Matthew 26:39, commentary and pictures

In Gethsemane on Passover night Jesus withdrew a little farther from His three closest disciples and fell prostrate on the cold ground to pray in superhuman anguish for human sympathy yet left to wrestle alone while they slept. The cup He pleaded might pass is the suffering, shame and death apportioned to guilty man, bearing the sins, curse and punishment of the whole world from Adam to the end as Substitute and Surety so sinners need not bear it. His dread was not fear of nails and cross but horror at the penalty of transgression, the Father's wrath, hidden face and separation, asking whether man could be saved in any other way without His drinking. That awful moment decided the destiny of a lost world trembling in the balance, yet though His sinless humanity shrank and could have refused, He prayed three times yielding His own will to the Father's and consented to drink to the dregs obedient unto death. The Father did not take the cup away but sent a mighty angel to strengthen Him to drink it, and His pleading while submitting remains the model for earnest prayer to present requests as intercession and trust God's wisdom with nevertheless not my will but Thine be done.

Gethsemane Prayer Setting

The prayer was offered in the garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives on the night of the Last Supper, on Passover night when He had given bread and cup to His disciples. It was a quiet, dark wooded retreat under a broad full moon in a cloudless sky, while the city of pilgrims lay hushed in silence, and the same events are recorded in Matthew 26:36-56, Mark 14:32-50, Luke 22:39-53, and John 18:1-12. It was His accustomed place to brace His spirit for trial and duty by fervent prayer, where He had frequently spent the entire night while His disciples slept undisturbed at a little distance until He awoke them in the morning to labor anew. That night of prayer and communion in solitude in the mountains came to prepare Him for a great trial before the agony of the judgment hall and the cross, after He had earnestly conversed with and instructed His disciples and become strangely silent and utterly sad. The place was made holy by His presence in human nature and consecrated by His prayers and tears, where His suffering was so intense that His blood moistened the ground.

On entering the garden He told His companions to sit while He went to pray yonder, selecting Peter, James and John to go further with Him into the recesses of the garden. He then went a little farther from those three alone, still where they could see and hear, and fell on His face prostrate on the cold ground in the night dews. He clung to the cold ground as if to prevent Himself from being drawn further from God, heedless of the chilling dew falling on His prostrate form, convulsed, pale, groaning, with labored effort as if about to fall. His steps had been made with labored effort, His form swayed as if He were about to fall, He groaned aloud as if suffering under the pressure of a terrible burden, and twice His companions supported Him or He would have fallen to the earth. The disciples marked the strange sadness deepening as He proceeded, unlike anything they had ever seen in Him, and dared not question Him as to the cause, but looked anxiously for His usual place of retirement that He might rest.

In that superhuman anguish He longed for human sympathy and for His disciples to watch and pray with Him, and to know they were praying for Him and for themselves and understood the terrible temptation, which would have relieved and strengthened Him. He went to them hoping to find them watching with Him in the crisis but found them asleep from drowsiness and stupor, and His agony was intensified by the darkness gathered around Him and by finding them asleep when He sought their sympathy. Even His closest disciples did not watch with Him but let sleep overcome them and left their suffering Master to wrestle alone with the powers of darkness while angels watched the conflict with amazement. He staggered as if dying on a battlefield while they slept, with bloody sweat coming from His pores and moistening the ground, and the mysterious cup trembled in His hand as He prayed. Their sleep kept them from hearing His voice and receiving strengthening evidence for the trial ahead, which calls believers facing crisis to stay awake, live in close relation with God, and be willing to suffer to help the weak.

Peter's memory of seeing Jesus prostrated in great agony while he slept later deepened his repentance, and his tears in the garden marked his conversion and prepared him to pity the tempted, sympathize with the weak, and strengthen his brethren. He later remembered that prostrate form and agony with remorse and grieved that he had failed to watch and pray and had added to Jesus' sorrow, with His face stained with bloody sweat as He fell beneath the weight. John, distinguished as the disciple whom Jesus loved, was one of the three permitted to witness that agony, just as he was permitted to witness Christ's glory on the mount of transfiguration, and this privilege was a token of Christ's pre-eminent friendship, confidence and love. Those three, Peter, James and John, were the disciples brought into the closest relationship with Him during the night of His agony. James understood those words about the cup of suffering and death and baptism more fully than ever before when he was brought to prison and to death.

The agony in Gethsemane is one part of His sufferings for humanity alongside mockery, betrayal, and crucifixion, endured before the shame of the cross where He gained victory over death and the tomb. It followed His final hours of comforting His sorrowful disciples and singing praise with them, and preceded the abuse and mockery of the judgment hall and the scenes of Calvary. His suffering and humble endurance in the garden before betrayal and execution were among the events the disciples continually recounted when preaching about Him. Though He knew His path led to crucifixion where He would make His soul an offering for sin, His grief at the approach to Gethsemane was for Jerusalem's doomed people, not for Himself, and thoughts of coming anguish did not cloud His unselfish spirit. The painful history of that suffering is called to mind by the Lord's Supper, for the garden agony is part of the sacrifice remembered in the bread and wine.

Meaning of the Cup

The cup is the suffering and death apportioned to guilty man, the humiliation and agony and shame due to transgressors, which He drank fully to the dregs in man's place. It embraced betrayal and abuse, the crown of thorns and the nails, and death between thieves, the bitter cup of humiliation and agony and the baptism of blood. He faced that suffering to save the human family from perishing, freely accepting it at cost to Himself so that humanity need not perish but might have everlasting life.

The cup is bearing the sins and guilt and curse of the whole world, the punishment and chastisement loaded upon Him as Substitute and Surety and propitiation so sinners need not bear it. It is standing as a sinner against the Father He loved, treated as an enemy, bearing the wrath and displeasure of God against transgression of His holy law, with the light withdrawn and the Father's face turned away and hidden. Its weight runs from Adam to the end of time, the woes of a sinful disobedient world and a tide of human anguish rising before Him, a burden whose magnitude He alone could measure and whose horror brought His human nature to the point of death.

The dread wrung from Him did not come from fear of physical pain, for the pain of hands and feet nailed to the cross did not intimidate Him. It came from enduring the penalty of man's transgression, shuddering beneath the Father's frown and crushing anger over sin, bowed to the earth as the sins of the world pressed upon His soul. He feared the hatefulness of sin in the Father's sight because He had become sin for man, feared separation and the withdrawal of presence by a broad black deep gulf, feared He could not endure the coming conflict with Satan and the powers of darkness. As a man He must bear the consequences of man's sin and the Creator's displeasure without calling His divinity to aid, taking the cup of punishment in humanity's place so that people might receive the cup of blessing.

The words if it be possible ask whether man can be saved in any other way without His drinking, whether the cup can pass and man not perish. He asks only if salvation can be accomplished another way while still saving a lost world, weighing the loss of a single soul and of the whole world and consenting to drink because that loss seemed so terrible. Only through that sacrifice can everlasting salvation come to a single soul who has transgressed the law of God.

The cup is mysterious and trembled in His hand, with the destiny of a lost world balanced in it and hanging on His decision. The fate of the lost world hung in the balance on whether He would stand as man's substitute and surety and drink as if He were a transgressor to pay the price for the human soul, or refuse, wipe the bloody sweat away, and leave the race to bear its own guilt and perish in iniquity in eternal ruin. Hitherto an intercessor for others, He now longed to have an intercessor for Himself, clinging to the cold ground heedless of the chilling dew, crying from pale and quivering lips, feeling His unity with the Father broken up and dreading separation from God. He prayed three times, consenting at last to honor the Father by doing His will and bearing His curse obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, treading the winepress alone amid satanic horrors yet coming off victor in man's behalf.

The cup of woe also includes the bitterness He endured when His earthly relatives did not believe in Him or join Him in God's work, whose unbelief darkened His earthly life and which He bore for us. It is the cup of wrath and suffering apportioned to Him as part of His mission, the baptism of blood He accepted as the true Passover lamb whose kingdom would be established not by force or political upheaval but through mercy and self-sacrifice, including hatred and condemnation. His death in drinking it fulfilled the covenant made before the world was created, necessary because transgressors continuing in sin must die, yet leading not to defeat but to glorious eternal victory.

Agony Bearing Sin

His agony was superhuman, unendurable to finite nature, with pale and quivering lips, suppressed wails, a changed countenance marred beyond any man, staggering as if dying and as if about to fall on a battlefield, and bloody sweat forced from His pores falling with the dew to moisten the ground. It was His hour of keenest agony, greater than what His face afterward showed before His enemies, yet His pale face in that sorrow never appeared more beautiful, expressing pity for those who knew not what they did and desire to help them if He could. The mysterious cup trembled in His hand as He faced bloody sweat on His agonized countenance, with the wail and wretchedness and ruin of a lost world rolled out before Him and the question whether He would let man go.

He felt sin separating Him from the Father as a broad, black, deep gulf before which He shuddered, His unity with the Father broken up, the Father's light, love, glory and presence withdrawn. He was not suffering for His own sins but for the sins of the world, feeling God's displeasure against sin as the sinner will feel it in the great judgment day. That thought of separation for a time pressed heavily and crushed Him, so that He felt He might be unable to endure it, feared the separation would be eternal and that the Father would no longer love Him because He was made sin, and clung to the cold ground heedless of the chilling dew as if to prevent being drawn further from God, crying bitterly from pale lips. The Father's thus separating His light, love and glory from His Son shows how offensive sin is in God's sight.

His sinless human nature recoiled, staggered and trembled in that trying hour with strong crying and tears and strong, real aversion to suffering, intensified because His spiritual nature was free from sin, longing for relief and fearing He could not endure the coming conflict. Unsustained by divinity His humanity would have died on that field of battle. The cup held the sins of the whole world laid upon Him, though the sins of one human being would suffice to crush a finite man, and looking upon a world of woe that would be lost if He failed, He refused to turn aside but consented to be loaded with the sins of the whole world and to bear the wrath of His Father in consequence of sin.

Satan encircled His humanity with a horror of great darkness, surrounding Him and pressing darkness upon His soul in a wrestling alone with the powers of darkness and the prince of darkness, in a fight of impurity against purity striving to separate Him from God. Satan tempted Him to think God had forsaken Him, that taking humanity's place would leave Him forever separated from God and under Satan's control, in Satan's hour of apparent triumph while angels watched the conflict with amazement and heaven was convulsed. With all his power Satan pressed temptations upon Him to make Him turn aside from offering Himself as an obligation to God.

As a man He bore the consequences of man's sin and the Creator's displeasure toward disobedience without calling His divinity to aid, enduring the wrath of God against transgression and the penalty of man's transgression, shuddering beneath the Father's frown and crushing anger that bowed Him to the earth and seemed to crush out His life. The innocent thus suffered the curse to save the guilty, becoming humanity's substitute and surety and the propitiation of a race that willed to sin, accepting suffering so humanity could have another trial and probation. His apparent hesitation to drink the cup offered to Him, together with His cry of forsakenness on the cross, declares how deep and intense were the sufferings of the Son for the sins of the world.

Destiny of World Decided

That awful moment in the garden was to decide the destiny of the world, with the fate of humanity trembling in the balance. It was not yet too late for Him to refuse to drink the cup apportioned to guilty man, to wipe the bloody sweat from His brow and leave man to perish in his iniquity while He went back to His Father. The cup was the bitter cup of humiliation and agony, the consequences of the curse of sin suffered by the Innocent to save the guilty. He prayed that prayer three times, with bloody sweat coming from His pores and moistening the ground, and with trembling lips yielded that if the cup could not pass unless He drank it, Thy will be done. He could have said He would not take the sins of the world, He could have refused the cup of suffering, yet He submitted to the Father's will and accepted the sacrifice, bearing it for each person so that they might form a character for future immortal life.

Before Him came the history of the human race, and He saw that transgressors of the law if left to themselves must perish. He saw the helplessness of man to save himself, the power of sin, and the woes and lamentations and wail of a doomed world with its impending fate. He weighed the terrible loss of even one soul and of the whole world, and because that loss seemed so terrible He decided to save at any cost to Himself all who will come. The woes of a sinful, disobedient world and a tide of human anguish whose terrible consequence of iniquity men are ignorant of rose before Him and nerved Him to bear the agony of a lost world. His anguish was not fear of physical suffering but of the Father's displeasure toward sin and the coming conflict, and in His human nature He feared He might not endure, which would leave humanity lost, for the burden of bearing the guilt of every sinner was of a magnitude He alone could measure and was unendurable to finite nature, so that unsustained by divinity His humanity would have died on that field of battle.

He freely accepted this sacrifice, knowing the self-denial, humiliation, betrayal, rejection and injustice He would endure, and if the cup had passed the plan of redemption would have failed. The cup trembled in His hand as He asked whether it could pass from Him, yet He submitted His will to the Father's, for the cup meant the suffering bound up with saving a lost world and being separated for a time from His Father. His agony was intensified by darkness gathered around Him and by finding His disciples asleep when He sought their sympathy, and He staggered as if dying on a battlefield with bloody sweat coming from His pores, crushed by the thought of separation from His Father and feeling He might be unable to endure it. He bore as man's Substitute the guilt and curse of the world's sin, the suffering and death due to transgressors of God's law under God's justice against sin, asking for it to pass only if salvation could be accomplished another way. Had He refused it, or had His prayer to escape been answered, salvation would have been lost and the human race would have faced eternal ruin locked in hopeless despair, but only through His drinking it could sinners be saved, placed on vantage ground, and given another trial and probation.

The conflict ended when He consented to honor His Father by doing His will and bearing His curse, the consequence of man's transgression, obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The mysterious cup trembled in His hands as the wail, wretchedness and ruin of a lost world rolled out before Him with the question whether He would let man go, and being in agony He prayed more earnestly until strengthened by an angel from heaven to accept His baptism of blood and drink the bitter cup of humiliation and agony to its dregs. This stands in direct contrast to the Garden of Eden with its foul blot of disobedience, revealing what was involved in Adam's disobedience and what the obedience of the Son means. He drank the cup of suffering through to its end and continued on the path to Calvary, enduring agony and shame for every person, including leaders and open sinners, so that they might escape perishing in sin and form characters fit for immortal life. In that agony the assurance of His Father's approval was withdrawn and He endured without clear hope of triumph, relying by faith on the evidence He had received of His Father's acceptance and character. Having laid aside the glory, majesty and splendor of heaven where angels adored and obeyed Him, He humbled Himself to die for a fallen race of rebels who had transgressed His Father's commandments, draining the cup fully to the last drop in order to save them, and in its place He offers sinners the cup of blessing and still invites all to come, though many know what He did yet go on in sin and folly with ingratitude for His matchless love, while provision is made for those who lay hold of the truths of God's word with sanctifying effect to be crowned with honor, glory and immortality, to dwell in His presence, to see the King in His beauty, and to never know sorrow and sighing more when probation closes.

His self-sacrifice was intended to reveal His love and move people away from transgression. With tears He prayed to the Father for the people He had been sent to give His life for, pleading with God and kept through temptation, accepting a life of poverty and humility to build up a people.

Submission to Father

Though He pleaded for the cup to pass, He yielded His own will to the Father's will, breathing only submission. He held to the Father's will in every particular with Godlike fortitude without murmur. Fallen prostrate and clinging to the cold ground in agony with changed, pale face, He felt sin separating Him from the Father as a broad, black, deep gulf before Him that made Him shudder. He was not suffering for His own sins but for the sins of the world, feeling God's displeasure against sin as the sinner will feel it in the great judgment day. The cup of suffering trembled in His hand, for it was the suffering He had to accept for the salvation of the human race, and if He refused it the world would face eternal ruin. He faced humiliation, suffering, and an ignominious death, and His prayer teaches that God's will must take precedence over personal desire even in the severest trial. An angel strengthened Him to accept and drink it.

He uttered the prayer three times, each time humanity shrinking from the last crowning sacrifice yet each time surrendering to the Father's will. Each time He asked if possible to let the cup pass, yet submitted His will to the Father's. His agony was superhuman, with bloody sweat forced from His pores falling to the ground, as the Father's presence with its light, love, and glory was withdrawn from the Son, showing how offensive sin is in God's sight. Surrounded by Satanic forces and overwhelmed by dread, His prayer and suffering convulsed heaven as angels watched. The fate of the lost world hung in the balance, for had He refused the cup the human race would have faced eternal ruin, and a messenger of comfort was sent to strengthen Him to accept it and endure its bitter sorrow so humanity might have everlasting life.

Though the sinless Son, He had laid off royal robe and kingly crown to clothe divinity with humanity to live a sinless life in man's behalf and make atonement on the cross. His human will was capable of asserting itself and He could have refused the humiliation, but He came into the world to suffer humiliation and death, so He surrendered His will to the will of God. If it be possible means if man can be saved in any other way, and nevertheless not My will but Thine be done means full submission to the Father's will. The cup He prayed might pass was standing as a sinner against the Father He loved, being separated from Him and bearing chastisement and being treated as an enemy, that through Him the world might be saved. His obedience unto death in Gethsemane stands in direct contrast with disobedience and transgression and penalty of death in Eden, showing He did not follow His own will. His agonizing intercession brought a strong angel from glory to soothe and strengthen Him, with drops of blood like sweat falling from His brow to moisten the ground.

His submission is the pattern for believers and is true conversion: refusing self-directed plans and choosing God's will. Self must die so that a person seeks where God wants them to be and how they can best serve and glorify Him, even to choices of life service such as whether marriage would harm the cause of truth. Spiritual conflict often comes from the heart's refusal to submit to God's will, and believers should follow His example by praying for strength to make God known in words and actions. Obtaining heavenly glory requires bringing the human will under subjection to Christ's will, because the rebellious cannot enter heaven.

Heavenly Strengthening Received

The Father did not take the cup away and did not grant escape, for to grant it would have left humanity locked in hopeless despair and eternal ruin. The prayer for release was prayed three times and was not answered by removal, but by support to drink the cup according to the Father's will in submission. When the decision to save man at any cost to Himself was finally made, heaven sent help not to announce release but to sustain Him in drinking it to its dregs.

A mighty angel was sent from the throne of glory to strengthen and comfort Him, a strong angel from where Satan fell who stands in God's presence. The angel lifted the sufferer's head, pointed toward the open heaven and set before Him the grand result of His victory, the souls to be saved and the eternal joys of the redeemed. He assured Him that His prayer was heard, that the Father was greater than Satan, and that He would see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied, as victor bringing millions to be victors with Him in the glorified kingdom. As His bloody sweat moistened the ground and His agony deepened under the withdrawn presence, this messenger of comfort soothed Him to bear it all and go through death for the lost world.

Though He trod the winepress alone with none of the people with Him and no disciple to sustain Him in dying weakness, He was not alone, for God suffered with His Son in giving Him up to reproach, agony and death. All heaven watched with sympathy and painful interest, with intense interest from heaven and the unfallen worlds, and angels who had never borne the sins of a ruined world longed to comfort Him but could not relieve or alleviate His sorrow. Heaven could no longer endure the sight without sending consolation, yet the others were restrained from intervening because the plan had to be fulfilled.

Thus strengthened He came off victor in behalf of man, gaining the victory over Satan, temptation, death and the tomb. Heavenly serenity rested on His pale and blood-stained face as He changed His prayer to submission to drink the cup. He pressed on in obedience to His Father's will, and the assault that sought to oppress and overcome Him only brought His spotless character into clearer view. The mysterious cup that had trembled in His hand with the destiny of a lost world balanced in it was now consented to, because He became substitute and surety, so that sinners can overcome in His name and gain an unfading crown.

Redemption Foretold and Proved

Gethsemane's obedience stands in direct contrast to Eden's disobedience, revealing what Adam's disobedience involved and what the obedience of the Son unto death means. In Eden came the foul blot of transgression and penalty of death, while in Gethsemane Christ stood as a sinner against the Father He loved, bearing chastisement, treated as an enemy, and separated from Him that the world might be saved. The mysterious cup trembled in His hand as the sins of the whole world were rolled upon Him, with bloody sweat on His agonized countenance and the wail, wretchedness and ruin of a lost world before Him and the question whether He would let man go. He asked if man could be saved in any other way, prayed more earnestly in superhuman agony, and ended the conflict by consenting to honor the Father by doing His will and bearing the curse of transgression obedient unto death, even death on the cross, submitting His own will and not following it. An angel from heaven strengthened Him and His agonizing intercession brought soothing in that submission.

The prayer is the crisis of the sacrifice planned before the foundation of the world and pictured in every sacrifice since Adam's transgression. In that hour it was to be decided whether the united purpose of the Father and the Son to save a perishing world would come to nothing, whether what prophets foretold, what types, symbols and shadows pointing to His suffering and death rested on, and what angels eagerly desired to understand would fail. Good and evil waited for the answer as unfallen worlds, heavenly angels, Satan with his confederacy of evil and legions of apostasy watched with intense interest whether the prince of darkness would triumph and his proud boast prove true. The time had come when all those types and symbols must be fulfilled after all He had already borne as Son of Man and as man's substitute, lest the prey be left helpless in the mighty's hands. The answer determined whether He would fail and fall short in redemption or whether the captives would be delivered, Satan overcome, obedience to the law demonstrated possible through Christ, and believers made more than conquerors. His cup of suffering was apportioned to Him as part of His mission under the covenant made before the world was created, necessary because transgressors continuing in sin must die, yet leading not to defeat but to glorious eternal victory.

By accepting the cup He interposed Himself as Surety to bear the Father's punishment for transgression of God's law, with the destiny of a lost world hanging on whether He would accept or refuse to become substitute and surety bearing guilt and penalty. The cup involved separation from the Father as punishment for sin, stooping beneath the burden of the race as one clothed with humanity though one with Deity, with the insult, mockery, abuse, horrors and ignominy of crucifixion added to Gethsemane's agonies. Those agonies furnish thrilling demonstration that God's justice when it punishes does the work thoroughly, testifying before saint and sinner, the universe, worlds unfallen and the fallen race that He will not excuse the transgressor. The law, foundation of all law and transcript of His character, is thereby magnified as unchangeable as His throne, its demands met, its authority maintained, and its holy dignity upheld, settling the controversy with Satan over the law's character. The great Sacrifice did not abate one jot or tittle, for the penalty was not remitted because He was the Son and wrath was not withheld from Him who was made sin, but without abatement fell upon the divine-human Substitute so justice was fully satisfied.

He became the propitiation of a race that willed to sin, the innocent obedient Sin-bearer enduring God's wrath against sinful humanity with the world's accumulated sin upon Him. His human nature, free from sin and therefore feeling a strong and real aversion to suffering, shrank from the last crowning sacrifice and longed for relief, intensified under overwhelming strain as He considered bearing sins from Adam to the end of time. The cup is the suffering, wrath and death due to transgressors under God's justice, and He asked for it to pass only if salvation could be accomplished another way. Though He had served as intercessor for others and now longed for help Himself, seeing transgressors must perish if left to themselves and seeing the power of sin and woes of a doomed world, He freely chose to drink the bitter cup of humility and agony at any cost to Himself, the innocent suffering the curse to save the guilty. He prayed three times with terrible fear at the gulf sin creates, submitted to the Father's will in willing commitment to His saving mission, was not released from drinking but was strengthened by an angel to endure when His human nature would otherwise have died. So the whole debt for transgression was demanded from Him as Mediator requiring full atonement, that believers in a crucified Redeemer may have everlasting life and the transgressor may have another trial and probation to be brought into favor.

As Elder Brother made perfect through suffering He was in all points tempted like humanity without using divine power to escape, enduring wrath amid horror of great darkness in Satan's hour of apparent triumph with sins weighing heavily and the sense of wrath crushing out His life. He took the seed of Abraham and was made like His brethren in all things, suffering Himself being tempted, and thereby became a merciful and faithful High Priest to make reconciliation for the sins of the people, able to help those tempted. He is touched with the feeling of infirmities and able to succor the tempted, watching over the trembling tried soul to deliver the tempted, strengthen the weak, enlighten the ignorant, heal the brokenhearted, brace the spirit for endurance, open the way from difficulty, and give nearest help in the moment of greatest discouragement. This proves God knows the sufferings of His creatures, because the Son Himself bore the contradiction of sinners against Himself beginning with this anguish of sweating as it were great drops of blood and then going on to betrayal, mocking, scourging and death on the shameful cross to bring everlasting life so the world should not perish.

He drank the cup of suffering through to its end and continued on the path to Calvary, accepting the suffering appointed for Him though He prayed it might pass if possible. The cup trembled in His hand in soul-deep anguish beyond what human nature can bear, with the Father's presence hidden, yet at the decisive moment for the world's destiny He submitted and chose to drink so humanity might be saved. That cup was the suffering and wrath due to guilty humanity which He accepted in humanity's place, giving people instead the cup of blessing and salvation. His self-sacrifice reveals His love to move people away from transgression, draw them from sin, and elevate them to God's right hand, exposing ingratitude in those unwilling to suffer for truth.

Model for Earnest Prayer

In Gethsemane pleading for the cup of suffering to pass while yielding desire to divine wisdom and will sets the pattern for earnest prayer. Finite, erring people are to present requests earnestly yet not as demands or commands but as intercession, committing the outcome to God with confidence and trusting He knows what is best rather than praying with feverish anxiety. Especially in praying for a sick person to live and be restored, ask for healing if it accords with His will and honors Him and glorifies Him and serves the person's spiritual good. Always add nevertheless not my will but Thine be done, trusting Him who reads every secret of the soul and knows the end from the beginning and whether the sick could endure future trial.

Such conditional surrender is never registered in heaven as a faithless prayer, and trust in His all-wise wisdom does not weaken faith but makes it more dependable and reliable. Not everyone will be healed, and if the sick are not raised to health they must not be judged as lacking faith.

The words not as I will bring calm and comfort and patient trust amid darkness, unrest and loneliness when a request is not granted because it would not be best. Continually making God's will the heart's desire gives peace more valuable than any worldly gift, sustaining followers because Jesus has gone before them and His love upholds them. So when a hoped-for reunion may not be granted, accept what the Father wills rather than insist on one's own desire, trusting even without feeling His presence or understanding His dealings that He is too wise to err and too good to do wrong. The bitter cup of affliction and sorrow may be allowed by a Father who loves His children and gives what is for their good, to be accepted with cross-bearing trust and to teach sympathy with others who suffer.

Call to Share Suffering

Jesus accepted the bitter cup rather than seeking His own ease, and in Gethsemane with His trials in the wilderness and death at Calvary He showed the way of self-denial and self-sacrifice that brings divine help to overcome. His willingness to bear suffering, humiliation, the cross, the crown of thorns and death to redeem others calls His followers to share that bitter cup of sorrow and humiliation and to suffer with Him rather than seek ease or a path into the kingdom apart from hardship. Following Him may require hardship, conflict and sacrifice rather than doing what one wishes, entering the kingdom through tribulation, bearing burdens, devoting time and means to saving others, and sharing His reproach rather than living for self and glory.

The bitter cup of trial and affliction may be given or allowed by a loving Father who gives what is for good, to purify and cleanse the heart. Patience, endurance and prayer sweeten the cup and allow it to accomplish its purifying work to the honor and glory of God, and believers should trust Him through trials and accept the cross. Murmuring and complaint make the cup more bitter and may mean the trial must be repeated with further trials until the heart is purified and its intended effect is accomplished. Without deep constant humility and firm trust in God, self-reliance and self-sufficiency may bring affliction upon one or more persons.

Accepting the Father's will does not rule out earnest pleading for deliverance, for in submission amid anguish God's faithful people in the end-time crisis and time of trouble will likewise agonize and cry day and night to God for escape from enemies and for a way of deliverance. They will face deadly danger and a death decree demanding they disregard the Sabbath of the fourth commandment to honor the first day, yet remain faithful and pour out the soul as in the garden rather than violate God's Sabbath. They must nevertheless drink the cup and be baptized with the baptism, enduring the appointed trial before deliverance comes, their distress not meaning God has abandoned them but that deliverance is delayed until God's will is fulfilled.

The night of agony became a severe test for the disciples, whose drowsiness and sleep kept them from hearing His voice, witnessing the scene fully, and receiving evidence of angelic presence that could have strengthened them for betrayal, condemnation and the terrible events ahead. Their failure illustrates the danger of being spiritually inattentive and out of communion with heaven when divine instruction is most needed, and warns believers to stay awake in living relation with God to receive needed strength for coming grief and temptation. Had they watched with Him in His hour of pain when love for their suffering Master should have kept them awake, they would have better understood the sorrow pressing upon Him, remembered His many words about suffering, death and rising again, kept rays of hope and strengthened faith amid gloom when Satan seemed to gain the victory, understood His mission to suffer and die for the sins of the world to set up a kingdom of love and peace and purity in hearts to fit them for heaven, been fitted to behold His death on Calvary, and been ready to bear scorn and mockery instead of leaving Him alone in bitter trial. Jesus knew this ordeal of Gethsemane, betrayal and crucifixion awaited Him and prepared the disciples beforehand while still present to comfort and strengthen them, so they would not be overwhelmed and would be willing to suffer to help the weak.

The cup He asked to let pass points to suffering and death, the suffering His mission would bring including hatred and condemnation, with His kingdom established not by force or political upheaval but through mercy and self-sacrifice. When James was imprisoned and led to prison and execution he understood more fully than ever before the words about drinking that cup and sharing that baptism. John likewise recognized as forerunner that he too was sharing in this suffering and yielded his life or death to God's purposes. In a moment of fear and danger Luther followed the example of falling prostrate to pray and pour out distress while seeking assurance that God was with him and asking for strength in submission to God's will.

His suffering in the garden and on Calvary was for guilty lost humanity and shows the depth of love His followers are called to show one another with self-sacrificing care, even to giving life for a brother. The garden consecrated by the agony of Him who bore the sins of the world is passed through when the ordinances are celebrated as commanded, witnessing the struggle by which reconciliation with God was obtained. Remembering those scenes of His last terrible trial endured so sinners might not perish but have eternal life rebukes failure to work in harmony and calls to love one another and lay down life for the brethren. His anguish in Gethsemane before betrayal and crucifixion was far greater than the anguish God's people will face in their final conflict, because He was bearing the weight of their sins.