Judas the betrayer had guided armed soldiers and temple officials to capture Jesus (John 18:2-3).  However, He was not going to run away; He was ready to be taken.  The cross was the essential part of His mission, and Satan’s worst schemes would only bring Him greater glory (John 17:1-5).  Jesus was fully in command of the situation.  He was not taken by surprise at all.  But there was a huge surprise in store for His captors.

Jesus took command by asking the arrest squad who they were looking for.  “Jesus of Nazareth”, they replied.  Jesus’ answer stunned them.  “I am”, He said.  [Note that the Greek simply says ‘I am’ and not ‘I am he’].  By saying, “I am”, Jesus revealed His divine identity by using the personal Name of God - “I AM” - the Name by which God identified Himself to Moses (Exodus 3:14).  It continued to be used in the Old Testament as YHWH [in Hebrew], Yahweh or Jehovah [English transliterations].  God’s Name is translated in our English Bibles as ‘LORD’.  

Jesus’ evil enemies were totally unprepared to meet God in the darkness.  They were rightly afraid to seize Him, and they fell backwards on the ground in God’s awesome presence.  Three times Jesus called Himself by God’s Name.  Although Jesus could have escaped, He neither ran away nor prayed for deliverance (John 12:27).  Even though Judas was present and clearly visible to the faithful disciples, Jesus identified Himself a second time and agreed to be taken as their victim.  He was in control of the night.  He offered Himself to be killed but protected His disciples.  It was a little parable of what would happen on the cross a few hours later, when He was punished for the sins of the world.  He took the blame for guilt that was not His own, to save sinners who believed in Him (1 Peter 2:21-25).
 
What love!  God gave Himself up for us all, to redeem us from our sins and rescue us from control of a dark world (Galatians 1:3-4; Titus 2:11-14).  For our sake He chose to be taken so that we might be free (2 Corinthians 5:21).  He died instead of us so that we might live to serve the Lord.  He does not abandon His saved ones to evil but delivers them from the Evil One (Matthew 6:13).  So do not be afraid!  If God is for you, who can be against you!? (Romans 8:31).