Jesus in Gethsemane

“And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto

death: tarry ye here, and watch” (Mark 14:34).

Whatever Jesus suffered throughout His 33 years here on earth,

nothing compared to what He began to face in the last hours before the

Cross. From the eternal ages (Eph. 1:1–4; 2 Tim. 1:8, 9; Titus 1:1, 2),

the sacrifice of Jesus as the offering for the world’s sin was planned,

and now it was all coming to pass.

What do the following texts tell us about Christ’s suffering in

Gethsemane? Matt. 26:39, Mark 14:33–36, Luke 22:41–44.

“He went a little distance from them—not so far but that they could

both see and hear Him—and fell prostrate upon the ground. He felt that

by sin He was being separated from His Father. The gulf was so broad,

so black, so deep, that His spirit shuddered before it. This agony He

must not exert His divine power to escape. As man He must suffer the

consequences of man’s sin. As man He must endure the wrath of God

against transgression.

“Christ was now standing in a different attitude from that in which

He had ever stood before. His suffering can best be described in the

words of the prophet, ‘Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and

against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of hosts.’ Zech.

13:7. As the substitute and surety for sinful man, Christ was suf-

fering under divine justice. He saw what justice meant. Hitherto

He had been as an intercessor for others; now He longed to have

an intercessor for Himself.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages,

p. 686.

Dwell upon what was happening to Jesus in Gethsemane.

Already, the sins of the world were starting to fall upon Him. Try

to imagine what that must have been like. No human being has

ever been called to go through anything like this before or since.

What does this tell us about God’s love for us? What hope can

you draw from this for yourself?