Gethsemane
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amazement of the angelic host as in silent grief they watched the
Father separating His beams of light, love, and glory from His beloved
Son, they would better understand how offensive in His sight is sin.
The worlds unfallen and the heavenly angels had watched with
intense interest as the conflict drew to its close. Satan and his confed-
eracy of evil, the legions of apostasy, watched intently this great crisis
in the work of redemption. The powers of good and evil waited to see
what answer would come to Christ’s thrice-repeated prayer. Angels
had longed to bring relief to the divine sufferer, but this might not be.
No way of escape was found for the Son of God. In this awful crisis,
when everything was at stake, when the mysterious cup trembled in the
hand of the sufferer, the heavens opened, a light shone forth amid the
stormy darkness of the crisis hour, and the mighty angel who stands in
God’s presence, occupying the position from which Satan fell, came
to the side of Christ. The angel came not to take the cup from Christ’s
hand, but to strengthen Him to drink it, with the assurance of the
Father’s love. He came to give power to the divine-human suppliant.
He pointed Him to the open heavens, telling Him of the souls that
would be saved as the result of His sufferings. He assured Him that
His Father is greater and more powerful than Satan, that His death
would result in the utter discomfiture of Satan, and that the kingdom
of this world would be given to the saints of the Most High. He told
Him that He would see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied, for
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He would see a multitude of the human race saved, eternally saved.
Christ’s agony did not cease, but His depression and discourage-
ment left Him. The storm had in nowise abated, but He who was its
object was strengthened to meet its fury. He came forth calm and
serene. A heavenly peace rested upon His bloodstained face. He had
borne that which no human being could ever bear; for He had tasted
the sufferings of death for every man.
The sleeping disciples had been suddenly awakened by the light
surrounding the Saviour. They saw the angel bending over their pros-
trate Master. They saw him lift the Saviour’s head upon his bosom,
and point toward heaven. They heard his voice, like sweetest music,
speaking words of comfort and hope. The disciples recalled the scene
upon the mount of transfiguration. They remembered the glory that
in the temple had encircled Jesus, and the voice of God that spoke
from the cloud. Now that same glory was again revealed, and they