Mysterious Gethsemane

As I come to this passage of Scripture I realize anew that I am not a fountain of knowledge but just a drip of humanity, a piece of dust with feeble understanding.
This is the second great temptation the Lord Jesus Christ faced. The first was in a wilderness where he met Satan’s triple temptation with the Word of God. This second temptation is in a garden where he meets the triple temptation with prayer according to the Will of God.
The transgression of the first man Adam in a Garden brought ruin to us all; the victory in the Garden of the Last Adam, the Lord from heaven, helps restore us.
The passage of Scripture is far too profound for me to explain it to you. How the Eternal Son of God, God of very God, and yet the Son of Man could endure all the suffering and shame he experienced, cannot be grasped.
Hebrews 5:7,8 tells us, Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Thou he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
Jesus was tempted in all points just like us. He understood the weakness of humanity. He cried. He grew hungry and tired. He hurt. He wept. He grieved. He struggled. He obeyed.
We cannot fully comprehend how the divine nature and the human nature of Christ related to each other in the mystery of Gethsemane. Let us enter the “olive press” with awe as we see the Son of God and Son of Man begin to take upon Himself the sins of the world.
His SOUL: The Mystery of His Sorrow
Notice the language of the various Gospels:
Mark 14:33: Sore amazed and very heavy…exceeding sorrowful unto death.
Matthew 26:37, Began to be sorrowful and very heavy…my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. (surrounded by sorrow)
Luke 22:44, And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
There was an anguished agony in the soul of the Son of Man that wounded him nearly to his death. His soul was so cast down that he almost could not take another breath. His heart was melted within his body (Psalm 22:14), the sorrows of hell surrounded him, as the sins of the world were now being laid upon Him. He was drowning in depression as sin came crashing down upon Him. Immersed in sadness, His very life breath was being squeezed from His lungs, as like a man drowning in the water cannot find air to breathe, so Jesus is at the door of death.
Psalm 55:5, Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me.
How can we even begin to relate to the suffering sorrow that Jesus felt in his soul during this moment in Gethsemane?
These verses are unprecedented in the life of Christ. No where is He so earnest in spirit or full of such heaviness than at this moment in Gethsemane. Jesus was agonized and horrified. The waves and billows of death were passing over him. There was an intensity of sadness that seemed to crush the breath from his lungs. There was an extreme alarm and astonishment of his soul that placed such pressure upon him that he was about to die.
Great drops of sweat that was mixed with blood began to fall from his body to the ground. Every pore of his sinless body became a bleeding wound as travail of soul overcame the Sovereign Son of God. Remember also that it was cold, for Peter would soon warm himself by a fire. Yet, Jesus breaks into a bloody sweat as sorrow, agony, and horror sweeps over his entire being.
Luke, the doctor tells us of Jesus’ sweat becoming as it were thick drops of blood. Down through the centuries, believers have held this to be not merely likeness to blood but literally and actually blood mingled with sweat. (The same idiom is used in John 1:14, as of…). This is called hematidrosis. The strain of the moment caused the capillaries under the skin to dilate to such an extent that they burst. The bursting of these blood vessels in the vicinity of the sweat glands caused the blood and sweat to mix together. This could happen over a large part of his body.
This was the hour of darkness and all the powers of darkness converged upon him. Jesus knew that He came for this hour of time. He had often said throughout his earthly ministry, “Mine hour is not come” (John 7:6,8, 8:20). Now was the moment, the hour that had been appointed him.
John 12:23, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
John 12:27, What shall I say, Father save me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto this hour.
Now notice what Jesus prays, “Abba Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me.” The cup was the cause of his extreme horror and agony. What was that cup?
What was it? Was it the dread of His coming death? NO. It was not merely death that horrified the Saviour. Would physical pain depress the conquering Son of God? NO. It was not merely physical pain that agonized His soul.
Was it the because of the attack and onslaught of Satan and his demons? No, Satan was no doubt there to attack the Son of God, but it was not even the Satanic assault that Jesus asked to pass from Him.
Was it the depression and sorrow of that particular moment that he was asking to be delivered from so he could go to the cross?
I believe that the cup was the cup of sin and wrath that He would take that would lead to his being forsaken and separated from His Father. Jesus Christ was so absolutely holy that the thought of taking even ONE SIN upon Him horrified him with pain. This cup that he was going to drink was the sin of all the world.
“Hebrews 2:9, That he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”
Yes, he tasted death, not merely physical death but the spiritual and eternal death during His passion.
It was at this time that he began to drink the cup from His Father’s hand. This cup was the cup full of the sins of the world and the wrath of God against sin.
Revelation 16:19 talks about the cup of the fierceness of his wrath.
This was infinitely more dreadful than physical pain, and more dreadful than any temptation Satan could hurl at him. Sin was the worst thing the absolutely holy Son of God could conceive of, for sin separates a soul from God.
His soul was being made an offering for sin. He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. The Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. Yes, the Father hath bruised His very own Son with our sin,
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief…He shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied (Isaiah 53:10a, 11a).
All HELL was distilled in that cup. All that hell contained was there for the Son of God to taste in full. The darkness, the fire, the weeping, and the separation from His Father.
John 12:27, Now is my soul troubled.
Matt.26:37, very heavy, completely consumed by the burning thought.
Mark 14: sore amazed, full of horror
Matt.26:38, Exceeding sorrowful, surrounded by sorrow.
Being made sin and bearing the sin of the world was the reason He was surrounded by sorrow. The desertion and forsakenness that would culminate with the words, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me,” are now becoming a reality to the Son of God.
Matthew Henry said, “He was now bearing the iniquities which the Father laid upon Him.”
Spurgeon said, “You know that Peter writes, ‘Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree;’ but we are not to gather, from that passage, that his substitutionary sufferings were limited to the tree, for the original might bear this rendering,- that he bore our sins in his own body up to the tree, that he came up the the tree bearing that awful load, and still continued to bear it on the tree.”
I am saying that the mystery of this agony and the cup to which Jesus refers relates to the sins of the world and God’s wrath against man for his sin.
That we do not grasp the extreme agony of Jesus shows that we do not understand the awfulness of sin. We are more like the disciples than we want to admit. They were smug, self-confident, and totally oblivious to the crisis of the moment. We sin with impunity. That is we think we are privileged and that we have some kind of permission to sin; that sin will not have a payday for us or that we can sin without consequences. We are careless and deceived. Herein is the deceitfulness of sin. We are oblivious to the danger around us. Jesus commands them to stay awake and watch, but they fall asleep three different times! Jesus had told them what was going on time and again, but they had not grasped the Gospel work that Jesus was about to do. They were focused on the Kingdom and not the cross.
When we think of sin we easily see pleasure involved. Look at beer commercials on television or billboards. Does it look horrible? No, we see the glamour, pleasure, and excitement of sin. Even Scripture speaks about the pleasures of sin for a season. When Jesus thought of sin, there was no such thing. To Jesus, sin could have no glamour or pleasure, not even for an instant. Why? Because sin separates from God. This was the essence of horror to Jesus. To endure any separation from His Father was a thought that filled him with horror.
Jesus bore the sin of drunkenness, fornication, cursing, hate, bitterness, murder. Jesus did not become a sinner, for He was sinless and entirely holy, but he who knew no sin became SIN for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He bore the consequences, the penalty, the wrath of God for the sins of the world.
At this moment of sorrow, he appeals to his three closest disciples to watch with him. It is always wise to ask others to enter into our burden with us, but we must never depend upon human help. Sometimes our best friends go to sleep at the wheel at our time of need. Can we ever blame anyone for our sin? No. God wants us to encourage one another, but when we do not get the encouragement that we expected, we cannot blame others for our sin.
Can we enjoy sin when we see the horror and sorrow that it caused our Lord?
Can we sin lightly when we see that it sat so heavily upon Him?
Should we not mourn and weep over sins we have committed? Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
If Christ so suffered for sin, let us arm ourselves likewise with the same mind, for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin. To keep from sin, do not look at the momentary excitement of it, but see the ultimate consequences of sin: the death, desertion, loneliness, it causes. More than that, see what your sin did to the Savior and the horror that it laid upon Him.
We must see the passion and suffering that Christ endured for our sin and we must arm ourselves with the same mind. See Christ’s horror to become sin and suffer even a moment of separation from His Father. They that are Christ’s have crucified their flesh with the passions and lust.
His sorrow amazes us because He is divine. We cannot fathom the hatred and horror that God has toward sin, for we are sinners by nature and deed. Neither can we fathom His love for a world of sinners. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!
(See the real humanity of Jesus; the intolerable nature of sin; the eternal love of Christ;
His Will: The Mystery of His SUBMISSION
Here Jesus asks that if it is possible, the cup pass from him. How can this be? How can we understand this? Again, here we see the mystery of His submission.
God’s Will requires PLEADING, PASSIONATE PRAYER
Satan is not mentioned in these lines, but no doubt he was there in that Garden with a host of demons to taunt and tempt the Savior. This is the greatest conflict that Jesus has faced in his earthly life.
Now, we as fallen, sinful human beings are so filled with pride that we do not want to admit any weakness. We want to talk about how much WILL-POWER we have, and we love to puff up our flesh with our pride. I AM THE GREATEST, is the proud and boastful attitude of our fallen being.
On the contrary, here is the UNFALLEN, SINLESS Son of God who realizes the weakness of humanity. Now, here is the mystery that is beyond our comprehension, and this is why some things in Scripture will never make sense to us, but here it is: Jesus Christ is God, but He emptied Himself of the independent use of some of the prerogatives of Deity when He became a man. He was and is fully God yet he emptied Himself of the outward display and also the independent USE of certain of His attributes. In emptying Himself, he took on human flesh and the limitations that come with humanity. He was completely human and therefore experienced all the weakness and limitations of the flesh without ever sinning.
He took on flesh and so took on the weakness of human flesh that is common to us: he grew hungry, tired, and thirsty. He also endured temptation and he would experience the supreme human weakness: death.
Hebrews 4:15, For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Hebrews 5:7,8: Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Thou he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.
He learned what it was to obey and to submit to His Father by experience.
His submission is seen by His POSTURE. He fell on the ground. Matthew tells us he fell on his face. He fell to the ground from which all of us are made. What humility Jesus demonstrates.
His submission is seen by His PASSION, Abba, Father…The speaks of the intimate relationship Jesus had with His Father.
He prays to His Father and relies upon His Love for Him.
His submission is seen by His PRAYER. But notice the amazing as Jesus resigns Himself to the perfect will of His Father.
“Take away this cup, from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.”
As he prayed an angel appeared strengthening Him. How amazing and mysterious is this, that the Creator should be strengthened by one of His creatures! We see that Jesus recoiled and repelled the notion of becoming sin so much that he despised the suffering. Does this mean that Jesus faltered in His resolve or sin in any way? No, a thousand times, no! Nevertheless, he recoiled at the notion of becoming sin and He did not anticipate being forsaken by his friends and His Father when He drank the cup of suffering and shame.
If He did not humanly dread and despise this suffering His sacrifice would have been no sacrifice at all. Would He have suffered if He was not sensitive to all His sacrifice embraced? Would He truly have suffered and sacrificed if He did not despise the shame and the unimaginable sorrow of separation?
The fact that He despised His suffering with all of His being made His suffering so valuable and yes, powerful to take away the sins of the world.
Can you imagine that even the Son of God had to say, “nevertheless not what I will, but thy will be done.” Do you not find it amazing that the will of the Son in His humanity was different than the will of His Father? Yet, because of what Jesus had to endure and the sacrificial suffering He had to experience, so it had to be. He recoiled from broken communion with His Father. He shrank from even a moment of separation. Even though the Son did not humanly want to become sin and bear the eternal wrath of God in His body, He submitted. He boldly said, “Thy will be done.”
Here is the perfect statement of the perfect man.
Our response to all of Satan’s attacks must be single-minded, determined, passionate prayer that desires above all else, THY WILL BE DONE.
God’s Will is ALWAYS RIGHT
Can you say “thy will be done” in every aspect of your life?
What about your career? Are you seeking your will or God’s will?
What about your family?
What about your future?
What about your health? Your financial condition?
What about your service to God?
If the perfect man had to pray this prayer three times with such intensity, how much more do we?
Thy Will be done is the statement of submission and obedience.
Thy will be done is a statement realizing that
God’s will brings ultimate joy: “for the joy that was set before Him He endured the cross, despising the shame.”
God’s will takes courage: To say this is not for weaklings. To live for God and do battle against the world, the flesh, and the Devil takes the ultimate warrior.
Here is the key to overcoming personal selfishness and from doing our own will:
The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. The flesh easily gets sick, feels pain, and craves for comfort. The spirit is eager and ready to sacrifice for a great cause. The spirit is eager to live for a purpose that will outlast our brief earthly existence. The spirit is eager to suffer in order to behave bravely and courageously. The flesh is weak, however. The flesh wants to be safe, comfortable, and free of pain. The flesh wants to be indulged and pampered. The only way to overcome the weakness of our humanity is through agonizing, persistent prayer that pleads with a Loving God.
The reason we sin is we do not agonize in prayer. We do not resist sin with this kind of passionate prayer!
Hebrews 12:2-4.
Oh, the mystery of Gethsemane!
No matter how much grief and sorrow you endure, you have not yet resisted unto blood. Your anguish has not yet caused sweat drops of blood to appear on your brow.
No matter how much grief and sorrow you endure, you never have to endure it separate from your God. He has promised never to leave you, and we can be sure that His promise is true (Hebrews 13:5,6).