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Awesome Struggle in Gethsemane
411
When the World’s Fate Trembled in the Balance
Turning away, Jesus sought again His retreat, and fell prostrate.
The humanity of the Son of God trembled in that trying hour. The
awful moment to decide the destiny of the world had come. The
fate of humanity trembled in the balance. Christ might even now
refuse to drink the cup apportioned to guilty man. He might wipe
the bloody sweat from His brow and leave man to perish in his
iniquity. He might say, Let the transgressor receive the penalty of
his sin, and I will go back to My Father. Will the innocent suffer the
consequences of the curse of sin, to save the guilty? “O My Father,
if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will
be done.”
Three times has He shrunk from the last, crowning sacrifice. But
now He sees that the human race is helpless. He sees the power of
sin. The woes of a doomed world rise before Him. He beholds its
impending fate, and His decision is made. He will save man at any
cost to Himself. He has left the courts of heaven to save the one
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world that has fallen by transgression. And He will not turn from
His mission.
Having made the decision, He fell dying to the ground. Where
now were His disciples, to place their hands beneath the head of
their fainting Master? The Saviour trod the winepress alone, and of
the people there was none with Him. See
Isaiah 63:3
.
But God suffered with His Son. Angels beheld the Saviour’s
agony. There was silence in heaven. No harp was touched. The
angelic host in silent grief watched the Father separating His beams
of light, love, and glory from His beloved Son.
Satan and his confederacy of evil watched intently. What answer
would come to Christ’s thrice-repeated prayer? In this awful crisis,
when the mysterious cup trembled in the hand of the sufferer, the
mighty angel who stands in God’s presence came to the side of
Christ. The angel came not to take the cup from Christ’s hand, but to
strengthen Him with the assurance of His Father’s love. He assured
Him 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 a multitude of the
human race saved, eternally saved.