Posted on 04/03/2024 11:01:51 AM PDT by metmom
“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane” (Matthew 26:36).
The agony of Jesus’ death, beginning with His ordeal in the Garden of Gethsemane, is something finite believers will never fully comprehend.
C.H. Spurgeon, in an 1880s sermon, said this to his congregation: “It will not be enough for you to hear, or read [about Christ]; you must do your own thinking and consider your Lord for yourselves. . . . Shut yourself up with Jesus, if you would know him.” However, even those who most conscientiously follow Spurgeon’s admonition to meditate on Jesus’ Person and ministry find the effort reveals much about Him that is beyond human understanding.
As we continue our study of the events leading up to the Lord’s sacrificial death, we also realize that it’s difficult to grasp the full meaning of many of them. Even with the aid of the Spirit’s illumination, we find the weight of Jesus’ agony and suffering more than our minds can completely fathom. As the sinless God-man, He could perceive the full scope of sin’s horror in a way we never can.
Like every other aspect of Jesus’ life, though, His agony in Gethsemane was part of God’s foreordained plan of redemption. Christ’s intense sorrow and mental wrestling in the face of His mission to take away the sin of the world fit perfectly with Scripture’s portrait of Him. The prophet Isaiah predicted that He would be “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3). In John 11:35 “Jesus wept” at Lazarus’ grave. Luke 19:41 tells us that at His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, “He saw the city and wept over it.”
The Lord Jesus’ experience in Gethsemane was the final accumulation of all the hardships, sorrows, and griefs He had to deal with in His earthly ministry. And our Lord, through His dark struggle in the Garden, is the best role model we will ever have of a godly response to trials and temptations. In view of His sacrificial death for us, His response to adversity should cause us to stand in awe of our great Savior and desire to follow His example.
Suggestions for Prayer
Pray that the Lord would strengthen your resolve to follow His example in dealing with trials.
For Further Study
Read John 11:1-46, and list some parallels you see in verses 30-44 between Jesus’ reactions to Lazarus’s death and how He would respond to His own suffering and death.
From Strength for Today by John MacArthur Copyright © 1997. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com.
Studying God’s Word ping
I’ve often pondered what Christ experienced on the cross and the 3 days following. As humans we are unable to understand it fully. If we did could i believe it would destroy us.
I forever thank our almighty Lord Jesus for loading our sins onto Himself. I thank Him for enduring such contradiction of sinners.
I thank Him for enduring the cross and extending forgiveness for the abject shame that was heaped upon Him. I thank Him for being obedient unto His horrifying death upon that cross.
And I thank Him for the infinite grace that extends to the likes of us the sublime offer of His pure righteousness in exchange for our rotten sins.
A while ago I tracked down the grave of the minister who I grew up with in the 1960s and 70s. He is buried with his wife and only son who died in a car accident at the age of 21. On the marker was 1st Corinthians 13:12. That verse speaks to this devotional.
Thanks for this post!
Not one Christian alive in the flesh can ever comprehend His suffering, agony, grief, and complete rejection by The Father while on the cross - which was the worst part of His torture I believe.
The more I try the more questions I have.
The real kicker of all of this is that in the Eternal Realm, the angelic body saw and now know that The Lord loves us more than them.
You start to get a sense as to why a rebellious Cherub started his civil war over this love contest. We’re just mud beings after all.
So many questions to ask….
All Glory to The Lord Jesus for loving us so much!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.