March 12 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Matthew 26:36–41

Devotional

Christ’s worst sufferings begin in the Garden of Gethsemane. There He looks into the endless depths of being forsaken of God, in which He had to descend. That view is so terrifying for Him, that He crawls through the dust and begs His Father for another cup. But the Father closes heaven’s door and hell is opened. Christ knows He has to suffer hellish agonies. But knowing something and experiencing it are two different matters. In Gethsemane the agonizing experience begins.

Jesus was also human and in His human nature He undergoes the torments of hell. As this terror takes hold of Him, He does not know where to crawl. He crawls over the ground in bloody sweat and seeks the support of His disciples. In His sufferings He looks for compassion from fellow men. But who can give support when the terrors of hell torment?

Christ treads the winepress of God’s wrath alone; for when He comes to His disciples, He finds them asleep. Heaven is closed, hell is opened, and the church is sleeping. “Oh, Peter, could you not watch with Me one hour? I am lonely and My soul is exceeding sorrowful. I am also a man of flesh and blood and neither do My flesh and blood wish to go the way of the cross.”

But Peter and the others could not stay awake. The enemies are watchful and the friends are asleep. Christ sleeps in the storm on the sea, but they sleep in the storm of God’s anger, in the midst of the terrors of hell, on the edge of an eternal precipice. Jesus was about to enter infernal terrors on their behalf and they could not even stay awake to take watch and give comfort.

Here man is completely excluded when it comes to the work of redemption. Here we see clearly that from God’s people there is not the slightest expectation. If man will be redeemed, he needs a Redeemer who will tread the winepress alone. In Gethsemane’s garden man’s pride is broken down.

There are no angels here, as Jacob saw at Bethel, but devils are going up and down. And His own are asleep right in front of the gate to perdition. And whose salvation is at stake here? Whose destiny is at stake? Certainly it is of those who are sleeping. But we see the first Adam asleep while the second Adam works his redemption.

What an uncovering lesson this is for God’s people. This is a deeply humiliating lesson. They can only be redeemed by God’s sovereign good pleasure. What a wonder of grace, that the Surety did not let go of a sleeping church! He still accepted the cup of bitterness, to the eternal sweetness of those who had to be redeemed, while they slept. At times they thought, like Peter, to go with Him into death. But they could not even watch with Him for one hour.

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.