Brief Glimpse into the Mystery of Gethsemane

Driving home: For in that shadow we are actually given insights into the mystery of the cross that are not given in the actual account of the cross itself.

Martin compares approaching Gethsemane to Moses at the burning bush, where one must 'take off your shoes' because the ground is unusually holy, having absorbed Christ's blood and sweat.

Let us pray. Surely, our Father, if you said to Moses by a burning bush, Put off your shoes, for the place where you stand is holy ground, we would in spirit take off our shoes, before we tiptoe as we go, as it were, to behold in Gethsemane the agony of our Lord Jesus. We confess that in the contemplation of this portion of your word, we stand upon unusually holy ground, ground that absorbed the blood and sweat of our Savior, ground that felt the weight of his prostrate body, as he agonized in prayer, O Lord, by the Holy Spirit, who gave us this record of his agony, give us eyes to see, and at...

3:29 - 4:56 Read in full sermon

Driving home: For in that shadow we are actually given insights into the mystery of the cross that are not given in the actual account of the cross itself.

Martin quotes Scottish theologian Hugh Martin, who called Gethsemane 'the shadow of Calvary,' using this title to frame the sermon's argument that Gethsemane reveals insights into the cross not found in the cross account itself.

of his agony, for us, and for our salvation, we ask in his name. Amen. As we seek in the next half hour to prepare our hearts for coming to the Supper of Remembrance, I want you to take this time, and with me, to engage in what we can only call as a brief glimpse into the mystery of Gethsemane. In this scene that I've read in your hearing, recorded in Matthew's Gospel, and also recorded in Mark 14 and Luke chapter 22, we have that which Hugh Martin, the great Scottish theologian and preacher, has called the shadow of Calvary. In his classic work seeking to expound the mystery of Gethsemane, he...

4:56 - 6:21 Read in full sermon

Driving home: So intense was the spiritual agony that there were even abnormal physical manifestations in the body of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ.

To illustrate Jesus' repeated prostration, Martin uses the analogy of a desert traveler who staggers, falls, rises, and falls again, conveying the overwhelming weight on Christ's spirit.

and yet language which in some ways can only be described as shocking and pathetic language. In verse 37 we read that he began to be sorrowful and sore troubled. Verse 38 tells us that he confessed to his own disciples that his soul was exceeding sorrowful even to the point of being crushed to death there in Gethsemane. Furthermore, we have the record in verse 39 that with no physical cross upon his back to press him to the ground in weakness, there was such a weight upon his spirit that he literally fell upon his face, and in the tenses used in Mark's account, it's the picture of a man who fa...

8:36 - 10:04 Read in full sermon

Driving home: under the imagery of the cup is nothing less than our Lord's actual experience of taking the unmixed wrath of God due to the sins of his people and so absorbing that wrath into his own soul that all of the righteous clai…

Martin quotes Hugh Martin's detailed description of the cup's contents: 'the curse of God,' 'the sword of the Lord's wrath,' 'penal desertion,' and 'the present consciousness of the anger of God against him as the substitute of his people.'

What was in the cup that caused our Lord in the thrice repeated prayer to plead, if at all possible, the cup might pass from him? Well, we know from the analogy of Scripture, we know from the Scripture and subsequent experience of our Lord that under the imagery of the cup is nothing less than our Lord's actual experience of taking the unmixed wrath of God due to the sins of his people and so absorbing that wrath into his own soul that all of the righteous claims of heaven against his sinful people will be fully exhausted and completely satisfied. In the language of Hugh Martin who seeks to an...

15:15 - 16:30 Read in full sermon

The point: Find the greatest comfort in Christ's finished work, believing that the cup of God's wrath is empty for you because He drank it all, and therefore the cup you drink is a cup of blessing.

Martin quotes a hymn that beautifully summarizes the comfort for believers: 'O Christ was full for thee, thou hast drained the last dark drop, 'tis empty now for me, that bitter cup love drank it up, now blessings draft for me.'

O Christ was full for thee thou hast drained the last dark drop tis empty now for me that bitter cup love drank it up now blessings draft for me child of God can you rejoice in full and free forgiveness if you find it difficult to do so go to Gethsemane behold your Lord trembling staggering before the cup then behold him upon the cross drinking it until its bitterness rings from his soul the cry of dereliction then in his triumphant cry it is finished believe that the cup is empty there will be no wrath bearing twice God has punished your sins in the person of your substitute therefore the cup...

32:21 - 33:49 Read in full sermon