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The Passion of Christ: A New View

opuntia

Religion is Law
The passion of Christ is viewed as the suffering of Jesus upon the cross, but little is said of His suffering in the garden of Gethsemane.

The record speaks of Jesus’ "Agony" in the following:

"And he came out, and went, as he was wont [often visited], to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.

"And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.

"And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,

"Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

"And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

"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 22:39-44; KJV)

What was it that caused Jesus this "agony"? Was it the forthcoming march to Calvary or was it a present event in the garden of Gethsemane--where an angel appeared to support Him--that caused His "agony"?

Much has been said about the Crucifixion, where Jesus suffered the physical pains of the Roman capital punishment. But what has been said about the garden of Gethsemane? Wikipedia states:

"Gethsemane (also spelled Gethsemani) was the garden where, according to the New Testament and Christian traditions, Jesus watched and prayed the night before he was crucified. Gethsemane is located at the foot of the Mount of Olives, now within the city of Jerusalem. Located by the garden is the Church of All Nations, also known as the Church of the Agony. The ancient church was destroyed by the Sassanids in 614. The church rebuilt on the site by the Crusaders was finally razed, probably in 1219 (CE).

The Garden of Gethsemane was a focal site for early Christian pilgrims. It was visited in 333 by the anonymous ‘Pilgrim of Bordeaux‘, whose Itinerarium Burdigalense is the earliest description left by a Christian traveler in the Holy Land. In his Onomasticon, Eusebius of Caesarea notes the site of Gethsemane ‘at the foot of the Mount of Olives‘, and he adds that ‘the faithful were accustomed to go there to pray‘.

"The name 'Gethsemane' is given in the Greek of the Gospels (Matthew 26:36 and Mark 14:32) as Γεθσημανι (Gethsêmani). This represents the Aramaic 'Gath-Šmânê', meaning 'the oil press' or 'oil vat' (referring to olive oil). It would appear from this that there were a number of olive trees planted around the area at the time. The Gospel of Mark (xiv, 32) calls it chorion, a ‘a place’ or ‘estate‘; The Gospel of John (xviii, 1) speaks of it as kepos, a ‘garden’ or ‘orchard‘. The garden today is filled with olive trees that might well be descendants of those from the time of Jesus." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gethsemane

The "oil press" or Gethsemane represents the pressing of Jesus by the adversary; else why warn the disciples not fall into temptation? The Mount of Olives is the place where the future Messiah is to set His feet and cleave the Mount in two, where the inhabitants of Jerusalem are to flee for safety as the armies besiege Jerusalem. See Zechariah 14:1-11. Both events--the "agony" and the cleaving of the Mount--signify a rescuing of inhabitants by Jesus from the adversarial forces, the first being a spiritual assault and the second being a temporal assault.

The burdens of sin are borne by us after we commit them, but the adversary also carries the burdens of sins himself. His power is to deceive and emulate certain powers of God.

"And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he [Job] hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD." (Job 1:12).

Job was smitten with all sorts of difficulties: his children died, lost his flocks and herds, servants, the support of his wife and friends, and had boils all over his body.

The adversary came To Jesus while He was in the wilderness for 40 days, tempting Him to use His God-given powers. It appears that Satan came again to Him and pressed Him with the powers of darkness. Abraham felt the same darkness fall upon him:

"And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him." (Genesis 15:12).

It is not likely that the ordinary darkness of the night will frighten Abraham, but a palpable darkness from the adversary would. What is hell? Is it darkness that we may find a terror? The power of hell is a punishment for sin if Jesus does not support us.

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23).

Jesus paid for our sins by tasting the powers of death, the darkness of hell--where we would have gone if there had been no Savior, the law having a right to us and exacting the punishment.

"And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness." (Leviticus 16:21).

An angel succored Jesus as He went into the wilderness of Satan carrying all of our sins upon himself, and after He paid the penalty for transgressions, He became our Creditor to whom we owed a debt. He said:

"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3:17-18).

He laid out the expectations in His Gospel Law through the Sermon on the Mount, the parables, His examples and sermons on the missionary road. He gave the simple injunction that faith should be given on His name, where "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12).

Simply put: Have Him pay for your sins or you pay it yourself. Unbelief brings condemnation and the full weight of the Law which demands payment for sins, your sins if you want to own them and not let another take them. Said Jesus:

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

"For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30. Cf. Ps. 55:22).

Remember the words of King Solomon, where "the way of transgressors is hard." (Proverbs 13:15).

Quoth:

"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." (Hebrews 2:9).
 

Scott1

Well-Known Member
Nice post opuntia.... the Agony in the Garden along with the pain and death of the Cross show the humanity of Christ.... and his resurection, the divinity of Christ.

100% Man
100% God

Peace be with you,
Scott
 
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