S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

The garden at Gethsemane, a place whose name literally means "oil press," is located on a slope of the Mount of Olives just across the Kidron Valley from Jerusalem. A garden of ancient olive trees ...

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July 01 2013 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Meluleki Maphosa Amateur Bible Student

The Bible says in Mark 14:34 “So he said to them, "I am deeply grieved, even to the point of death” and in Luke 22: 44 “In his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like large drops of blood falling on the ground.” There must have been something much greater and higher than what is apparent on the surface here. Three points are clear to me:


1.	The setting reminds me of the garden of Eden. In the garden of Eden that is where Man lost the glory that God had given him at creation. It must therefore be this garden that Jesus the Second Adam was going to regain that glory. The point where Adam was defeated was the point at which Jesus wrestled with that serpent of old. We can cast our eyes back to the garden to see exactly what happened there. We see Eve being deceived and Adam opting to eat and die with his wife rather than obey God. I am sure Adam was in “anguish” at the thought of losing his sweetheart, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. We know that he opted to disobey God and be with his wife. At the garden there we see God promising to deal with the serpent by sending a seed to crush its head as it bruised His heel. Adam and Eve did not die a physical death then as God put in place a substitute Adam to deal with the serpent and slay him by crushing his head. In my view the setting was then perfect for the titanic battle between the Seed and the serpent. As Jesus contemplated His death (the second death that unrepentant sinners will suffer) it was a cup to great to partake. I am sure the devil was there to remind Jesus of the failures of the human race. He was there to press anguish on Jesus to stop Him from partaking of that cup. That cup was bitter and His human fibre recoiled at partaking of that cup. The stakes were so high that the Father in heaven sent an angel to strengthen Him. Jesus had prepared His whole life for this moment when He would assume the guilt of the fallen human race. But it was not easy, it gave Him anguish and sorrow beyond human comprehension. I am sure all heaven were watching with interest this might battle going on. Jesus recoiling at the prospect that was before Him, but there was joy in heaven when He said “not My will but Your will Father”! At that point He was ready to face the cross. That is why He goes back to the 3 disciples and wakes them up to submit Himself to “arrest”. 


2.	It is sad to note that at the darkest hour for Jesus, when He needed comfort and encouragement (Jesus was as human as we are, He needed human comfort and encouragement) the same people that He came to redeem were asleep! They had no clue of the enormity of the battle into which they had been invited. Jesus alone sweated large drops of sweat that appeared like drops of blood. We cannot even begin to imagine the suffering that the Son of God went through. Worse even those that purported to represent God to Man (the High Priest) were agents of the devil to arrest and make sure Jesus is killed. If the high Priest had correctly understood scripture and applied it he would have been there to encourage Jesus and comfort at this very difficult time. 


3.	By the time Jesus submits Himself to be arrested, tortured and killed on the cross, He had already taken that cup and satan knew it hence the meting out of the horrific torture afterwards.

March 23 2015 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report