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1998-01-01 - Not My Will
The Cross Series, Part 21
Luke 22:40-42 And when He arrived at the place, He said
to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." 41 And
He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and began
to pray, 42 saying, "Father, if Thou art willing, remove this
cup from Me; yet not My will, but Thine be done."
Matt 26:42-44 He went away again a second time and prayed,
saying, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Thy will
be done." 43 And again He came and found them sleeping, for their
eyes were heavy. 44 And He left them again, and went away and
prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.
Mark 14:35 And He went a little beyond them, and fell
to the ground, and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might
pass Him by.
What was in this cup that Jesus dreaded so much that He pleads with
the Father as the plan unfolds? Matthew records for us that Jesus
made His impassioned request three times. More than one person has told me
that the text indicates that Jesus was shouting. The disciples would have
heard this easily, even at a distance. How unnerving it must have been to
hear their Lord in such obvious distress. This One who calmed the sea, cast
out demons and raised the dead, all with just a spoken word, now pleads with
His Father.
Jesus was indeed God in human flesh. In a few verses we will hear Jesus warn
His captors that He could call twelve legions of angels to set Him free.
I have no doubt that they were poised to strike at the first syllable from
Jesus or the Father. To their astonishment, the word never came.
Jesus has already humbled Himself once at His birth. The King of Glory, Who
could clothe Himself in pure energy and light, wrapped human flesh and bone
around Himself. Jesus entered this world cold and naked, just like you and
me. He had submitted His mighty will to the Father for the sake of fallen
mankind. One by one, The Lord has mentally checked off one prophecy after
another that had to be fulfilled. Again, submitting to the plan.
Now, one last time, He must submit to complete the plan to redeem fallen
mankind. The cross was the way home for the Messiah. There would be the physical
suffering; beard ripped out, beaten, brutally whipped 39 times, blindfolded
and punched, mocked, stripped naked of His garments, a crown of thorns driven
into His scalp and the railroad spikes driven through His body. There would
be the agony of bearing the sins of all mankind - past, present and future.
To become sin for Him who knew no sin. He would have to submit to that too.
These would be horrific to behold if their true terror could be visually
manifest. Murder, envy, anger, jealousy, pride. Were these the dregs of the
cup that Jesus wanted to pass by Him?
There was also that moment in time when the Father, who is Holy, would have
to turn His back on His own Son, who had become sin. God will not sit in
the presence of sin and Jesus had taken on our sins. The Father would have
to turned from him, literally turn His back to Him. The Father and The Son
had been in a perfect state of fellowship for millennium of time and into
eternity past. This might be what Jesus dreaded the most.
Yet, even in the face of this Jesus humbled Himself The plan that had
been agreed on in ages past (Rev 13:8) was unfurling before their eyes. If
blood had not been required, if it could have been done with a word,
Jesus was asking for that way. In uttering the phrase, "...not My will..."
Jesus is giving the Father Carte Blanche. He deliberately set aside His own
will for us. He gave up His right to call those angels, to leap down from
the cross and destroy Roman and the Pharisees, to simply return to Heaven
as the hammer drove the spike into the wood as the hand simply disappeared
from under it.
There are times when we will set aside our will for the good of another.
There are times when, at great need, men and women will suffer hardship for
the benefit of another. But Jesus laid aside His divine authority in the
face of abuse and torment that we can only begin to see, for you - and
me.
Heb 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter
of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Our Master permitted Himself to be attacked by the very forces of darkness.
The enemy himself must have railed on Jesus. He would have known that this
was the telling moment of history. In that three hours of darkness, all the
stops would be pulled out unleashing an untold fury, raw hatred and desperation.
Paul tells us why He laid aside His will. It was "for
the joy set before Him" that Jesus did it. The joy Jesus saw before
Him was us. As David Meece wrote, "We were the reason that He suffered, and
died …" By submitting to the Father in obedience, we have fellowship and
relationship again with God.
How many times does our will get in the way of God extending His grace and
mercy? How many times do we insist on our comfort and call our legions to
set us free? Jesus' submission to the Father was the pathway to blessing
the world with His grace, mercy and love. Maybe we can die a little bit more
to ourselves this year, setting aside our desires more often to permit God
to bless someone through us.
Lord Jesus, Your example to us is clear and yet unnerving to us. To let
go and totally, recklessly abandon ourselves to You is a frightening prospect.
We know You love us and have our best interests at heart at all times. If
You can help us focus on that, and teach us to relax out grip just a little
more each day, then more completely submitting our lives to you can become
an avenue of blessing to us and those around us, and back to You. Amen.
Grace & Peace,
Mike
jmhoskins@gmail.com
http://www.cfdevotionals.org
All verses are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise noted.
CFD | January 1998
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