By Jonathan Edwards (Modern English Adaptation)
"And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."
The suffering that Christ endured in the Garden of Gethsemane was unlike any suffering ever experienced by a human being. Here we see the Savior entering into a terrible conflict as He began to bear the weight of the sins of His people.
Before this moment, Christ had endured many hardships. He was born into poverty, misunderstood by many, rejected by those He came to save, tempted by Satan, and subjected to continual sorrow. Yet none of these trials caused such distress as what He experienced in the garden.
As the hour of His death approached, Christ became overwhelmed with a deep and dreadful sense of what lay before Him. He knew that He was about to bear the guilt of countless sinners and stand under the judgment of God against sin. The holy wrath of God, which sinners deserve, was now set before Him.
The agony did not arise merely from fear of physical pain. Many martyrs have faced torture and death with remarkable courage. Christ's suffering was far greater than the fear of nails, scourging, or crucifixion. Rather, He was contemplating the immense burden of divine justice that He would endure as the substitute for sinners.
He who had eternally enjoyed perfect fellowship with the Father now stood on the threshold of experiencing the dreadful consequences of human sin. The cup placed before Him was filled with God's righteous judgment against sin. As He looked into that cup, His human nature recoiled in horror.
Yet even in His agony, Christ remained perfectly obedient.
Three times He prayed:
"Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42).
This prayer reveals both the reality of His human suffering and the perfection of His submission. His holy human nature naturally shrank from such unimaginable suffering, yet His love for His Father and for His people moved Him to embrace the Father's will completely.
The intensity of His struggle was so great that His sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground. This extraordinary manifestation demonstrated the overwhelming pressure that His soul endured. The battle taking place was not primarily against men, demons, or physical pain, but against the dreadful prospect of bearing God's judgment for sin.
In Gethsemane we see the greatness of Christ's love.
No one forced Him to drink this cup. He willingly chose to suffer. Knowing every detail of the pain, shame, wrath, and death that awaited Him, He nevertheless advanced toward the cross. Every step He took was motivated by love for His Father's glory and for the salvation of His people.
The garden reveals what our redemption truly cost. We often think only of the physical sufferings of Christ, but His deepest anguish was in His soul. The darkness of Calvary began in Gethsemane. There the Redeemer entered the battlefield and willingly surrendered Himself to suffer in the place of sinners.
The agony of Christ should lead us to hate sin. If our sin required such suffering from the Son of God, then sin must be exceedingly evil. What appears pleasant and harmless to fallen humanity is so offensive to God's holiness that only the sacrifice of His beloved Son could atone for it.
At the same time, Christ's agony should fill believers with gratitude and assurance. The cup of wrath that He drank was the cup that His people deserved. Because He drank it to the very last drop, there remains no condemnation for those who trust in Him. He endured the judgment so that they might receive mercy. He suffered abandonment so that they might be accepted. He bore the curse so that they might inherit eternal blessing.
Therefore, when believers look upon Christ in Gethsemane, they should see both the terrible seriousness of sin and the immeasurable greatness of God's love. The Savior's agony was the beginning of the work by which He purchased eternal redemption for all who come to Him by faith.
"Being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly." In His deepest suffering, Christ turned to His Father. And because He endured that agony for us, all who belong to Him may now draw near to God with confidence, knowing that their salvation was purchased at an infinite cost.