Gethsemane
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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. He would be identified with Satan’s
kingdom, and would nevermore be one with God.
And what was to be gained by this sacrifice? How hopeless ap-
peared the guilt and ingratitude of men! In its hardest features Satan
pressed the situation upon the Redeemer: The people who claim to be
above all others in temporal and spiritual advantages have rejected You.
They are seeking to destroy You, the foundation, the center and seal
of the promises made to them as a peculiar people. One of Your own
disciples, who has listened to Your instruction, and has been among
the foremost in church activities, will betray You. One of Your most
zealous followers will deny You. All will forsake You. Christ’s whole
being abhorred the thought. That those whom He had undertaken to
save, those whom He loved so much, should unite in the plots of Satan,
this pierced His soul. The conflict was terrible. Its measure was the
guilt of His nation, of His accusers and betrayer, the guilt of a world
lying in wickedness. The sins of men weighed heavily upon Christ,
and the sense of God’s wrath against sin was crushing out His life.
Behold Him contemplating the price to be paid for the human soul.
In His agony He clings to the cold ground, as if to prevent Himself
from being drawn farther from God. The chilling dew of night falls
upon His prostrate form, but He heeds it not. From His pale lips comes
the bitter cry, “O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
Me.” Yet even now He adds, “Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou
wilt.”
The human heart longs for sympathy in suffering. This longing
Christ felt to the very depths of His being. In the supreme agony
of His soul He came to His disciples with a yearning desire to hear
some words of comfort from those whom He had so often blessed and
comforted, and shielded in sorrow and distress. The One who had
always had words of sympathy for them was now suffering superhuman
agony, and He longed to know that they were praying for Him and for
themselves. How dark seemed the malignity of sin! Terrible was the
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temptation to let the human race bear the consequences of its own guilt,