◄ What Does Mark 14:36 Mean? ►

We cannot begin to imagine the depth of agony that our Lord Jesus Christ experienced in Gethsemane, when three times in succession He asked Abba, His God and Father, if it were possible to remove the bitter cup He was about to drink, for He knew that all things are possible with God. And yet, the thundering silence that pounded from a shut and brassy heaven revealed that there was no other way whereby we must be saved. And so Christ was enabled to pray: "Nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done."

Christ was asking if it were possible for mankind to be redeemed in another way, other than by His own substitutionary death, burial, and Resurrection. But there was no other way to pay the enormous price of sin except by means of the precious blood of the holy Lamb of God, poured out for your sin and for mine.

Christ's bitter anguish in the Garden can only be grasped in the light of what was about to take place as He hung on the Cross, for He was about to bear the full weight of the sin of the whole world. He was to become the sin-substitute and be made sin for us. He was to become the sacrifice for sin, and was about to bear the full force of the curse of the Law of our account, as the inexhaustible wrath of God was poured out upon Him, in fullest measure.

Jesus was not seeking to extricate Himself from His God-appointed responsibility, for He knew that for this purpose He had come into the world to save lost sinners by means of His substitutionary death. Indeed, according to the writer of the Hebrews, the Lord Jesus asked to be saved out of death and not saved from death: "Who in the days of his flesh, having offered up both supplications and entreaties to him who was able to save him out of death, with strong crying and tears."

Before He breathed His last breath and gave up His spirit, our dear Redeemer prayed that He would be raised from the dead, which was fully granted at His glorious Resurrection. There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin, but He was made sin for us so that we who believe in Him, might be made the righteousness of God IN HIM.

Heavenly Father, what amazing grace that You should send Your only begotten Son to be born as a man and suffer and die for me. I will never completely understand the stress my Saviour was under, when, sweating drops of blood because of the enormity of what lay ahead of Him, He uttered those words: "Not My will but Your will be done." But I praise and thank You that the Lord Jesus was willing to face the enormous consequences of the Cross and become sin for my sake. The wrath of God that I justly deserved was poured out on Him in my stead. The gift of my salvation that cost Jesus so much is freely given to me so that by believing in Him, I might be forgiven, redeemed, justified, sanctified, and glorified. Thank You, Lord, to Your praise and glory, AMEN.