Daily Word
A word of encouragement for your day.
THE GETHSEMANE STRUGGLE
"And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, 'Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.' Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground."
Jesus knows what lies ahead.
He has already taken two definite steps to identify Himself with fallen humanity:
First, the incarnation, in which He clothed himself with a mortal, non-spiritual human body and soul, subject to all the temptations and trials that face us humans. He overcame all, standing "without sin" (Heb.4: 15), by invading his soul and body with His Divine Spirit and placing His whole being under the dominion of the Holy Spirit.
Through the baptism of John in Jordan, He took a second step towards an even deeper identification
with "His brothers," by confessing Himself as a sinner, like us in all things (Heb.2:17-18).
Immediately, He was subjected to even more intense trials by the prince of darkness.
But He had take another step, the most terrible and incomprehensible: be "made sin" – be "baptized into" the sin of all mankind (Luke 12:50).
With all this sin-depravity gathered in Himself, He as "the last Adam" (1 Cor.15:45) must fight a battle of life and death with the terrible powers of sin and death. Death and hell opened their fiery gap to engulf Him and all the demons of hell surrounded Him.
He had to "drink the cup" and take in the serpent-poison, the Satan-spirit, the devil himself, in his veins and fight the battle against the prince of death in every cell of his body: face to face, the Spirit of Life against the spirit of death. He fought this battle mocked, alone and abandoned by all, yes, even by his only Helper and Refuge, in the darkest of all darkness – a struggle, not for himself, but for all mankind, yes, for all creation.
Everything depended on one thing: He had to win this battle, otherwise everything would be lost, lost forever and the devil's triumph total!
But thank God, He won a total victory over the devil, death and hell on the cross as the spirit of sin was completely judged and blotted out.
Therefore, there is full and complete forgiveness of sin and redemption in His precious blood!