His Agony And Our Access

"Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples.... 'Stay here and watch with Me'" (Matthew 26:36,38).


We can never fully comprehend Christ's agony in the garden of Gethsemene, but at least we don't have to misunderstand it. It is agony of God and man in one Person, coming face to face with sin. We cannot learn about Gethsemene through personal experience. Gethsemene and Calvary represent something totally unique- they are the gateway into life for us.

It was not death on the cross that Jesus agonized over in Gethsemene. In fact, He started very emphatically that He came with the purpose of dying. His concern here was that He might not get through this struggle as the Son of Man. He was confident of getting through it as the Son of God- Satan could not touch Him there. But Satan's assault was that our Lord would come through for us on His own solely as the Son of Man. If Jesus had done that, He could not have been our Savior (see Hebrews 9:11-15). Read the record of His agony in Gethsemene in the light of His earlier wilderness temptation- "... the devil... departed from Him until an opportune time" (Luke 4:13). In Gethsemene, Satan came back and was overthrown again. Satan's final assault against our Lord as the Son of Man was in Gethsemene.

The agony in Gethsemene was the agony of the Son of God in fulfilling His destiny as the Savior of the world. The veil is pulled back here to reveal all that it cost Him to make it possible for us to become sons of God. His agony was the basis for the simplicity of our salvation. The Cross of Christ was a triumph for the Son of Man. It was not only a sign that our Lord had triumphed, but that He had triumphed to save the human race. Because of what the Son of Man went through, every human being has been provided with a way of access into the very presence of God.


[from "My Utmost for His Highest" Oswald Chambers]