In the Garden

During a recent bout of anemia, I received a revelation from the Lord about the time leading up to and the time during His crucifixion.

As my body became very weak, I began to envision the suffering of Jesus Christ as He lost tremendous amounts of blood during His beating and crucifixion. I began to think about what He would have felt in His body and in His mind.

Could you imagine the physical weakness, the mental and psychological impairment He must have endured as blood poured out of His body without ceasing? There was no time to heal from the wounds. They came one after another, after another, after another….. His body endured trauma on an extreme scale. His heart rate would have been erratic as it tried to keep His body alive. His vision and thoughts would have been blurry as His brain lacked the necessary oxygen required to function properly. His muscles would have ached and burned as they screamed out for sustenance.

God Himself said that the life of the flesh is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11). As blood began to pour out of Jesus’ body, so too life went with it. He was dying bit by bit, every terrible second that His blood left His body. Though He was God, He was still a man.

And He endured all of this torment for you and me.

We cannot even fully imagine….

But it is not just this anguish that God highlighted to me. There was another suffering Christ experienced that God wanted me (and wants you) to understand.

Let’s go back to the hours before Jesus’ crucifixion. This was a time of agony unlike that which He would come to endure on the cross. This was an agony of the soul more so than that of the flesh.

Before He was taken away by the Sanhedrin to be handed over to the Romans, Jesus was praying in a garden on the Mount of Olives. The place was called the Garden of Gethsemane.

I’ve written previously on the Garden of Gethsemane as a place of travail. The name of the location itself refers to the process of pressing olives in order to release their precious oil.

But here’s the recent revelation:

The Garden of Gethsemane is the place where our soul becomes crucified as we fully submit to and obey the will of God.

It was here in the garden that Jesus cried out to the Father,

“Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42)

Jesus knew what He was about to endure. He also knew that this was the reason He was born. This was His purpose here on earth. But that didn’t make it easier for Him to endure. He was still a man. He would still have to suffer. In order to fulfill His purpose, Jesus would have to receive the cup of wrath that was God’s righteous judgement for the sins of humankind. This man who never sinned, would have to carry the sins of all and pay its great price with His own blood.

This was the will of the Father:

The redemption of humankind and reconciliation through the Son.

And it was to be fulfilled by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It seems, if even for a moment, Jesus willed for there to be another way. Regardless, He cried out for the Father’s will to be done. As He cried out, an angel came to strengthen Him and He prayed so fervently that His sweat came out as blood (Luke 22:43-44).

The Garden of Gethsemane was really where Jesus began the crucifixion. It was here where His will was crucified.

So what exactly is the will?

The Greek word used in verse 42 for the “will” of Jesus is thelēma and it means “will, choice, inclination, desire, or pleasure.”

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary defines the will as such:

“The power of choosing; the faculty or endowment of the soul by which it is capable of choosing; the faculty or power of the mind by which we decide to do or not to do; the power or faculty of preferring or selecting one of two or more objects.”

Our will comes from our soul. As human beings, we have a body, a soul, and a spirit. Your soul is what makes you “you.” It is the part of you that thinks, feels, desires. It’s where your personality comes from. It is also the seat of sin in every human being.

Jesus came to save our souls from the wages of sin. Often people focus so much on “the flesh” which the outer part of us that “does” or “acts.” But it is the soul that drives us to do what we do, say what we say, and feel what we feel. It is our “choice-maker” so to speak.

So why did Jesus have to crucify His soulish will?

Jesus came as the perfect sacrifice to make atonement for our souls.

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” (Leviticus 17:11)

Therefore, Jesus first “put to death” His soulish will in the garden because it is our souls that need to be redeemed. It was the breaking of His body and the spilling of His blood on the cross that actually redeemed us. Both of these instances required Jesus’ submission and obedience to God.

The word “submit” means to accept or yield to a superior force or to the authority or will of another person.

The word “obey” means to comply with the command, direction, or request of (a person or a law).

We must first submit (yield) to God’s will before we can obey (act on) following that will.

Jesus totally submitted Himself to the Father and in doing so He received strength so that He could fulfill His God-ordained purpose, the redemption of humankind. We learn from the scriptures that Jesus “humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8) and that “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).

This, my friends, is the place where we must all come. The place where we must relinquish our will for the Father’s will. This is the place where the soul surrenders to the Spirit. But we cannot do it on our own. This is why Jesus first had to endure it. Through Him, we receive the grace and the strength to follow suit.

It is in the garden where we humble ourselves and submit to God in every area of our lives. But we must go further still. Once we submit to God, there is the need for obedience, because in God’s eyes, to obey is better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22). It is through our obedience that we fulfill the Father’s will here on earth as it is in heaven.  

This is the obedience Jesus walked in. This is the obedience we have received grace to walk in.

Through our obedience, God shows Himself mighty. Through our obedience lives are saved, changed, transformed, and rearranged. Through our obedience the world can be turned upside down. Obedience to God changes EVERYTHING!

And it all started with the willingness of one man.

Jesus.

But it doesn’t have to stop with Him.

Jesus said ““Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” (John 14:12-14)

What “greater work” has He called you to do? Just know that it will require your total submission and obedience to the will of God. Thankfully Jesus has made a way for us to do so. Be encouraged today my brothers and sisters in the faith. God would not call you to do something that He has not provided the way to fulfill it.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

God will never lead you wrong. Jesus proved that for us over 2,000 years ago. He continues to prove it today. And one day all the world will know and believe.

Good Friday my brothers and sisters. Hold fast to your confession of hope that Jesus is risen and very soon He is coming back to gather us up with Him 💖

Thank you Lord Jesus for ALL that you did for us! Glory to You forever and forever. Amen!