“And He said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this
cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.’”
These words were spoken by Jesus when He prayed in the olive
grove referred to as the Garden of Gethsemane.
This was the location of the olive press, the place of crushing – a
description that should not be lost on us.
It was a time of great agony for Jesus, by His own words, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to
death.” (Mark 14:34) Jesus was so
distressed that He fell on the ground and prayed this prayer. He prayed that this cup be taken away.
In the Old Testament, ‘the cup’ referred to the fury of God.
“Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk at the hand of
the LORD the cup of His fury; you have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling,
and drained it out.” (Isaiah 51:17) “For thus says the LORD God of Israel to me:
‘Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I
send you, to drink it.’” (Jeremiah 25:15)
Jesus, the One who knew no sin, was about to become sin for all of
us. He was about to become the
sacrificial lamb that would receive the fury of the wrath of God for the sin of
the world, for your sins and for mine.
Jesus knew His purpose on earth. “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I
say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But
for this purpose I came to this hour.” (John 12:27) He would become sin for us and be judged
accordingly and made to drink the cup of His Father’s fury. Yet He prayed to His Father, if it be
possible, to take this cup away.
“Can we ever entertain a favourable or so much as a slight
thought of sin, when we see what impression sin (though but imputed) made upon
the Lord Jesus? Shall that sit light upon our souls, which sat so heavy upon
his? Was Christ in such an agony for our sins, and shall we never be in an
agony about them? How should we look upon him whom we have pressed, whom we
have pierced, and mourn, and be in bitterness! It becomes us to be exceeding
sorrowful for sin, because Christ was so, and never to make a mock at it. If
Christ thus suffered for sin, let us arm ourselves with the same mind.” (Matthew Henry)
After Jesus made His prayer request to remove the cup, He
followed it with ‘nevertheless.’ Jesus
surrendered His will to the Father’s will.
Was Jesus’ prayer answered?
Yes. And the answer is: There is no other way. All other methods or means of salvation are
eliminated. If there was another way,
Jesus would not have had to die on the cross.
But He knew what He had to do, He knew His purpose. It was through this prayer that Jesus gained
victory and was able to come to the hour.
He overcame and was able to endure.
“I believe that at this moment of agony there in the garden,
as Jesus is saying, "Father, all things are possible for You. Take away
this cup." I believe that the Father at that point gave to Him a vision of
that glorious day in heaven, when the redeemed of the earth are gathered around
the throne of God, and as He takes the scroll out of the right hand of Him who
is sitting upon the throne, and the elders are offering their golden vials full
of odors, which are the prayers of the saints, and the saints break out in that
glorious song, "Worthy is the Lamb to take the scroll and loose the seals,
for He was slain and has redeemed us by His blood, out of every nation, tribe,
tongue and people, and has made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall
reign with Him on the earth." I think as He saw that glorious moment in
heaven and saw the redemption complete in your life and in my life, He then
continued His prayer. And there He won
the victory. How? By surrendering. Surrendering to the will of God. As long as
you are fighting the will of God for your life, you're destined for defeat.
It's paradox, I know. But the way to victory is by surrendering, by giving up.
When you give up your will to God, in that moment you triumph, you conquer;
you've come to the path of victory. And He came to that point of surrendering
Himself to the will of the Father. "Father, all things are possible for
You. Take away this cup from Me." Many times we pray that. "Father,
we know that all things are possible with You. Touch now and heal now, Lord. We
know that all things are possible with You, Lord. Now we want You to do
this." But oh, how wise it is to complete the prayer and say,
"Nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will." Surrender it.
Surrender that situation. Surrender it to God tonight. And if you will just
surrender it over to the Lord, you will experience real victory in your life.”
(Chuck Smith)
Jesus surrendered to His Father’s will and had victory over
sin on the cross and victory over death in the resurrection. Jesus showed us that it is acceptable to be
open with God about what we desire, but most importantly it is necessary to
surrender what we want and ask what God wants.
Surrender in prayer and God will show you the path to victory. What happens after that is simply following
the path that God has laid out for you.
This intimate view we have been given of our Savior’s honest
prayer with the Father reveals not only His surrendering to the path for
victory, but it is abundantly clear that there was no other path by which our
souls might be saved. Because of what
Jesus did on the cross, those who have surrendered to Jesus will not have to
drink from the cup of God’s wrath and reside eternally in hell. On this side of Heaven, we may drink from a
cup of discrimination or even persecution, but we have victory in Jesus over
sin and over death. “In any case, our
cup can never be as deep or as bitter as was his, and there were in his cup
some ingredients that never will be found in ours. The bitterness of sin was
there, but he has taken that away for all who believe in him. His Father’s
wrath was there, but he drank that all up, and left not a single dreg for any
one of his people.” (Charles Spurgeon)
May you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
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