And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
In Gethsemane at night, after withdrawing a stone's cast from His sleeping disciples to pray three times that the cup might pass, Jesus lay prostrate, fainting under the world's guilt with sweat like drops of blood, when an angel from the Father's presence appeared to strengthen Him. The angel, sent as Gabriel in bright light, lifted His head, pointed Him to heaven and spoke soothing assurance of the Father's love and power over Satan. He was not sent to take the cup away or to tell Him His prayer for deliverance was granted, but to brace Him to endure and drink it to its dregs. That cup was bearing the sins and curse of the whole world under the Father's judgment, with horror of darkness, withdrawal of sustaining light, and dread of eternal separation from the Father's love. Strengthened by the promise that His victory would defeat Satan and save a multitude who would gain everlasting life, He yielded His will to the Father's, rose in heavenly peace, and went on to Calvary, leaving an example that divine help comes through earnest prayer not by removing conflict but by giving power to endure it.
Garden Setting and Circumstances
The night setting is Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives, before betrayal, trial and cross, where after bidding the disciples to watch and pray Jesus went about a stone's cast away, kneeled, and prayed three times, Father if possible let this cup pass, nevertheless not My will but Thine be done. There the mysterious cup trembled in His hand amid gathering darkness meant to discourage Him, and the destiny of a lost world hung in the balance, for had He refused to drink the result would have been eternal ruin with humanity left to perish in sin. The ground was moistened with His blood as He prayed and suffered alone, and while the Father's presence was withdrawn a messenger of comfort came from heaven to strengthen Him. Strengthened to accept the cup and drink its bitter woe, He then returned to His disciples for the third time to find them sleeping again, His face marked with blood and marred more than the sons of men.
He had often withdrawn to this garden and to mountain solitude to strengthen Himself for trial and duty through fervent prayer, sometimes through the night, and the disciples were accustomed to watch briefly and then sleep nearby. The night of prayer before His agony and the cross followed that pattern of seeking solitude in the mountains and praying to His Father before facing great trial. In the garden He lay prostrate, fainting and dying under the accumulated guilt of the world, so physically weak from sorrow that companions had to support Him lest He fall, with sweat like great drops of blood forced from His pores falling to the ground and moistening it. His soul was bowed down by a horror of darkness never before experienced, filled with terrible amazement and shuddering dread as He felt His Father's presence withdrawn, sorrowful with bitterness exceeding death, wrung thrice to cry for deliverance. Heaven could no longer endure the sight and sent a messenger of consolation to comfort Him so He could cling to His Father's hand and press on in the controversy over the execution of the plan of salvation.
James, John and Peter were present as His three favored disciples in closest relationship with Him and His chief witnesses, just as they had witnessed His glory on the mount of transfiguration. John was one of the three permitted to witness the agony, as he had been permitted to witness the transfiguration. The disciples were only a short distance away yet slept three times and gave no human sympathy, though Jesus longed for it. They heard His exclamations and strong cries and prayed briefly as they heard them, but stupor paralyzed and stupefied their senses so they failed to continue pleading with God, failed to watch and pray against temptation, and failed to share His suffering. Strengthened, He rose in sweat, blood and anguish and returned to them, still longing for their sympathy, sustained alone through the crisis which He had to endure without human help.
The sleeping disciples had only a dim sense of the angels' presence and missed heavenly evidence that could have strengthened them for the terrible events ahead. Their drowsiness and spiritual dullness kept them from receiving the scene's power, leaving them unprepared to understand His suffering and to be prepared for His death and resurrection. The scene shows the importance of watchful communion with God. Jesus foresaw for His disciples the most trying ordeal of betrayal, Gethsemane agony and crucifixion, knowing who was unbelieving and weak in faith and undecided in character. He deliberately brought about an earlier sifting crisis while still present to comfort, strengthen and prepare the chosen, so that when their Lord was betrayed and condemned, humiliated and doomed to the cross, while the multitude who had hailed Him as king hissed and reviled Him and the cruel jeering crowd cried for crucifixion, the faithful few would not be overwhelmed with surprise, sink beneath fear and disappointment, or be carried away by faint-hearted apostasy in that hour of horror.
The same angel who strengthened Jesus remained with Him at His arrest, moving between Him and the mob. Divine light illuminated His face with a dove-like form overshadowing Him, filling wicked hearts with terror at His divine glory so they staggered back and fell powerless to the ground as dead men. This gave Him full opportunity to escape if He had chosen, but He stood as one glorified among that coarse and hardened band. When the angel withdrew and the light faded, Jesus stayed calm and willingly faced His captors and did not escape.
Meaning of the Cup
The cup is bearing the sins and curse and accumulated guilt of the whole world and enduring the Father's judgment against sin. In it He who had always walked in God's presence felt shut out from its sustaining light, entered a horror of darkness never before experienced, and feared eternal separation from the Father's love. That separation brought shuddering dread at feeling the Father's presence withdrawn, fainting weakness unto near death, and bloody sweat falling to the ground.
He was sorrowful with a bitterness exceeding death and exceeding the last great struggle with death, His soul bowed down and His body prostrate, fainting and dying under the accumulated guilt of the world. Wrung by overmastering agony He cried thrice for deliverance, that the cup might pass if possible, with sweat of blood forced from His pores falling in drops upon the ground. The angel's consolation and strength met Him in that condition to sustain Him for the conflict ahead.
The mysterious cup trembled in His hand while elements of darkness gathered about Him to discourage His soul. There the destiny of a lost world hung in the balance, for had He refused to drink the result would have been eternal ruin with humanity left to perish in its sin. Strengthened to accept it, He drank its bitter woe for humanity, sweating as it were great drops of blood and praying for the Father's will to be done.
The fearful strain permitted upon the Son in Gethsemane was the greatest ever brought upon a human being before or since and impossible to exceed, bearing the sins of the whole world in superhuman agony beyond any human strain. Through it He gave an example of absolute submission to the divine will, surrendering a will capable of asserting itself when He could have refused humiliation. What He passed through shows what was borne so that humans might not perish but have everlasting life.
Angel's Strengthening Ministry
An angel from heaven, from God and from the Father's presence, was sent to strengthen the divine-human Sufferer in Gethsemane and to brace Him to tread His blood-stained path. He was a strong, mighty angel, the mighty angel standing in God's presence in the place from which Satan fell, sent as Gabriel in the supreme crisis when heart and soul were breaking under the load of sin. The Father thus answered Christ when everything was at stake and the mysterious cup trembled in His hand, opening the heavens so light shone amid the stormy darkness.
The angel came in bright light shining upon and around the Son, clothed in garments of light, bending over the prostrate Master, lifting His head upon His bosom with His right hand while pointing toward heaven with His left, with voice like sweetest music uttering soothing words. Elsewhere this is described as raising Jesus from the ground and bringing messages of the Father's love. A mighty angel so came to Christ's side when He lay alone falling dying to the ground with no disciple to help Him, while God suffered with His Son and angels beheld in silent grief as the Father separated beams of light, love and glory from Him.
Only one angel was commissioned to go and strengthen the Son in His strong crying, weeping and bloody sweat falling to the ground. Many angels hovered over the place witnessing the scene, and angels in heaven cast crowns and harps aside and silently watched Him with deepest interest and sorrow with no joy in heaven, wishing to surround Him. The commanding angels did not allow them, lest when they beheld His betrayal they would deliver Him, for the plan was laid out and must be fulfilled.
The angel's errand was not to notify Him that His thrice-repeated prayer to let the cup pass was granted, and not to remove or take the cup from His hand or spare Him from drinking it. His work was to support, console and give power to endure and to drink it to its very dregs. While Satan assailed Him with fierce temptations, the angel comforted Him by assuring Him of the Father's love and of power superior to Satan, telling Him His thrice-uttered prayer was heard and giving power to the suppliant.
He presented the grand results of victory already gained over Satan: that Christ was victor, that Satan would be utterly defeated and discomfited, that millions would be victors with Him in His glorified kingdom and gain everlasting life and eternal joy, that the kingdom of this world would be given to the saints of the Most High, and that He would see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied in a multitude of the human race saved, eternally saved. With the wail of a lost and perishing world before Him, Christ thus strengthened consented to drink the bitter contents, yielding His own will to the Father's will. His prayer was changed to submission, If this cup may not pass except I drink it Thy will be done, and heavenly serenity and peace rested upon His pale, blood-stained face.
Heaven sent this messenger of consolation because Heaven could no longer endure the sight, with all heaven full of sympathy waiting the result with painful interest. Though the angels who did His will were anxious to comfort Him, it was beyond their power to alleviate sorrow they had never felt, for they had never felt the sins of a ruined world and beheld His grief beyond all expression with astonishment. So prostrate, fainting and dying under the accumulated guilt of the world, bowed down by horror of darkness never before experienced and shuddering dread at feeling His Father's presence withdrawn, He was comforted that He could cling to His Father's hand and press on in the controversy over the execution of the plan of salvation.
Angels had been assigned to be with Jesus and to strengthen Him at different times in His humiliation and sufferings, ascending and descending with strengthening balm from glory to soothe and minister to Him, because in taking fallen human nature His strength would not be equal to theirs, even equal with theirs. Their appointed work was to accompany, witness, strengthen and take part in His resurrection, bringing soothing help from heaven, but not to rescue Him or prevent what they saw, and not to save by dying, for an angel's life could not pay the debt or be accepted as ransom.
Choice to Drink and Victory
After asking that the cup might pass if possible, He accepted the Father's will and remained obedient unto death, even death on the cross. The choice before Him was whether to drink the cup and consent to separation from the Father, and though His divine nature shrank from the terrible ordeal He chose to drink it, bearing the sins of humanity and facing crucifixion as a sinner. He agonized with sweat as great drops of blood while the mysterious cup trembled in His hand, as the only begotten Son, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief who took the sin of the world to reconcile humanity to the Father.
Strengthened by an angel from heaven to accept the cup and drink its bitter woe to the very dregs, He rose and went to His disciples whom He had told to watch and pray but found sleeping, and then went on to tread His blood-stained path to Calvary. He had prayed three times, Father, if willing remove the cup, nevertheless not My will but Thine be done, and there the destiny of a lost world hung in the balance, for had He refused to drink the result would have been eternal ruin and the world left to perish in its sin. Without that heavenly help He would have died in the garden under soul-agony and horror that forced drops of blood from His pores, but the angel invigorated the divine Sufferer and kept Him alive for Calvary, where that same agony was emblemized by supernatural darkness.
In drinking the cup for humanity He gave His riches, glory, honor, throne and precious life to secure eternal salvation, revealing His deep, unchanging love to woo men from the ways of sin and transgression. Having paid so great a cost He will not now leave men, but clasps repentant, believing ones to His heart with divine tenderness, supporting the weak, confirming the wavering, comforting the feeble-minded and binding up the bruises of the soul, guaranteeing His faithfulness never to leave His people. His suffering also showed the Father's boundless love in giving His Son for humanity, and though He faced the suffering of separation from God as He bore the sin of the whole world, God was with Him from beginning to end.
Doctrinal Significance of Suffering
The strengthening by an angel belongs to the plan of salvation in which angels were given a part to be with the Son, to accompany and witness and to ascend and descend with strengthening balm from glory to soothe and minister to Him in His life of sufferings. This help was given because God could not alter or change His law to save lost perishing man, but suffered His beloved Son to die for transgression. Lost man could be saved only by the death and intercession of God's Son, for an angel's life could not pay the debt and could not be accepted of the Father as a ransom for man. By taking man's fallen nature His strength would not be even equal to theirs, so angels were appointed to strengthen Him at different times in His humanity, yet not to save by dying.
Though sinless and having power to heal the sick, raise the dead and command storms, He faltered under the burden in His human nature, prayed earnestly and needed support from His Father, who refreshed and sustained Him through the ordeal. His divine nature shrank from the terrible ordeal as the mysterious cup trembled in His hand and the choice stood before Him whether to drink the cup of suffering and consent to separation from the Father. As the only begotten Son, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief who took the sin of the world to reconcile humanity to the Father, He agonized with sweat as great drops of blood while facing the prospect of bearing the world's sins and separation from God. A mighty angel was sent from heaven to minister to Him and strengthen Him to endure and drink it, and God thus strengthened His Son to endure the agony and shame and become a propitiation for the sins of the world to ransom the lost world.
He had laid off His royal robe and kingly crown and clothed His divinity with humanity to live a sinless life on behalf of humanity and to make atonement for transgressions on the cross, for it was to suffer humiliation and death that He came into the world. The sinless Son was treated as a sinner so that sinful human beings might be treated as innocent, wounded for transgressions and bruised for iniquities, with the chastisement of peace upon Him bringing healing by His stripes. While God suffers with His Son, the Father separates His beams of light, love and glory from His beloved Son as Christ lies alone and falling dying to the ground with no disciple to help Him and angels behold His agony in silent grief. A mighty angel comes to His side, lifts the head of the divine sufferer upon his bosom and points toward heaven with tidings of victory over Satan, and a heavenly peace then rests upon the Saviour's blood-stained face. He has borne that which no human being can ever bear, having tasted the sufferings of death for every man in bearing humanity's sin that made Him feel separated from His Father and unable to endure, with anguish expressed in bloody sweat. His suffering in bearing that cup of agony makes it possible for humanity to grasp divinity and overcome through divine power.
In bearing the sins of the whole world under a strain beyond any human strain, He gave an example of complete and absolute submission to the divine will. He surrendered His will to the will of God though His will was capable of asserting itself and He could have refused to be humiliated.
Example and Application for Believers
As Son of man He had to brace Himself for duty and temptation with vigor of soul and body to combat the enemy and to leave a perfect example of how to meet the enemy. He prayed earnestly to the Father for strength and for power to make the Father known in word and action, and prayer sanctified His ministry. By communion with God He was invigorated and refreshed, braced for duty and prepared for toil, and then went forth to minister, encourage and bless those in need. His example is left on record for all who desire to follow Him, teaching that strength and vigor for daily duty are derived from worshiping God in the beauty of holiness.
His prayers reach down to the present, and those who are truly His friends will likewise commune with Him in implicit faith that prayers offered in His name will be answered. Human spiritual conflicts are often spiritual rebellions brought on by lack of submission to the will of God, wanting our own way in rebellion against God's way, and the remedy is to do as Christ did in His struggle in submission to God's will. His experience shows that divine help does not remove conflict or temptation, though He was sinless and had power to heal the sick, raise the dead and command storms, yet He prayed earnestly and needed support from His Father. His example teaches His followers to seek strength through frequent earnest prayer, and those who follow Him in their work may also be ministered to by angels.
As the example and representative of the race, tempted in all points like as we are, He identified Himself with humanity and bowed before the Father as a suppliant to obtain strength and grace from on high, yet He was not praying for Himself but for the sinners He came to save. As He endured that agony in earnest lonely prayer, so His true followers will often feel agony of soul and pour out earnest prayer and groan in spirit after God. As He was buffeted by Satan and then ministered to by angels, so they will be buffeted by Satan for a season and if they resist will be followed by grace and strength imparted by His angels through God. Seasons when the soul is enshrouded in darkness and seasons of darkness need not drive them from God. The scene shows the importance of watchful communion with God, for during the agony an angel was present though the sleeping disciples had only a dim sense of the angel's presence, and their drowsiness kept them from receiving the evidence that could have strengthened them for the trials ahead.
Peter later returned to the place where Jesus had prayed and suffered, and remembering his own failure to stay awake and his denial of Jesus, he was moved to repentance, humility and sympathy for the weak and tempted. The anguish in sweating great drops of blood and the help of a solitary angel sent from heaven to strengthen the Son display what Christ gave up for sinners and put anything called human self-denial in the shade. Set against the mocking, scourging, crown of thorns and crucifixion that followed, it proves the narrow way of self-denial is not too strait. It rebukes lukewarmness, love for worldly society and contentment with enough religion to please all, and demands undivided affections, separation from the world and from dead heartless professors, transformation by the renewing of the mind, whole sacrifice and entire consecration.
When a servant of God is in great heaviness and sorrow, with the cup of sorrow full from reproach and grief and false reports and feeling unable to speak and too depressed to speak, trusting in the Lord and prayer bring God to answer by sending an angel from heaven to stand by to give strength. The angel gives strength and freedom to bear testimony that evening with great freedom, bringing the blessing of the Lord to rest upon him, the presence of Jesus felt in the midst, hearts burning with His love, and shouts of glory and victory going up. An angel sent by God can likewise rescue and strengthen a person amid deep depression, raising them above earthly influence and above earthly influence and depression. The agony in the garden is part of what the disciples later recounted as they spoke about His life and suffering, and what Christians recalled as He endured suffering before His betrayal, trial and execution. Strengthened, He rose in sweat, blood and anguish and returned to His disciples and then went out with them, still longing for their sympathy, with the heavenly help sustaining Him through the crisis which He had to endure alone.
In Gethsemane at night, after withdrawing a stone's cast from His sleeping disciples to pray three times that the cup might pass, Jesus lay prostrate, fainting under the world's guilt with sweat like drops of blood, when an angel from the Father's presence appeared to strengthen Him. The angel, sent as Gabriel in bright light, lifted His head, pointed Him to heaven and spoke soothing assurance of the Father's love and power over Satan. He was not sent to take the cup away or to tell Him His prayer for deliverance was granted, but to brace Him to endure and drink it to its dregs. That cup was bearing the sins and curse of the whole world under the Father's judgment, with horror of darkness, withdrawal of sustaining light, and dread of eternal separation from the Father's love. Strengthened by the promise that His victory would defeat Satan and save a multitude who would gain everlasting life, He yielded His will to the Father's, rose in heavenly peace, and went on to Calvary, leaving an example that divine help comes through earnest prayer not by removing conflict but by giving power to endure it.
Garden Setting and Circumstances
The night setting is Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives, before betrayal, trial and cross, where after bidding the disciples to watch and pray Jesus went about a stone's cast away, kneeled, and prayed three times, Father if possible let this cup pass, nevertheless not My will but Thine be done. There the mysterious cup trembled in His hand amid gathering darkness meant to discourage Him, and the destiny of a lost world hung in the balance, for had He refused to drink the result would have been eternal ruin with humanity left to perish in sin. The ground was moistened with His blood as He prayed and suffered alone, and while the Father's presence was withdrawn a messenger of comfort came from heaven to strengthen Him. Strengthened to accept the cup and drink its bitter woe, He then returned to His disciples for the third time to find them sleeping again, His face marked with blood and marred more than the sons of men.
He had often withdrawn to this garden and to mountain solitude to strengthen Himself for trial and duty through fervent prayer, sometimes through the night, and the disciples were accustomed to watch briefly and then sleep nearby. The night of prayer before His agony and the cross followed that pattern of seeking solitude in the mountains and praying to His Father before facing great trial. In the garden He lay prostrate, fainting and dying under the accumulated guilt of the world, so physically weak from sorrow that companions had to support Him lest He fall, with sweat like great drops of blood forced from His pores falling to the ground and moistening it. His soul was bowed down by a horror of darkness never before experienced, filled with terrible amazement and shuddering dread as He felt His Father's presence withdrawn, sorrowful with bitterness exceeding death, wrung thrice to cry for deliverance. Heaven could no longer endure the sight and sent a messenger of consolation to comfort Him so He could cling to His Father's hand and press on in the controversy over the execution of the plan of salvation.
James, John and Peter were present as His three favored disciples in closest relationship with Him and His chief witnesses, just as they had witnessed His glory on the mount of transfiguration. John was one of the three permitted to witness the agony, as he had been permitted to witness the transfiguration. The disciples were only a short distance away yet slept three times and gave no human sympathy, though Jesus longed for it. They heard His exclamations and strong cries and prayed briefly as they heard them, but stupor paralyzed and stupefied their senses so they failed to continue pleading with God, failed to watch and pray against temptation, and failed to share His suffering. Strengthened, He rose in sweat, blood and anguish and returned to them, still longing for their sympathy, sustained alone through the crisis which He had to endure without human help.
The sleeping disciples had only a dim sense of the angels' presence and missed heavenly evidence that could have strengthened them for the terrible events ahead. Their drowsiness and spiritual dullness kept them from receiving the scene's power, leaving them unprepared to understand His suffering and to be prepared for His death and resurrection. The scene shows the importance of watchful communion with God. Jesus foresaw for His disciples the most trying ordeal of betrayal, Gethsemane agony and crucifixion, knowing who was unbelieving and weak in faith and undecided in character. He deliberately brought about an earlier sifting crisis while still present to comfort, strengthen and prepare the chosen, so that when their Lord was betrayed and condemned, humiliated and doomed to the cross, while the multitude who had hailed Him as king hissed and reviled Him and the cruel jeering crowd cried for crucifixion, the faithful few would not be overwhelmed with surprise, sink beneath fear and disappointment, or be carried away by faint-hearted apostasy in that hour of horror.
The same angel who strengthened Jesus remained with Him at His arrest, moving between Him and the mob. Divine light illuminated His face with a dove-like form overshadowing Him, filling wicked hearts with terror at His divine glory so they staggered back and fell powerless to the ground as dead men. This gave Him full opportunity to escape if He had chosen, but He stood as one glorified among that coarse and hardened band. When the angel withdrew and the light faded, Jesus stayed calm and willingly faced His captors and did not escape.
Meaning of the Cup
The cup is bearing the sins and curse and accumulated guilt of the whole world and enduring the Father's judgment against sin. In it He who had always walked in God's presence felt shut out from its sustaining light, entered a horror of darkness never before experienced, and feared eternal separation from the Father's love. That separation brought shuddering dread at feeling the Father's presence withdrawn, fainting weakness unto near death, and bloody sweat falling to the ground.
He was sorrowful with a bitterness exceeding death and exceeding the last great struggle with death, His soul bowed down and His body prostrate, fainting and dying under the accumulated guilt of the world. Wrung by overmastering agony He cried thrice for deliverance, that the cup might pass if possible, with sweat of blood forced from His pores falling in drops upon the ground. The angel's consolation and strength met Him in that condition to sustain Him for the conflict ahead.
The mysterious cup trembled in His hand while elements of darkness gathered about Him to discourage His soul. There the destiny of a lost world hung in the balance, for had He refused to drink the result would have been eternal ruin with humanity left to perish in its sin. Strengthened to accept it, He drank its bitter woe for humanity, sweating as it were great drops of blood and praying for the Father's will to be done.
The fearful strain permitted upon the Son in Gethsemane was the greatest ever brought upon a human being before or since and impossible to exceed, bearing the sins of the whole world in superhuman agony beyond any human strain. Through it He gave an example of absolute submission to the divine will, surrendering a will capable of asserting itself when He could have refused humiliation. What He passed through shows what was borne so that humans might not perish but have everlasting life.
Angel's Strengthening Ministry
An angel from heaven, from God and from the Father's presence, was sent to strengthen the divine-human Sufferer in Gethsemane and to brace Him to tread His blood-stained path. He was a strong, mighty angel, the mighty angel standing in God's presence in the place from which Satan fell, sent as Gabriel in the supreme crisis when heart and soul were breaking under the load of sin. The Father thus answered Christ when everything was at stake and the mysterious cup trembled in His hand, opening the heavens so light shone amid the stormy darkness.
The angel came in bright light shining upon and around the Son, clothed in garments of light, bending over the prostrate Master, lifting His head upon His bosom with His right hand while pointing toward heaven with His left, with voice like sweetest music uttering soothing words. Elsewhere this is described as raising Jesus from the ground and bringing messages of the Father's love. A mighty angel so came to Christ's side when He lay alone falling dying to the ground with no disciple to help Him, while God suffered with His Son and angels beheld in silent grief as the Father separated beams of light, love and glory from Him.
Only one angel was commissioned to go and strengthen the Son in His strong crying, weeping and bloody sweat falling to the ground. Many angels hovered over the place witnessing the scene, and angels in heaven cast crowns and harps aside and silently watched Him with deepest interest and sorrow with no joy in heaven, wishing to surround Him. The commanding angels did not allow them, lest when they beheld His betrayal they would deliver Him, for the plan was laid out and must be fulfilled.
The angel's errand was not to notify Him that His thrice-repeated prayer to let the cup pass was granted, and not to remove or take the cup from His hand or spare Him from drinking it. His work was to support, console and give power to endure and to drink it to its very dregs. While Satan assailed Him with fierce temptations, the angel comforted Him by assuring Him of the Father's love and of power superior to Satan, telling Him His thrice-uttered prayer was heard and giving power to the suppliant.
He presented the grand results of victory already gained over Satan: that Christ was victor, that Satan would be utterly defeated and discomfited, that millions would be victors with Him in His glorified kingdom and gain everlasting life and eternal joy, that the kingdom of this world would be given to the saints of the Most High, and that He would see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied in a multitude of the human race saved, eternally saved. With the wail of a lost and perishing world before Him, Christ thus strengthened consented to drink the bitter contents, yielding His own will to the Father's will. His prayer was changed to submission, If this cup may not pass except I drink it Thy will be done, and heavenly serenity and peace rested upon His pale, blood-stained face.
Heaven sent this messenger of consolation because Heaven could no longer endure the sight, with all heaven full of sympathy waiting the result with painful interest. Though the angels who did His will were anxious to comfort Him, it was beyond their power to alleviate sorrow they had never felt, for they had never felt the sins of a ruined world and beheld His grief beyond all expression with astonishment. So prostrate, fainting and dying under the accumulated guilt of the world, bowed down by horror of darkness never before experienced and shuddering dread at feeling His Father's presence withdrawn, He was comforted that He could cling to His Father's hand and press on in the controversy over the execution of the plan of salvation.
Angels had been assigned to be with Jesus and to strengthen Him at different times in His humiliation and sufferings, ascending and descending with strengthening balm from glory to soothe and minister to Him, because in taking fallen human nature His strength would not be equal to theirs, even equal with theirs. Their appointed work was to accompany, witness, strengthen and take part in His resurrection, bringing soothing help from heaven, but not to rescue Him or prevent what they saw, and not to save by dying, for an angel's life could not pay the debt or be accepted as ransom.
Choice to Drink and Victory
After asking that the cup might pass if possible, He accepted the Father's will and remained obedient unto death, even death on the cross. The choice before Him was whether to drink the cup and consent to separation from the Father, and though His divine nature shrank from the terrible ordeal He chose to drink it, bearing the sins of humanity and facing crucifixion as a sinner. He agonized with sweat as great drops of blood while the mysterious cup trembled in His hand, as the only begotten Son, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief who took the sin of the world to reconcile humanity to the Father.
Strengthened by an angel from heaven to accept the cup and drink its bitter woe to the very dregs, He rose and went to His disciples whom He had told to watch and pray but found sleeping, and then went on to tread His blood-stained path to Calvary. He had prayed three times, Father, if willing remove the cup, nevertheless not My will but Thine be done, and there the destiny of a lost world hung in the balance, for had He refused to drink the result would have been eternal ruin and the world left to perish in its sin. Without that heavenly help He would have died in the garden under soul-agony and horror that forced drops of blood from His pores, but the angel invigorated the divine Sufferer and kept Him alive for Calvary, where that same agony was emblemized by supernatural darkness.
In drinking the cup for humanity He gave His riches, glory, honor, throne and precious life to secure eternal salvation, revealing His deep, unchanging love to woo men from the ways of sin and transgression. Having paid so great a cost He will not now leave men, but clasps repentant, believing ones to His heart with divine tenderness, supporting the weak, confirming the wavering, comforting the feeble-minded and binding up the bruises of the soul, guaranteeing His faithfulness never to leave His people. His suffering also showed the Father's boundless love in giving His Son for humanity, and though He faced the suffering of separation from God as He bore the sin of the whole world, God was with Him from beginning to end.
Doctrinal Significance of Suffering
The strengthening by an angel belongs to the plan of salvation in which angels were given a part to be with the Son, to accompany and witness and to ascend and descend with strengthening balm from glory to soothe and minister to Him in His life of sufferings. This help was given because God could not alter or change His law to save lost perishing man, but suffered His beloved Son to die for transgression. Lost man could be saved only by the death and intercession of God's Son, for an angel's life could not pay the debt and could not be accepted of the Father as a ransom for man. By taking man's fallen nature His strength would not be even equal to theirs, so angels were appointed to strengthen Him at different times in His humanity, yet not to save by dying.
Though sinless and having power to heal the sick, raise the dead and command storms, He faltered under the burden in His human nature, prayed earnestly and needed support from His Father, who refreshed and sustained Him through the ordeal. His divine nature shrank from the terrible ordeal as the mysterious cup trembled in His hand and the choice stood before Him whether to drink the cup of suffering and consent to separation from the Father. As the only begotten Son, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief who took the sin of the world to reconcile humanity to the Father, He agonized with sweat as great drops of blood while facing the prospect of bearing the world's sins and separation from God. A mighty angel was sent from heaven to minister to Him and strengthen Him to endure and drink it, and God thus strengthened His Son to endure the agony and shame and become a propitiation for the sins of the world to ransom the lost world.
He had laid off His royal robe and kingly crown and clothed His divinity with humanity to live a sinless life on behalf of humanity and to make atonement for transgressions on the cross, for it was to suffer humiliation and death that He came into the world. The sinless Son was treated as a sinner so that sinful human beings might be treated as innocent, wounded for transgressions and bruised for iniquities, with the chastisement of peace upon Him bringing healing by His stripes. While God suffers with His Son, the Father separates His beams of light, love and glory from His beloved Son as Christ lies alone and falling dying to the ground with no disciple to help Him and angels behold His agony in silent grief. A mighty angel comes to His side, lifts the head of the divine sufferer upon his bosom and points toward heaven with tidings of victory over Satan, and a heavenly peace then rests upon the Saviour's blood-stained face. He has borne that which no human being can ever bear, having tasted the sufferings of death for every man in bearing humanity's sin that made Him feel separated from His Father and unable to endure, with anguish expressed in bloody sweat. His suffering in bearing that cup of agony makes it possible for humanity to grasp divinity and overcome through divine power.
In bearing the sins of the whole world under a strain beyond any human strain, He gave an example of complete and absolute submission to the divine will. He surrendered His will to the will of God though His will was capable of asserting itself and He could have refused to be humiliated.
Example and Application for Believers
As Son of man He had to brace Himself for duty and temptation with vigor of soul and body to combat the enemy and to leave a perfect example of how to meet the enemy. He prayed earnestly to the Father for strength and for power to make the Father known in word and action, and prayer sanctified His ministry. By communion with God He was invigorated and refreshed, braced for duty and prepared for toil, and then went forth to minister, encourage and bless those in need. His example is left on record for all who desire to follow Him, teaching that strength and vigor for daily duty are derived from worshiping God in the beauty of holiness.
His prayers reach down to the present, and those who are truly His friends will likewise commune with Him in implicit faith that prayers offered in His name will be answered. Human spiritual conflicts are often spiritual rebellions brought on by lack of submission to the will of God, wanting our own way in rebellion against God's way, and the remedy is to do as Christ did in His struggle in submission to God's will. His experience shows that divine help does not remove conflict or temptation, though He was sinless and had power to heal the sick, raise the dead and command storms, yet He prayed earnestly and needed support from His Father. His example teaches His followers to seek strength through frequent earnest prayer, and those who follow Him in their work may also be ministered to by angels.
As the example and representative of the race, tempted in all points like as we are, He identified Himself with humanity and bowed before the Father as a suppliant to obtain strength and grace from on high, yet He was not praying for Himself but for the sinners He came to save. As He endured that agony in earnest lonely prayer, so His true followers will often feel agony of soul and pour out earnest prayer and groan in spirit after God. As He was buffeted by Satan and then ministered to by angels, so they will be buffeted by Satan for a season and if they resist will be followed by grace and strength imparted by His angels through God. Seasons when the soul is enshrouded in darkness and seasons of darkness need not drive them from God. The scene shows the importance of watchful communion with God, for during the agony an angel was present though the sleeping disciples had only a dim sense of the angel's presence, and their drowsiness kept them from receiving the evidence that could have strengthened them for the trials ahead.
Peter later returned to the place where Jesus had prayed and suffered, and remembering his own failure to stay awake and his denial of Jesus, he was moved to repentance, humility and sympathy for the weak and tempted. The anguish in sweating great drops of blood and the help of a solitary angel sent from heaven to strengthen the Son display what Christ gave up for sinners and put anything called human self-denial in the shade. Set against the mocking, scourging, crown of thorns and crucifixion that followed, it proves the narrow way of self-denial is not too strait. It rebukes lukewarmness, love for worldly society and contentment with enough religion to please all, and demands undivided affections, separation from the world and from dead heartless professors, transformation by the renewing of the mind, whole sacrifice and entire consecration.
When a servant of God is in great heaviness and sorrow, with the cup of sorrow full from reproach and grief and false reports and feeling unable to speak and too depressed to speak, trusting in the Lord and prayer bring God to answer by sending an angel from heaven to stand by to give strength. The angel gives strength and freedom to bear testimony that evening with great freedom, bringing the blessing of the Lord to rest upon him, the presence of Jesus felt in the midst, hearts burning with His love, and shouts of glory and victory going up. An angel sent by God can likewise rescue and strengthen a person amid deep depression, raising them above earthly influence and above earthly influence and depression. The agony in the garden is part of what the disciples later recounted as they spoke about His life and suffering, and what Christians recalled as He endured suffering before His betrayal, trial and execution. Strengthened, He rose in sweat, blood and anguish and returned to His disciples and then went out with them, still longing for their sympathy, with the heavenly help sustaining Him through the crisis which He had to endure alone.