The Blood of Gethsemane

The other day I was in my own prayer time, and was lifting up a dear brother of mine. To keep things short there is much anxiety, and depression. It was while I was praying for him that this verse came to my mind:

Luk 22:44 NKJV  And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Why was Jesus so distressed?... Lets maybe take a look at it from the side of being a man. He looked at what laid before Him and probably saw no hope. I mean the thought of being captured, mocked, spit upon, beaten, beaten again without mercy, made to drag his own cross, where He was then hung in full shame of all to see, even to the point where even God (the Father) had to turn away from looking at Him and at the sin Jesus had taken upon Himself (and had become) for Jesus even said “God why have you forsaken me?” (Mat_27:46), where the Father had to begin unleashing His full wrath and justice for our sins upon Him over and over again. until as Jesus said "it is finished" (Joh_19:30) where He then went into death.... oh how my measly words do not even capture what He did!!!

But looking at this it is clear that the future He saw while praying was grim. looking at verse 43 we see that even angels were sent to strengthen Him. If you were to take the average person and lay this "grim" future before them and say "walk it out, the entire world is counting on you" I am sure that they would feel many things. I for one would feel a sense of fear, anxiety, hopelessness, worry, defeat, maybe even depression. though I do not know all of what Jesus felt, I just know that whatever He felt, it put Him into enough distress, and agony that He began to "sweat great drops of blood."

Now with this in mind I want you to think about what blood mean in the Old Testament. In all the sacrifices, and offerings there was some type of bloods shed. Be it a dove, goat, lamb there was always bloodshed. That blood was the payment for what they were sacrificing for. We see the greatest payment of blood with Jesus and His work on the cross. And in that payment He atoned for our sins. (praise the Lord). So if blood is the payment for thing (biblically) then what did Jesus then pay for in the garden of Gethsemane?

Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane in that state of agony, distress, worry, abandonment, etc... bled and paid for the victory over it all! See Just as the payment on the cross pays for our sins, so Jesus also paid for all of our "worry" type emotions! He paid for fear, anxiety, hopelessness, worry, defeat, depression!!! How wonderful Jesus is that He did leave us to work out and grit our way through life and all the "downs" that come with it. NO!!! Jesus paid for the victory over our emotions when life gets tough. That is why we see this verse later on:

1Jn 4:18 NKJV  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

You see, Jesus always showed love, and in the garden of Gethsemane He started the journey of showing perfect love. For we know:

Joh 15:13 NKJV  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.

So when Jesus started in Gethsemane the work of the cross He first had to deal with the "negative" emotions of man. He shed His blood there for the payment, and victory over these emotions. He dealt with them on His way to the cross. He dealt with them in His act of perfect love!

Even though He saw a "grim" future ahead of Him He did not give up! He pressed into the Father! He sought fellowship with believers, He prayed, and He remained obedient!!! He is our example of where to begin when the "negative" emotions of this world/flesh come. We must press into Him, for He is the payment and victory over them!

Any additional thoughts from you are welcome.

Your Brother in Christ

Grace and Peace be with you

Nate Cook, Setting Captives Free Team Member

www.SettingCaptivesFree.com

And Jesus said to me:

Eze 3:10b-11a  "...Receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears, and go, get to the captives..."

The Word to Stand...

To continue the thought on being tempted I would like to look again at just how Jesus defeated the devil and his temptations. So begin with me by looking at this verse:

Mat 4:4 NKJV  But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.' "

Jesus said that we cannot live by bread, but by every "word" that comes from the mouth of God. That "word" which Jesus used here is in Greek is "Rhema." Which literally means the "spoken word." So Jesus is saying here that we cannot live and bread alone by the "spoken words" of God.

Now what I find interesting is that here in the midst’s of an attack from the devil Jesus begins with the foundation of what He used to defeat the devil and his attacks. Jesus began with speaking the "Logos" or "written word" of God. Jesus is showing the pattern for defense, faith, and victory in this use of His words!

First let us look at how we stand strong in Jesus during an attack of temptations from the enemy. This would lead us to Ephesians Chapter 6. where we see our fight is not with flesh and blood, but is with our spiritual enemy. In this chapter (which I encourage you to read for yourself) we are shown the armor of God, and then we are shown our weapon to use in offence. Let us look at that here:

Eph 6:17 NKJV  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

Our weapon in defense and offence is the "word" of God! Now interestingly enough this "word" again is the Greek word "Rhema." For our offence/defensive to be effective we must SPEAK the word of God!!! In Heb_4:12 we see that the "logos" written word of God is in fact our weapon and is able to be used in all situations . Let's take a look:

Heb 4:12 NKJV  For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

This is the example Jesus gave us! He spoke the Logos word of God making it again the Rhema word in the time of temptation! That is what we too must do! In the times of temptations we must speak the written word of God out loud (at least in an audible voice)!!! What does this do? When we speak out loud the Logos word of God we are in fact proclaiming His truths! In these proclamations we are squelching the lies of the enemy and standing firm in the truth of Jesus Christ! The truth is He has already obtained the victory over temptations, sin, and death! He has already secured us in salvation through His finished work on the cross!!!

So when Jesus said in Mat_4:4 that we cannot "live by bread alone" it was more than just eating. He was literally in a life or death fight. His life, and our lives were on the line. Just as this was the beginning and launching of His ministry it was also a turning point. If He had fallen then we too would be without "life" for we would die in our sins... So when we are tempted we too are in a life or death situation. For we know that sin leads to death, and temptations are the door way to sin... That is why Jesus said we "live by the 'word' of God." If we walked in defeat at every temptation, we would be walking in a life of active sin. That is a life of bondage Rom_6:16-23 and not a life in Christ! For we are truly set free from all sin and death when we live in Jesus! Therefore, for us to walk in life, and live through temptations we must rely on the Rhema word of God!!! For us to know the word (Logos) God we must study the word (Logos) of God. For us to "speak" the word (Rhema) of God we must know the word (Logos) of God!

This is why it is so important that we feast on God's word daily! Pop shots of reading here and there just doesn’t cut it. Let me encourage you here and now to set a deep resolve to read/study God's written word (the Bible) daily. Walking with Jesus (being a Christian) is more than a casual approach to life. NO! It is a new life!!! let us put aside the old ways, our old man, and put on Jesus! He is our new life! And if this is true then we must devote all of our ways unto Him! And if that is also true then taking the time to feast on His word will not be a burden to us but a joy. For Jesus said Mat 11:30 NKJV  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."! We must give our all to Him and in return He gives His all to us!

Look at what Jesus says here in Matthew:

Mat 7:14 NKJV  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

The message version says it even better:

Mat 7:14 MSG  The way to life--to God!--is vigorous and requires total attention.

So let us begin to walk our life in total devotion to Jesus! For His way truly requires our total attention!!! And when attacks or temptations come we can stand firm (Isa_40:3-4 Isa_42:16Isa_45:2) in faith knowing we are victorious in Jesus!!

Your Brother in Christ
Grace and Peace be with you
Nate Cook, Setting Captives Free Team Member
www.SettingCaptivesFree.com

And Jesus said to me:
Eze 3:10b-11a  "...Receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears, and go, get to the captives..."