He taught as no other taught . . . as one having authority. He went one-on-one with Satan in the desert and emerged victor. He cast out demons, He healed the sick. He calmed storms . . . He walked on water. He touched lepers, making them clean . . . He gave sight to the blind . . . He made dead people alive again. So what made them think they could tie Him up? What arrogance prompted them, even after they were knocked to the ground by His declaration that He was “I am”, what arrogance prompted them to think to wrap ropes about Him? What blindness led them, even after seeing Him pick up Malchus’ ear and restore it to his empty head, what blindness led them them to think they could bind Him? But so they thought . . . and so they did . . . .

“Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, ‘Whom are you seeking?’ They answered Him, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am He.’ . . . Now when He said to them, ‘I am He,’ they drew back and fell to the ground . . . Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. So Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?’ Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him.” (John 18:4-6, 10-11)

It will get worse . . . more abusive . . . more horrific to imagine. The slapping and spitting on His face . . . the blind-folded beating and mockery . . . the scourging . . . the crown of thorns smashed about His head . . . the nails in His hands and feet . . . compared to what would follow, being tied up seems kind of minor. But as I read this morning that they bound Him, I’m marvel afresh at the humility of my Savior . . . at the submission of the Creator to His creation . . . at the meekness of Him who was determined to do the will of His Father . . . and be led as a lamb to slaughter (Isa. 53:7).

“Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.” (Genesis 22:9)

A son bound for sacrifice. Innocence confined in preparation for injustice. A Father so loving the world that He gave His one and only Son . . . wrapped up and delivered into the hands of men. What was it for Him to be bound? He who possessed the might to create all things, “and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3) . . . He who sustains all things by the power of His word (Hebrews 1:3) . . . tied up and led away.

“God is the LORD, and He has given us light; Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.” (Psalm 118:27)

The sacrifice bound to the cords of the altar so that it might be restrained from wriggling free and running off. But Jesus had no intention of “getting out of this one” . . . no thought of escape. It was time . . . time to “drink the cup” the Father had given Him . . . time to finish the work He had been sent to accomplish. Though He was bound by ropes, soon they would fall to the ground . . . though placed in a tomb, soon it would be empty . . . though put “in the ground” soon He would ascend to heaven.

He was bound for freedom.

And it really wasn’t Judas & Co. who bound Him . . . Jesus constrained Himself. The Lion of the tribe of Judah became the Lamb of God come to take away the sins of the world . . . and it pleased the Father, in fulfillment of that ancient picture, to bind Him in preparation for sacrifice . . . that I might be free . . . “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!” (John 8:36)

Yes, He was bound for freedom.

O come let us adore Him . . .