2013.06.23 Jesus in the Garden
Jesus´Agony and prayer
Luke 22: 39-46
750 years before Jesus was born…. Isaiah prophesied
that Jesus would be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief……. As we know sorrow
and grief followed Him all through His life…… We have been walking with Jesus
on His way to the cross….. On the cross Jesus accomplished much more than just
washing our sins away…. As we have seen in the last few weeks…… Jesus has also
with His perfect sacrifice made it possible for all of the disasters in our
lives to be turned into victory…… Our Heavenly Father uses every disaster in
our lives to mould and share us into vessels fit for the Kingdom…… Grieve and
suffer…… And the God of all comfort…. comforts us in all of our afflictions….
2 Cor 1…..
Jesus also promised us the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us into all truth…..
And then he promised that he would not leave us as orphans…… He said I will
come to you…. John 14: 18…He said I will come and live inside of you….
Then last week we were with Jesus as He prayed that
great High Priestly prayer…… In it Jesus asked the Father to protect us and
keep us without taking us out of the world… And He asked the Father to bring us
to be with him forever….. John 17:24…. After the prayer…. They sang a Psalm and
went out of the upper room….This morning we will pick up the events of this
last night with the disciples….. Turn with me to Luke 22: 39…..
Luke 22:
39-46 NKJV
39 Coming out,
He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also
followed Him. 40 When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may
not enter into temptation.”
41 And He was
withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, 42
saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless
not My will, but Yours, be done.” 43 Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven,
strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His
sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.[e]
45 When He
rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from
sorrow. 46 Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you
enter into temptation.”
Luke 22: 39-46 Schlachter 2000
39 Und er ging hinaus und begab sich
nach seiner Gewohnheit an den Ölberg. Es folgten ihm aber auch seine Jünger.
40 Und als er an den Ort gekommen war,
sprach er zu ihnen: Betet, daß ihr nicht in Versuchung kommt!
41 Und er riß sich von ihnen los,
ungefähr einen Steinwurf weit, kniete nieder, betete
42 und sprach: Vater, wenn du diesen
Kelch von mir nehmen willst — doch nicht mein, sondern dein Wille geschehe!
43 Da erschien ihm ein Engel vom
Himmel und stärkte ihn.
44 Und er war in ringendem Kampf und
betete inbrünstiger; sein Schweiß wurde aber wie Blutstropfen, die auf die Erde
fielen.
45 Und als er vom Gebet aufstand und zu
seinen Jüngern kam, fand er sie schlafend vor Traurigkeit.
46 Und er sprach zu ihnen: Was schlaft
ihr? Steht auf und betet, damit ihr nicht in Anfechtung geratet!
Jesus was a man of sorrows….. He was the suffering
servant of God that Isaiah wrote about more than 2700 years ago….. He was often
deeply moved and He was hated by many…. He knew tremendous grief in His earthly
ministry…. But the highest point of His sorrow came in the Garden….. He was
in a few hours going to drink the cup of God’s wrath…... It is here that His
sorrow became so severe that it came near to killing Him…… His sorrow in facing
death, as the sin bearer, is beyond our comprehension….. It is much higher than we can understand….
We are at the time of His agony before the cross….. We
Jesus in this great battle against temptation…...
The letter to
the Hebrews focuses on the grief of this event….. His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane….
Turn with me to Hebrews 5:7….
Hebrews 5: 7-9
NLT
7 While Jesus
was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears,
to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because
of his deep reverence for God. 8 Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned
obedience from the things he suffered. 9 In this way, God qualified him as a
perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all
those who obey him.
Hebrews 5: 7-9 Schlachter 2000
7 Solange Jesus hier auf der Erde
lebte, hat er mit lautem Schreien und unter Tränen seine Gebete und Bitten an
den einen gerichtet, der ihn aus dem Tod befreien konnte. Und weil er große
Ehrfurcht hatte vor Gott, wurde er erhört.
8 Obwohl Jesus der Sohn Gottes war,
lernte er doch durch sein Leiden, gehorsam zu sein.
9 Auf diese Weise machte Gott ihn
vollkommen, und er wurde der Retter für alle, die ihm gehorchen., der Urheber
ewigen Heils geworden,
Yes, He was the man of sorrows…… Jesus endured sinners
and the hatred of the leaders of Israel….….. He suffered unbelief and rejection all through His life and ministry……
Finally Jesus was crucified…..
Satan did not kill Jesus on the cross, God did…… He is
God’s Lamb….. God’s perfect sacrifice….. Jesus was slain by wicked men……..
But He dies as Peter would preach on the day of
Pentecost….. Acts 2: 23….
Acts 2:
23 NKJV Schlachter 2000
23 Him, being
delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken[c]
by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;
23 diesen, der nach Gottes festgesetztem
Ratschluß und Vorsehung6 dahingegeben worden war, habt ihr genommen und durch
die Hände der Gesetzlosen ans Kreuz geschlagen und getötet.
Wicked men Killed Jesus ….. but it was all part of the
Fathers perfect plan…. As Jesus moves to the cross….. Satan attempts to stop
Him…..
Luke 22: 53 says,
Luke 22: 53 NKJV
Schlachter 2000
53 When I was
with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your
hour, and the power of darkness.”
53 Als ich täglich bei euch im Tempel
war, habt ihr die Hände nicht gegen mich ausgestreckt. Aber dies ist eure
Stunde und die Macht der Finsternis.
Now the Father allows the power of darkness to lay hands on the perfect sinless Lamb of God…. This
is the greatest spiritual battle ever….. And when it is over…. Satan is defeated
and Jesus comes out of the Garden Victorious….. How severe was this battle? Look
at Mark 14….
Mark 14:34 NKJV Schlachter 2000
34 Then He
said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay
here and watch.”
34 Und er sprach zu ihnen: Meine Seele
ist tief betrübt bis zum Tod. Bleibt hier und wacht!
As we enter the Garden with Jesus…… The 11 disciples
are there….. But we go where the
Apostles did not go…... Eight of them slept near the entrance to the Garden…..
Peter James and John went a little further…..
But only Jesus went in alone and agonized in prayer…. All of the gospels record this event….. We are
taken in to that deepest place where Jesus struggled by Himself……. We witness Jesus´
private struggle with the powers of darkness…..
Remember as we have studied these many weeks now…..
Jesus is on His way to the cross….. But Jesus is not focused on Himself…… He is
concerned about His disciples…... This is a perfect illustration of His omniscience…..
As God… He knows that victory is certain…. So Jesus in His unfailing love…. Because
he is always the teacher......
He wanted them to know how to handle their own
temptations……. Jesus is always the teacher….. He is just like His heavenly
Father…. Full of compassion and unfailing love….
This morning…. As we watch Jesus struggle as He is
tempted… we’re going to learn how to face our own sin temptations…... Jesus
temptation was far more powerful than anything that we have experienced….. But we’re
still going to learn things that we can apply to our own lives…. ….. So let’s
go to the Garden with Him, verse 39.
Look with me at Luke 22: 39….
Luke 22:
39 NKJV
Schlachter 2000
39 Coming out,
He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also
followed Him.
39 Und er ging hinaus und begab sich
nach seiner Gewohnheit an den Ölberg. Es folgten ihm aber auch seine Jünger.
Jesus has celebrated the Passover with His
disciples….. Jesus spent hours ministering to His own….. He warned and
comforted them…..
There are only hours now and He will be crucified…. As we studied The Gospel of John in the last
few weeks we have a fuller understanding of all that Jesus said and did this
night…. John records much of what Jesus
said in chapters 13 -17…... Jesus also prayed His great High Priestly prayer……
That is what we studied last week….It is the most powerful prayer in Scripture…..
Then they did what they did every other night that
week, went right to the Mount of Olives……. They went to a Garden called Gethsemane…...
Here is our Lord Jesus at the heights of supernatural
conflict with the devil….. And yet in compassion our Lord uses this conflict to
instruct His own on how to face temptation….
We remember also that Luke points out to us how many
points of trouble there were....... trouble with the betrayer Judas….. trouble with the disciples arguing about which
of them is the greatest…. trouble with Satan coming to sift them…..
Trouble with the hostile world….. Soon His enemies
would kill Him and then persecute His followers……
In the case of the disciples…. There was lots of
trouble….. They looked completely inept as those who would evangelize the world
because all they can think about is their own glory in the Kingdom….. and yet
they are faithful They are still with Him…. They are following Him…. Even
though not perfectly…. Jesus comforts
them and encourages them…. And Jesus
says to them, You will all run away…..
But I have prayed for you….. You will one day rule and reign with me in
eternity….
Victory in the
midst of trouble….. In fact the cross provides us troubles that are transformed
into victory….. God uses our hard times for our own good and for His eternal
Glory…. As I said Jesus prophesied victory over Satan because
He prayed for them and for us…. He said….
Luke 22:
31,32 NLT
31 “Simon,
Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. 32 But I have pleaded in
prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have
repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.”
Luke 22: 31,32 Neues Leben
31 Simon, Simon, Satan hat euch alle
haben wollen. Er wollte euch durchsieben wie Weizen.
32 Doch ich habe für dich gebetet,
dass dein Glaube nicht aufhöre. Wenn du also später umgekehrt und zu mir
zurückgekommen bist, dann stärke deine Brüder.«
Peter will deny Jesus…. but he will be restored …. and
he will become the great preacher on the Day of Pentecost…. And of course
trouble from the world…. They will kill Him….
but the worst the world can do is to number Him with the transgressors and thus fulfill the Word of God as laid out in Isaiah 52-53……. The
suffering servant passages….
But all of that trouble only leads up to this trouble…..
The greatest trouble our Lord faces is not the indirect trouble from friends
and enemies…. but the direct trouble that comes from Satan himself….. Satan comes after Him in the Garden…... Jesus
wins this battle in prayer….. intense agony and prayer…..
Our Lord also instructs us here by His own example and His own
words….. Jesus shows us how we are to
face our temptation and sin….. Because we see Jesus telling His disciples how they
were to face theirs…… We can find four Important elements in Jesus temptation
and prayer that I believe we need to understand……
Temptation and
sin
1 Expectation v 40
2 Affliction v41,42
3 Submission v 42b
4 Restoration v43
Let´s start with 1 Expectation….. Luke 22v 40
Luke 22: 40 NKJV Schlachter 2000
40 When He
came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into
temptation.”
40 Und als er an den Ort gekommen war,
sprach er zu ihnen: Betet, daß ihr nicht in Versuchung kommt!
Jesus is saying expect to be tempted…. Pray that you
may not literally “be overwhelmed by temptation” Pray.’”
Jesus he was temptable….. He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin….. He
could not sin but He could be tempted….. He did not sin…… but He was tempted…..
He had been tempted before… but here would be the greatest temptation of His
entire life….. . As a human…. He had become temptable….. Jesus is pure and
Holy…. As God His is Totally incapable of sinning…. He also knew the
reality of human weakness….. He had
willingly subjected Himself to temptation…
Jesus temptation became so intense that it almost killed Him……
here’s Matthew’s record of Jesus’ statement in Matt
26:38,….
Matthew 26: 38 NKJV
38 Then He
said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay
here and watch with Me.”
Matthew 26: 38 Schlachter 2000
38 Da spricht er zu ihnen: Meine Seele
ist tief betrübt bis zum Tod. Bleibt
hier und wacht mit mir!
He is struggling so hard that He is on the brink of
death….. He wants His disciples to stay awake and watch and pray….. Jesus is
struggling with great temptation……
But it is different than when we struggle with
temptation…..
We’re all sinners….. And as believers, we struggle
with temptation because of our sinful flesh….
Though we have been forgiven…… and though we have been
made new in the Lord Jesus….. we’re like
Lazarus we came out of the grave….. we have new life but we still often stink……
We have our dirty grave clothes on…… And we are seduced by the remnants of our
fallen sinful nature….. Satan’s temptation to us is to hold on to sin…… and to avoid righteousness…….
Satan’s temptation to us is to hold on to our pride
and sin… We struggle because the power
of evil is so strong in us…..
Unholy impulses reside in us…… Our battle is to fight
against our internal attraction to sin…. to fight against our fallenness…… and to
abandon it and embrace righteousness and holiness and purity…..
That was not the
Lord´s struggle….. Christ struggled with temptation in exactly the opposite
way......
He struggled because of His holiness…. He struggled
because He was totally devoted only to that which was pure and righteous and
perfect….. everything Jesus did was
holiness pure …… We struggle with three things… the lust of the flesh… the lust
of the eyes…. the pride of life…. Jesus struggled his perfect Holiness….
For us, we’re trying to abandon sin and embrace
holiness….. For Him, He was being tempted to abandon holiness and embrace sin
bearing….. Just the opposite…..
This is repulsive to Him….. He’s not like us…. He’s
not fighting against sinful impulses to be holy….. He’s fighting against the
horrible idea of becoming sin…… because of His Holy impulses…. Jesus is like His heavenly Father…… Holy and
blameless….. turn with me to Hebrews 7:26….
Hebrews
7:26 NLT Neues Leben
26 He is the
kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin.
He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of
honor in heaven.*
26 Denn ein solcher Hoherpriester tat
uns not, der heilig, unschuldig, unbefleckt, von den Sündern abgesondert und
höher als die Himmel ist,
It was God´s plan for Jesus to become sin for us…. for
our Holiness….
2 Cor
5:21 NKJV Schlachter 2000
21For He made
Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of
God in Him.
21 Denn er hat den, der von keiner
Sünde wußte, für uns zur Sünde gemacht, damit wir in ihm [zur] Gerechtigkeit
Gottes würden.
It was God´s plan for Jesus to become sin for us……. But
still we see how hard that was…. Jesus was fighting against holy impulses……. We
have to fight against sinful impulses……. We fight to hold on to God….. He
fights to let go of God….. We fight to be joined to God….. Jesus fought against
being separated from God…... We fight against God because we love our sin….. In
the face of this huge conflict…. Jesus is thinking about
His own Apostles whom He loves…..
They are going
to struggle that same night with their own temptations….. and they need going
to be ready….. He makes Himself ready by prayer….. and He knows they need to do
the very same…… He exhorts them to pray! Jesus had always expected this hour…..
this hour of temptation…... It was a temptation to let go of all that He had
known…… He had never been separated from
the Father…. never been made the bearer of the wrath of God for sin…… It was
terrible for Jesus….
And so, it says when He arrived at the place, He said
to them, “Pray that You may not enter into temptation.” He was going to go and
do the very same thing, they needed to do it as well. He left eight of them
near where He entered, took Peter, James and John, according to Matthew and
Mark, in deeper, left them and went alone to pray.
He told them….. Pray so that temptation does not
overwhelm you…… And then He went to pray alone.
They couldn’t go with Him…... because it’s a
temptation the likes of which none of us could ever stand up against…. Jesus
warned them to prepare them…. And in order to prepare them for their own great
struggles against sin and temptation… Jesus
says Pray!
Peter, you’re going to deny Me…… I told you Satan’s
coming after you, he wants to sift you like wheat……. He
wants to sift all of you…… And when they arrest Me and take and smite the
shepherd according to Zechariah’s words,
the sheep are going to be scattered…... It’s coming, you better pray…..
Here again is that ever-present balance between
sovereignty and human responsibility….. Jesus
says, “I have prayed for you that your faith fail not.” That’s divine
sovereignty. “But you better pray as
well.” That´s human responsibility… And what should their prayer be? He
taught them that…... When they asked Him, “Lord,
teach us to pray,” He said, “Among the things you need to pray for, pray like
this, Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”
So the lesson is clear…… Christ goes to His
temptation, they go to their temptation….. Everyone
needs to pray….. We have empty ourselves of all self-confidence….. We must
empty ourselves of all spiritual pride…. and pray for divine help…….
Now as we go with Him into this prayer, the first
aspect is expectation…..
1
expectation….
You’ve got to anticipate temptation and be ready with
prayer…… Prayer that confesses weakness…. humble, meek prayer for help and deliverance……
Anticipation is the first principle of praying in the face of temptation.......
expect trouble….. Pray…..
Jesus goes to pray in anticipation of His own temptation…..
He is praying in anticipation of and right
through the temptation……
2 affliction……
He illustrates for us here in such powerful terms that
one who prays honestly and earnestly in the face of temptation feels afflicted.
There is an agony in legitimate prayer. Luke is brief on this. Matthew and Mark
record how Jesus took Peter, James and John a little further and how He went a
little further in alone and then how He came out once, and then He went back
and prayed, came out again, then went back and prayed. Finally came out a third
time. All those details are laid out by Matthew and Mark in their account.
For Luke, it’s enough to say, verse 41, “He withdrew
from them about a stone’s throw and knelt down and began to pray.” And here we
come face to face with His affliction….. “Knelt down,” that’s the term that
Luke uses, a verb that he uses….. Peter,
James and John aren’t there, they’re a stone’s throw back…… but because of the Word of God… we are there with
Jesus…. and it says He knelt down…... This is where we begin to consider the
severity of the affliction that He is feeling as He struggles in this temptation…… a theologian from South Africa….. J.
Norval Geldenhuys wrote this in his commentary on the Gospel of Luke…..
"The
usual manner of prayer at that time was to pray in a standing position. That
Jesus knelt down proves the violence of His struggle in Gethsemane." J.
Norval Geldenhuys…..
He was kneeling down….. But that doesn’t tell the
whole story because having knelt, Matthew
26:39 says, “He fell on His face.” And Mark 14:33 and 35, “He began to be very
distressed and troubled and fell to the ground and began to pray.” And Hebrews
5:7, as I read earlier, “With strong crying and tears.”
What you have here is the Lord Jesus lying flat on the
ground sobbing and crying out loud in the agony of this struggle….. This is the
Man of sorrows at His most sorrowful moment….. What
distressed Him? What grieved Him? What made Him sorrow?
What was so
very hard on Him was the coming wrath of His own Father falling on Him…..
He’s now laying on the ground, and crying
out at the top of His voice…..
There is a very
important lesson here for us.….. If we´re going to triumph over temptation to
sin….. We have to hate it….. you must
feel the pain of it….. We have to know that we are sinning against the Lord
Himself….. That´s what David said so very long ago…..
We need to
struggle and agonize in prayer…. because we like Jesus… love holiness and hate sin…...
Unfortunately… because we’re not like Jesus…. , we
don’t feel His perfect hatred of sin…...
But facing temptation in prayer has to include the
basic attitude of a genuine hatred of sin…. We need to be afflicted by the
thought of sin…..
We are believers have to feel the agony of sin because
Jesus hates it….. That needs to be what
motivates us when we pray….. lead us
not into temptation…. But deliver us from evil….
Hating our sin is the key to victorious prayer…...
Our prayer
should be characterized by
1 expectation
of temptation to sin…. and
2 sorrow and affliction
at our own sinfulness……..
Thirdly, it
is also characterized by submission...
3 submission… submission to the Father´s will
even in our sufferings… verse 42….
Luke 22: 42 NKJV
Schlachter 2000
42 saying,
“Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My
will, but Yours, be done.”
42 und sprach: Vater, wenn du diesen
Kelch von mir nehmen willst — doch nicht mein, sondern dein Wille geschehe!
That´s what Jesus said….. Pray according to My will
and I will hear and answer your prayers….. In all our struggles, the bottom
line is to submit ourselves to the Father and pray just like Jesus did….
1 john 5: 14,
15 NKJV Schlachter 2000
14 Now this is
the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His
will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know
that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
14 Und das ist die Freimütigkeit, die
wir ihm gegenüber haben, daß er uns hört, wenn wir seinem Willen gemäß um etwas
bitten.
15 Und wenn wir wissen, daß er uns
hört, um was wir auch bitten, so wissen wir, daß wir das Erbetene haben, das
wir von ihm erbeten haben.
We need to plead to know and do the will of God…..
We need to pray with all of our hearts that God will
deliver and protect and forgive us when we sin….. That’s the only way we can overcome
the flesh…… We need to feel the weight of sin…. and
long in our hearts to do the will of God……
David was such a man….. David is described in the Word
as a man after God´s own heart…. We see David´s tender heart toward God when we
read the Psalms…. For example Psalm
51…..
A fantastic place for your own quiet times….
Back to v 42….
Luke 22:
42 NKJV
Schlachter 2000
42 saying,
“Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My
will, but Yours, be done.”
42 und sprach: Vater, wenn du diesen
Kelch von mir nehmen willst — doch nicht mein, sondern dein Wille geschehe!
In the Old Testament the cup is often associated with the pouring out
of judgment…... This is the cup Jesus has in mind….. the cup of suffering….. the cup of wrath….. Jesus said no man takes my life from me…. I
lay it down…… Why is He even asking if You’re
willing, remove this cup from Me? Is
this some weakness in the Lord…
No it is not…... This is not a mistake…. He is so holy and righteous…. He is the ultimate hater of all
that is sinful and evil….. He is the ultimate hater of all that separates from
God…. This is the most normal response to the thought of sin bearing…….
Remember what Jesus said in John 12:23… let´s turn there…
John 12: 23,24 NKJV
Schlachter 2000
23 But Jesus
answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be
glorified. 24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into
the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.
23 Jesus aber antwortete ihnen und
sprach: Die Stunde ist gekommen, daß der Sohn des Menschen verherrlicht werde!
24 Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch:
Wenn das Weizenkorn nicht in die Erde fällt und stirbt, so bleibt es allein;
wenn es aber stirbt, so bringt es viel Frucht.
That’s what He said earlier….. Jesus knew exactly that
His suffering for sin….. He knew that becoming sin for us ….. would be they way
that He was Glorified….. But Now in the heat of the struggle….. with Satan bringing temptation upon Him in ways
that we’ll never understand…. it is normal for Him to feel this heavy load of sin and separation from the
Father…..
There is a level of agony that we cannot understand…
What marks His prayer so far is….
1 expectation
of temptation….
2 affliction
in the horrors of sin…. and
3 submission
in the end to the will of God…... These things must mark ours as
well…... Finally there’s a fourth, Our prayer should also be characterized
by restoration...
4 restoration…..Luke 22 v 43
Luke 22: 43 NKJV
Schlachter 2000
43 Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him.
43 Da erschien ihm ein Engel vom
Himmel und stärkte ihn.
an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening
Him?
This is wild…. There are only two times in His life when
angels showed up........ between His birth and His resurrection….. The first
time at His temptation in the wilderness, the second time, at His temptation in
the Garden….. These are the only two times…..
What is the significance of the appearance of this
angel? We don’t know what the angel did…… We don’t know what the angels did
when they showed up after His temptation in the wilderness….. You remember the
temptation in the wilderness ends, “And angels came and ministered to Him?” I
think in both cases the angel came…. sent from the Father to affirm the Father’s
love and care…… And He was strengthened in that…..
The angel is an affirmation that the Father cared for
Him….
How severe was the struggle? Why did He need an angel
to come? Agony…. v 44…
Luke 22: 44 NKJV
Schlachter 2000
44 And being
in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of
blood falling down to the ground.
44 Und er war in ringendem Kampf und
betete inbrünstiger; sein Schweiß wurde aber wie Blutstropfen, die auf die Erde
fielen.
“And “Being in agony He was praying very fervently...”
Agony is agonia….. the verb form
means to be in combat unto death, agonizomai…...
He was praying fervently, ektenes…..
medical term used of stretching muscles to the max of their capability….. Jesus
is laboring in prayer…..Jesus can’t pray any harder….. He can’t pray any
stronger…... He’s praying to the limits of His own capability….. and His sweat
became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground…..
Hebrews 12: 3,4 NKJV
Schlachter 2000
3 For consider
Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become
weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed,
striving against sin.
3 Achtet doch auf ihn, der solchen
Widerspruch3 von den Sündern gegen sich erduldet hat, damit ihr nicht müde
werdet und den Mut verliert!4 Ihr habt noch nicht bis aufs Blut widerstanden im
Kampf gegen die Sünde
He is blood/sweat saturated as He lays prone on the
ground…… He does this and then He goes back to the disciples and finds them
asleep….. And then He goes back and continues and goes through the process
until finally the agony is over….. Now
look at verse 45,
Luke 22: 45a NKJV
Schlachter 2000
45a When He
rose up from prayer
45a Und als er vom Gebet aufstand
“When He rose from prayer,” that’s all it needs to
say…. The trial is over…..Jesus has labored in prayer and as always….. Victory
is certain….. Jesus rises up from prayer….
And He came to the disciples blood soaked and found
them sleeping from sorrow…..
Luke 22v 45, 46
Luke 22: 45,46 NKJV
Schlachter 2000
45 When He
rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from
sorrow. 46 Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you
enter into temptation.”
45 Und als er vom Gebet aufstand und
zu seinen Jüngern kam, fand er sie schlafend vor Traurigkeit.
46 Und er sprach zu ihnen: Was schlaft
ihr? Steht auf und betet, damit ihr nicht in Anfechtung geratet!
We can read more
about that in Matthew….. They should
have been praying….. Jesus needed to pray…. how much more did they need to
pray? They weren’t sleeping because they were tired…. They were sleeping from sorrow…… They were very sad…. They knew they were going
to run away…. He told them that…. They
knew Peter was going to deny Him…. They knew He was going to go to the cross and
be arrested and die…..
He warned them
to pray over and over…… Yes He would pray for them….. Yes He’s the great High
Priest who intercedes for His own…... Last week we made a list of the things
that Jesus prayed for us in John 17…….
Jesus prays for our
1 preservation… Father keep and protect them…. v11
2 joy… give them my joy… v13
3 liberation…. Free them from the power of sin and
Satan… v 15
4 sanctification… make them Holy…. v17
5 Unity…. Keep them united in Me and the Gospel… v22
6 unbroken Fellowship….. bring them to be with me… v24
7 glorification…… Glorify them with the same Glory
that you have given me…. V22- 24
But we are to pray as well….., verse 46…
Luke 22: 45,46
NKJV Schlachter 2000
45 When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His
disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. 46 Then He said to them, “Why do
you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”
45 Und als
er vom Gebet aufstand und zu seinen Jüngern kam, fand er sie schlafend vor
Traurigkeit.
46 Und er
sprach zu ihnen: Was schlaft ihr? Steht auf und betet, damit ihr nicht in
Anfechtung geratet!
“He said to them, Why are you
sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation…… He said it to
them repeatedly but every time He came back…. Jesus found them asleep again…..
Stay alert, keep praying…. in the words of Matthew
26:41….. The third time He came out, according to Mark, He said, “That’s
enough. That’s it.”
No more time to pray….. No more time to prepare….. So our Lord goes to face the enemy triumph
over temptation through a prayer….. And they go to face the enemy defeated by
lack of prayer…... Our Lord has won the victory in prayer…..
He is ready to
face the enemy…… He will go to the cross……
He will be
made sin for us….. So that we might become the righteousness of God in Him….. 2
Cor 5: 21….
He will triumph over death and He will burst out of
the grave….. Jesus will be exalted to the right hand of the Father as King of
Kings and Lord of Lords forever…..
The cup is in His hand….. He’s about to drink it….. Jesus
has prayed for us that our faith would not fail….. And he tells us….. man ought
always to pray and not lose hope….. Luke 18 v1
Jesus tells us to pray! Why don´t we….
No comments:
Post a Comment