The Agony of the Cup

Our Lord's agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is the apex of His life of sorrow and grief.

This is the high point of tortuous suffering. This is the night when He anticipates the drinking of the cup of divine wrath which will be His in full at the cross. Welcome to Grace To You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Now, if you're like me, you can get so caught up in the amazing truth that Jesus is God. Sometimes you have to remind yourself that He was also fully human. And the clearest depiction of how He suffered as a human is, of course, seen at Calvary, but there's an aspect to His suffering in the lead-up to the cross that you may never have thought much about. And it's critical to understanding what Jesus went through on behalf of sinners like you and me.

And that's the scene John MacArthur considers today. It's a sad, even shocking episode in the life of our Savior, but one that's essential to God's plan of salvation. Today's lesson is part of our brand new series, The Divine Drama of Redemption.

And now here's John. As we come to chapter 14 of Mark and verses 32 to 42, we come to a very familiar account of our Lord's agony in the Garden of Gethsemane as He wrestles with the reality of the coming cross later that day. This is set on Friday in the middle of the night, the very day He was crucified and died. Within the 33 years of our Lord's life in this world as God incarnate in human flesh, He had been constantly exposed to the sorrows of life. Very well aware of them as He was aware of absolutely everything, not only what was visible and what was knowable outside of Him, but what He knew because He knew what the heart of man was like meant that He not only saw people suffer, but He felt their pain. The New Testament never says He laughed, never says He was happy. But it does say He was sad and it does say He cried. But as much sorrow as He had, sorrow upon sorrow upon sorrow, grief upon grief, there was no sorrow and there was no grief ever in His life like the experience recorded in these verses.

It is so severe that He actually sweat blood. This is a momentous experience in the life of our Lord in the middle of the night on that Friday in which He was to die. Let me read it to you, beginning in verse 32. They came to a place named Gethsemane and He said to His disciples, sit here until I have prayed. And He took with Him Peter and James and John and began to be very distressed and troubled and He said to them, My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death, remain here and watch. And He went a little beyond them and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by. And He was saying, Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Remove this cup from Me, yet not what I will but what You will. And He came and found them sleeping and said to Peter, Simon, are you asleep?

Could you not keep watch for one hour? Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation. The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Matthew describes this, Mark describes it, Luke describes it, and John describes it.

And the full picture is the sum of all those descriptions. Again, this experience of our Lord in sorrow and grief and suffering defies comprehension, defies human understanding, surpasses our ability to grasp. This is sacred ground.

This is a supernatural struggle. This is a private divine conflict. This is the apex of His life of sorrow and grief. This is the high point of tortuous suffering. This is the night when He anticipates the drinking of the cup of divine wrath which will be His in full at the cross. This is the great, great battle. This is the great battle. And no wonder the struggle was so severe that Jesus said, My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death.

That's the overview of what's going on here. Let's go to the text, verse 32, they came...they meaning Jesus and the Eleven, Judas having left to go plot the arrest of Jesus which would come a little later, Jesus and the Eleven, leave the place where they had the Passover and the Lord's table. Verse 26, it said at the end of that evening, Thursday night, just around midnight, they sang a hymn and they headed to the Mount of Olives. On the way, Jesus says, You're all going to fall, you're all going to stumble, you're all going to be scattered, you're all going to end up denying Me. And they don't believe it. Verse 31, Peter says, I will die before I will do that.

And they all said the same thing. They came then to a place named Gethsemane. This is a garden, people lived in a crowded city and had their gardens outside the city wall on the hillsides. This is somebody who owned a garden, who had given it to the disciples and to our Lord to use and not only at this Passover, but John 18, 2 says Jesus often resorted there with His disciples. So it was a place to escape the crowds, a private place, a private garden where they could get away and spend time together. That is why Judas knew where they were. According to Luke 22, 39, Judas who was betraying them knew the place, which means it was a place they went to frequently enough for Him to know they would be there. They arrive at this garden and it's named Gethsemane which means olive press. It's the Mount of Olives, they grow olives there, they do even to this day.

This would be named for the press that was used to get the olive oil. This is the garden. When they arrived there, He said to His disciples, sit here until I have prayed. According to the parallel account in Luke, Luke 22, 40, He also said this, pray that you may not enter into temptation.

He's just warned them of the danger therein, of falling away, scattering and denying Him. Pray that you may not enter into temptation. Use the means of grace.

Don't depend on your own strength. Call on the Lord. The means of grace to overcome iniquity, to be victorious is vigilant prayer. Yes, we have a High Priest praying for us that our faith fail not. Jesus said that with regard to Peter, I have prayed that your faith fail not.

It won't be a total failure, a total collapse. We have an interceding High Priest, but we will lose the battle with temptation along the way if we don't pray and depend on divine strength rather than be overconfident in our own human strength. So they should have been praying because of what was coming, the most dangerous moments in their experience up to this point. Well with that as a background, let's look at the scenes that unfold in these few verses just briefly. First we see a transcendent affliction...a transcendent affliction. This is an affliction that comes to Christ in this hour that really transcends anything we would know.

I'll explain that to you. Verse 33, he took with him Peter, James and John. They were the leaders, James and John, you know, were the ones who came to Jesus with their mother and said, can we sit on your right and your left hand? They had the sense that they were...they were the prime guys.

They had the sense that they had the intimate track with Jesus. And then there was, of course, Peter who was the recognized leader as far as everybody was concerned and not the least of which was Peter. So they go along.

Well what is this about? Well these are the three main leaders. These are the guys that are going to be the influences on the others, so they need to learn a lesson. So Jesus says, come with me cause you have something to learn.

And if you learn it, you can teach it to the rest. By the way, they were going to learn a lesson. They were going to learn how important it is to pray so that you will be triumphant in temptation and they were going to learn it by failing to pray and falling to the temptation. So they were going to learn the way that we learn the best by failure. They were going to learn out of the disaster of their prayerlessness.

Now let me tell you something. If Christ Himself needs to pray in the face of temptation, how much more do we need to pray? Cause He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. He drew on the Father's power and protection.

How much more do we need to? So in the three go with Jesus to a certain point. On the way, verse 33 says, He began to be very distressed and troubled.

Distressed is a very interesting word. It is a compound form of the verb to be amazed...to be amazed. And you would ask yourself, what could amaze Jesus? He is omniscient.

He knows everything. What is going to amaze Him? What is going to stun Him? What is going to shock Him? Is there any experience He's never had? Is there anything He doesn't know?

Answer, yes. There is an experience He's never had and He's about to have it. So He is amazed and astonished at the level of anguish that He's feeling over this. This is something new to Him. What was it?

What was causing this? It is the anticipation of experiencing the Father's will and embracing the role of becoming a sacrifice for sin, to become the sin-bearer. He is facing something completely alien to Himself. He has never known sin. He has never known the wrath of God.

He has never known alienation. And what God was asking Him to do was to embrace sin as a sin-bearer, not as a sinner, but as a sin-bearer to take the wrath of God for sin, to receive divine punishment. And the level of divine wrath is staggering because our Lord will embrace eternities of wrath, eternities of divine punishment.

What do you mean by that? I mean that for every sinner for whom He died, He took that sinner's eternal wrath. For the millions of sinners for whom He died, He took a million eternities full of wrath and He was wholly harmless and undefiled, separate from sinners and how could this be?

That's why the struggle was so immense. Like verse 34 says it, He said to them, my soul is deeply grieved, perilupos, literally surrounded by sorrow, surrounded by grief, peri, perimeter, periphery. He's engulfed in this grief to the point of death...to the point of death. He had never said yes to alienation from His Father. He'd never said yes to guilt. He'd never said yes to sin-bearing.

He's never said yes to punishment. It almost killed Him. Then Luke 22, 43 says, God sent an angel to strengthen Him. A mighty angel came to save Him when He came to the point of death.

How severe was it? Luke 22, 44 says, the struggle was so immense, the stress on His physical form was so great that He began to sweat drops of blood. There's a clinical name for that, hematidrosis. What happens is, under immense stress, the capillaries gorge, inflate and explode and the blood comes out the sweat glands.

This is the maximum point of human stress. The anguish was so profound that an angel had to save his life, he might have bled to death from the sheer struggle and stress of it. Remain here, he says in verse 34, and keep watch. And he left the three further into the Garden and he went a little beyond them, verse 35.

He went a little beyond them. And Luke 22, verse 41 says, he went a stone's throw, as far as you can throw a rock. And he fell to the ground and he began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass him by...the hour, the hour of the power of the darkness, all the suffering leading up to and including His cross. We're not holy so we can't relate to this. Some people say, well wait a minute, doesn't this show weakness on Jesus' part?

Doesn't this show reluctance to obey His Father? Look, if He didn't react like this, we would wonder whether He was holy, right? This is the only possible response of a holy person to the thought of bearing sin and guilt and judgment.

This is the most acceptable, normal, expected response. We don't have a perfect hatred for sin, He did. Everything in His being was repulsed by the thought of iniquity. His plea is absolutely consistent with His nature as God. He's too pure to look on things that are sinful.

Can't even behold them, Habakkuk 1.13 says. No wonder it came almost to the point of death, blood loss so severe that an angel had to come and rescue Him in some way. His words are even given here. This is His actual prayer and that takes us to a second point, a passionate supplication or passionate petition. He was saying Abba, Father, Abba meaning Papa, Daddy, it's a term of familiarity.

No Jew would ever even call God Father, let alone call Him Abba, but our Lord calls on the affectionate, intimate, personal name of God as if pleading for that intimate love to rescue Him. All things are possible for you, He says. All things are possible for you. Theoretically that is true, that is an absolute fact. All things are possible for God. There is nothing that God doesn't have the power to do and the privilege to do and the prerogative to do. That is true theoretically.

However, it's not true actually. God couldn't allow Him to miss the cross. When He says all things are possible for you, remove this cup from Me, that is a problem. If He doesn't go to the cross, then we have some big problems. Satan wins, heaven is empty, hell is full, the Bible isn't true, the promises of God are lies, there is no salvation. Well theoretically God can do anything He wants, but God has already put Himself on record that salvation will come through blood sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness of sins. God can't go back on His Word and while God can do anything He wants to do, one thing He doesn't want to do is do what He says He would never do, or not do what He said He would do.

That is He's never inconsistent with His promises. The request, nonetheless, is clear, we know what's on Jesus' heart, remove this cup from Me. Cup is a symbol from the Old Testament of divine wrath, a cup of wrath.

You see that in Psalm 11, Psalm 75, Isaiah 51, Jeremiah 25, Jeremiah 49, Lamentations chapter 4, other places. Let this cup of wrath pass from Me, remove it. He's beginning to think about it.

What shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour? Here He is saying, what am I supposed to say, Father, save Me from this hour?

But for this purpose I came to this hour. He knew that. He said, am I going to say that?

And guess what? He did say that. In the throes of the horrors of that, save Me from this hour, remove this cup from Me. But then comes His triumphant resolution, yet not what I will but what you will...not what I will but what you will. In the end, that's what He always said. He said over and over, I only do what the Father tells Me, shows Me, desires of Me and what I see the Father do. I follow only His direction. It's because, as He said when He was twelve years old, I must be about My Father's business. Well, in the horrors of that agonizing struggle, He starts to think about the disciples.

Amazing. And that takes us to a third scene here. We see affectionate exhortation. Verse 37, He came and found them sleeping. It goes back to the three, Peter, James and John. He said to Peter, Simon...always called him his old name when he acted like his old self...are you asleep?

Could you not keep watch for one hour? Luke actually adds something very helpful for us. They were asleep, Luke adds, for sorrow...for sorrow. Things were not going the way they wanted them to go. Where was the Kingdom? Where was all the glory they anticipated? And now there's a betrayer among them.

He's gone off to do his dirty deed. And Luke adds, they went to sleep for sorrow. Sleep is a tranquilizer, isn't it? Do you ever go to sleep when you just want to escape? Sorrow will put you to sleep.

And their sorrows were exceedingly heavy, heavy sorrows. But our Lord gives them a warning in verse 38, keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation. Don't you understand the danger you are in? Keep alert and praying. That's an old lesson. You're not in temptation again, Matthew 6, Luke 11. Watch and pray. Be on the alert. Use the means of grace.

You better depend on divine power. But what is the point of this? The point is this, and this is such a profound thing to understand. In the middle of the most consummate agony of his entire existence as an eternal being, he is concerned about these guys. Now that's the kind of high priest you need, right?

A sympathetic, merciful, compassionate high priest. So just in case you wondered whether in the busyness of Jesus' activities in life, He forgets you, don't wonder anymore. No matter how intense the struggle is, He has you in His heart. "'My name,' said the song we sang, is graven on His hands, My name is written on His heart and He ever lives to make intercession for us."

Beautiful. Again He went away and He prayed saying the same words. What words? Back in verse 36. "'Abba, Father, all things are possible for You, remove this cup from Me, yet not what I will but You will.'" Three times He poured out His heart saying, "'Remove this cup from Me.'" And it's reminiscent of Paul in 2 Corinthians 12, going before the Lord three times to ask that the thorn in the flesh be removed, right? And finally saying, "'No, that's it.'" Third time He came and said to them, "'Are you still sleeping and resting?'"

Wow. His prayer was only interrupted because of His compassion. This is our great high priest who cares for us. So we see the affliction, the petition, the exhortation. There's a final consideration coming in the last couple of verses. Let's just call it triumphant submission. He yields to the will of the Father in each of those three cycles of prayer. But He finally comes out triumphant. The last temptation is over. He is resolved triumphantly, majestically, unhesitatingly to do what His Father has asked Him to do. He's going to go to the cross. Verse 41, in the middle it says...He says, "'It's enough, it is enough.'" Congregation over, struggle, finished, prayer done, answer clear. The hour has come. He says, "'Behold, or better, look...actually I think He said, "'Look, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.'"

What did He mean by that? They were up on the slope of the Mount of Olives. There was an entourage coming made up of the leaders of the Sanhedrin of Israel and assorted other dignitaries and followers of Judaistic religion. There were the temple police who were the ones who policed the crowds in the temple on behalf of the temple operation. And then there was a cohort of Romans which could be as many as 600 soldiers.

There could have been a thousand people coming up the hill with torches. He sees it. John 18 records what happened. He went right at them.

Let's be going. "'Behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand.'" I can now see Judas coming up the hill. Jesus doesn't go the other way, He confronts them. He says to them, according to John 18, "'Who do you seek?'" They say, "'Jesus of Nazareth.'" He says, "'I am He.'" And they all fell down flat on the ground, all of them, as many as a thousand of them, hit the dirt just by the sound of His voice when He said, "'I am He.'"

They crawled back up again. He said it a second time. He is triumphant. He is majestic. But the disciples?

Not so. They're going to flee for their lives, unprepared, prayerless and unprepared. So in triumphant resolve, He goes to face His betrayer, goes to face the religious enemies of Judaism and the Roman soldiers and all the rest of the crowd. What was it that caused Jesus to come out with that triumphant submission? Why would He say, I'll go to death?

Why would He do that? Why would He accept this from God? The answer comes in Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 7 where the writer of Hebrews looks back at this event and he says this.

In the days of His flesh, in the days that Christ was on earth, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears, okay? That was at the Garden, listen to this, to the one able to save Him from death. And He was heard because of His holiness.

What does that mean? He entrusted Himself to God who was able to save Him from death and would do so because He was holy. In other words, Jesus trusted the promise of resurrection. It was our Lord's trust in the Father's promise of resurrection, Psalm 16, and the Father's power of resurrection that enabled Him to accept this from His Father, go to the cross and look past it to His own resurrection.

That ends today's look at what Jesus endured to save sinners like you and me. John MacArthur's current study on Grace to You that's helping you prepare for a worshipful Easter is titled The Divine Drama of Redemption, and along with teaching each day on the radio, John serves as Chancellor of the Master's University and Seminary. Well, John, you've said many times that there is no aspect of Scripture that's more fascinating, more enriching, more wonderful to study than the person and work of Jesus Christ. You've told me many times you'd rather preach about Christ than anything else. If you're driven by anything, it's this desire to help people understand and worship the Jesus who's revealed in Scripture. Yeah, you know, just the comment you made that I'd rather preach about Christ than anyone else, I'll give you a secret hint to that. The reason I feel that way is because, as you know, when you're preparing a message to give, when I prepare to preach on Sunday, that occupies my mind all week.

And I would rather be occupied with Christ than anything else. So studying to preach on Christ puts Christ in the central focus of my mind. Even as I'm sitting here now, we're doing this on a Wednesday, and I'm preaching on Christ on Sunday, and all that's running through my mind are the magnificent realities of Christ that I'm going to be bringing out Sunday. So the benefit of preaching Christ is studying Christ and being Christ-conscious. And I don't think preachers understand that strongly enough. Putting together a quick message, you know, slapping together something on a computer with bits and pieces from here and there doesn't allow you to contemplate the depth of Christ.

One of the reasons that I study books and study slowly is to absorb these realities in no greater subject than the person of Christ, because he becomes my companion in that week as I think about his glories that I'll be talking about in the coming sermon. To help you with that, let me give you an opportunity to get a free book—that's right, free to any of you who have never contacted us—called The Jesus Answer Book. It's a beautiful little book that talks about Jesus, his incarnation, birth, teaching, miracles, crucifixion, resurrection.

Has a Q&A format. Really a good little book to give to somebody who may not know all about the Lord Jesus Christ. It's hardcover, kind of a gift book size, free of charge if you've never called or contacted us before. Just ask for the book, The Jesus Answer Book. Right, and nothing is more critical than knowing the truth about Jesus. The Jesus Answer Book can help you pinpoint answers to the questions you might have about who Jesus is and why he came to earth. To get your copy—and again, it's free if you've never contacted us before, just get in touch with us today—you can call our toll-free number, 800-55-GRACE, or you can request a copy at our website, gty.org. The Jesus Answer Book is a one-of-a-kind reference tool.

It answers questions about Christ's deity, his teaching, why he had to suffer on the cross, and dozens more. To get a copy of The Jesus Answer Book—again, it's our gift to you if you are contacting us for the first time—call 800-55-GRACE or go to our website, gty.org. And be sure to take advantage of our online sermon archive, 3,500 full-length sermons by John MacArthur, available for download for free at gty.org. That is every message from over 52 years of John's pulpit ministry, and it's all available in either audio or transcript format. And don't forget, you can also request your free copy of The Jesus Answer Book at gty.org. And now for John MacArthur and the entire Grace To You staff, I'm Phil Johnson, reminding you to watch Grace To You television this Sunday on DIRECTV, channel 378, or check your local listings for channel and time. And then be here next week when John continues his study, The Divine Drama of Redemption, with another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.