Angels From Christ’s Passion Until His Death
137
In its hardest features Satan pressed the situation upon the Re-
deemer: The people who claim to be above all others in temporal and
spiritual advantages have rejected You.... One of Your own disciples
... will betray You. One of Your most zealous followers will deny You.
All will forsake You....
In His agony He clings to the cold ground, as if to prevent Himself
from being drawn farther from God.... 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 Desire of Ages, 685-687
.
Angels in Gethsemane
The heavenly universe had watched with intense interest the entire
life of Christ—every step from the manger to the present awful scene.
And what a scene was this for ten thousand times ten thousands of
[194]
angels, of cherubim and seraphim, to look upon.—
The Signs of the
Times, December 9, 1897
.
Angels were hovering over the place [Gethsemane], witnessing the
scene.—
Spiritual Gifts 1:47
.
They beheld the Son of God, their loved Commander, in His su-
perhuman agony apparently dying on the field of battle to save a lost
and perishing world. All heaven had listened to that prayer of Christ.
His soul agony, which three times forced from His pale and quiver-
ing lips the cry, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me; nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt,” convulsed all heaven.
They saw their Lord inclosed by legions of Satanic forces, His hu-
man nature weighed down with a shuddering, mysterious dread.—
The
Signs of the Times, December 9, 1897
.
The angels who had done Christ’s will in heaven were anxious to
comfort Him; but it was beyond their power to alleviate His sorrow.
They had never felt the sins of a ruined world, and they beheld with
astonishment the object of their adoration subject to a grief beyond
all expression. Though the disciples had failed to sympathize with
their Lord in the trying hour of His conflict, all heaven was full of
sympathy and waiting the result with painful interest.—
The Present
Truth, December 3, 1885 par. 9
.