Matt Pierson, Associate Pastor
- Jesus prays with a posture of obedience
- Jesus trusts in God’s Sovereignty
- Jesus forgives fully and completely
“The Heidelberg Catechism, question 44, asks (and then answers) this pointed question… in the Apostles’ Creed: ‘Why is there added: “He descended into hell?” Answer: That in my severest tribulations I may be assured that Christ my Lord has redeemed me from hellish anxieties and torment by the unspeakable anguish, pains and terrors which He suffered in His soul both on the cross and before.’ In no other place do we see the ‘before’ of Jesus’ suffering as clearly as we do at Gethsemane.”
– Frederick Dale Bruner, The Churchbook, Matthew 13-28
“This is the centre of the gospel – this is what the Garden of Gethsemane and Good Friday are all about – that God has done astonishing and costly things to draw us near.”
– John Piper
“The prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane shows that we can be close to God, live a holy life and pray with faith, earnestness and expectancy, and yet not get what we ask for. It is a profound mystery before which we must bow… Jesus prayed with a clear objective, which all His humanity longed for; but above even that, He wanted God the Father’s will to be done. For prayer is not seeking to manipulate God. It is opening up to God. It is welcoming the ‘good, pleasing and perfect will’ of God… prayer seeks to surrender to the will of God.”
– Michael Green, The Bible Speaks Today
“Nothing in all the vast universe can come to pass other than God has eternally purposed. Here is a foundation of faith. Here is a resting place for the intellect. Here is an anchor for the soul, both sure and steadfast. It is not blind fate, unbridled evil, man or devil, but the Lord Almighty who is ruling the world, ruling it according to His own good pleasure and for His own eternal glory.”
– A.W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished upon us.
– Ephesians 1:7
“Because the Lord Jesus died on the cross, I have received forgiveness of sins; because the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, I have received new life; because the Lord Jesus has been exalted to the right hand of the Father, I have received the outpoured Spirit. All is because of Him; nothing is because of me.”
– Watchman Nee
“When we ourselves find the ground giving way beneath our feet, as sooner or later we shall, Gethsemane is where to go. That is where we find that the Lord of the world, the one to whom is now committed all authority, has been there before us.
– N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone
“The whole of the punishment of His people was distilled into one cup; no mortal lip might give it so much as a solitary sip. When He put it to His own lips, it was so bitter, He well nigh spurned it: ‘Let this cup pass from me.’ But His love for His own people was so strong, that He took the cup in both hands, and at one tremendous draught of love, He drank damnation dry.”
– C.H. Spurgeon