Part two
Jesus prayed in Luke 22:42-44 (amp) Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me: yet not my will, but always yours be done. And there appeared to Him an Angel from heaven, strengthening Him in spirit. And being in agony of mind, He prayed all the more earnestly and intently, and His sweat became like great clots of blood dropping down upon the ground.
So distressed at what He knew was to come, in knowing how much He would suffer to fulfill His purpose that He sweat blood.
I don’t believe Jesus actually felt like going through what He knew was coming; from the soldiers placing a crown of thorns upon His head and mocking Him, to their spitting on Him. From the flogging that tore most of His flesh from His bones to falling under the weight of the cross they made Him carry, then pushing through a hate filled mob of the very same people He was struggling to save. From the nails in His feet and hands as they hung Him on the cross meant to slowly cause His death through suffocation, to the soldiers casting lots for His clothes, gambling at His feet in boredom, waiting for Him to die so they could go home. From the ungrateful name calling and betrayal by those He was willfully and obediently suffering to save to the moment our sin separated Him for the first and last time in all eternity from His Father as all the wicked ugliness of our sin cut Him off from His very own Father just before He died completely and utterly alone.
All of this while also knowing the most painful and darkest time was still to come. A time that would most likely make everything He endured up to this point seem like a cake walk in comparison. Even the splintering wood from the cross tearing and scraping across exposed nerve endings from what little flesh remained upon His back while struggling to make it to the place they intended to carry out His undeserved execution, dulled in comparison to what torment awaited Him still.
From His arrest to the cross Jesus was brutally tortured and Tormented. Yet even all He went through during that time wouldn’t hold a candle to what He would go through from His death to His resurrection. Jesus also suffered in hell where the demons and Satan himself tormented Him unceasingly. Can you picture Satan, telling Him that He failed? Taunting Him saying, “just look around you Jesus, your in hell because your Father hates you. You failed Him and now you’re here for all eternity.” See all of Jesus life on Earth He was never separate from the Father. They were together always. So much so that when the woman who suffered 12 years from a bleeding disorder in Luke chapter 8 touched Jesus cloak, He felt the power go out of him.  Luke 8:45-46(amp) we read, “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. Everyone denied it and Peter said, “Master this whole crowd is pressing up against you.” but Jesus said, “someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.” How close would you have to be with Father God everyday to know when a little bit of power leaves you? How in tuned to Father God He had been. Now in hell, He was cut off from His Father. Hell, a place void of all the attributes of God, hungrily awaits new tenants to invoke the worst suffering and pain upon with no hope of escape. Father God is not there for it’s the one place He did not create but chose to allow all those who rejected Him with their free will to create by their choosing existence without Him. James 1:17 (amp) tells us, whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. Think for just a moment about good things, like the smell of fresh cut roses, the feel of a cool breeze on a hot summer day, a glass of ice cold water quenching your thirst, the warmth of the sun on your face, the majestic beauty of the mountains you see off in the distance. And then what about the good things we take for granted or we don’t notice because they’ve always just been, like the air we breathe, the way our body fights off diseases daily, how our legs carry us around and our minds can rationalize thoughts. Imagine a place void of all good things and then add to it Satan and demons who hate us with such passion being unrestrained from causing us the worst imaginable pain. Lastly once there, the knowing there is no escape and you cannot die. Jesus endured this place absent His Father to pay our debt so we don’t have to ever go there and so we never have to be apart from Father God because of our sin.
No, Jesus was not by any means looking forward to this impending suffering as He prayed there in the garden sweating drops of blood.
Jesus didn’t necessarily feel a want to do what He was about to do, He was called to do it by Father God in Heaven. Jesus knew Father God’s Will is all knowing and perfect with only our best interest in mind. He knew no matter how hard it may seem at the time, it would only be a season of pain and hurt sacrificed for an eternity in Paradise for all those He loves.
I can only imagine the Love Father God has for us knowing He had to endure the painful, deeply piercing plea for help from His one and only Son. The innocent, faithful, sinless Son in whom He was well pleased was crying out for any other way to be made known. I can almost depict tears silently falling from God’s face as He listened to His amazing, obedient, perfect son ask Him if there was any other way. What could be worse than having to watch your beloved son in agony because of His knowing the extent of suffering He would soon endure in order to fulfil his purpose. And the heartache in knowing you cannot help or He would fail at His own purpose.
No, He was obedient to Father God regardless of His fleshly feelings and no matter the suffering He had to endure in the flesh physically, emotionally or psychologically. He never questioned Father God’s understanding or ways. He willingly and obediently loved us without selfish hesitation and bore upon Himself the cost of all mankind’s evil hearts and sinfulness against Creator God.
Although He prayed, mentally and emotionally distressed, with sweat drops of blood, that this cup could be taken from him and he would not have to bear all the pain and suffering of the entire human race, He still did not choose to allow His own feelings or His rights as to the fact He was innocent and undeserving of the punishment to sway His decision of what God’s Will truly was.
No Jesus surrendered His emotional and mental stress about what He was about to endure to the Will of God. He loved us though we were undeserving so much so that He paid the price of our sinfulness for us without even a thought or possibility of us repaying Him for doing so.
Although repaying Him for what He has done for us is impossible, to be a true follower of Christ we are to echo His heart in how we treat others and how we surrender to the will of Father God in every aspect of our lives.
Romans 12:9-10(amp) Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, love is not what the world would have us believe. Love is what Jesus did. I have chosen to rebuke the “LIE” and believe the truth. Love is not what I feel, Love is what I do for others despite my feelings and despite what I think is fair. I choose to echo the Heart of Jesus and act in love while having faith that Father God will restore the hearts of myself and those in my sphere of influence to genuine Agape love.
Maybe God is calling you to do the same,
Until next time, may Father God bless you and keep you as you seek Him with all your heart.