44. In anguish. Hundreds of martyrs have suffered the most painful
cannot avoid the attack, but we are not obliged to give way to it. We cannot prevent temptation coming to us, but it is our own fault if we fall to it.
42. "This cup." Doddridge says about this word, "It was customary among the ancients to assign to each guest at a feast a particular cup, as well as a dish, and by the kind and quantity of the liquor contained in it, the respect of the entertained was expressed. Hence the word 'cup' came in general to signify a portion assigned, whether of pleasure or sorrow." (See Psalm 11:6 [KJV]; 73:10 [KJV]: 75:8; Isaiah
51:17; Jeremiah 25:15; Matthew 20:23.)
"Not my will, but yours be done." At no period in our Lord's earthly ministry does the reality of his manhood come out so clearly as in his agony in the garden and his death on the cross. As man, he endured temptation for us and overcame Satan; as man he showed the intensity of his sufferings by bloody sweat, strong crying, and tears; as man he was thirsty on the cross and said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" The infinite merit of his passion unquestionably arose from the inseparable union of his Godhead and his manhood. But the nature which is most prominently brought before us in his passion is his nature as man.
43. An angel from heaven appeared. This verse gives additional proof that our Lord was really man. As man, he was for a little time "made a little lower than the angels" (Hebrews 2:9). As man, he condescended to receive comfort from angelic ministry. As man, he was willing to receive an expression of sympathy from angels which the weakness of his disciples prevented them from giving.
44. In anguish. Hundreds of martyrs have suffered the most painful deaths without any such demonstrations of mental and bodily agony as are here recorded in the case of our Lord. How are we to account for this? How are we to explain the remarkable circumstance that our Lord appears to have felt more distressed than many a martyr has done at the prospect of being burned alive or even when at the stake?
The only satisfactory explanation of Christ's intense agony is the old doctrine of imputed sin. He had come to die for our sins. His death was a vicarious death. As our substitute he was about to bear our iniquities, to suffer for us, and to pay our debts to God with his own blood. He was about to be counted a sinner and be punished, that we might be counted righteous and be delivered from punishment. This sin of the world began to be laid on him in a special way in the garden. He was being made a curse for us by bearing our sins. This was the principal reason for his agony and bloody sweat. The words of Isaiah were being fulfilled (see Isaiah 53:6, 10).
The following quotations on this most important subject are worth reading.
Baxter says, "This agony was not from the fear of death, but from the deep sense of God's wrath against sin, which he as our sacrifice was to bear, in greater pain than mere dying, which his servants often bear with peace."
Sir Matthew Hale, quoted by Ford, says, "Christ stood under the imputation of all our sins; and though he was personally innocent, yet judicially and by way of imputation, he was the greatest offender that ever was. As our Lord was pleased to be our representative in bearing our sins, and to stand in our stead, so all these affections and motions of his soul did bear the same conformity as if acted by us. As he put on the person of the sinner, so he put on the same sorrow, the same shame, the same trembling, under the apprehension of the wrath of his Father, that we must have done. And as an imputed sin drew with it the obligation to punishment, so it did by necessary consequences raise all those storms and compassions in the soul of Christ as it would have done in the person of a sinner, sin only excepted."
LUKE 22:47-53
JESUS ARRESTED
We should learn, for one thing, from these verses, that the worst and most wicked acts may be done under a show of love to Christ. We read that when the traitor Judas brought the enemies of Christ to take Him, he betrayed Him "with a kiss." He made a pretense of affection and respect, at the very moment when he was about to deliver his Master into the hands of his deadliest enemies.
Conduct like this, unhappily, is not without its parallels. The pages of history record many an instance of enormous wickedness wrought out and perfected under the garb of religion. The name of God has too often been pressed into the service of persecution, treachery, and crime. When Jezebel would have Naboth killed, she ordered a "fast to be proclaimed," and false witnesses to accuse him of "blaspheming God and the king." (1 Kings 21:9-10.) When Count de Montfort led a crusade against the Albigenses, he ordered them to be murdered and pillaged, as an act of service to Christ's Church.
When the Spanish Inquisition tortured and burned suspected heretics, they justified their abominable dealings by a profession of zeal for God's truth. The false apostle Judas Iscariot has never lacked successors and imitators. There have always been men ready to betray Christ with a kiss, and willing to deliver the Gospel to its enemies under a show of respect.
Conduct like this, we need not doubt, is utterly abominable in the sight of God. To injure the cause of religion under any circumstances is a great sin, but to injure it while we pretend to show kindness is the blackest of crimes. To betray Christ at any time is the very height of wickedness, but to betray Him with a kiss, proves a man to have become a very child of hell.
We should learn, for another thing, from these verses, that it is much easier to fight a little for Christ, than to endure hardness and go to prison and death for His sake. We read that when our Lord's enemies drew near to take Him, one of His disciples "smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear." Yet the zeal of that disciple was very short-lived. His courage soon died away. The fear of man overcame him. By and bye when our Lord was led away prisoner, he was led away alone. The disciple who was so ready to fight and smite with the sword, had actually forsaken his Master and fled!
The lesson before us is deeply instructive. To suffer patiently for Christ is far more difficult than to work actively. To sit still and endure calmly, is far more hard than to stir about and take part in the battle. 'Crusaders' will always be found more numerous than 'Martyrs'. The passive graces of religion are far more rare and precious than the active graces. Work for Christ may be done from many spurious motives—from excitement, from emulation, from party-spirit, or from love of praise. Suffering for Christ will seldom be endured from any but one motive. That motive is the grace of God.
We shall do well to remember these things in forming our estimate of the comparative grace of professing Christians. We err greatly if we suppose that those who do public work, and preach, and speak, and write, and fill the eyes of the Church, are those who are most honorable in God's sight. Such men are often far less esteemed by Him than some poor unknown believer, who has been lying for years on his back, enduring pain without a murmur. Their public efforts perhaps will prove at last to have brought less glory to Christ than his patience, and to have done less good than his prayers.
The grand test of grace is patient suffering. "I will show Saul," said the Lord Jesus, "what great things he shall suffer for my name."
(Acts 9:16.) Peter, we may be sure, did far less good when he drew his sword and cut off a man's ear, than he did when be stood calmly before the council as a prisoner, and said, "We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:20.)
We should learn, lastly, from these verses, that the time during which evil is permitted to triumph is fixed and limited by God. We read that our Lord said to His enemies when they took
Him, "This is your hour and the power of darkness."
The sovereignty of God over everything done upon earth is absolute and complete. The hands of the wicked are bound until He allows them to work. They can do nothing without His permission.
But this is not all. The hands of the wicked cannot stir one moment before God allows them to begin, and cannot stir one moment after God commands them to stop. The very worst of Satan's instruments are 'working in chains'. The devil could not touch Job's property or person until God allowed him. He could not prevent Job's prosperity returning, when God's designs on Job were accomplished. Our Lord's enemies could not take and slay him, until the appointed "hour" of His weakness arrived. Nor yet could they prevent His rising again, when the hour came in which He was declared the Son of God with power, by His resurrection from the dead. (Rom. 1:4.) When He was led forth to Calvary, it was "their hour." When He rose victorious from the grave, it was His.
The verses before us throw light on the history of believers in ages gone by, from the time of the apostles down to the present day. They have often been severely oppressed and persecuted, but the hand of their enemies has never been allowed entirely to prevail. The "hour" of their trials has generally been succeeded by a season of light. The triumph of their enemies has never been entire and complete. They have had their "hour," but they have had no more. After the persecution about Stephen, came the conversion of Paul. After the