerusalem. He knew that such a man who belonged to such a house would be returning from a well with a pitcher of water in his hand that they should follow this man and they would take him right to the house where he was supposed to be going.”

I tell you children that in the last week of Jesus’ life and not even the last week in our study, it’s the last weekend, Jesus is in full and complete control of everything that happens to Him and therefore we can infer that He’s in complete control of everything that may ever happen to us and that can give us great hope and strength in our cultural moment. Amen?

Let’s pray. God, our Father and King, we exalt you, we acknowledge you. God, our Father and King, we thank you for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, who lived, died, and rose again for our salvation. We pray for the strength to walk in the power of His resurrection, to trust in His sovereignty, and to live as those who reign with Him in His suffering and glory. Equip us, Lord, to be faithful in the face of trials, to be bold in our witness, and to be channels of your grace to a world in need. We surrender our lives, our fears, and our uncertainties to you. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.