Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 196

July 15;    Mark 14:32;    42/260(III);    ‘Gethsemane’s Battle’

Mark 14:32 Then they came to a place which was named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, "Sit here while I pray." 

It is not possible for us to fathom what our Lord Jesus Christ was about to endure as He prayed in Gethsemane.  The name Gethsemane means the olive press.  A place where the olives were crushed in order to produce olive oil.  What the Lord Jesus faced was crushing Him mentally.  It was not the mockery and physical agony, however excruciatingly painful the crucifixion would be.  Thousands were crucified.  Jesus Christ never sinned.  He was about to become every filthy thing that had been done, was being done and would be done.  He was about to become every sickness that was and would be.  He was about to, for the first time in eternity, experience His Father turning His back on Jesus because of the sin and sickness.  Jesus had a human mind.  Luke 2:52 tells us that Jesus grew in wisdom, which means His mind had the capacity to grow.  As God, Jesus knew everything.  There are times when we face a serious situation and have to discipline our mind from negative, discouraging thoughts.  The strength it took for the Lord to discipline His mind is inconceivable.  Jesus actually, in prayer, asked the Father if there was another way.  He was not reneging on His mission, but sincerely asked if salvation could come for humanity another way.  Hearing nothing from His Father, the Lord Jesus in absolute agony, to the point of sweating blood (Luke 22:44), literally crucified His soul.  Peter, James and John were so emotionally distraught that all they could do was sleep.  Finally, after the third time of prayer Jesus won.  He conquered His soul for us.  He went to the cross for us.  You are loved.