Let us turn to God's Word there
in the Gospel according to St. Mark chapter 14 and for a text
I direct you to the verses 32, 33 and 34. In Mark 14 Verse 32 following, And they
came to a place which was named Gethsemane. And he saith to his
disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray. And he taketh with
him Peter, and James, and John, and began to be sore amazed,
and to be very heavy, and saith unto them, My soul is exceeding
sorrowful unto death. Tarry ye here, and watch. I want to address the subject
matter of Gethsemane, the place of Saul's sufferings. Gethsemane,
the place of Saul's sufferings. They came to a place which was
named Gethsemane. And then we're told how he began
to be so amazed and to be very heavy and saith unto them my
soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death the place of soul suffering
then is that that is being spoken of and the language is very pregnant
in meaning we read here of how he was so amazed, and the margin
indicates something of the strength of the expression that is being
used, so having the idea of extremely, and he was, it says amazed, he
was fearful, he was terrified at the prospect that lay before
him. He was never anything less than
true almighty God and yet here we see he was a real man. And
what fearful things lay before the Lord Jesus Christ when he
was going to make that great sacrifice for sins to suffer. All that wrath of God that was
due to those that he had come to redeem. We're going to observe of course
presently as a church that holy ordinance which we call the Lord's
Supper. I think of the words that Paul
addresses to the Galatians there at the beginning of chapter 3
when he says concerning them and the Lord Jesus before whose
eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you. And isn't that in many ways the
purpose of the Lord's Supper? It sets before our eyes the sufferings
of the Lord Jesus. In fact it says that doesn't
it in 1st Corinthians 11? Ye do show forth the Lord's death
till he come. And I often think when we come
to the first Lord's Day of the month and we anticipate the celebration
of the Lord's Supper, it's good to remind ourselves again of
something of those sufferings of the Lord Jesus. And so, tonight,
taking up this passage of Scripture here in Mark 14, 32 to 34, and
to consider, as I say, Gethsemane, the place of soul suffering. And dividing the subject into
two parts. First of all, to consider the
place of the sufferings, and then secondly, to say something
with regards to the purpose of God. First then, the place of
the sufferings, and that's what we're taught here at the beginning
of verse 32. They came to a place which was
named Gethsemane. You might be familiar, some of
you, with a book by Hugh Martin, one of the leaders in the Free
Church of Scotland back in the 19th century. A great preacher,
a great theologian, and he wrote a book called The Shadow of Calvary. And it's a wonderful book on
the subject that we're trying to address tonight. The shadow
of Calvary is, of course, that that the Lord experiences here
in the garden of Gethsemane. I think of those three G's, really,
that we see in Scripture concerning the various aspects of the sufferings
of the Lord Jesus. We have mentioned, don't we,
of Gabbatha. spoken of there in John's Gospel. The Bat of the Pavement was to
do with the trial that the Lord Jesus Christ had to endure because
his death was going to be a judicial death. It was no ordinary death.
The trial was so much a mockery of a trial but nevertheless it
was a trial and when they come and arrest him there in the garden. We're told how they take him
initially to the high priest in John 18 and verse 28. They
led Jesus, it says, from Caiaphas. That's where they took him first
of all. They had taken him to the high priest, but now they
take him from the high priest, Caiaphas, onto the judgment,
or onto the hall of judgment. And then in chapter 19 of John
we read of the Lord Jesus there in that place called Gabbatha. In that In John 19, at verse
13, Pilate therefore heard that saying. They said if he was to
release Christ, he would not be the friend of Caesar. Pilate
therefore heard that saying, and he brought Jesus forth and
sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the
Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. or it's the place of
his trial. And in that trial, three times,
his judge, that's Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who has the
authority to pass sentence of judgment upon a prisoner to announce
that he is to be executed three times. Pilate says, I find no
fault in him. Again we have it there in John's
account in chapter 18 at verse 38 and then again in chapter
19 at verses 4 and 6. Three times his innocence is
announced, pronounced by the one who was his judge and yet
still Pilate delivers him over to the Jews to do what they will. And so, subsequently from Gabbatha,
from the pavement, the place of judgment, he is taken to Golgotha. And Golgotha is spoken of here
in Mark's account, in chapter 15, and there at verse 22, they
bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is being interpreted the
place of a skull. Now he is taken to the place
of execution. And what sufferings he has to
endure in all of these things? Physical sufferings, yes. Mental
sufferings. He's a man. He's a thinking man. He's aware so much of all that
is taking place. But ultimately we know that all
of these sufferings are so spiritual in their very nature. What does he say here at verse
34? My soul is exceeding sorrowful
unto death. He is suffering now in his soul. He is going to make his soul
an offering for sin or the grievous heresy of those who deny the
reality of the human soul of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you
know there are those or have been those amongst the street
Baptists to have denied the truth of the human soul of the Lord
Jesus Christ and yet now we see him suffering in his soul not
just sufferings now at the hands of men but he is going to suffer
at the hands of God and here is the mystery of course
because he is ever one with the Father, one with the Holy Ghost
When we think of the doctrine of the Godhead, God is one, there's
not three gods, there's one God, who subsists in three persons,
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, but the three are one. And there's
no division here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. There's a perfect harmony in
the Godhead and yet, Here is God, the Son, manifest in the
flesh, a real man, and he's going to suffer at the hands of God,
and he's going to have poured upon his holy soul all the wrath
of God. And though he cries in the agony
of soul, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Oh, how he suffers there at the
place called Golgotha, the place of a skull. But then tonight
we're concerned principally with this place called Gethsemane. They came to a place which was
named Gethsemane. And the very name Gethsemane
means the olive press. We've said that on previous occasions
when we looked at the Lord's experiences. At this time it
means an olive press. And here it is, you see, it's
at the foot of the Mount of Olives, as we see at verse 26. When they
had sung a hymn, they sang a psalm, the Great Hallel, which would
always be sung at the Passover by the Jews. When they had sung
the hymn or the psalm, they went out into the Mount of Olives,
Olivet. Why was it called by that name
because there were many olive trees there. Doubtless there
was a press where they would take the fruit of the tree and
they'd press that fruit that they might obtain the olive oil. Or Gethsemane. The olive press. Why so called? Let Christians
guess. Fit place. Fit time. where the Lord Jesus
Christ himself is going to be made as it were in his very soul,
an olive press. He's going to feel something
of the wrath of God pressing down upon his very soul. We're going to sing that 153rd
hymn or part of it just now. But there we have it there in
the second verse. Gethsemane, the olive press.
And why so call it, Christians guess, fit name, fit place, where
vengeance strove and griped and grappled hard with love. All what heavings must have been
taking place in the very soul of the Lord Jesus at that time. When he says to these favored,
three disciples, Peter, James and John, my soul is exceeding
sorrowful unto death. How he's in the grip
of terror of the prospect that lies before him as he's going
to make that great sin atoning sacrifice. In fact, remember
how in Luke's account of the same event we're told how he
was in an agony being in an agony His sweat was like drops of blood
falling to the ground. Oh, what a spectacle we see in
the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. What dreadful conflict raged
with him when sweat and blood forced through the skin, says
the heart in that same 153rd hymn. And how significant it
is when we think of sweat. When we exert ourselves, we sweat. I like the word sweat. Some say,
oh, better say perspire. Well, sweat's
a good old Anglo-Saxon word. It reminds us, doesn't it, of
the curse. The curse that has come upon
man because of sin. You know how God speaks to Adam
after the fall and speaks of that dreadful curse that will
come as a consequence of his disobedience. There in Genesis
3.17, unto Adam. Unto Adam he said, Because thou
hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of
the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not
eat of it, Cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt
thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles
shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of
the field in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread. Till thou return unto the ground,
for out of it wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return. Here is the curse, or part of
the curse, in the sweat of thy face. Shalt thou eat bread. The remark that's made by Matthew
Henry on this is so apt. You see what Matthew Henry says,
Christ was made sin and the curse, that in the sweat of His face
we might eat the bread of life. In the sweat of His face, that
bloody sweat, He makes provision for us of the bread of life.
Well Adam was told, you see, that's how he would obtain his
necessary food, and of course bread is a staple food in our
diet. He is that one who is the bread
corn, bruised. Or remember how the Lord himself
says, verily, verily, except a corn of wheat fall into the
ground and die, it abideth alone. If it die it bringeth forth much
fruit. He is the corn of wheat. He is the bread corn that is
that is then bruised in order that there might be flour for
the making of the bread and it all cost the Lord Jesus this
bloody sweat that he might be to us the bread of life that
we might partake of him and know what it is in him to have all
the forgiveness of our sins and peace with God and the Lord Jesus
Christ is one who is so aware of all that lies before him he
knew what was going to happen he comes into Gethsemane and
this is the very place where he's going to be betrayed and
betrayed by one of his apostles he says there in the end of John
have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil. He is speaking there of course
of Judas Iscariot. Jesus answered them, Have not
I chosen you twelve? One of you is a devil. He spake
of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. For he it was that should
betray him, being one of the twelve. And in our reading we
We saw how when he came to the observance of that last Passover
where he instituted his Holy Supper, he spoke of the one who
would betray him. There at verse 18, as they sat
and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, one of you which
eateth with me shall betray me. And they began to be sorrowful.
and to say unto him, one by one, Is it I? And another said, Is
it I? And he answered and said unto
them, It is one of the twelve that dippeth with me in the dish. And we're told in John's account
how he gave the sop to Judas Iscariot and said, That thou
doest do quickly. Oh, the Lord knew. He goes on
here and says at verse 21, The son of man indeed goeth as it
is written of him. But woe to that man by whom the
Son of Man is betrayed! Good were it for that man if
he had never been born. Oh, the Lord know, you see, He
knew all those things that were going to before Him. These things must all have their
fulfilment. And so, we see how the event
is worked out here in the portion that we've read. how they come to arrest him. Verse 43, immediately, while
the expate cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a
great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests
and the scribes and the elders. And he that betrayed him had
given him a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is who
he take him. lead him away safely and as soon
as he was come he go a straight way to him and said master, master
and he kissed him. And doesn't the Lord respond
and say betray us thou the son of man with a kiss. Oh the Lord
knew these things and he feels these things. Judas knew just where to go.
We're told aren't we here at verse
39 rather it's in Luke's account,
Luke 22, 39, He went, as He was wont, it says, to the Mount of
Olives. And then John tells us, Judas
knew the place, for Jesus of times resorted there with His
disciples. The Lord knew what He was doing
when He went into Gethsemane. All that He does, you see, He's
doing willingly and voluntarily. is all sacrifice of himself,
all his sufferings he can avoid these things he
is God but he will not do that he is God manifest in the flesh
and as the promised one, the Messiah he is coming now to do
all the will of the one who has sent him and he will see this
work through to the bitter end He will make that one sacrifice
for sins forever. And we cannot in any way explain these things
but by coming to understand the voluntary nature of His sufferings.
There was no cause of death in Him. He was holy, He was harmless,
He was undefiled, He was separate from sinners. He would never
die, this one. There was no taint of any original
sin. There was the miracle of his conception, the miracle of
his birth. He was born of a virgin, and
that virgin, though a sinner herself, yet the Holy Ghost so
came upon her that what she brought forth was that holy thing, that
human nature that was joined to the eternal Son of God. and
as he was free from every taint of original sin so also free
from all actual sins separate from sinners, made higher than
the heavens and so when he comes to die he gives himself therefore doth
my father love me he says because I lay down my life that I might
take it again no man taketh it from I have power to lay it down
and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. And you remember in John's account
there in the opening part of John 18 where they come to arrest
him and he inquires whom seek ye and they say Jesus of Nazareth
and he says I am he. three times there in the opening
part of John in John 18 verse 5 and verse 6 and verse 8 he
declares I am her but each time the pronoun is in italics and
it literally says and we declared to them I am and they fell backwards
or they couldn't come forward they couldn't touch him they
fell back from him but he committed himself into their hands. All
of these sufferings he undertakes willingly, voluntarily. Why?
Because of the great love that he has to the Father. We will
do all the Father's will. He will obey every commandment
that the Father has given him to obey in that eternal covenant. He is going to honor and magnify
the law of God. But as He loves the Father, so
He loves all those whom the Father has given to Him in the eternal
covenant. And it's having loved His own
unto the end. He loves them. He loves them
to the end. Even the bitter death of the
cross. He began to be sodomized and
to be very heavy. and he said unto them my soul
is exceeding sorrowful unto death all the sufferings of the Lord
Jesus Christ but then secondly here whilst Gethsemane is very
much the place of sufferings and the suffering of the man's
soul all of this is part of the purpose of God and we see how
that Christ is very conscious of the fact that the The will
of the Father is so paramount. What does he say at verse 36? Abba, Father, all things are
possible unto thee. We know nothing is impossible
with God. All things are possible unto
thee. Take away this cup from me. Nevertheless,
not what I will, but what thou wilt. He must die this death of the
cross because that's what God himself had ordained. It must
be so. He was delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. As Peter says in his preaching
on the day of Pentecost, oh yes, the Jews were culpable
you have taken and with wicked hands have crucified and slain
says the Apostle they were culpable and yet God is suffering God's will is paramount the purpose
of God must be fulfilled and as God's will is the paramount
thing, so we see how that all that had been spoken in the Old
Testament concerning him, all the prophecies must have their
fulfillment. What does he say here at verse
49? I was daily with you in the temple
teaching and you took me not, but the Scriptures must be fulfilled.
All God's Word, you see. God's Word must be fulfilled.
It was so for the Lord Jesus Christ and it will be so for
everyone. Each and every one of us, God's
Word for us must be fulfilled. It's an amazing thing, isn't
it? God has magnified His Word above all His name. What a privileged people we are
if we have the Word of God and have these exceeding great and
precious promises to plead at the throne of grace. That's what
we can do when we come to God in prayer. We can remind Him
of His words, His promises. We can hold Him fast to all that
He has said, His words. But also we have to take heed,
of course, of all those solemn threatenings that are also part
of that Word that cannot be broken. Oh, remember how the Lord Jesus,
after His death and His resurrection, there in the last chapter of
Luke, speaks first of all to those two on the road to Emmaus,
when their eyes were hardened and they didn't recognize the
resurrected Christ. O fools, He says, and slow of
heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not
Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His
glory? He asked. And beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, He expanded unto them in all the Scriptures
the things concerning Himself. You won't remember after He vanished
out of their sight. Now they said one to another,
did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us by
the way and while He opened to us the Scriptures? Do you ever
ask the Lord Jesus to open to you the Scriptures? Or to reveal
Himself, to show you the wonder of His person? The great mystery
of God manifest in the flesh, the wonder of the work that He
accomplished for sinners here upon the earth. All the Scriptures
have to be fulfilled again when He appears to them all back in
Jerusalem. What do we read later in this
same chapter? Luke 24 verse 44 He says to them
all these are the words which I spake unto you while I was
yet with you that all things must be fulfilled which were
written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms
concerning me, then opened in their understanding that they
might understand the Scriptures." Or that the Lord would open our
understandings to see the wonder of those things that are written
here in His Word. God's purpose must be fulfilled
in the death of the Lord Jesus. He knew that. All that will of
God, that was the primary thing, that was the paramount thing.
All the Old Testament prophecies, spoken of, must have their fulfillment. But you know, in the New Testament,
when we read the Gospels, do we not see how the Lord Himself
preached? He preached His sufferings. He
preached the great truth of his dying. What does he say on one occasion?
Even the Son of Man came not to be minister unto but to minister
and to give his life a ransom for men. That was the message
he proclaimed. He had come to give his life
a ransom for men. And we see it in this Gospel. Back in chapter 8 verse 31, He
began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things,
and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests and
scribes, and be killed. And after three days rise again,
there at Caesarea Philippi, when Peter had confessed, thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God. He began then to preach
the truth of His dying again. In chapter 9 and verse 31, He
taught His disciples and said unto them, The Son of Man is
delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him. And after that He is killed,
and He shall rise the third day. But they understood not that
saying, and were afraid to ask Him. Oh, he preaches, you see. He preaches his truth of his
death. Again, in chapter 10, verse 33,
we read of him saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the
Son of Man shall be delivered unto the chief priests and unto
the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver
him to the Gentiles. And they shall mock him, and
shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill
him. and the third day he shall rise
again. He knew all of these things. And here in the garden we see
how he is so aware of the relationship that he has with his father.
He is the eternal son of God. And how does he address God,
here in verse 36, He said, Abba, Father, all things are possible
unto thee. This is His Father, and He is
the Son of His Father, and can we begin to understand, to conceive
what the love of the Father must be for His Son, and the love
of the Son for His Father? They are one God with the Holy
Spirit. and here he comes and he addresses
his father in this most intimate fashion Abba he says Abba Father
all things are possible unto us or must he in reality go through
all the sufferings that he is now beginning in some measure
there in the garden already to enter into he is the son of the
father in truth and in love with Oh yes, those who are in Christ,
in Christ are the adopted sons of God. That great doctrine of
adoption. But the Lord Jesus Christ is
the true Son of God, the Son of the Father in truth. And He
loved the only begotten of the Father. What does He say back in Proverbs
chapter 8? Then I was by Him as one brought up with Him. I
was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him." And you know, because he is one
with the Father, of course, he is that one who is party to all
the truths of the eternal covenant. Was he not the one who entered
into covenant with his Father? before the foundation of the
world. He was their party to the great purpose of salvation. It was then that he willingly
agreed that he would, in the fullness of the time, come forth,
not simply as the eternal Son of God, but as God's servant,
as the promised Messiah. always party to all of those
things, that council that council of peace was between them both
we're told in Zechariah 6.13 and so when he comes he says
time and again my meat is to do the will of him that sent
me and to finish his work I must be about my father's business
he says always found in fashion as a
man And as a man he is obedient. And obedience unto death we're
told. No, he knew, he knew that death
would be such a bitter experience. He was going to be the great
sin offering. All those things that had been
prefigured in the Levitical sacrifices, all those sin offerings and burnt
offerings and trespass offerings and peace offerings, a whole
multitude of them are all typical of him who must come to be consumed
by the wrath of God. He must make his soul an offering
for sin. He must pour out his soul unto
death. He must know by experience what
it is to really die. How could that burn? How could
God manifest in the flesh? But He did. He commends His spirits
unto His Father and He bows His head and gives up the ghost. Oh, we see then the reality of
the human nature of the Lord Jesus here. And we see it even
in the way in which he has to pray and plead with the Father.
This is what he's doing, of course, here in the garden. He began to be sore amazed and to be very
heavy. And he prays, as we've seen there
at verse 35, to the Father, if it were possible, that the hour
might pass from him. All things are possible unto
thee. Take away this cup from me. Nevertheless, not what I
will, but what thou wilt. Oh, this is that one spoken of
by the Apostle. Remember the language that we
have there in Hebrews chapter 5, who in the days of his flesh,
when he had offered up prayer and supplication with strong
crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him from death
and was hurt in that he feared. Though he were a son yet learned
the obedience by the things that he suffered. These scriptures
are amazing, aren't they? I don't know, do you ever look
at them and pray over them and wonder about what is being said
and you know sometimes you might go to the commentators and I
find this time and again that much is so inadequate what the
commentator has to say they're useful of course they are but
then we need to pray over the word of God that we might see
the wonder of what God has done in the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ or the extremity of the experiences of this man
Jesus of Nazareth I know we see other men in scripture having
extreme experiences. I suppose in some ways we see
that in Moses life. Moses must have felt when he
was there in the mount with God 40 days and 40 nights. He brought
the children of Israel out of Egypt, brought them into the
mountains of Horeb, the very place where God had called him
back in Exodus chapter 3. they were to serve God upon this
mountain he'd been promised and after all that he'd gone through
all the ten plagues that had come upon the Egyptians and all
his reasonings with Pharaoh and the hardening of Pharaoh's heart
and God is in all of these things and they come out and they're
there in the mountain God speaks the commandments and the people
are so afraid God is entering into covenant with them and they
want Moses to be their mediator and he goes and he's in the mountain
whilst they're in the mountain whilst he's in the mountain forty
dies there's a matter then of the golden calf that his brother
Aaron has made and they worship God when they worship God they
think through the calf through an image and Moses is sent down
from the mountain God is going to disinherit what Moses must
have felt Now Moses there mediates for them. For the grace of God
in that man. What does he say? Yet now if
thou wilt forgive their sin and if not blot me I pray thee out
of the book that thou hast written. The intensity of the man's experience. He's a man. And he feels for
his fellow men. He feels for these Hebrews. it
had cost him so much and now God is going to disinherit them
because of their sin or sooner curse me is saying to God we see the same in the experience
of a man like Jeremiah as he is God's faithful prophet and
as many false prophets and he has to be faithful to God and
He has to speak plainly of what's going to be for them. They're
going to be 70 years in exile. They will be pleased with God
for the people. Oh, do not abhor us, He says,
for thy name's sake. Forsake not the throne of thy
glory. Remember, break not thy covenant
with us, He says. As if God would as if God would
break his covenant if God would forsake his throne but this is
the intensity of the man he's feeling for his people and you think of David's experience in his great psalm, his penitential
psalm, psalm 51 what does he say? cast me not away from thy
presence Take not thy Holy Spirit from me, as if God would take
away his Holy Spirit, as if God would cast him away. This is
the man after God's own heart. But you see, it's the intensity
of these men in their experiences, and we see the same in the Lord
Jesus Christ. These men were all sinners. This
is the difference. These men were all sinners. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the sinless one. Oh, we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
He was tempted in all points like as we are, says Paul, yet
without sin. But you see the reality of his
human nature. His humility here is so deep. And his sufferings were so real
and so great. as he comes to this place called
Gethsemane which means the olive press and so in some sense the
veil is drawn aside and we're looking into into the soul of
this man and what he is feeling now in the very depths of his
being he began to be surmised and to
be very heaven and he says unto them my soul is exceeding sorrowful
unto death tarry ye here and watch or that we might friends
be enabled to do that to tarry and to watch even as we come
just now to observe that holy supper of the Lord that Jesus
Christ might be evidently set before us that we may show forth
His death, show forth all His sufferings. And as we say these
things, to be humbled, that we should have a place and a name
amongst those who are the people of God, that we should be privileged
to partake of that Holy Supper, and to eat those blessed aliments,
the broken breads, the poured out wine. Oh, the Lord, then
help us to come The man has to examine himself, doesn't he?
Let a man examine himself, says Paul, and so let him eat of that
bread and drink of that cup. Oh God forbid that we should
bring judgment to ourselves. Rather, by the grace of God might
we know what it is truly to feed upon the person and the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where the Lord help us now as
we come from the pulpit and come to the table and there we trust
we'll be favoured with a season of communion, a fellowship with
the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.