In the Garden of Gethsemane – By Desmond Ford

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Jan 19, 2016 11264

It was the most mysterious event the world had ever known. The most wonderfully pure of all human beings, the most holy of all men – overwhelmed with terror and horror!

Almost deranged, sweating blood among the cypress and olive trees in the Valley of Gethsemane, was One who had legions of angels that could be sent to him at any time. He was crying out to the One whom he said was his Father.

The sufferings of Christ in Gethsemane were not the sufferings of an ordinary man. Jesus did not tremble because of physical fear. Christ, the Master, did not face death with less courage than his servants, Peter and Stephen. They went to death with a calm joy and courage; Christ went to death with agitation, confusion, and depression.

Only one key can explain it all: “Christ redeemed us… by becoming a curse for us” (Gal 3:13). “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21).

What joy to understand that if God has already exacted the penalty of my sin, I need not fear Judgment Day. God will not require the penalty twice: once at the hand of my bleeding Surety, and then at mine. What wonderful joy! One can sing, ‘Hallelujah!’ to know that the penalty for past sin, present sin, future sin, has already been borne by the Lamb of God. There’s the glorious hub of the gospel – that our Lord suffered for us that we might have his righteousness, his glory, and his everlasting life.

Not only does Gethsemane give us the key to our problem of guilt, but it is also a comfort for our lesser sorrows. When Luther found that God had suffered for him that he might be counted righteous, he cried, “Lord, strike now. Do whatever you like to me. Now my sins are gone, I don’t care! I can put up with anything now, Lord – the rack, burning at the stake, anything – now my sins are gone.” Once we have solved the sin problem, other things are much smaller.

In the record about Gethsemane, it says of Jesus, “Going a little farther” (Mt 26:39). Jesus always goes a little further than we go. He’s known more pain, more trauma, more anxiety, more agitation of mind, more disappointment, more depression. Gethsemane assures us that pain does not mean we are abandoned. When we enter the school of pain we enter the school of Christ.

– Des Ford. Rom 8:27-32. Adapted from “The Garden of Life and Death.”

Eliezer Gonzalez

Mar 26, 2016

Hello Sven. I am glad that you appreciated it. But I'm sorry, I don't know the artist for the painting. – Eliezer

Sven Knoke

Mar 26, 2016

Thank you very much for this very inspiring article. Could you please tell me who made this marvelous painting. Thank you very much.