Jesus in Gethsemane.
Matt. 26:36-4636Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. 37And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. 38Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. 39And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. 40And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? 41Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. 42He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. 43And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. 44And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. 45Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. (Matthew 26:36‑46).
GETHSEMANE seems to have been a garden connected with the Mount of Olives, and a place to which Jesus often resorted with His disciples. See Luke 22:3939And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. (Luke 22:39), and John 28:1,2. To this garden Jesus went on that sorrowful night, after He had finished His instructions to His disciples at the passover table. Coming into this garden, He said to His disciples, “Sit ye here, while I go yonder and pray.” Then He took with Him Peter, James and Jobs’, and “began to be sorrowful and very heavy,” and to these three disciples He said, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here and watch with Me.”
The hour of His betrayal was just at hand, and the power of Satan was there, and the dark shadow of the cross was creeping, over His soul, and He desired sympathy and comfort. The time was come when He should have been crowned as King, and when He should have ascended the throne of David; but instead of this He was about to be betrayed, and tried with a mock trial, spit upon, buffeted, crowned with a crown of thorns, and nailed to the cross. The crown, the throne, the kingdom, must for the time be given up. And if ever He was to get that kingdom, and if His people were ever to be blessed, He must suffer for then on the cross; He must meet the power of Satan in death; and He must meet the storm of God’s wrath in order to deliver His guilty people. Oh! it was a terrible moment. Do you wonder that He was sorrowful, even unto death? And do you wonder that He craved the sympathies of His beloved disciples?
And now we get Him prostrated on the ground, and pouring out His heart and His distress to His Father. He “fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from. Me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” Three times He prayed, but each time expressed submission to His Father’s will. In Luke we are told that there “appeared unto Him an angel from heaven, strengthening him,” and in the same passage we read that, “being in an agony He prayed more earnestly; and sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Luke 22:43, 4443And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 44And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22:43‑44).
Now, I would ask, What was this cup, about which the blessed Lord prayed so earnestly? Why should it fill Him with such awful distress? What was there in the cup, the very thought of drinking which, wrung from His body the bloody sweat? Ah! my reader, it was the cup He was about to drink on the cross. Not only was He Israel’s rejected King, about to be nailed to the cross as a malefactor, but He was about to bear the sins of His guilty people, and drink for them the cup of God’s wrath. All the horrors connected with bearing sin, and enduring the judgment of God against sin, were in that cup; and it was this that brought the awful pressure on His soul that made His sweat to be as great drops of blood falling to the ground. It was His Father’s will that He should drink this cup, and He bowed to His Father’s will, even at this terrible cost.
Such is our Saviour. Oh! reader, is He your Saviour? Did He drink that cup for you? Did He bear your sins on the cross? Oh! think of the love of Jesus—that love which was stronger than death—love which many waters could not quench, and tell me, can you resist it? Will you refuse to have Him as your Saviour and your Lord? Was there ever love like His —so tender, so deep, so precious? Does it trot win your heart? Oh! turn not away from the love of Jesus. “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.” Ps. 2:12.
ML 02/18/1906