Great Drops Of Blood
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus agonized in prayer as He faced the greatest temptation of His life. He knew of the trap that was being set for Him by the religious rulers. He grieved in His Spirit over the fact that one of His disciples was betraying Him. He knew that He was about to be arrested and then brought before a “kangaroo court” and then crucified and killed. He knew that all the sin of mankind would come upon Him, resulting in the Father’s withdrawal. It was at that moment that one of His own was betraying him. Treason was brewing and He would be abandoned by those He had given three years of His life to. They would all run off to save their own lives, yet He would stay to suffer in their place. All this Jesus knew, and yet He had a choice.
Jesus could have hid Himself, He could have run away, He could have had His disciples fight and He even could have called on all the host of Heaven’s armies to defend Him. Jesus had a choice of whether to drink the cup of the wrath of God against sin or save Himself and leave mankind hopelessly lost. I am sure Satan was standing in the shadows, just waiting for the Son of God to succumb to the weakness of His humanity. The pressure was so great and the temptation so intense that He sweated great drops of blood.
When someone suffers great pain of mind, normally the blood rushes from the head to the heart, leaving him pale and faint. It is natural for the blood to flow inward to nourish the self, but with Jesus, being oblivious to self, His agony drove His blood outward to the earth. This was the first of seven times His blood would be shed and it was without a lance, a whip or thorns. His blood was shed voluntarily. It was the result of the renouncing of His own will and embracing the Will of the Father.
This took place in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. Gethsemane, in the Hebrew language, means: the olive press. It is where olive oil was produced under extreme pressure. Olive oil is a symbol of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Through the pressure caused by betrayal and treason, forgiveness was released. Through the closed eyes of Jesus’ unbelieving disciples, revelation was given. And through the acceptance of, “Thy will be done,” salvation was secured for all of us. Before the physical cross came the crossing of the His will with that of the Father’s. This, too, is the cross we are to take up, if we are to follow the Lord.
Scriptures to meditate on:
Luke 22:42-44; 9:23; Phil. 2:5-11; Mat. 26:36-46; Is. 53:4-6