Matthew 26:39
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus said; “not what I will but what you will.” Jesus completely turned his life over to the father, human and divine – ultimately, he was saying that it was not about him, rather the plan of God for human redemption. Jesus knew that He would experience agonies beyond human reason. He knew that at any moment He could call and end to the horrific suffering and torment, but He also knew that the will of the Father was that He endured all that was before Him for the sake of the remission of sins guilt. Again, it was not about Him, but us.
As part of what Jesus would suffer was a plethora of physical agonies. He would be beat without mercy to a state where He was hardly recognizable. His face would have to endure an enormous beating with some accounts referring to it lasting all through the night. His eyes would be bruised and mutilated, the bones in His face crushed and all of this totally undeserved. Then there was the flogging. Church history tells us that most criminals never experienced the full 40 lashes of a complete flogging. Why? Because of the extreme blood loss. The Romans wanted the criminals to live long enough to experience the severity of the cross. The Romans wanted them to be a visual wailing witness to the community. “This is what happens to you when you mess with the Romans!” But Jesus endured it all. This was one of the last moments on earth that Jesus proved that He was God in the flesh. Nowhere in church history is there a record of a man enduring all that Jesus endured and living to carry His own cross much less spending six hours on it. Jesus simply would not release His Spirit until the job was done!
Then there was the agony of that which is perfect being made sin and punished for the entire human race. How could anyone ever endure such a thing? They couldn’t, that was another declaration of Jesus’ divinity! Only God could bear the weight of such sin, and only God’s Son could endure all that He did for the sole reason of “love.” When I survey, what Jesus has done for me especially, I just want to honor Him for all of time, one day I pray that I receive that opportunity in His presence in Paradise.
It only makes sense, if the wages of sin are death, and I would have to spend eternity in Hell experiencing death without end, how could anyone ever pay for the sins of the world? They couldn’t! Enter Jesus! In a divine act of love and obedience, one that will never be repeated, Jesus said “it’s not about me… it’s about those that love the Father and trust in Me, those I love." But so that all will have the opportunity to be saved, I will die for them all, even those who will never accept Me or my sacrifice on their behalf. And I do this for love,”
Have you ever come up with a question that you couldn’t answer and simply filed it in the back of your mind for when you could ask God directly? I’ve got one: “Jesus, what was the most horrible part of Your sacrifice for the sins of the world?” I believe that He will say, “the separation from God the Father.”
Jesus had never been separated from God the Father in all of time and beyond. Jesus had never been away from God in the Triune form. Jesus was God, is God and was always God, but now He was willing to give that up. Can you even begin to imaging the horrors of what would await Him? The Creator becoming “created,” the perfect becoming sin, the all-knowing becoming a student of others. To step down from being God has to be the most unfathomable event in all of history. Again, a declaration of who Jesus is … God.
NOTE TO SELF: Take a moment, and reflect with awe on the sacrifice of God for you
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus said; “not what I will but what you will.” Jesus completely turned his life over to the father, human and divine – ultimately, he was saying that it was not about him, rather the plan of God for human redemption. Jesus knew that He would experience agonies beyond human reason. He knew that at any moment He could call and end to the horrific suffering and torment, but He also knew that the will of the Father was that He endured all that was before Him for the sake of the remission of sins guilt. Again, it was not about Him, but us.
As part of what Jesus would suffer was a plethora of physical agonies. He would be beat without mercy to a state where He was hardly recognizable. His face would have to endure an enormous beating with some accounts referring to it lasting all through the night. His eyes would be bruised and mutilated, the bones in His face crushed and all of this totally undeserved. Then there was the flogging. Church history tells us that most criminals never experienced the full 40 lashes of a complete flogging. Why? Because of the extreme blood loss. The Romans wanted the criminals to live long enough to experience the severity of the cross. The Romans wanted them to be a visual wailing witness to the community. “This is what happens to you when you mess with the Romans!” But Jesus endured it all. This was one of the last moments on earth that Jesus proved that He was God in the flesh. Nowhere in church history is there a record of a man enduring all that Jesus endured and living to carry His own cross much less spending six hours on it. Jesus simply would not release His Spirit until the job was done!
Then there was the agony of that which is perfect being made sin and punished for the entire human race. How could anyone ever endure such a thing? They couldn’t, that was another declaration of Jesus’ divinity! Only God could bear the weight of such sin, and only God’s Son could endure all that He did for the sole reason of “love.” When I survey, what Jesus has done for me especially, I just want to honor Him for all of time, one day I pray that I receive that opportunity in His presence in Paradise.
It only makes sense, if the wages of sin are death, and I would have to spend eternity in Hell experiencing death without end, how could anyone ever pay for the sins of the world? They couldn’t! Enter Jesus! In a divine act of love and obedience, one that will never be repeated, Jesus said “it’s not about me… it’s about those that love the Father and trust in Me, those I love." But so that all will have the opportunity to be saved, I will die for them all, even those who will never accept Me or my sacrifice on their behalf. And I do this for love,”
Have you ever come up with a question that you couldn’t answer and simply filed it in the back of your mind for when you could ask God directly? I’ve got one: “Jesus, what was the most horrible part of Your sacrifice for the sins of the world?” I believe that He will say, “the separation from God the Father.”
Jesus had never been separated from God the Father in all of time and beyond. Jesus had never been away from God in the Triune form. Jesus was God, is God and was always God, but now He was willing to give that up. Can you even begin to imaging the horrors of what would await Him? The Creator becoming “created,” the perfect becoming sin, the all-knowing becoming a student of others. To step down from being God has to be the most unfathomable event in all of history. Again, a declaration of who Jesus is … God.
NOTE TO SELF: Take a moment, and reflect with awe on the sacrifice of God for you
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