Chapter 16—Angels From Christ’s Passion Until His
Death
Jesus and His Disciples Go to Gethsemane
In company with His disciples, the Saviour slowly made His way
to the garden of Gethsemane. The Passover moon, broad and full,
shone from a cloudless sky.... As they approached the garden, the
disciples had marked the change that came over their Master. Never
before had they seen Him so utterly sad and silent. As He proceeded,
this strange sadness deepened....
Near the entrance to the garden, Jesus left all but three of the
disciples, bidding them pray for themselves and for Him. With Peter,
James, and John, He entered its secluded recesses....
“Tarry ye here,” He said, “and watch with Me.”
He went a little distance from them ... 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....
As Christ felt His unity with the Father broken up, He feared
that in His human nature He would be unable to endure the coming
conflict with the powers of darkness. In the wilderness of temptation
the destiny of the human race had been at stake. Christ was then
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conqueror. Now the tempter had come for the last fearful struggle. For
this he had been preparing during the three years of Christ’s ministry.
Everything was at stake with him. If he failed here, his hope of mastery
was lost; the kingdoms of the world would finally become Christ’s;
he himself would be overthrown and cast out. But if Christ could be
overcome, the earth would become Satan’s kingdom, and the human
race would be forever in his power. With the issues of the conflict
before Him, Christ’s soul was filled with dread of separation from
God. Satan told Him that if He became the surety for a sinful world,
the separation would be eternal....
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