The Garden of Gethsemane is well-known, not only in Christian circles, but also among many who do not know the Lord. It is found on the eastern side of Jerusalem, on a slope rising gently from the Kidron valley, on the way to villages that were present when our Lord was on earth — Bethany and Bethphage. Once a traveler was over the ridge, the terrain sloped rather sharply downward towards Jericho.
The area was well-known for thousands of years, for David crossed the brook Kidron and “went up by the ascent of mount Olivet” (2 Sam. 15:3030And David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot: and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up. (2 Samuel 15:30)). It was a place where Jesus “ofttimes resorted ... with His disciples” (John 18:22And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples. (John 18:2)). It was a place of refuge from the noise and the crowds of Jerusalem that surrounded our Lord and Master during the day, and it does not seem that these crowds followed Him there, as they sometimes did around the Sea of Galilee. The name Gethsemane means “oil press” or “olive press,” as the slope was covered with olive trees. Indeed, some very old olive trees are still there, probably dating back to the twelfth century. Any olive trees that were there during our Lord’s time were likely cut down by the Romans during the siege of Jerusalem in 69-70 A.D.
A Place of Peace
It was a place of peace and quiet, and not only did the Lord go there with His disciples, but sometimes by Himself, to have a time of prayer, and even to spend the night — see Luke 21:3737And in the day time he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the mount of Olives. (Luke 21:37). Whether there was a garden separate from the olive grove is hard to say, but it was evidently a place that was cared for and cultivated—a pleasant place to visit!
However, when the name “the Garden of Gethsemane” comes to mind, it immediately brings before us the time our Lord spent there with three of His disciples just before going to the cross. What a scene that was, and surely unequaled in the annals of time, or even of eternity! In the very night that He would be arrested and eventually crucified, we see the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, as man, contemplating the cross and all that it meant. He could say, “Now is My soul troubled” (John 12:2727Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. (John 12:27)), and Mark 14:3535And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. (Mark 14:35) records that He “fell on the ground.” What an agony was His, as He faced the sin question — a question He would settle for all eternity! Eventually all this resulted in “His sweat ... as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:4444And 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 22:44)). This is a very rare medical condition called hematidrosis, in which, under terrible stress, small amounts of blood leach out from the blood vessels and mix with the sweat. When we think of who our Lord was, it touches our hearts to their greatest depths, to think that He went through all this.
The Garden of Eden
Much of what we have been saying has been commented upon in other issues of The Christian, but since this issue is on “Gardens,” we will focus more closely on that theme. When God created man, He placed him in a garden — the Garden of Eden—where everything was beautiful and when sin had not yet spoiled this world. Here there was everything to make man perfectly happy and comfortable, yet he failed in the one commandment God gave him. Several thousand years later, the One of whom it had been prophesied concerning Satan that “He shall crush thy head” (Gen. 3:1515And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15) JND) was also in a garden.
It was gracious of God not to allow the full effects of the fall to overwhelm this world. There were still gardens in the days of our Lord’s ministry, and there are still gardens today, although spoiled by sin. It is precious to think of our Lord’s resorting to the garden on the Mount of Olives, but how different it was from what Adam and Eve experienced! It was rest and respite for Him from time to time, but now, just before the cross, it was not to experience rest, but rather to go through all the agony of the cross with His Father. Here were the tears, the fear, the sweating, the prayer that He might be delivered from drinking that cup of wrath. But when our Lord had gone through all this, He could calmly submit to the Father’s will. When later He faced the world, whether Jew or Gentile, He could do so in perfect peace and in complete control of all His circumstances.
A Stone’s Cast
None of His own could follow the Lord Jesus in going to the cross. When He went through the distress of facing what it meant to drink that cup that His Father had given Him, it is recorded that “He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast” (Luke 22:4141And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, (Luke 22:41)). Yet since redemption has been accomplished, many of His own have been through an agony with God about what they were facing in their lives, and then they have been able to go through it all with a strength and courage that only God could give. The world never saw the tears and the agony they faced privately in God’s presence; they saw only the calmness and peace that was the result.
Our Lord, in the presence of His Father and in earnest prayer to Him, never succumbed to temptation as Adam and Eve had. He was faithful and obedient where they had failed, and His victory at Calvary’s cross is the means not only of our salvation, but also of glorifying God as to sin. However, the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane is not the last time the Mount of Olives will see the Lord Jesus. There will come a time when our Lord will indeed return to that mount, the place called Gethsemane, but then it will be in power and glory. Major geographic changes will take place (see Zechariah 14:4-54And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. (Zechariah 14:4‑5)), of which we will not speak right now. But the One who agonized there before going to the cross will come back to claim His rightful place. As our hearts have stood in awe and reverence before that scene of agony, so may we also be among those “that love His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:88Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8)).
W. J. Prost