have you ever wondered...

...about the prayer in Gethsemane? Before Jesus was arrested to be crucified, he prayed.

"[Jesus] began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to [his disciples], 'My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.' And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said 'Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.'" (Mark 14:32-36, ESV)

Quite perplexing how Jesus was so horrified and dismayed and so sorrowful. Until yesterday, I figured that he was distressed because of the physical anguish he was about to go through. Being God, Jesus knew the outcome; he knew he was about to be beaten and crucified. And he knew he would rise again. I thought that surely this was distressing to him. But the book Knowing God poses a different perspective, which makes much more sense.

J.I. Packer writes, "It was because Jesus was to be made sin, and bear God's judgment on sin, that he trembled in the garden, and because he was actually bearing that judgment that he declared himself forsaken of God on the cross. . . . the unique dreadfulness of his death lies in the fact that he tasted on Calvary the wrath of God which was our due, so making propitiation* for our sins."

So, why was he distressed? Because of SO MUCH sin placed on him? Sin is bad. BAD! A perfect and holy God would not be just if He allowed it. Sin brings about the wrath of God, His perfect wrath. That's what sin deserves. Was Jesus so distressed because of the amount of terrible sin put on his shoulders? Or was he distressed because he realized the magnitude of God's wrath toward that great amount of sin? Clearly, the horror Jesus displayed was not only due to the physical pain he would go through. Packer writes, "The physical pain, though great (for crucifixion remains the cruelest form of judicial execution that the world has ever known), was yet only a small part of the story; Jesus' chief sufferings were mental and spiritual, and what was packed into less than four hundred minutes was an eternity of agony...."

Do we realize just how awesome it is that Jesus died on the cross for our sins? Or do we throw that idea around and not really grasp the magnitude and seriousness of it? Jesus became a curse for us. Justice has been done. Sins that will ever be pardoned were judged and punished in Jesus, and that pardon is now offered to us offenders.

But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation* in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:21-26, NASB)

See also Isaiah 53.

Praise God!

*Propitiation (pr-psh-shn) n. Appeasement of God's wrath. Covering, putting away, passing over, rubbing out sin so it doesn't create a barrier between man and God, thus pacifying God's wrath.