My dear readers,

1. Garden of Agony

Let us follow in our dear Saviour’s steps up the Mount of Olives to a garden called Gethsemane, a quiet retreat much loved by the Lord. There He resorted with the twelve for the final contest with the forces of darkness. Let us pray for spiritual eyesight to picture in our mind’s eye the garden scene.

The Saviour praying. There He was, first on His knees, then on His face, wrestling in the prayer of His life. More than any time before, the Son of man needed the strengthening of the Father. We see Jesus "in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Rom 8:3), who "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb 4:15). In the flesh, He must needs engage in prayer: "the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matt 26: 41).

With sweat and tears as our High Priest, Jesus prepared to offer up Himself, our perfect sacrifice for sins. In His flesh, He "offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death" (Heb 5:7). As the burden of the whole world’s sin bore down on His sinless body, the sweat fell from Him to the ground like great drops of blood.

"If Thou be willing." Our Lord’s one consuming passion was to finish the work which the Father had committed to Him. At the same time He shuddered at the awesome task. Hence His prayer, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." (Luke 22:42). In this prayer Jesus sealed His perfect submission to the Father.

The disciples sleeping. They were yet in the days of their carnal weakness, before the Holy Ghost came upon them. Their spirit was willing but their flesh was weak. To watch and pray proved too much for their tired bodies. Our Lord’s pleading made no impression on their weary frames. Their spirit was overcome by the flesh. While Christ wrestled in prayer, they nestled in sleep.

2. The drama of redemption

The Jews. And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him to Pilate, and they began to accuse him: These were the chief priests, the scribes and all the council. They brought false charges against Jesus, and false witnesses (Matt 26:60), but Pilate found no fault in Him, nothing worthy of death (Matt 27:18, 23, 24). But each time the Jews obstructed the process of justice by their loud clamour: "Crucify him, crucify him!" And the voices of them and the chief priests prevailed.

The Governor. Pilate was corrupt and weak. He saw that Jesus was innocent and should be released. But he was more concerned with safeguarding his own position than seeing justice done. When he showed that he would release Jesus, the Jews cried out, "If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend" (John 19:12). He bowed to their pressure and delivered Jesus unto them to be crucified. After all, who was Jesus? His life was dispensible but Pilate’s position was not.

The Prisoner, Man of Sorrows! What a name for the innocent, spotless Son of God. "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth" (Isa 53:7). Helpless He stood in our place that our hopeless estate might be helped. Let us pause a moment in silent contemplation, and see our Saviour bearing all the insult and injury for us, enduring the"contradiction of sinners" (Heb 12:3). Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows!

The Almighty. In all the drama, we see God the Father in overall control, directing events from His throne in every detail. It was the wisdom and power of God that sent Jesus to suffer (1 Cor 1:23-24), a mystery "which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of the world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor 2:7-8). In all the suffering, God the Father had a part, for "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself" (2 Cor 5:19).

3. The mystery of the Cross

Foreordained of God. The world will never understand the crucifixion, for "the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are called it is the power of God … and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor 1:18, 24). By God’s wise design "foreordained before the foundation of the world" (1 Pet 1:20), God the Father predetermined how, where and when His eternal Son should die. It was God who "programmed the event" in every detail: that Christ should suffer at the hands of the Romans who introduced the utterly cruel and gruesome form of execution. At His direction events converged, human agents moved and circumstances fell into place, fulfilling His eternal purposes perfectly.

Foreshadowed in History. In the fullness of time God moved to redeem His people Israel from Egypt. One fateful night, the passover lamb in each Israelite household was killed, and under the protection of its blood God’s people were freed from the bondage of Pharaoh. In all subsequent years Israel commemorated the event by the Passover Feast — all these pointing then to the coming sacrifice of our Passover, the spotless Lamb of God, our one perfect sacrifice which alone takes away our sins (Heb 10). Therefore our Lord determined that the Last Supper should be on the night of the Passover. Do you not see, dear reader, the hand of God?

Foretold by Jesus Himself. To Nicodemus who came to Him by night, our Lord described His coming death: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish …" (John 3:14-15). God sent fiery serpents to punish the rebellious and ungrateful Israelites. To save them from their pain and death God commanded Moses to raise a brazen serpent, and as many as beheld the serpent of brass lived (Num 21:9). Even so, our Lord Jesus was lifted up on the cross that as many as looked to Him in faith should be healed from the fatal serpent bite of Satan.

Dear reader, have you looked to the crucified Saviour for salvation?

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service,

Dr SH Tow, Sr Pastor