And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
In the garden of Gethsemane on the night before His crucifixion, upon arriving at the place of His agony, Jesus commanded His disciples to pray that they would not yield to temptation. He was then entering His final suffering bearing the guilt and sins of the whole world, sweating blood under its weight until heaven sent an angel to strengthen Him. The disciples heard Him only a short distance away and prayed briefly, but then fell asleep in sorrow and stupor and left Him to wrestle alone. By failing to watch and pray they remained drowsy and unprepared, missing the spiritual strength and heavenly presence that would have kept them secure and steadfast in the trial. Prayer turns the soul from self-reliance to God for faith and protection against evil, and Jesus Himself gave the perfect example by bracing for duty and temptation through earnest night prayer on Olivet before going forth to minister.
Gethsemane Setting and Suffering
When He was at the place means He had arrived with His disciples in the garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives, having gone there together with them from the city on the night of the Passover just before His crucifixion. The saying belongs to the account of His agony and arrest, standing together with the parallel accounts in Matthew, Mark, and John. That Mount had been made holy by His presence as a man and consecrated by His prayers and tears.
The verse is set at His arrival in the garden before His agony began, when He was overcome by deep sorrow and physical distress. There He faced His final agony bearing humanity's guilt and the sins of the whole world while feeling deprived of God's sustaining presence, tempted to fear that sin would shut Him out forever from His Father's love. The strain upon Him was beyond any other ever brought upon a human being because He was bearing the sins of the whole world, yet He submitted completely to God's will.
There He prayed for the cup to pass yet submitted His will to God, praying repeatedly for deliverance from the cup of suffering. His anguish was so great that He sweated blood and fainted under the guilt of the world, feeling He could not endure it. Heaven sent an angel to strengthen and comfort Him to endure the ordeal of bearing sin and separation from His Father. His suffering made it possible for humanity to grasp divinity and through divine power to overcome through the Lamb's blood and the word of testimony.
In all that suffering He gave an example of absolute submission to the divine will, surrendering a will capable of asserting itself when He could have refused humiliation. The sinless Son of God was treated as a sinner that sinful human beings might be treated as innocent, wounded for transgressions and bruised for iniquities, with the chastisement of peace upon Him and healing by His stripes. He had laid off His royal robe and kingly crown and clothed His divinity with humanity to live a sinless life in human behalf and make atonement on the cross for transgressions, suffering humiliation and death being the purpose for which He came into the world.
On entering He told His companions to stay there while He went farther in to pray, taking only Peter, James and John with Him while the other disciples remained behind a short distance away. Going apart to pray in that retreat was His customary way of bracing His spirit for trial and duty, where He had often spent the entire night in fervent prayer while the disciples after a short season of watching and prayer would sleep undisturbed until He woke them in the morning, so His leaving them drew no remark. James, John and Peter were the three favored disciples brought into closest relationship with Him, His chief witnesses after His death, who had also seen His transfiguration and beheld Him glorified.
The verse belongs to the most trying ordeal of His betrayal, agony in Gethsemane, condemnation in the judgment hall, humiliation, rejection by the multitude that had hailed Him as king, and crucifixion. He foresaw this trial and knew who among His followers were unbelieving and weak in faith, and deliberately brought on the earlier crisis that turned many away while He was still present to comfort and strengthen His chosen, to remove the weak in character and undecided so they would not remain to fail in the greater trial. He thus prepared the minds of His faithful few for His betrayal and death, so that when the rabble reviled Him and cried for crucifixion they would not be overwhelmed with surprise, sink beneath fear and disappointment, hang their faith on others' opinions, or be carried away by professed followers turning from Him, having already seen the fickleness of the world. The disciples later recalled this garden agony where He prayed amid suffering before His betrayal and execution.
Pray Against Entering Temptation
In Gethsemane Christ commanded His disciples to pray that they would not enter, yield to, fall into or succumb to temptation. He gave the command when He returned to them the third time after being strengthened by an angel, His face marked with blood and marred, while they were only a short distance away where they could hear His cries. They heard His anguished prayer and cries close at hand and prayed briefly, but then slept. They did not intend to forsake Him, but were paralyzed by a stupor and drowsiness they could have shaken off by continued pleading with God, some being asleep with sorrow while He sought their sympathy and longed for it, and they soon left Him to wrestle alone with the powers of darkness.
Their failure to heed the command to watch and pray left them drowsy and confused. It left them unprepared to understand His suffering, remember His promise to rise again, endure the trial, remain with Him, or face scorn and mockery. Their sleepiness kept them from hearing Him and receiving the spiritual strength, heavenly presence, and evidence that could have strengthened them for the trials ahead. Had they heeded they would never have let sleep stupefy their senses but would have become partakers with Him in His suffering and stood secure, strengthened by God and defended by angels. Good intentions do not remove weakness or the need for prayer.
Prayer would have turned them from self-reliance toward God, their mighty Helper, strengthened their faith, guarded them by communion with God from falling into evil, and helped them overcome the wicked one. Prayer and communion with God before and during times of trial is necessary because temptation and danger are continual, and neglecting it leaves people unprepared to resist evil. Their sleep illustrates spiritual sleep and the need to awaken as believing Christians. Peter's failure to remain awake while Jesus prayed, when remembered alongside Jesus' agony, helped bring him to repentance and humility. That experience fitted him to sympathize with the tempted and weak, warn the overconfident, and strengthen his fellow believers.
Jesus met temptation by prayer in the groves of Olivet and on the Mount of Olives, often praying earnestly through the night after days teaching in the temple and healing the sick, resorting to the solitude of the mountains when preparing for some great trial or important work. A night of prayer preceded the agony of the judgment hall and the cross and the resurrection glory, so that divine communion comes before acts of power. Though divine He lived a perfect humanity, and as Son of man He must brace Himself for duty and temptation with vigor of soul and body to complete His work, praying to the Father for strength and grace, seeking protection for His disciples from the world's evil influences and strength for trials and duties ahead. His praying there was not for Himself but for sinners whom He came to save, and as representative of the race He bowed as a suppliant and obtained strength from on high, and those prayers reach down to the present time.
By communion with God He was invigorated and refreshed, braced for duty and prepared for toil, then went forth to minister, encourage and bless others with His tongue touched anew with living fire, and because He was tempted in all points as men are He is able to sympathize with the tempted. His prayer leaves all who desire to follow Him a perfect example of how to combat the enemy, proving that prayer sanctifies ministry and that strength and vigor for daily duty are derived from worshiping God in the beauty of holiness, for the lamp must be filled with holy oil before its light can shine amid moral darkness. His example teaches His followers, especially ministers, to turn to God in frequent, earnest prayer with implicit faith that prayers offered in His name will be answered when facing temptation, distress, and seasons of spiritual darkness and trial, and to often commune with Him as friends of Christ.
In the garden of Gethsemane on the night before His crucifixion, upon arriving at the place of His agony, Jesus commanded His disciples to pray that they would not yield to temptation. He was then entering His final suffering bearing the guilt and sins of the whole world, sweating blood under its weight until heaven sent an angel to strengthen Him. The disciples heard Him only a short distance away and prayed briefly, but then fell asleep in sorrow and stupor and left Him to wrestle alone. By failing to watch and pray they remained drowsy and unprepared, missing the spiritual strength and heavenly presence that would have kept them secure and steadfast in the trial. Prayer turns the soul from self-reliance to God for faith and protection against evil, and Jesus Himself gave the perfect example by bracing for duty and temptation through earnest night prayer on Olivet before going forth to minister.
Gethsemane Setting and Suffering
When He was at the place means He had arrived with His disciples in the garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives, having gone there together with them from the city on the night of the Passover just before His crucifixion. The saying belongs to the account of His agony and arrest, standing together with the parallel accounts in Matthew, Mark, and John. That Mount had been made holy by His presence as a man and consecrated by His prayers and tears.
The verse is set at His arrival in the garden before His agony began, when He was overcome by deep sorrow and physical distress. There He faced His final agony bearing humanity's guilt and the sins of the whole world while feeling deprived of God's sustaining presence, tempted to fear that sin would shut Him out forever from His Father's love. The strain upon Him was beyond any other ever brought upon a human being because He was bearing the sins of the whole world, yet He submitted completely to God's will.
There He prayed for the cup to pass yet submitted His will to God, praying repeatedly for deliverance from the cup of suffering. His anguish was so great that He sweated blood and fainted under the guilt of the world, feeling He could not endure it. Heaven sent an angel to strengthen and comfort Him to endure the ordeal of bearing sin and separation from His Father. His suffering made it possible for humanity to grasp divinity and through divine power to overcome through the Lamb's blood and the word of testimony.
In all that suffering He gave an example of absolute submission to the divine will, surrendering a will capable of asserting itself when He could have refused humiliation. The sinless Son of God was treated as a sinner that sinful human beings might be treated as innocent, wounded for transgressions and bruised for iniquities, with the chastisement of peace upon Him and healing by His stripes. He had laid off His royal robe and kingly crown and clothed His divinity with humanity to live a sinless life in human behalf and make atonement on the cross for transgressions, suffering humiliation and death being the purpose for which He came into the world.
On entering He told His companions to stay there while He went farther in to pray, taking only Peter, James and John with Him while the other disciples remained behind a short distance away. Going apart to pray in that retreat was His customary way of bracing His spirit for trial and duty, where He had often spent the entire night in fervent prayer while the disciples after a short season of watching and prayer would sleep undisturbed until He woke them in the morning, so His leaving them drew no remark. James, John and Peter were the three favored disciples brought into closest relationship with Him, His chief witnesses after His death, who had also seen His transfiguration and beheld Him glorified.
The verse belongs to the most trying ordeal of His betrayal, agony in Gethsemane, condemnation in the judgment hall, humiliation, rejection by the multitude that had hailed Him as king, and crucifixion. He foresaw this trial and knew who among His followers were unbelieving and weak in faith, and deliberately brought on the earlier crisis that turned many away while He was still present to comfort and strengthen His chosen, to remove the weak in character and undecided so they would not remain to fail in the greater trial. He thus prepared the minds of His faithful few for His betrayal and death, so that when the rabble reviled Him and cried for crucifixion they would not be overwhelmed with surprise, sink beneath fear and disappointment, hang their faith on others' opinions, or be carried away by professed followers turning from Him, having already seen the fickleness of the world. The disciples later recalled this garden agony where He prayed amid suffering before His betrayal and execution.
Pray Against Entering Temptation
In Gethsemane Christ commanded His disciples to pray that they would not enter, yield to, fall into or succumb to temptation. He gave the command when He returned to them the third time after being strengthened by an angel, His face marked with blood and marred, while they were only a short distance away where they could hear His cries. They heard His anguished prayer and cries close at hand and prayed briefly, but then slept. They did not intend to forsake Him, but were paralyzed by a stupor and drowsiness they could have shaken off by continued pleading with God, some being asleep with sorrow while He sought their sympathy and longed for it, and they soon left Him to wrestle alone with the powers of darkness.
Their failure to heed the command to watch and pray left them drowsy and confused. It left them unprepared to understand His suffering, remember His promise to rise again, endure the trial, remain with Him, or face scorn and mockery. Their sleepiness kept them from hearing Him and receiving the spiritual strength, heavenly presence, and evidence that could have strengthened them for the trials ahead. Had they heeded they would never have let sleep stupefy their senses but would have become partakers with Him in His suffering and stood secure, strengthened by God and defended by angels. Good intentions do not remove weakness or the need for prayer.
Prayer would have turned them from self-reliance toward God, their mighty Helper, strengthened their faith, guarded them by communion with God from falling into evil, and helped them overcome the wicked one. Prayer and communion with God before and during times of trial is necessary because temptation and danger are continual, and neglecting it leaves people unprepared to resist evil. Their sleep illustrates spiritual sleep and the need to awaken as believing Christians. Peter's failure to remain awake while Jesus prayed, when remembered alongside Jesus' agony, helped bring him to repentance and humility. That experience fitted him to sympathize with the tempted and weak, warn the overconfident, and strengthen his fellow believers.
Jesus met temptation by prayer in the groves of Olivet and on the Mount of Olives, often praying earnestly through the night after days teaching in the temple and healing the sick, resorting to the solitude of the mountains when preparing for some great trial or important work. A night of prayer preceded the agony of the judgment hall and the cross and the resurrection glory, so that divine communion comes before acts of power. Though divine He lived a perfect humanity, and as Son of man He must brace Himself for duty and temptation with vigor of soul and body to complete His work, praying to the Father for strength and grace, seeking protection for His disciples from the world's evil influences and strength for trials and duties ahead. His praying there was not for Himself but for sinners whom He came to save, and as representative of the race He bowed as a suppliant and obtained strength from on high, and those prayers reach down to the present time.
By communion with God He was invigorated and refreshed, braced for duty and prepared for toil, then went forth to minister, encourage and bless others with His tongue touched anew with living fire, and because He was tempted in all points as men are He is able to sympathize with the tempted. His prayer leaves all who desire to follow Him a perfect example of how to combat the enemy, proving that prayer sanctifies ministry and that strength and vigor for daily duty are derived from worshiping God in the beauty of holiness, for the lamp must be filled with holy oil before its light can shine amid moral darkness. His example teaches His followers, especially ministers, to turn to God in frequent, earnest prayer with implicit faith that prayers offered in His name will be answered when facing temptation, distress, and seasons of spiritual darkness and trial, and to often commune with Him as friends of Christ.