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Could You Not Watch With Me One Hour? by John Calvin

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

We have seen this morning how the Son of God, having to sustain so difficult a fight as to appear before the judgment-seat of God His Father to receive sentence of condemnation as our security, was made strong by prayer.  For it was necessary that human weakness appear in Him, and it takes nothing away from His divine majesty when He has so bowed down to the dust to bring about our salvation.

Praying Persistently

Now we have to note that it was not only once that He prayed.  By which we see that by His example, He has exhorted us not to faint if we are not heard as soon as we would wish.  So, those who lose courage when our God does not respond to their first wish show that they do not know what it is to pray.  For the certain rule for finding our refuge in God involves perseverance.  Thus, it is that the principal exercise of our faith is prayer.  Now faith cannot exist without waiting.  It is not possible for God to humor us as soon as we have opened our mouths and formed our request.  But it is needful that He delay and that He let us languish oftentimes so that we may know what it is to call upon Him sincerely and without pretense, so that we may declare that our faith is so founded upon the Word of God that it checks us as a bridle so that we may be patient to endure until the opportune time to help us shall have come.  Let us note well, then, that our Lord Jesus Christ did not pray to God His Father only once, but that He returned to it a second time.

Praying Unselfishly

Besides, we have to consider what we have already touched upon: that is, to know that our Lord Jesus has not formed here any trivial prayer, but He has, as it were, been willing to lay aside all selfish considerations.  He who is the power of God His Father, by whom all the world is supported, nevertheless, forasmuch as He had to show Himself a weak man, taking our place, being there in our stead; He has declared when He thus reiterated His prayer that it was not as a spectacle that He did it (thus several profane people imagine that when Jesus Christ appeared He suffered nothing), but it was so that we might be taught that we cannot escape the hand of God and His curse except by this means.

Now it is here declared to us (as it was this morning) that our Lord Jesus was crushed to the limit, even so far as that the burden He had received was unsupportable unless the invincible power of the Spirit of God had operated in Him.  We must not think that it was superfluous language when He repeated these same words.  For what is said in the other passage, that in praying to God we must not use a long babble, as those who believe that in dabbling in words they get much more, does not imply that we should not continue in our prayers, but it is to tax the hypocrisy and superstition of those who believe in breaking God’s ear drums (after a manner of speaking) to persuade Him of what they want.  As we see, how this folly has prevailed in the world!  Again, how many there are among us who use this sorcery, how many who say no more than their Ave Maria, to whom it seems as if they have gained a great deal every time they say their Lord’s Prayer, and that God will count all their words in which they dabble when they pray!  Now I call that real sorcery.  For they wretchedly profane the prayer which has been given us by our Lord Jesus Christ, in which He has comprehended in a brief summary all that we can ask of God and what is lawful for us to desire or ask for.

However, that does not imply that if a man is crushed in agony he should not return often to God, and that when he shall have heaved some sighs he should not begin again immediately afterwards.  Supposing we come to it without ambition and without display and then that we have no idea of having gained anything by our babble, but that a dear feeling urges us on, then we have the true perseverance, similar to that of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Agreement with God in Prayer

Now there is this article to note, as we have said, that the principal thing in all our prayers is that God should control us to such a degree that there is an agreement on our part to conform to His good will.  That, surely, is necessary for us.  Behold our Lord Jesus Christ, though all His affections were upright, holy, and conformed to righteousness, that, however, insofar as He was natural man, yet He had to fight against the agony and sorrow which might have crushed Him and He had to hold Himself captive under obedience to God His Father.  How will it be with us who have nothing but malice and rebellion and who are so corrupted that we did not know how to apply our senses to anything whatever?

Would not God be utterly offended?  Since that is so, let us learn in praying to God so to hold ourselves in check that no one may give himself such license as he is accustomed to in following his own appetites.  But let us know that we shall have profited much, being able to hold ourselves captives, in order that God may be complete master over us.

The Necessity of Prayer – that you enter not into temptation

It is also a noteworthy sentence when our Lord Jesus says to His disciples, “Watch and pray in order not to enter into temptation; for if the Spirit is ready, the flesh is weak.”  He showed here, then, that the principal spur which ought to goad us to call upon God is that we have to fight, that our enemies are near, and that they are strong, and that we shall not be able to resist them without being helped and aided from on high, and that God fight for us.  Now we know that when man is assured, he asks only to be given all his comforts and to sleep.  For we do not voluntarily accept anxiety or melancholy unless necessity forces it upon us.  To be sure, it is a sovereign good to have rest, or else we would be tired out.  Nevertheless it is very necessary that necessity press us to be vigilant.  Our Lord Jesus, then, not without cause declares that we have to sustain many alarms.  For what is said only once to His disciples pertains to all of us in general, since in our lives we must always be ready to meet many temptations.  For the devil is our perpetual enemy, if we are members of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There will be, then, open war without ending and without ceasing.  Then let us notice what kind of enemy we have to deal with.  It is not only one, but the number is infinite.  Moreover the devil has a vast number of means to cast us down; now he strikes openly, now he plots underground, and by craftiness he will have surprised us a hundred thousand times before we have thought of it.  When it is only as St. Paul says that our enemies are powers who dwell in the air over our heads and that we are here as poor earthworms who only crawl below, that certainly ought to cause us to be concerned.  As also St. Peter alleges this reason, that our enemy is like a lion who roars and seeks prey and who never rests.  That, then, is what we have to observe in the saying of our Lord Jesus that we must be on our guard in order not to enter into temptation.  Besides, although we are vigilant, though we keep good watch, yet we cannot be exempt from the devil’s raising himself against us or our being assailed by him in many and diverse ways.  We cannot, then, repulse the blows from afar.  But before entering into combat, we must be on our guard lest we be plunged into temptation.

Let us learn, then, although the believers and children of God desire to have rest, nevertheless, they must not desire to be here at their ease.  But let it be sufficient for them that God perfects His power in their weakness, as also St. Paul says that he had to pass through that.  It is, I say, the condition of all the children of God to battle in this world, because they cannot serve God without opposition.  But although they are weak, although they can be impeded, even often beaten down, may they be content to be helped and aided by the hand of God, and may they always lean upon this promise, that our faith will be victorious over all the world.

Yet, also the remedy proposed to us is that we fight.  To be sure, Satan is always making new beginnings to assail us, but Jesus Christ also commands us to watch.  Besides, He shows that those who presume upon their own strength will be conquered by Satan a hundred thousand times before the you obtain a single victory.

The Protection of God through Prayer

What is needed, then?  That, confessing with all humility that we can do nothing, we come to our God.  Here, then, are our real arms.  It is He Who takes from us all fear and terror.  It is He Who can give us assurance and resolution, that even to the end we shall remain safe and sound, that is, when we call upon God.  As Solomon says in Proverbs 18:10, “His Name is a strong tower and the righteous man will have in Him his good and assured retreat.”  Also says the Prophet Joel, “Although the world be turned upside down, whoever calls upon the Name of the Lord will be saved.”  That is especially applied to the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, in order that we may be entirely persuaded that, although our salvation may be, as it were, in suspense, and though we may see, as it were, a thousand hazards, yet God will always keep us in His protection, and we shall feel that His power is always near us, and ready to help us, provided we seek it by prayer of mouth and heart.  That, then, in summary is what we have to remember.

In order that we may be better confirmed in this doctrine, let us note that our Lord Jesus in praying not only called upon God for Himself and for His own use, but He has dedicated all our requests and prayers so that they are holy and God approves them and finds them acceptable.  As it says in the seventeenth chapter of Saint John, He sanctifies Himself in order that we all may be sanctified in Him.  Surely, we must also conclude that He prayed in order that His prayer may avail today, and that it might have its full strength, and that by this means we might all be heard.

This consideration is very valuable when he adds, “The Spirit is ready, but the flesh is weak.”  For it is to show that all have need of the advice which He here urged upon His disciples.  For many think that they have gained all if they have some good desire.  That makes them indifferent.  Soon afterwards they are seized with such laziness and coldness that they recoil from God and despise His help.  That is also the cause why God often withdraws Himself and hides His power.  For it is a good thing that men who confide too much in themselves find themselves frustrated and God mocks their arrogance and foolish imagination.  In order, then, that both great and small may know that they cannot dispense with the help of God, and whatever graces they have received, God must still maintain in them what He has put there and even augment it that they may be strengthened, it is here said, “The Spirit is ready, but the flesh is weak.”  That is, since we feel in us some good will, and God has already set us on the way, and has extended to us His hand, may we experience that He really governs us by His Holy Spirit.  Although, then, we may have all of that, yet we must not be slow to pray.  And why not?  Let us consider whether there is in us only the Spirit.  Surely, we shall find many infirmities remaining.  Although God may have already worked in such a way that we may have whereof to offer thanks to Him and to magnify His goodness; yet there is reason to bow our heads and to see that, if He left us we would very soon be, I do not say weakened, but altogether fainting.

Humility and Dependence in Prayer

In a word, our Lord Jesus here wished to show that those who are the most perfect, the most advanced, and upon whom God has poured the graces and powers of His Holy Spirit, still must be humble, and they must walk in fear and carefulness, must call upon God every hour, knowing that it is not enough that He has begun if He does not finish.  Surely every good must come from Him.  When He has given the goodwill, He must continue to carry it out more fully, since perseverance is the most singular and the most rare gift there is.  That is why our Lord Jesus wished to exhort us.  Now if those who can be called spiritual, that is, who have an ardent zeal to serve God, who are fully accustomed to have recourse to Him, who are exercised in prayer of mouth and heart to God, are still so weak that in a single moment they can be ruined unless they are calling upon God; what will happen to those who are still so earthly and so pitiably weighed down that they cannot drag their legs and they hardly have a good impulse or a single good thought?  How they must have to struggle for the prize!  So then, may each one of us examine himself, and we shall find that we are so lax and so dull in the matter of praying to God that there is sometimes more ceremony than feeling.  Seeing that, may we learn to be displeased with ourselves for such a vice and such laxity.

May we even detest such a corruption, may we take pains to call upon God, and to raise our spirits on high and to seek the remedy which is here proposed for us.  That, then, in a word, is what we have to remember.

Now when it is said that the disciples went to sleep for the third time, even though they had been spurred so sharply (beyond what we discussed this morning, that is, that we see how Jesus Christ to perfect our salvation sought no other companion) let us also contemplate how slow we are.  For it is certain that we have no more ability than these three who are here mentioned, and yet they were the most excellent of the company, and those whom Jesus Christ had marked as the flower of the twelve, who were to publish the Gospel to all the world.  Although, then, there was already such a good beginning, yet we see how they weakened.  Now it is in order that we may have recourse only to the Son of God and that we may seek in Him all that is lacking in us, and that we may not lose courage when we feel such a weakness in us.  It is true that the example of the Apostles gives us no occasion at all to flatter ourselves (as many will say that they have as much right to sleep as Peter and John and James) but rather to make us displeased with our vices, that we may always know that our Lord Jesus is ready to receive us, provided we come to Him.

Furthermore, there is always this special reason that we declared this morning, that it was necessary that everything that is man should give way in order that we may know that the accomplishment of our salvation is in Him who was appointed by God as our Mediator.  We must also note when we are near our Lord Jesus Christ that it is then that we must be more vigilant.  For the worldlings and those whom God has cut off entirely as rotten members whom He abandons, have no great fight.  For the devil already has dominion over them.  And that is why they can sleep at their ease.  But according as our Lord Jesus exercises toward us the grace to call us to Himself, and to draw near to us familiarly, the battles are also instigated by Satan, because he wishes to draw us back from the  obedience of the Son of God.  When I say he sees that we are on the right track, then we have all the more rude assaults.  Thus may each one prepare himself, knowing for what he was called by God, and what is his charge.  This, then, is, in summary, what we have to remember.

Besides, when it is said, “Sleep and rest, the hour has come” that is, as it were, a declaration that they would soon be surprised unless God watched over them.  However, He rebukes them by saying, “How now?  Look where you are.  For the devil is making every effort for the perdition of mankind, and in My Person the Kingdom of God must be recovered, or all creatures will perish.  Yet here you are sleeping.”  Now this admonition hardly served for that time.  But as time passed the disciples knew they must attribute all praise for their salvation to God, in view of their ingratitude, which was displayed in such brutish cowardice.  So now we are admonished (as I have already mentioned) that the Son of God had to be shown to be our Redeemer by Himself alone and without aid.  Besides, let us also learn that it is absolutely necessary that God watch over us even while we sleep.  For how many times will it happen that the devil would have oppressed us a hundred thousand times?  Yet what means have we to resist him, unless God have pity on us, although He sees us, as it were, reduced to insensibility.  So that must not give us occasion to go astray and to quit addressing God in prayer.  But still we must always remember this sentence from the Psalm, “He who watches over Israel never sleeps; what is more He slumbers not” (Psalm 121:4).  So for our part let us be vigilant, even as we are urged by this exhortation.  But let us recognize that however vigilant we ourselves may be, God must still keep a careful watch.  Otherwise our enemies would soon win against us.

It follows that Jesus Christ says to His disciples, “Let us go; he who betrays Me draws near.”  He does not wish them to keep Him company (as we have already declared) except that they see how He does not spare Himself for their sakes, nor for the sake of the human race.  For He presented Himself to receive all the blows and to exempt them from them, as it was necessary that this word might be fulfilled.  “He let nothing perish of that which the heavenly Father had given Him and committed to His charge and protection.”  But by that he declares that He went voluntarily to death, following what we have treated this morning, that the sacrifice of obedience had to answer to wipe out all our rebellions.  If Jesus Christ of His free will had not been offered to appease the wrath of God His Father, His death and passion would not have been of any use to us.  But He holds Himself to it and declares that as He has put on our nature in order to accomplish our redemption, now in the supreme act, He did not wish to fail in His office.

The Betrayal of a Friend

According to the narrative, “Judas had given a sign of Him Whom he betrayed, that it was Jesus, and that He was seized, and having arrived he kisses Him and says to Him, ‘Hail, Master!’”  Now let us note that this was a manner of greeting.  As in some nations they embrace, in other nations they shake hands.  The Jews were entirely accustomed to this kiss, as one sees by Holy Scripture.  Besides, one would find it strange that Judas, being part of the company of Jesus Christ a little while before, that is, even that same night, returns and kisses Him as if he came from a distant journey.  But he uses this ceremony, because he comes there as a frightened man.  And that is why the other Gospel-writer says, “Rabbi, Rabbi, Hail!”  He makes believe, then, that he is very sorry that his master is thus assailed.  When he sees such a company who come to surprise Him, he draws near and kisses Jesus Christ, as if to say, “O my Master, they are looking for You, here are Your enemies who surround You, they seek to exterminate You, You will be cut off from the midst of men, once they put their hands upon You.”  That, then, is a sign of pity and compassion which Judas gives.

Further, it is said that Jesus Christ reproaches him, “Friend, why art thou come?” which is as if He said, “You villain, you who have been with Me at My table, you have been, as it were, of My blood, when we were united as children of God (for I being your Head, so I have recognized you as My members) and yet you come to betray Me, even by a kiss.”  Upon which let us note that the Son of God had to be marked, in order that Scripture might be so much better proved, and that it might be known that it was He Whom God had elected as our Redeemer.  For all this had been typified in the person of David, who was, as it were, a mirror and image of the Son of God.  Now it says that it is not strangers nor those who have openly declared themselves His enemies who molested and tormented Him, but “He (says He) who ate bread at My table has kicked up his heel for betrayal, he has surrounded Me, he has betrayed Me falsely.”  Indeed, even he (as He says in the other passage) who accompanied Me to go together into the house of the Lord.”  As if God said there was not only a private and human friendship, as it would be between those living in common, but that there was holy brotherhood dedicated to the name of God.  This, then, is what the Holy Spirit wished to show us, that nothing happened to the Son of God which had not been testified previously and which had not been typified, in order that we may be all the better assured that it is He Who from all time had been established by God, since He bears such infallible marks.

Besides, in the person of Judas, we see that the Church of God will always be subject to many betrayals.  To be sure, it is something to have Satan with all his paraphernalia for an enemy, and everything we have already declared, and to have also those who fight openly against God and seek only the confusion of His Church.  It is something (I say) that we have to fight against such enemies, but God still wills to prove our patience in this respect, that in our midst there may always be domestic enemies, who are full of betrayal and disloyalty.  Although this plague is detestable, yet the Church never will be purged of it.  Surely we must guard against it, and each one must try, as much as it is in his power, to scrape such an odor and infection.  But when we shall have done all, still God will always permit that there be Judases.  For since it was typified in David, and since it was fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ, we must be conformed to Him (as Saint Paul says), for He carries, as it were, the coat of arms of the house of God, being the first-born among; all believers.  We must, then, have this condition in common with Him. But we can see here that it is from a frightened conscience, when God put there the spirit of disturbance, frenzy or stupidity, as He often spoke of it by His prophets.  Judas, then, shows us the penalty of those who knowingly fight against God, that they must be so lost that they no longer have either sense of reason.  However, they try to hide everything by hypocrisy even to saying that God forces them and that He leads them even to their final condemnation.

At first glance, it surely seems that these two things are opposed: (1) that a man comes to throw himself like a savage bull against God, that he has forgotten that it won’t do him any good to spit at the sun, that often he wishes to spite nature, and (2) yet tries to hide himself by subterfuges, and he thinks to gain something by his hypocrisy.  One will say that those two things are incompatible.  But they are seen in Judas.  For he had  experienced the heavenly power of our Lord Jesus Christ, he had seen so many miracles, and on his part he had done them, even in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Having known, then, that the Son of God has all power both over life and over death, he betrays Him, and says he did justly.  For otherwise, he would have immediately escaped.  Judas, then, is entirely depraved of sense and reason, and is, as it were, frantic.  So it is only by a kiss and by these sweet words, saying “Alas my Master,” he does not yet allow himself to have subterfuges, thinking he will be acquitted by this means.  But that is how Satan dazzles his lackeys.

The Need for Humble Dependence in Prayer

Let us learn, then, in the first place, to humble ourselves that no one throw himself against this rock which is too hard.  That is, may we not wage war against our Lord Jesus Christ.  Let us watch carefully, then, lest we stand in this devilish rage, lest we fight against the truth, and lest we contend against our conscience, so that we knowingly provoke the wrath of God, as if we wished to defy Him.  Let us guard against that. Let us not so flatter ourselves in our hypocrisy and in our fictions that we are finally cheated and deceived by them.  For we see what happened to Judas (as it is mentioned in the account), that it was not necessary that a judge condemn him, that it was not necessary to compel him to recant.  But he confessed that he had sold and betrayed righteous blood.  However, he did not ask pardon for his misdeed, but he went away in despair to hang himself and he burst asunder.  Let us be well advised, then, not to give such access to Satan that he tears our eyes when we are asleep in our sins, and not to expect by this means to escape the hand of God.  But let us remove all this make-believe.

Besides, let us recognize that it is certainly commanded to us to kiss the Son of God in Psalm 2:12, but that is to do Him homage as our King and as Him Who has sovereign Dominion over all creatures.  For the word “Kiss” implies only reverence and a solemn protestation that we are His own.  As He said, “You call me Master, and you do well.”  But in coming to Him let us be advised not to call Him Master from the tip of the tongue while we are yet enemies to Him, not to practice toward Him a false reverence in order to kick against Him and to give Him the boot.  That is, may we not be stubborn and peevish by our disloyalty, but may we show that we have sought to maintain ourselves in His Church only in order to serve our God.  Let us, then, be admonished of all that.  Besides, although the word of our Lord Jesus Christ did not immediately take effect upon Judas, finally by virtue of this word he had to hang himself without waiting for other condemnation.

The Power of His Words

In fact, Saint John tells us how our Lord Jesus struck like lightning, although He used only a single word against all those who came to seek Him, saying, “I am He.”  There is a band sent by Pilate.  There is a force of men gathered by the Priests.  They come there furnished with clubs, swords, and other blades.  Jesus Christ is alone.  He is as a lamb led to the slaughter-house, as Isaiah says.  And what word does He use?  “I am He.”  And all are thrown down.  All fall immediately.  And how comes this fall?  By it we see that our Lord Jesus, although He is humbled for a time, even emptied of everything, never ceased to retain, when it seemed good to Him, His heavenly power in order to cast down all His enemies, if He had wished.  Let us compare our times with what was done then.  Jesus Christ had to be bound and fastened.  He had to let His enemies rule.  For Satan had unleashed the bridle to urge them on to every rage and cruelty.  This is what is called by St. Luke, “This is the reign of darkness.”  Be that as it may, when He said “I am He,” His enemies had to be confounded.  What will it be, then, when He comes in His majesty with all His Angels?  When He comes to make all those who have resisted Him His footstool?  When He comes with a dreadful face and an incomprehensible wrath?  As Saint Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 1:8.

Then how can wicked despisers of the majesty of God and of the word of our Lord Jesus Christ exist before His face?  When He had thus thrown down His enemies, then He was ready to suffer and He did not use any defense.  I say, even that of God His Father.  As He said, He could ask that a million Angels might be sent to Him.  But He abstained.  Yet He surely wished to show that by His voice alone He could cast down everyone who was against Him, if He had wished.

By this, we are taught to fear the word of our Lord Jesus.  Although He does not converse here in a visible manner in our midst, yet since the Gospel is preached by His authority and He says, “He who hears you, hears Me;” let us learn to receive what is preached to us in His name with all reverence and to subject ourselves to it.  We shall find that this word, which so caused to fall the guards and those who came against Him, will be our only foundation and prop.  For how can we rejoice, except when the Son of God appear to us, and we see that He is near us, and He show us Who He is, and why He has been sent to us by God His Father?  So then, it is in this word “I am He” that we may know, when it will please our Lord Jesus to manifest Himself as He does to all His believers, that in this word He declares to us why He calls us to Himself, why He has descended to us, and why He dwells in us by the power of His Holy Spirit, and that is wherein consists all our good and all our rest.  But if we wish to be peevish and scorn the Word of God like many profane people, let us be assured that it will be a thunderbolt to cast us down into the depth of hell.

So let us fear, and yet may our Lord Jesus open to us the door, and may He say to us in another fashion, “Here am I,” as He has not done to those who were already His declared enemies.  Let us learn to come to Him.  Besides, let us also learn so to bear in patience the betrayals which we see today in the Church no matter how outrageous they may be to us, so that we shall show that we really cling to the Son of God, for He is our Head.  Then may we have His truth.  May we so converse with one another that we may be united in true concord and brotherhood together.  That is what we have to remember.

But whatever else may be, may we accept the principal article of instruction which we must remember from this passage: namely, that the Son of God made Himself obedient in everything and by everything in order to make reparation for our rebellions.  It is true (as I have said) that all the members of His body ought to be ruled by His example.  There is good reason, since He Who has entire mastery and superiority is so humbled, that we be ready to obey our God unto life and unto death.  Yet let us recognize that the obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ in this place is special, that is, because of the fruit and the effect which proceeded from it.

The Apostles have well chosen the death of Jesus Christ for an example.  For they were strengthened for their needs when they had to fight for the witness of the Gospel.  They were not then asleep.  We see the vigilance which was in them and that they were ready to follow their calling.  They even had fear neither of torments nor of the death which was presented to them when God called them for the glory of His Name, and the confession of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Yet they insisted principally on showing that by the pouring out of the blood of our Redeemer we are washed and cleansed of all our spots, that He made payment to God His Father for all our debts by which we were obliged, that He acquired for us perfect righteousness.

He Prayed; We Must Pray Also

Let us recognize, then, the difference between the Head and the members.  Let us learn that, though by nature, we are entirely given to evil, and although God may have regenerated us in part, still our flesh does not cease to chafe against God.  However, by virtue of the obedience which we see in our Lord Jesus Christ, we do not cease to be acceptable to our God.  If we do not yet do the good that we will, but the evil oftentimes pushes us, and there may be many failures, or perhaps we may be too slow to do good, let us look at what the Son of God suffered in order to make reparation for all our faults.  Let us notice how He fought in such a way that there was no contradiction in Him when our crimes and sins were imputed to Him, as was explained more at length this morning.  Let us see, then, how our Lord Jesus has made satisfaction in everything and for everything, but we today, although having taken the trouble to obey God, are not able to succeed, but we always droop our wings, must constantly repeat this: that we know that we shall not cease to be acceptable to God and that our imperfections will always be abolished by the obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that they will not come into account before God.

Besides, may each one according to the measure of his faith and of the grace which he has received exert himself to fight until we come to the heavenly rest.  Seeing our weaknesses are still so great, being convinced that we shall not even know how to have a single good thought, and that having stumbled we shall not be able to raise ourselves, unless God extended to us His hand and strengthened us each minute, may we be advised to pray that He may augment in us the graces of His Holy Spirit; as He has promised it to us, and offers to us Jesus Christ for our Head and Captain, in order that after we are able to arrive at the victory which He acquired for us, of which we already experience the fruit, we shall experience it in perfection.

Now we shall bow in humble reverence before the majesty of our God.

Second sermon on the passion of our Lord.

Posted in John Calvin |

Divine Chastisement by A. W. Pink

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

The grand truth of Divine Chastisement is inexpressibly blessed, and one which we can neglect only to our great loss. It is of deep importance, for when Scripturally apprehended it preserves from some serious errors by which Satan has succeeded (as “an angel of light”) in deceiving and destroying not a few. For example, it sounds the death-knell to that widespread delusion of “sinless perfectionism.” The passage which is to be before us unmistakably exposes the wild fanaticism of those who imagine that, as the result of some “second work of grace,” the carnal nature has been eradicated from their beings, so that, while perhaps not so wise, they are as pure as the angels which never sinned, and lead lives which are blameless in the sight of the thrice holy God. Poor blinded souls: such have not even experienced a first “work of Divine grace” in their souls:

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).   “My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him; for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth” (Hebrews 12:5-6).

How plain and emphatic is that! God does find something to “rebuke” in us, and uses the rod upon every one of His children. Chastisement for sin is a family mark, a sign of sonship, a proof of God’s love, a token of His Fatherly kindness and care; it is an inestimable mercy, a choice new covenant blessing. Woe to the man whom God chastens not, whom He suffers to go recklessly on in the boastful and presumptuous security which so many now mistake for faith. There is a reckoning to come of which he little dreams. Were he a son, he would be chastened for his sin; he would be brought to repentance and godly sorrow, he would with grief of heart confess his backslidings, and then be blest with pardon and peace.

The truth of Divine chastisement corrects another serious error, which has become quite common in certain quarters, namely, that God views His people so completely in Christ that He sees no sin in them. It is true, blessedly true, that of His elect it is stated, “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel” (Numbers 23:21) and that Christ declares of His spouse “Thou art all fair, My love; there is no spot in thee” (Song of Solomon 4:7).

The testimony of Scripture is most express that in regard to the justification or acceptance of the persons of the elect, they are “complete in Him” — Christ (Colossians 2:10); “accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6) — washed in Christ’s blood, clothed with His righteousness. In that sense, God sees no sin in them; none to punish. But we must not use that precious truth to set aside another, revealed with equal clearness, and thus fall into serious error.

God does see sin in His children and chastises them for it. Even though the non-imputation of sin to the believer (Romans 4:8) and the chastisement of sin in believers (1 Corinthians 11:30-32) were irreconcilable to human reason, we are bound to receive both on the authority of Holy Writ. Let us beware lest we fall under the solemn charge of Malachi 2:9, “Ye have not kept My ways, but have been partial in the law.” What could be plainer than this, “I will make Him my Firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. By mercy will I keep for Him for evermore, and My covenant shall stand fast with Him. His seed also will I make to endure forever and His throne as the days of heaven. If His children forsake My law, and walk not in My judgments; if they break My statutes, and keep not My commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless My loving kindness will I not utterly take from Him, nor suffer My faithfulness to fail” (Psalm 89:27-33).

Five things are clearly revealed there.

First Christ Himself is addressed under the name of “David.”

Second, His children break God’s statutes.

Third, in them there is “iniquity” and “transgression.”

Fourth, God will “visit” their transgression “with the rod!”

Fifth, yet will He not cast them off.

What could express more clearly the fact that God does see sin in believers, and that He does chastise them for it? For, be it noted, the whole of the above passage speaks of believers. It is the language, not of the Law, but of the Gospel. Blessed promises are there made to believers in Christ: the unchanging loving-kindness of God, His covenant-faithfulness toward them, His spiritual blessing of them. But “stripes” and the “rod” are here promised too! Then let us not dare to separate what God has joined together. How do we know anything concerning the acceptance of the elect in Christ? The answer must be, Only on the testimony of Holy Writ. Very well; from the same unerring Testimony we also know that God chastises His people for their sins. It is at our imminent peril that we reject either of these complementary truths.

The same fact is plainly presented again in Hebrews 12:7-10, “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons: for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily, for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness.”

The apostle there draws an analogy from the natural relationship of father and child. Why do earthly parents chastise their children? Is it not for their faults? Can we justify a parent for chastening a child where there was no fault, nothing in him which called for the rod? In that case, it would be positive tyranny, actual cruelty. If the same be not true spiritually, then the comparison must fall to the ground. Hebrews 12 proves conclusively that, if God does not chastise me then I am an unbeliever, and I sign my own condemnation as a bastard.

Yet it is very necessary for us to point out, at this stage, that all the sufferings of believers in this world are not Divine rebukes for personal transgressions. Here too we need to be on our guard against lopsidedness. After we have apprehended the fact that God does take notice of the iniquities of His people and use the rod upon them, it is so easy to jump to the conclusion that when we see an afflicted Christian, God must be visiting His displeasure upon him. That is a sad and serious error. Some of the very choicest of God’s saints have been called on to endure the most painful and protracted sufferings; some of the most faithful and eminent servants of Christ have encountered the most relentless and extreme persecution. Not only is this a fact of observation, but it is plainly revealed in Holy Writ.

As we turn to God’s Word for light on the subject of suffering among the saints, we find it affirmed, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).

Those “afflictions” are sent by God upon different ones for various reasons. Sometimes for the prevention of sin: the experience of the beloved apostle was a case in point, “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure” (2 Corinthians 12:7).

Sometimes sore trials are sent for the testing and strengthening of our graces: “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience” (James 1:2, 3).

Sometimes God’s servants and people are called on to endure fierce persecution for a confirmatory testimony to the Truth. “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name” (Acts 5:41).

Yet here again we need to be much on our guard, for the flesh is ever ready to pervert even the holy things of God, and make an evil use of that which is good. When God is chastising a Christian for his sins, it is so easy for him to suppose such is not the case, and falsely comfort himself with the thought that God is only developing his graces, or permitting him to have closer fellowship with the sufferings of Christ. Where we are visited with afflictions personally, it is always the safest policy to assume that God has a controversy with us; humble ourselves beneath His mighty hand, and say with Job, “Show me wherefore Thou contendest with me” (10:2); and when He has convicted me of my fault, to penitently confess and forsake it. But where others are concerned, it is not for us to judge — though sometimes God reveals the cause to His servants (Amos 3:7).

In the passage which is to be before us, the apostle presents a third consideration why heed should be given unto the exhortation at the beginning of Hebrews 12, which calls to patient perseverance in the path of faith and obedience, notwithstanding all the obstacles, difficulties, and dangers which may be encountered therein. He now draws a motive from the nature of those sufferings considered in the light of God’s end in them: all the trials and persecutions which He may call on His people to endure are necessary, not only as testimonies to the truth, to the reality of His grace in them, but also as chastisements which are required by us, wherein God has a blessed design toward us. This argument is enforced by several considerations to the end of verse 13. How we should admire and adore the consummate wisdom of God which has so marvelously ordered all, that the very things which manifest the hatred of men against us are evidences of His love toward us! How the realization of this should strengthen patience!

O how many of God’s dear children have found, in every age, that the afflictions which have come upon them from a hostile world, were soul-purging medicines from the Lord. By them they have been bestirred, revived, and mortified to things down here; and made partakers of God’s holiness, to their own unspeakable advantage and comfort. Truly wondrous are the ways of our great God.

Hereby doth He defeat the counsels and expectations of the wicked, having a design to accomplish by their agency something which they know not of. These very reproaches, imprisonments, stripes, with the loss of goods and danger of their lives, with which the world opposed them for their ruin; God makes use of for their refining, consolation and joy. Truly He “maketh the wrath of man to praise Him” (Psalm 76:10). O that our hearts and minds may be duly impressed with the wisdom, power and grace of Him who bringeth a clean thing out of an unclean.

“In all these things is the wisdom and goodness of God, in contriving and effecting these things, to the glory of His grace, and the salvation of His Church, to be admired” (John Owen). But herein we may see, once more, the imperative need for faith — a God-given, God-sustained, spiritual, supernatural FAITH. Carnal reason can see no more in our persecutions than the malice and rage of evil men. Our senses perceive nothing beyond material losses and painful physical discomforts. But faith discovers the Father’s hand directing all things: faith is assured that all proceeds from His boundless love: faith realizes that He has in view the good of our souls. The more this is apprehended by the exercise of faith, not only the better for our peace of mind, but the readier shall we be to diligently apply ourselves in seeking to learn God’s lessons for us in every chastisement He lays upon us.

The opening “And” of verse 5 shows the apostle is continuing to present motives to stir unto a perseverance in the faith, notwithstanding sufferings for the same. The first motive was taken from the example of the O.T. worthies (verse 1). The second, from the illustrious pattern of Jesus (verses 2-4). This is the third: the Author of these sufferings — our Father — and His loving design in them. There is also a more immediate connection with 5:4 pointed by the “And:” it presents a tacit rebuke for being ready to faint under the lesser trials, wherewith they were exercised. Here He gives a reason how and why it was they were thus making that reason the means of introducing a new argument. The reason why they were ready to faint was their inattention to the direction and encouragement which God has supplied for them — our failure to appropriate God’s gracious provisions for us is the rise of all our spiritual miscarriages.

The Hebrew Christians to whom this epistle was first addressed were passing through a great fight of afflictions, and miserably were they acquitting themselves. They were the little remnant out of the Jewish nation who had believed on their Messiah during the days of His public ministry, plus those Jews who had been converted under the preaching of the apostles. It is highly probable that they had expected the Messianic kingdom would at once be set up on earth, and that they would be allotted the chief places of honor in it. But the millennium had not begun, and their own lot became increasingly bitter. They were not only hated by the Gentiles, but ostracized by their unbelieving brethren, and it became a hard matter for them to make even a bare living. Providence held a frowning face. Many who had made a profession of Christianity had gone back to Judaism and were prospering temporally. As the afflictions of the believing Jews increased they too were sorely tempted to turn their back upon the new Faith. Had they been wrong in embracing Christianity? Was high heaven displeased because they had identified themselves with Jesus of Nazareth? Did not their sufferings go to show that God no longer regarded them with favor?

Now it is most blessed and instructive to see how the apostle met the unbelieving reasoning of their hearts. He appealed to their own scriptures, reminding them of an exhortation found in Proverbs 3:11, 12: “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastenings of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him” (Hebrews 12:5).  As we pointed out so often in our exposition of the earlier chapters of this Epistle, at every critical point in his argument the apostle’s appeal was to the written Word of God — an example which is binding on every servant of Christ to follow. That Word is the final court of appeal for every controversial matter, and the more its authority is respected, the more is its Author honored. Not only so, but the more God’s children are brought to turn to its instruction, the more will they be built up and established in the true faith. Moreover, “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4): it is to them alone we must turn for solid comfort. Great will be our loss if we fail to do so. “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you.” Note well the words we have placed in italics. The exhortation to which the apostle referred was uttered over a thousand years previously, under the Mosaic dispensation; nevertheless the apostle insists that it was addressed equally unto the New Testament saints! How this exposes the cardinal error of modern “dispensationalists,” who seek to rob Christians of the greater part of God’s precious Word. Under the pretense of “rightly dividing” the Word, they would filch from them all that God gave to His people prior to the beginning of the present era. Such a devilish device is to be steadfastly resisted by us. All that is found in the book of Proverbs is as much God the Father’s instruction to us as are the contents of the Pauline epistles! Throughout that book God addresses us individually as “My son:” see Hebrews 1:8, 3:1, 4:1, 5:1, etc. Surely that is quite sufficient for every spiritual mind — no labored argument is needed.

The appositeness of Proverbs 3:11, 12 to the case of the afflicted Hebrews gave great force to the apostle’s citing of it here. That passage would enable them to perceive that their case was by no means unprecedented or peculiar, that it was in fact no otherwise with them than it had been with others of God’s children in former ages and that long before the Lord had graciously laid in provision for their encouragement: “My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of His correction: For whom the Lord loveth He correcteth, even as a Father the son in whom He delighteth,” (Proverbs 3:11, 12). It has ever been God’s way to correct those in whom He delights, to chastise His children; but so far from that salutary discipline causing us to faint, it should strengthen and comfort our hearts, being assured that such chastening proceeds from His love, and that the exhortation to perseverance in the path of duty is issued by Him. It is the height of pride and ingratitude not to comply with His tender entreaties.

But the apostle had to say to the suffering Hebrews, “Ye have forgotten the exhortation.” Forgetfulness is a part of that corruption which has seized man by his fall: all the faculties of his soul have been seriously injured — the memory, which was placed in man to be a treasury, in which to lay up the directions and consolations of God’s Word, has not escaped the universal wreckage. But that by no means excuses us: it is a fault, to be striven and prayed against. As ministers see occasion, they are to stir up God’s people to use means for the strengthening of the memory — especially by the formation of the habit of holy meditation in Divine things.

Thus it was with the Hebrews, in some measure at least: they had “forgotten” that which should have stood in good stead in the hour of their need. Under their trials and persecution, they ought, in an especial manner, to have called to mind that Divine exhortation of Proverbs 3:11, 12 for their encouragement: had they believingly appropriated it, they had been kept from fainting. Alas, how often we are like them! “The want of a diligent consideration of the provision that God hath made in the Scripture for our encouragement to duty and comfort under difficulties, is a sinful forgetfulness, and is of dangerous consequence to our souls” (John Owen).

“Which speaketh unto you as unto children.” It is very striking indeed to observe the tense of the verb here: the apostle was quoting a sentence of Scripture which had been written a thousand years previously, yet he does not say “which hath spoken,” but “which speaketh unto you!” The same may be seen again in that sevenfold exhortation of Revelation 2 and 3, “He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith (not “said”) unto the churches.” The Holy Scriptures are a living Word, in which God speaks to men in every generation. Holy Writ is not a dumb or dead letter: it has a voice in it, ever speaking of God Himself. “The Holy Spirit is always present in the Word, and speaks in it equally and alike to the church in all ages. He doth in it speak as immediately to us, as if we were the first and only persons to whom He spake. And this should teach us, with what reverence we ought to attend to the Scriptures, namely, as to the way and means whereby God Himself speaks directly to us” (John Owen.)

“Which speaketh unto you as unto children.” The apostle emphasizes the fact that God addresses an exhortation in Proverbs 3:11 to “My son,” which shows plainly that His relation to the O.T. saints was that of a Father to His children. This at once refutes a glaring error made by some who pose as being ultra-orthodox, more deeply taught in the Word than others. They have insisted that the Fatherhood of God was never revealed until the Son became incarnate; but every verse in the Proverbs where God says “My son” reveals their mistake. That the O.T. saints were instructed in this blessed relationship is clear from other passages: “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him” (Psalm 103:13). This relation unto God is by virtue of their (and our) union with Christ: He is “the Son,” and being one with Him, members of His body, they were “sons” too.

This precious relationship is the ground of the soul’s confidence in God. “If God speaks to them as to children, they have good ground to fly to God as to a Father and in all time of need to ask and seek of Him all needful blessings (Matthew 7:11), yea, and in faith to depend on Him for the same (Matthew 6:31, 32). What useful things shall they want? What hurtful thing need such to fear? If God deal with us as with children, He will provide for them every good thing, He will protect them from every hurtful thing, He will hear their prayers, He will accept their services, He will bear with their infirmities, He will support them under all their burdens, and assist them against all their assaults; though through their own weakness, or the violence of some temptation, they should be drawn from Him, yet will He be ready to meet them in the mid-way, turning to Him — instance the mind of the father of the prodigal towards him” (W. Gouge).

Posted in A. W. Pink |

Gethsemane, The Oil-Press by Alexander MacLaren

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

One shrinks from touching this incomparable picture of unexampled sorrow, for fear lest one’s finger- marks should stain it.  There is no place here for picturesque description, which tries to mend the gospel stories by dressing them in today’s fashions.  We must put off our shoes, and feel that we stand on holy ground.  Though loving eyes saw something of Christ’s agony, He did not let them come beside Him, but withdrew into the shadow of the gnarled olives, as if even the moonbeams must not look too closely on the mystery of such grief.  We may go as near as love was allowed to go, but stop where it was stayed, while we reverently and adoringly listen to what the Evangelist tells us of that unspeakable hour.

I. Mark the “exceeding sorrow” of the Man of Sorrows.

Somewhere on the western foot of Olivet lay the garden, named from an oil-press formerly or then in it, which was to be the scene of the holiest and sorest sorrow on which the moon, that has seen so much misery, has ever looked.  Truly, it was “an oil-press,” in which “the good olive” was crushed by the grip of unparalleled agony, and yielded precious oil, which has been poured into many a wound since then.  Eight of the eleven are left at or near the entrance, while He passes deeper into the shadows with the three.  They had been witnesses of His prayers once before, on the slopes of Hermon, when He was transfigured before them.  They are now to see a no less wonderful revelation of His glory in His filial submission.

There is something remarkable in Matthew’s expression, “He began to be sorrowful,” — as if a sudden wave of emotion, breaking over His soul, had swept His human sensibilities before it.  The strange word translated by the Revisers “sore troubled” is of uncertain derivation, and may possibly be simply intended to intensify the idea of sorrow; but more probably it adds another element, which Bishop Lightfoot describes as “the confused, restless, half-distracted state which is produced by physical derangement or mental distress.”  A storm of agitation and bewilderment broke His calm, and forced from His patient lips, little wont to speak of His own emotions, or to seek for sympathy, the unutterably pathetic cry, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful” — compassed about with sorrow, as the word means — “even unto death.”  No feeble explanation of these words does justice to the abyss of woe into which they let us dimly look.  They tell the fact, that, a little more and the body would have sunk under the burden.  He knew the limits of human endurance, for “all things were made by Him,” and, knowing it, He saw that He had grazed the very edge.  Out of the darkness He reaches a hand to feel for the grasp of a friend, and piteously asks these humble lovers to stay beside Him, not that they could help Him to bear the weight, but that their presence had some solace in it.  His agony must be endured alone, therefore He bade them tarry there; but He desired to have them at hand, therefore He went but “a little forward.”  They could not bear it with Him, but they could “watch with” Him, and that poor comfort is all He asks.  No word came from them.

They were, no doubt, awed into silence, as the truest sympathy is used to be, in the presence of a great grief.  Is it permitted us to ask what were the fountains of these bitter floods that swept over Christ’s sinless soul?  Was the mere physical shrinking from death all?  If so, we may reverently say that many a maiden and old man, who drew all their fortitude from Jesus, have gone to stake or gibbet for His sake, with a calm which contrasts strangely with His agitation.  Gethsemane is robbed of its pathos and nobleness if that be all.  But it was not all.

Rather it was the least bitter of the components of the cup.  What lay before Him was not merely death, but the death which was to atone for a world’s sin, and in which, therefore, the whole weight of sin’s consequences was concentrated. “The Lord hath made to meet on Him the iniquities of us all;” that is the one sufficient explanation of this infinitely solemn and tender scene.  Unless we believe that, we shall find it hard to reconcile His agitation in Gethsemane with the perfection of His character as the captain of “the noble army of martyrs.”

II. Note the prayer of filial submission.

Matthew does not tell us of the sweat falling audibly and heavily, and sounding to the three like slow blood-drops from a wound, nor of the strengthening angel, but he gives us the prostrate form, and the threefold prayer, renewed as each moment of calm, won by it, was again broken in upon by a fresh wave of emotion.  Thrice He had to leave the disciples, and came back, a calm conqueror; and twice the enemy rallied and returned to the assault, and was at last driven finally from the field by the power of prayer and submission.  The three Synoptics differ in their report of our Lord’s words, but all mean the same thing in substance; and it is obvious that much more must have been spoken than they report.  Possibly what we have is only the fragments that reached the three before they fell asleep.  In any case, Jesus was absent from them on each occasion long enough to allow of their doing so.

Three elements are distinguishable in our Lord’s prayer.  There is, first, the sense of Sonship, which underlies all, and was never more clear than at that awful moment.  Then there is the recoil from “the cup,” which natural instinct could not but feel, though sinlessly.  The flesh shrank from the Cross, which else had been no suffering; and if no suffering, then had been no atonement.  His manhood would not have been like ours, nor His sorrows our pattern, if He had not thus drawn back, in His sensitive humanity, from the awful prospect now so near.  But natural instinct is one thing, and the controlling will another.  However currents may have tossed the vessel, the firm hand at the helm never suffered them to change her course.  The will, which in this prayer He seems so strangely to separate from the Father’s, even in the act of submission, was the will which wishes, not that which resolves.  His fixed purpose to die for the world’s sin never wavered.  The shrinking does not reach the point of absolutely and unconditionally asking that the cup might pass.  Even in the act of uttering the wish, it is limited by that “if it be possible,” which can only mean — possible, in view of the great purpose for which He came.  That is to be accomplished, at any cost; and unless it can be accomplished though the cup be withdrawn, He does not even wish, much less will, that it should be withdrawn.  So, the third element in the prayer is the utter resignation to the Father’s will, in which submission He found peace, as we do.

He prayed His way to perfect calm, which is ever the companion of perfect self-surrender to God.  They who cease from their own works do “enter into rest.”  All the agitations which had come storming in massed battalions against Him are defeated by it.  They have failed to shake His purpose; they now fail even to disturb His peace.  So, victorious from the dreadful conflict, and at leisure of heart to care for others, He can go back to the disciples.  But even whilst seeking to help them, a fresh wave of suffering breaks in on His calm, and once again He leaves them to renew the struggle.  The instinctive shrinking reasserts itself, and, though overcome, is not eradicated.  But the second prayer is yet more rooted in acquiescence than the first.  It shows that He had not lost what He had won by the former; for it, as it were, builds on that first supplication, and accepts as answer to its contingent petition the consciousness, accompanying the calm, that it was not possible for the cup to pass from Him.

The sense of Sonship underlies the complete resignation of the second prayer as of the first.  It has no wish but God’s will, and is the voluntary offering of Himself.  Here He is both Priest and Sacrifice, and offers the victim with this prayer of consecration.  So once more He triumphs, because once more, and yet more completely, He submits, and accepts the Cross.  For Him, as for us, the Cross accepted ceases to be a pain, and the cup is no more bitter when we are content to drink it.  Once more in fainter fashion the enemy came on, casting again his spent arrows, and beaten back by the same weapon.

The words were the same, because no others could have expressed more perfectly the submission which was the heart of His prayers and the condition of His victory.  Christ’s prayer, then, was not for the passing of the cup, but that the will of God might be done in and by Him, and “ He was heard in that He feared,” not by being exempted from the Cross, but by being strengthened through submission for submission.  So His agony is the pattern of all true prayer, which must ever deal with our wishes, as He did with His instinctive shrinking, — present them wrapped in an “ if it be possible,” and followed by a “nevertheless.”  The meaning of prayer is not to force our wills on God’s, but to bend our wills to His; and that prayer is really answered of which the issue is our calm readiness for all that He lays upon us.

III. Note the sad and gentle remonstrance with the drowsy three.

“The sleep of the disciples, and of these disciples, and of all three, and such an overpowering sleep, remains even after Luke’s explanation, ‘for sorrow,’ a psychological riddle” (Meyer). It is singularly parallel with the sleep of the same three at the Transfiguration — an event which presents the opposite pole of our Lord’s experiences, and yields so many antithetical parallels to Gethsemane.  No doubt the tension of emotion, which had lasted for many hours, had worn them out; but, if weariness had weighed down their eyelids, love should have kept them open.  Such sleep of such disciples may have been a riddle, but it was also a crime, and augured imperfect sympathy.  Gentle surprise and the pain of disappointed love are audible in the question, addressed to Peter especially, as he had promised so much, but meant for all.  This was all that Jesus got in answer to His yearning for sympathy.  “I looked for some to take pity, but there was none.”  Those who loved Him most lay curled in dead slumber within earshot of His prayers.  If ever a soul tasted the desolation of utter loneliness, that suppliant beneath the olives tasted it.  But how little of the pain escapes His lips!  The words but hint at the slightness of their task compared with His, at the brevity of the strain on their love, and at the companionship which ought to have made sleep impossible.  May we not see in Christ’s remonstrance a word for all?

For us, too, the task of keeping awake in the enchanted ground is light, measured against His, and the time is short, and we have Him to keep us company in the watch, and every motive of grateful love should make it easy; but, alas, how many of us sleep a drugged and heavy slumber!  The gentle remonstrance soon passes over into counsel as gentle.

Watchfulness and prayer are inseparable.  The one discerns dangers, the other arms against them.  Watchfulness keeps us prayerful, and prayerfulness keeps us watchful.  To watch without praying is presumption, to pray without watching is hypocrisy.  The eye that sees clearly the facts of life will turn upwards from its scanning of the snares and traps, and will not look in vain.  These two are the indispensable conditions of victorious encountering of temptation.  Fortified by them, we shall not “enter into” it, though we encounter it.  The outward trial will remain, but its power to lead us astray will vanish.  It will still be danger or sorrow, but it will not be temptation; and we shall pass through it, as a sunbeam through foul air, untainted, and keeping heaven’s radiance.  That is a lesson for a wider circle than the sleepy three.

It is followed by words which would need a volume to expound in all their depth and width of application, but which are primarily a reason for the preceding counsel, as well as a loving apology for the disciples’ sleep.  Christ is always glad to give us credit for even imperfect good; His eye, which sees deeper than ours, sees more lovingly, and is not hindered from marking the willing spirit by recognizing weak flesh.  But these words are not to be made a pillow for indolent acquiescence in the limitations which the flesh imposes on the spirit, tie may take merciful count of these, and so may we, in judging others, but it is fatal to plead them at the bar of our own consciences.  Rather they should be a spur to our watchfulness and to our prayer.  We need these because the flesh is weak, still more because, in its weakness toward good, it is strong to evil.  Such exercise will give governing power to the spirit, and enable it to impose its will on the reluctant flesh.   If we watch and pray, the conflict between these two elements in the renewed nature will tend to unity and peace by the supremacy of the spirit; if we do not, it will tend to cease by the unquestioned tyranny of the flesh.  In one or other direction our lives are tending.

Strange that such words had no effect.  But so it was, and so deep was the apostles’ sleep that Christ left them undisturbed the second time.  The relapse is worse than the original disease.  Sleep broken and resumed is more torpid and fatal than if it had not been interrupted.  We do not know how long it lasted, though the whole period in the garden must have been measured by hours; but at last it was broken by the enigmatical last words of our Lord.  The explanation of the direct opposition between the consecutive sentences, by taking the “ Sleep on now” as ironical, jars on one’s reverence.  Surely irony is out of keeping with the spirit of Christ then.  Rather He bids them sleep on, since the hour is come, in sad recognition that the need for their watchful sympathy is past, and with it the opportunity for their proved affection.  It is said with a tone of contemplative melancholy, and is almost equivalent to “too late, too late.”

The memorable sermon of F. W. Robertson, on this text, rightly grasps the spirit of the first clause, when it dwells with such power on the thought of “the irrevocable past” of wasted opportunities and neglected duty.  But the sudden transition to the sharp, short command and broken sentences of the last verse is to he accounted for by the sudden appearance of the flashing lights of the band led by Judas, somewhere near at hand, in the valley.  The mood of pensive reflection gives place to rapid decision.  He summons them to arise, not for flight, but that He may go out to meet the traitor.

Escape would have been easy.  There was time to reach some sheltering fold of the hill in the darkness; but the prayer beneath the silver-grey olives had not been in vain, and these last words in Gethsemane throb with the Son’s willingness to yield Himself up, and to empty to its dregs the cup which the Father had given Him.

Posted in Alexander MacLaren |

Christ in the Garden by J. C. Ryle

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

The history of our Lord’s agony in the garden of Gethsemane is a deep and mysterious passage of Scripture.  It contains things which the wisest divines cannot fully explain.  Yet it has upon its surface plain truths of most momentous importance.

Let us mark, in the first place, how keenly our Lord felt the burden of the world’s sin.

It is written that He “began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; and saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death,” —and that “he fell on the ground, and prayed, that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.”  There is only one reasonable explanation of these ex­pressions.  It was no mere fear of the physical suffering of death, which drew them from our Lord’s lips.  It was a sense of the enormous load of human guilt, which began at that time to press upon Him in a peculiar way.  It was a sense of the unutterable weight of our sins and transgressions which were then specially laid upon Him.  He was being “made a curse for us.”  He was bearing our griefs and carrying our sorrows, according to the covenant He came on earth to fulfill.  He was being “made sin for us who Himself knew no sin.”  His holy nature felt acutely the hideous burden laid upon Him.  These were the reasons of His extraordinary sorrow.

We ought to see in our Lord’s agony in Gethsemane the exceeding sinfulness of sin. It is a subject on which the thoughts of professing Christians are far below what they should be.  The careless, light way in which such sins as swearing, sabbath-breaking, lying and the like, are often spoken of, is a painful evidence of the low con­dition of men’s moral feelings.  Let the recollection of Gethsemane have a sanctifying effect upon us.  What­ever others do, let us never “make a mock at sin.”

Let us mark, in the second place, what an example our Lord gives us of the importance of prayer in time of trouble.

In the hour of His distress, we find Him employing this great remedy.  Twice we are told that when His soul was exceeding sorrowful, “He prayed.”  We shall never find a better receipt than this for the patient bearing of affliction.  The first person to whom we should turn in our trouble is God.  The first complaint we should make should be in the form of a prayer.  The reply may not be given immediately.  The relief we want may not be granted at once.  The thing that tries us may never be removed and taken away.  But the mere act of pouring out our hearts and unbosoming our­selves at a throne of grace will do us good.  The advice of St. James is wise and weighty: “Is any afflicted?  Let him pray” (James 5:13).

Let us mark, in the third place, what a striking example our Lord gives us of submission of will to the will of God.

Deeply as His human nature felt the pressure of a world’s guilt, He still prays that, “if it were possible,” the hour might pass from him.  “Take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.”

We can imagine no higher degree of perfection than that which is here set before us.  To take patiently whatever God sends, —to like nothing but what God likes, —to wish nothing but what God approves, —to prefer pain, if it please God to send it to ease, if God does not think fit to bestow it, —to lie passive under God’s hand, and know no will but His, —this is the highest standard at which we can aim, and of this our Lord’s conduct in Gethsemane is a perfect pattern.

Let us strive and labor to have “the mind that was in Christ” in this matter.  Let us daily pray and endeavor to be enabled to mortify our self-will. —It is for our happiness to do so.  Nothing brings us so much misery on earth as having our own way. —It is the best proof of real grace to do so.  Knowledge, and gifts, and convictions, and feelings, and wishes, are all very un­certain evidences.  They are often to be found in uncon­verted persons.  But a continually increasing disposition to submit our own wills to the will of God, is a far more healthy symptom.  It is a sign that we are really “growing in grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.”

Let us mark, lastly, in these verses, how much infirmity may be found even in the best Christians.

We have a painful illustration of this truth in the conduct of Peter, James, and John.  They slept when they ought to have watched and prayed.  Though invited by our Lord to watch with Him, they slept.  Though warned a short time before that danger was at hand, and their faith likely to fail, they slept.  Though fresh from the Lord’s table, with all its touching solemnities, they slept.  Never was there a more striking proof that the best of men are but men, and that, so long as saints are in the body, they are compassed with infirmity.

These things are written for our learning.  Let us take heed that they are not written in vain.  Let us ever be on our guard against the slothful, indolent, lazy spirit in religion, which is natural to us all, and especially in the matter of our private prayers.  When we feel that spirit creeping over us, let us remember Peter, James, and John in the garden, and take care.

The solemn counsel which our Lord addresses to His disciples should often ring in our ears: “Watch and pray lest ye enter into temptation.  The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.”  It should be the Christian’s daily motto from the time of his conversion to the hour of his death.

Are we true Christians and would we keep our souls awake?  Let us not forget that we have within us a double nature, —a ready “spirit” and weak “flesh,” —a carnal nature inclined to evil, and a spiritual nature inclined to good.  These two are contrary one to the other (Gal. 5:17).  Sin and the devil will always find helpers in our hearts.  If we do not crucify and rule over the flesh, it will often rule over us and bring us to shame.

Are we true Christians, and would we keep our souls awake?  Then let us never forget to “watch and pray.”  We must watch like soldiers, —we are upon enemy’s ground.  We must always be on our guard.  We must fight a daily fight and war a daily warfare.  The Christian’s rest is yet to come. —We must pray without ceasing, regularly, habitually, carefully, and at stated times.  We must pray as well as watch, and watch as well as pray.

Watching without praying is self-confidence and self-conceit.  Praying without watching is enthusiasm and fanaticism.  The man who knows his own weakness, and knowing it both watches and prays, is the man that will be held up and not allowed to fall.

From Expository Thoughts on Mark

Posted in J. C. Ryle |

Preface to the Study by Jim Ehrhard

January 16, 2010 by ADMIN

Whenever we consider the death and resurrection of Jesus, we should not neglect to examine the Savior’s time in the Garden of Gethsemane.  In the Garden, many things about Jesus and his mission are revealed in dramatic fashion.  Equally, many lessons about those who are his followers come to light in the darkness of that night in the Garden.

In this issue, we have chosen a number of articles that shed light on various aspects of Jesus’ time in the Garden of Gethsemane prior to his going to the cross.  In the Garden, we see the dual nature of Christ clearly revealed. We see Jesus in his full humanity, struggling with the weight of what lay ahead in the cross.  We see him crying out to the Father, “Let this cup pass from me… yet not my will but thine be done.”  We see his divinity in his prophecies about the falling away of his disciples, the betrayal of Judas, and his own resurrection.  He also affirms his divinity in his ability to call twelve legions of angels to his aid at any time he desired!

The Garden also shows us the absolute necessity of the cross. Jesus says to the Father, “If there is any other way, let this cup pass from me.”  If there had been any other way besides the cross, Jesus would have taken it.  But the only way to provide for man’s salvation was through the cross.  In the history of the church, many have shied away from the expiation of the cross and opted for other means of salvation.  Jesus himself recognized that there was no other way.  Unless Jesus sheds his perfect, sinless blood on behalf of sinful man, there is no hope of salvation.

The wrath of God is also seen in the Garden. When Jesus speaks about letting the “cup pass” from him, what is he referring to?  There are many references in the Old Testament to the cup of God’s wrath being poured out on His enemies.  The Bible describes everyone of us as enemies of God who fully deserve to drink the dregs of God’s wrath for our sins.  This is not a theme that many like to hear or preach, but in the Garden, Jesus saw his encounter with the cross as drinking the “cup” on our behalf.

Obviously, the Garden of Gethsemane is full of the love and grace of our Savior. His love is seen in his willingness to drink that cup for us.  His love is also revealed in his tender care for his continually failing and faltering disciples.

But the Garden of Gethsemane not only reveals much about our Savior, it also shows us much about ourselves.  The experience of the disciples in the Garden reveals the weakness of all men, including the redeemed. Jesus had warned the disciples that “all would stumble this very night because of me.”  Not just Peter, but all.  Further, we see the sluggishness of the disciple to join the Lord in that hour of prayer before the betrayal.  The question of Jesus to his disciples remains a question for his followers today: “Could you not watch with me one hour?”

Many lessons for living the Christian life can also be gathered from Gethsemane. In the example of Jesus, we see the absolute necessity of prayer to sustain us in times of difficulty.  In the example of Jesus, we have set before us the goal of submitting our will to the Father just as he did.  In the example of Jesus, we learn much about the right way for a believer to handle persecutions and difficulties in life.  Peter, who observed Jesus’ behavior in the Garden that night, points us to Jesus as our example in suffering in the second chapter of his first epistle.

We pray that this issue of Teaching Resources will provide some articles and sermons that will allow you to grasp something of the mystery and meaning of Jesus’ time in the garden of Gethsemane.  We certainly could have included many more articles (indeed, some additional articles on this theme can be found on our website).  In the articles by Ryle and MacLaren, we are introduced to the importance of understanding what Jesus went through in the Garden.  Calvin’s sermon provides a number of insights to prayer for believers.  William Bridge shows us the reality of temptation and its cure in his article, “Temptation’s Danger and Remedy.”  Our final article by Charles Spurgeon, “Christian Resignation,” provides encouragements for believers to rest in the sovereign, perfect will of God.

May these articles open our eyes to see what a wonderful Savior we have and may they challenge us to live lives that will give him honor and glory in all we do!

By His Grace, Jim & Debbie

Check out our Website (www.teachingresources.org).  In addition to the printed resources of this issue, we have included a few more articles on Gethsemane in our on-line version.  Also, you might consider signing up for our monthly Reforming Reflections (available by email).

Posted in Jim Ehrhard |

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