Powerful Name

There are certain events in the Bible which inspire, amaze, astound, intrique and some even confuse. One of the events that seems to do all of these is the betrayal of Christ by Judas, one of His closest friends and companions during the final three years of His life.

I believe that the story of the betrayal is culminated in John 18:6, "As soon as he has said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground." (KJV)

Here we have Judas, Roman soldiers, Temple guards, and members of the chief priests and Pharisees all banding together to come and arrest Jesus of Nazareth. They left town and traveled to the garden with the knowledge of what they intended to do. They came with armed soldiers to help carry out their plan. They knew that they were approaching a small group of what they considered to be radicals. Therefore, we must assume that they were prepared for some necessary use of force. And the actions by Peter showed that they had reason to expect this.

So with a prepared, armed, and well planned group of men, they suddenly find themselves in a very awkward position. Scripture tells us that as soon as Jesus said, "I am he," they fell to the ground. What is important about this event is the exact Hebrew word that Jesus used to announce Himself. The New Testament was written in Greek, but it is obvious from the experience that Jesus used the Hebrew name for God, Yahweh. And the very power of that name knocked down to the ground not only the Jews who would have understood the significance of it, but also the Romans soldiers.

The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary puts it this way:

"As soon then as he said unto them, I am He, they went backward-recoiled and fell to the ground-struck down by a power such as that which smote Saul of Tarsus and his companions to the earth (Ac 26:14). It was the glorious effulgence of the majesty of Christ which overpowered them. "This, occurring before His surrender, would show His power over His enemies, and so the freedom with which He gave Himself up" [Meyer]."

Jesus had the ultimate Power Name. And in using the name that He had given to the Israelites through Moses, Jesus showed that He had all authority over everything that was about to happen to Him. They had no power, regardless of what authority had sent them, to arrest, try and eventually crucify their God. And further, there was no power in heaven or earth that could keep Him in His grave. What a powerful name.