The wonderful mystery of Gethsemane

At this time of Easter, much has often been said about the crucifixion, but, not so much is said about the night before in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The movie, The Passion of Christ, by Mel Gibson, gave the impression that in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus was wrestling over the pain that He would endure in His crucifixion. There is also a beautiful song entitled, A Bridge You Cannot Burn (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWyEeAYGRxA), which focuses on the crucifixion. The lyrics say, “With only three nails and two pieces of wood, with one rugged cross Jesus built a bridge the only way He could, so we could live in glory land some day.”

Surely in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus foresaw much physical agony during His soon-coming 6 hour torture. But, what we want to look at today is that Jesus was in agony, suffering something mysterious, something unaccounted for, prior to His cross on Golgotha while He was still in Gethsemane. More than prayer for the crucifixion must have been going on the night before.

I would like to read the short gospel accounts of Jesus' experience in the Garden of Gethsemane as related by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Jesus in the Garden has been the essence of Christianity since its inception. This is what has given courage to Christians in all ages during times of persecution and difficulty.

No matter what the denomination, this is the central point of our religion, Christianity. For almost 2,000 years this is what Christians have rehearsed. This tradition is your gift from Jesus. May it never get old. So, together we are going to lovingly, and with great reverence, look at this ancient source of faith and hope, like the earliest congregations read it together while in hiding during the days of the Caesars and during the Dark Ages.

According to Matthew:
“Mat 26:36  Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.

Mat 26:37  And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

Mat 26:38  Then saith He unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with Me.

Mat 26:39  And He went a little further, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.

Mat 26:40  And He cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with Me one hour?

Mat 26:41  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Mat 26:42  He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.

Mat 26:43  And He came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.

Mat 26:44  And He left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.”

According to Mark:
“Mar 14:32  And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and He saith to His disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray.

Mar 14:33  And He taketh with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;

Mar 14:34  And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.

Mar 14:35  And He went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him.

Mar 14:36  And He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from Me: nevertheless not what I will, but what Thou wilt.

Mar 14:37  And He cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour?

Mar 14:38  Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

Mar 14:39  And again He went away, and prayed, and spake the same words.”

According to Luke:
“Luk 22:39  And He came out, and went, as He was wont, to the mount of Olives; and His disciples also followed Him.

Luk 22:40  And when He was at the place, He said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.

Luk 22:41  And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,

Luk 22:42  Saying, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done.

Luk 22:43  And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him.

Luk 22:44  And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Luk 22:45  And when He rose up from prayer, and was come to His disciples, He found them sleeping for sorrow,

Luk 22:46  And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.”

According to John:
“Joh 18:1  When Jesus had spoken these words, He went forth with His disciples over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which He entered, and His disciples.”

Let's look a little deeper at the original Greek words.

“Mat 26:36  Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane,^G1068

 and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.

Mat 26:37  And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful^G3076 and very heavy.^G85

Mat 26:38  Then saith He unto them, My soul^G5590 is exceeding sorrowful,^G4036 even unto death:^G2288 tarry ye here, and watch with Me.

Mat 26:39  And He went a little further,^G3397 and fell^G4098 on His face,^G4383 and prayed,^{G4336 (G2532)}  saying, O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”

~~~

G1068 Gethsemane Of Chaldee origin (compare [H1660] and [H8081]); oil press, Gethsemane, a garden near Jerusalem

G3076 lupeo From G3077; to distress; reflexively or passively to be sad

G85 ademoneo From a derivative of adeo (to be sated to loathing); to be in distress (of mind)

G5590 psuche From G5594; breath, that is (by implication) spirit, abstractly or concretely the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on the one hand from G4151, which is the rational and immortal soul; and on the other from G2222, which is mere vitality, even of plants: these terms thus exactly correspond respectively to the Hebrew [H5315], [H7307], and [H2416]

G4036 perilupos From G4012 and G3700; grieved all around, that is, intensely sad

G2288 thanatos From G2348; (properly an adjective used as a noun) death (literally or figuratively)

G3397 mikron Masculine or neuter singular of G3398 (as noun); a small space of time or degree

G4098 pipto peto The first is a reduplicated and contracted form of the second (which occurs only as an alternate in certain tenses); probably akin to G4072 through the idea of alighting; to fall (literally or figuratively)

G4383 prosopon From G4314 and ops (the visage; from G3700); the front (as being towards view), that is, the countenance, aspect, appearance, surface; by implication presence, person

G4336 proseuchomai From G4314 and G2172; to pray to God, that is, supplicate, worship

“Mar 14:33  And He taketh with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed,^G1568 and^G2532 to be very heavy;^G85

Mar 14:34  And saith unto them, My soul^G5590 is exceeding sorrowful^G4036 unto death:^G2288 tarry ye here, and watch.

Mar 14:35  And He went forward^G4281 a little,^G3397 and fell^G4098 on the ground,^G1093 and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him.

Mar 14:36  And He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto Thee; take away this cup from Me: nevertheless not what I will, but what Thou wilt.”

~~~

G1568 ekthambeo From G1569; to astonish utterly

G85 ademoneo From a derivative of adeo (to be sated to loathing); to be in distress (of mind)

G5590 psuche From G5594; breath, that is (by implication) spirit, abstractly or concretely the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on the one hand from G4151, which is the rational and immortal soul; and on the other from G2222, which is mere vitality, even of plants: these terms thus exactly correspond respectively to the Hebrew [H5315], [H7307], and [H2416]

G4036 perilupos From G4012 and G3007; grieved all around, that is, intensely sad

G2288 thanatos From G2348; (properly an adjective used as a noun) death (literally or figuratively)

G4281 proerchomai From G4253 and G2064 (including its alternate); to go onward, precede (in place or time)

G3397 mikron Masculine or neuter singular of G3398 (as noun); a small space of time or degree

G4098 pipto peto The first is a reduplicated and contracted form of the second (which occurs only as an alternate in certain tenses); probably akin to G4072 through the idea of alighting; to fall (literally or figuratively)

G1093 ge Contracted from a primary word; soil; by extension a region, or the solid part or the whole of the terrene globe (including the occupants in each application)

“Luk 22:41  And He was withdrawn^G645 from them about a stone’s^G3037  cast,^G1000  and kneeled down,^{G5087 G1119} and prayed,^G4336

Luk 22:42  Saying, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done.

Luk 22:43  And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him.

Luk 22:44  And being^G1096 in an agony^G74 He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat^G2402 was as it were great drops^G2361 of blood^G129 falling down to the ground.”

~~~

G645 apospao From G575 and G4685; to drag forth, that is, (literally) unsheathe (a sword), or relatively (with a degree of force implied) retire (personally or factiously)

G3037 lithos Apparently a primary word; a stone (literally or figuratively

G1000 bole From G906; a throw (as a measure of distance)

G5087 tithemi A prolonged form of a primary word theo (which is used only as an alternate in certain tenses); to place (in the widest application, literally or figuratively; properly in a passive or horizontal posture, and thus different from G2476, which properly denotes an upright and active position, while G2749 is properly reflexive and utterly prostrate)

G1119 gonu Of uncertain affinity; the “knee”

G4336 proseuchomai From G4314 and G2172; to pray to God, that is, supplicate, worship

“And 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).

Before He even began to pray in earnest, Jesus was almost unable to walk. What hit Him came so suddenly that it caused Him to fall after just a few steps of leaving His friends.

Jesus could barely walk “a little further”;  Mark says, “forward a little”; Luke says, “a stone’s  cast” before His collapse. He wanted some privacy as He sought His Father’s face. But, all was dark and only silence from His Father. He was not hearing the normal response from His Abba. He was alone in the world, rejected by the humanity that He had created and loved, forgotten by His closest friends who were fast asleep. He was also despised by Satan and hunted by men who Satan had taught to hate and murder.

Jesus stumbles into the garden and collapses onto the ground, deranged, exhausted, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Do you see the picture that God is developing here so that the fallen human can grasp something that the eye can’t see, but faith can appreciate and comprehend it? We don’t have to be sleeping through the most important focal point in all of its Earth’s history. We don’t have to miss His great sacrifice for us when, today, Jesus on the throne is trying to attract our attention to it.

“Luk 22:44  And being^G1096 in an agony^G74 He prayed more earnestly:^G1617 and His sweat^G2402 was as it were great drops^G2361 of blood^G129 falling down to the ground.”

G74 agonia From G73; a struggle (properly the state), that is (figuratively) anguish

G1617 ektenesteron Neuter of the compound of G1618; more intently

Luke 22:44 was a wave of mental torture that engulfed the Son of God, and Luke 22:44 gives the impression that that wave of agony was one of many waves. Like a birthing mother in her contractions, His agony was always present, but then it would surge up again and again, and overwhelm the Son of God. The three separate hours of prayer involved many other waves of agony that forced from Jesus muffled screams and deep wails and more desperate pleas for His Father’s help in the trials.

“Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death.” (Heb. 5:7). His agony, this “struggle, anguish”, involved wrestling over whether or not to go through with the final events of His life. But, this anguish was superhuman, so much that it forced blood from His pores. Isaiah 52:14 shoes that more than only his forehead was sweating blood, but also His whole body exuded blood. “As many were astonied [astonished]  at Thee; His visage^H4758 was so marred more than any man, and His form^H8389 more than the sons of men.” (Isa. 52:14). Yes, He was looking at the physical torment that He would endure, but, His torments were far greater in nature than anticipation of physical pain.
H4758 mar'eh From H7200; a view (the act of seeing); also an appearance (the thing seen), whether (real a shape (especially if handsome, comeliness; often plural the looks), or (mental) a vision
H8389 to'ar From H8388; outline, that is figure or appearance

A special prophecy from the Old Testament illuminates this mysterious agony that Jesus was suffering. That special prophecy was the Messianic prophecy of Isaiah chapter 53. It says that God would “see of the travail of His soul” and “make His soul an offering for sin”. It says, “He shall bear their iniquities”.

“Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.

He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.” (Isa. 53:10,11).

It wasn’t physical pain causing mental pain and death, but vice versa. It was rather mental pain; causing physical pain and death.

“Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” (Isa. 53:4,5). The people would believe that His punishment was for His transgressions and iniquities, instead of for theirs and ours.

Jesus was going into labor that turned into hard labor. And though his hard labor ended in His death it has produced many new births, even still today. In the garden He was taking our place in damnation, suffering Judgment Day in our place. And, with His mental trauma and His sinking into eternal torment and death, we are saved from all of our mental trauma and then eternal death.

This life is full of mental trauma. We call it “anxiety” and “depression” and even “stroke”. Isaiah 53:5 calls it “the chastisement of our peace”. I prefer the Bible's terminology over the terms from psychology because its perspective is from God's viewpoint. Depression is related to unbelief. That living death is the consequence of the lack of trusting in Jesus. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36).

“The chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” “The chastisement of our peace”, His whipped conscience, is what Jesus was experiencing in Gethsemane, but it was exponentially worse that anything we face in our minds and lives because He was bearing that depression and anxiety for 10 billion people—everyone who ever had lived, was living then, and would live until He returns in glory. All have sinned, and sin has separated us from God, the God of love. Love is what makes the world go around, not money. Love is what keeps us sane and contented. Infinite love is what surrounded Jesus every day of His life.

“For He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him.” (John 3:34). God gave the Spirit without measure unto Him. The Spirit without measure from the Father to His beloved Son was the Father’s love inundating Jesus constantly, day and night, awake and asleep. Imagine having what Jesus had!! No wonder He was so happy and full of life that devils ran away and so did disease. Death couldn’t even remain if He entered its space and looked it in the face. Life! Life is all that can exist in the presence of Jesus, because He was divine and divinity means creative life! Divinity means righteousness and joy unbounded! Jesus was the second Adam because He came with the same sinless nature that Adam had before sin came into this world. Joy and communion with Jesus was everywhere in the Garden of Eden. No depression or doubts or sadness anywhere! Adam looked forward to each new day with all of his Creator’s gifts spread out all around him—the infinite varieties of loving animals and the limitless plant kingdom. And above all that, the constant, open communion with his Creator and his Creator’s angelic visitors.

“I have set the LORD always before Me: because He is at My right hand, I shall not be moved.

Therefore My heart is glad, and My glory rejoiceth: My flesh also shall rest in hope.…

Thou wilt shew Me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (Ps. 16:8,9,11).

Christ had constant communion with His Father. It was deep, full, continuous blessing from heaven. Heavenly light and purity raining down from His Father was Jesus’ experience every moment of His life. Everything Paul wrote to the church described the walk Jesus always had talking with His Father.

“The riches of His [Father's] glory, strengthened [Jesus] with might by His [Father's] Spirit in [His] inner man;

[God] dwelled in [Jesus’] heart by faith; [the Son of God], being rooted and grounded in love, comprehended...what was the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

And He knew the love of [His Father], which passed knowledge, thus [the Son] was filled with all the fulness of [His Father].” (Eph. 3:16-19).

Everything the church was enjoying Jesus had. In fact, let's substitute Jesus' name instead of the church's name, just to give us a better sense of the power Jesus was experiencing.

His Abba, His God of love, His beloved Father was forever by His side, with whom He had spent eternity past in perfect  happiness in heaven and with whom He had spent 33 years of human life on earth. He had known constant love and obedience, serving God the Father who He admired and adored, just like the first Adam.

But, now the Spirit without measure was all taken away.

All of the joy, all of the purpose, all of the peace, in which the first Adam rejoiced in the Garden of Eden and which the second Adam, Jesus, had enjoyed, now disappeared in another garden—the Garden of Gethsemane. From the ever glorious Garden of Eden that Jesus walked in every day to the woeful and dismal and dark Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus knew a change from supreme happiness and pain-free health in the fullest extent to supreme emptiness and painful anxiety that wouldn’t go away. In the place of drinking in the Spirit given from His Father without measure in quantity and quality, Jesus was drinking of His Father’s wrath without measure. It was a wasteland in His soul, a soul desolated, “blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke” (Joel 2:30), devastation and wreckage.

This is what caused the waves of agony in Jesus in Gethsemane. This is the torment that our sinfulness caused the innocent Son of God and had plagued our Father in heaven.

We get an even clearer picture of Christ’s horrific separation from God in Revelation 14. Although He never fell into sin or into any temptation, such as the mark of the Beast temptation, Jesus experienced the plagues that everyone would receive for their life of unforsaken sin. Jesus suffered exactly as we read:

“If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the [Father]: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” (Rev. 14:9-11).

“…the wrath of God, … poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; … tormented with fire and brimstone … their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night.” Revelation 14:9-11 speaks of the Father’s wrath without measure. upon Jesus for everyone who won't trust in Him. Jesus takes their place in the wrath of God. Revelation 14:9-11 is the best description of what Jesus was passing through in the Garden of Gethsemane. Being tormented with fire an brimstone to death looks worse than all that happened to Jesus’ body the next day. Jesus was what every Old Testament burnt offering prefigured.

But, certainly the next day’s whipping and abuse by Jewish and Roman soldiers, and the crucifixion added to His tortured mind and soul from the wrath of God without measure.

The anxiety and painful disillusionment pounded Christ mind, soul, and body in bursts that knocked Him to the ground. It was being forsaken by His Father that later wrung from His lips, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani^G4518? that is to say, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46).
G4518 sabachthani Of Chaldee origin [H7662] with pronominal suffix; thou has left me; sabachthani  (that is, shebakthani), a cry of distress

That cry was not from His faith failing, but it was the natural distress that all children experience when their parent(s) are not visibly present. The spiritual and emotional agony was the real sacrifice of the Lamb of God. And it came from the loss of His Father and His Father’s measureless Spirit of truth and comfort. It revealed the strength of His love. The separation looked like a bottomless emptiness, like a gaping cavern thousands of feet deep, it was measureless separation from the God of love and judgment, which killed the Son of God.

Christ’s cry was a lesson for us all. We all probably have experienced depression and sadness that steals from us all joy. We may know disappointment and emptiness and anxiety the cause of which seems to be such a mystery. But, Jesus in Gethsemane shows us the cause of all of our troubles—and that cause is sin. and the lack of God's love. Our sorrows come from our separation from the holy God of love that our sins cause.

“Behold, the LORD’s hand is not [too] shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear [so] heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, [so] that He will not hear.” (Isa. 59:1,2).

This was the situation with Christ, but not because of Himself, “not for Himself”. But, rather, it was because of “the overspreading of abominations.” (Dan. 9:26). Jesus suffered in that last Passover because of our abominable sinfulness. “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Cor. 5:21).

Remember what Isaiah wrote about the Father’s treatment of Jesus, His beloved, suffering Servant. “It pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief…. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied” (Isa. 53:10,11). It was the soul, the heart, of Christ, that took the most beating during that 18 hours.

Jesus told His disciples, “A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.” (John 16:21).

The scriptures are they which testify of Jesus. Scriptures also have written of Him, “…she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her. And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for Thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it.” (1Sam. 4:19,20). The Father said unto His Son, Fear not; for Thou hast born a son. But His Son answered not, neither did He regard it.”

Jesus had great travail of soul and chastisement of peace. And we are the reason He suffered the trauma. It was for our second birth—“that a man [child might be] born into the world”. He died in hard labor, in an extended 18 hour, night and day travail. But though He could see nothing but darkness and hopelessness, He died hoping in His Father’s love for Him, and trusting in His Father’s determination to save many of Their children.

The scriptures again testify of Jesus.

“Who against hope believed in hope, that He might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall Thy seed be….

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

And being fully persuaded that, what [His Father] had promised, He was able also to perform.

And therefore it was imputed to Him for righteousness [as our substitute and surety].

Now it was not written for His sake alone, that it was imputed to Him;

But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” (Rom. 4:18,20-25).

The Garden of Gethsemane reveals the real message of the Passover and of Easter. This is the power that gave birth to the apostolic church and the power to save from the hold of sin. And it will raise us up also from our depression and anxiety and addictions and sinful habits. It will start a revival that will travel around the world like fire through the stubble.