Jesus confidently knows His victory in the Angelic Conflict John 13:1-3John 13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
“Jesus [always refers to the humanity of Christ] knowing,” the verb is the prefect active participle of o)ida[oida = to know inherently] used as a perfect tense for His omniscience. Jesus is always the name for the humanity of Christ; o)idais used for His omniscience. So, here we have the hypostatic union, the God-Man.
The Lord knew from His own doctrinal intake that the time was at hand, and His deity knew through His OS. In His humanity the Lord reached supergrace though His consistent intake of doctrine. So in His humanity and deity, He was thoroughly cognisant of the plan of the Father and that this was the Passover of Passovers.
Next, we have the phrase, “that his hour” – reference to the cross, John 12:23; 17:1; Mark 14:41.
The word hour is not used for 60 minutes here. The word is often used in a dramatic time of victory and that is exactly the way that God the Holy Spirit uses it from the pen of John the Apostle. It took six hours but it was the Lord’s finest hour, His hour of victory in the angelic conflict.
“had come that he should depart” – aorist active subjunctive of metabainw[metabaino] which means to go from one place to an entirely different place.
This becomes the purpose of this hour. It is time for Him to complete the plan of God and then depart. The cross will result in the physical death of Christ when His body went into the grave—Luke 23:53; His soul went to Paradise in Hades—Psalm 16:10; Luke 23:43; Acts 2:27; Ephesians 4:9; His spirit went to the Father—Luke 23:46.
To indicate that these are all out of the world we have e)kplus the ablative of kosmoj[ek kosmos] – “out from the world.” Therefore the emphasis is on His soul and spirit. His body went into a grave and the grave was on the earth.
So out of the trichotomous disposition of Christ at His physical death it is the soul and the spirit which are emphasised and definitely not the body. This is because it is the spiritual death of the Lord that saves us and not His physical death. His physical death was necessary since His mission was complete and it was the time for His transfer to a resurrection body.
“unto the Father” – proj[pros] means face to face with the Father.
Next we have the motivation and virtue of Christ that extended even to Judas. It would be this same virtue that He would tell the disciples would give them unity as well as reveal their discipleship – impersonal unconditional love.
Virtue love is needed for any lasting union to exist in the body of Christ, in a Christian marriage, a Christian friendship, a Christian family, and especially a Christian Church.
“having loved his own [possessions] in the world” – aorist active participle of a)gapaw[agapao]. The amazing thing about a)gapawis the fact that while Jesus Christ also had filew[phileo] this indicates His mental attitude love, the love of His soul for the disciples—eleven born-again believers—even though in the next 16 hours not only did they not hear His discourse, were very poor in their attention, but as soon as they got out into the action all of them, with the exception of John, really blew it.
They would disperse and abandon the Lord, and probably all think, with maybe the apostle John as an exception, that they were the ones predicted to betray Him. What a terrible time this was for them.
They were a total and complete flop. Only John managed to come through with anything that looked like honour, and a)gapawexpresses His mental attitude toward those whom He knows are going to fail completely—and that is grace.
This indicates that Jesus Christ on the cross was totally relaxed. He loved these disciples as God in eternity past, so He was willing to become true humanity. He loved these disciples in time; He was willing to go to the cross for them and for the entire human race. He loved them on the cross while He was being judged for their sins. His love never changed. And while the other type of love could have been mentioned it is the mental attitude love that is the basis for the other.
John 13:2 And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him,
Satan is in opposition to the Father’s plan and the disenchanted Judas is a willing pawn that will be tossed aside when his use is exhausted.
So this is during the supper and they have begun the Passover feast. They are reclining on pillows, Judas having taken the place of honor on the Lord’s left and John haven taken the next place of honor on His right.
The Paschal supper always began with the Head of the Company taking the first cup and speaking over it the thanksgiving.
Presently there are two thanksgivings said, first for the wine and the second for the return of another feast and being present to enjoy it. This was a longstanding tradition and it makes sense that our Lord would have done the same, but perhaps without the thanks for the nation of Israel, but in any case there is a deviation in our Lord’s opening thanksgiving that Luke records for us.
Our Lord’s benediction is given in:
Luke 22:17 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, "Take this and share it among yourselves;
Luke 22:18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes."
And the chief opponent among all fallen angels and the greatest genius among creatures was there—the devil. The devil needed a temple there, and since the eleven disciples were born-again he couldn’t possess them. He was looking for someone to possess at that minute.
“having already put into the heart of Judas” is not correct. This is a perfect active participle of ballw[ballo] which means to throw or to cast. It should be, having cast. The perfect tense means there will be permanent results. Satan had already put it in his heart and satan is here to make sure the job is done.
“to betray Him” is incorrect, it is “that he might betray him.” It is a purpose clause: that is i(na[hina], plus the aorist active subjunctive of paradidomi[paradidomi].
The subjunctive mood is used here with i(nato indicate a purpose clause. The subjunctive mood means that Judas still has a volition. Judas must allow satan to indwell him and consent with satan’s desires.
This was the devil’s avowed purpose when he entered the room. The devil’s objective was to help the Sanhedrin fulfil their policy – John 11:49-53.
John 11:49 But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all,
John 11:50 nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish."
John 11:51 Now this he did not say on his own initiative; but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,
John 11:52 and not for the nation only, but that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
John 11:53 So from that day on they planned together to kill Him.
Satan wanted to keep Christ from going to the cross and being judged for our sins and what better way to frustrate the cross than to turn Jesus over to the Sanhedrin.
They will have a quick trial and then stone Him to death. It will be impossible for Jesus Christ to bear the sins of the world if He is bearing the weight of stones and dying physically.
The devil’s objective is to get Jesus to die physically. What the devil is afraid of (because he knows theology better than most on this point) is that somehow Jesus will get on that cross where He will bear the sins of the world and die spiritually.
The purpose of the devil is to get Judas to so betray Jesus that Jesus will never get to the cross.
If Jesus dies physically without first dying spiritually, then the whole purpose of the incarnation is destroyed. The whole ministry of Christ depends upon getting on the cross and bearing our sins.
John 13:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God, and was going back to God,
“Jesus” is not in the original but is inferred with the next verb, which is the same verb used in verse 1. We again have the humanity of Christ; “knowing” is o)ida[inherent knowledge from years of accumulating doctrine in the edification complex of the soul].
Not only did Jesus know that His hour had finally come, but He also knows beyond a doubt that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God, and was going back to God,
“the Father” is God the first person, author of the divine plan who has decreed in EP to give Jesus Christ “all things.”
This was decided upon in EP and learned and believed upon by the humanity of Christ when He reached spiritual maturity at age 12.
The “all things” is the ultimate triumph of the angelic conflict. It refers to the Second Advent, operation footstool, the Millennium, the Gog and Magog revolution, the ultimate disposition of fallen angels and unbelievers, and the ultimate eternal destiny of all born-again believers and all elect angels—all things are put in His hands.
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