A Parallel of Gethsemane
The Coronavirus outbreak, the latest in the series of global pandemics in the history of mankind, has struck fear in the hearts of the people around the world. Untold millions are frantically devising and adopting ways and means to “protect” themselves and their loved ones from the disease. Simultaneously, while a team of medical experts are racing to discover a solution to this global crisis that has not only claimed many lives but has also sent global markets plunging to historical lows, governments around the world are grappling to contain a more contagious disease that is spreading faster than the virus itself - fear. But in the midst of all this frenzy and pandemonium-like situation that has gripped the nations of the earth, many, including Christians, around the world do not realise that the solution to this problem already exists. I am not referring to the tall claims made by certain individuals who say that they have come up with a proven remedy for the flu (perhaps there may never even be a conceivable solution to this problem). However, I am referring to the ultimate solution of all our problems, physical as well as spiritual, the great Physician, Jesus Christ our Lord.
The reason I want to direct our attention to this man is because He has proven, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that no infectious disease can or will be able to overpower Him. We are told in the Bible how people of all ages live under the shadow of a disease. No one wishes to be infected by it and if there is anyone who contracts the disease, family, friend and foe alike can do nothing to help. By now you would have guessed that I am talking about leprosy. If this is what you are guessing, you are wrong because the disease in question is not physical but spiritual; it is one of FEAR and ANXIETY. I am not saying that there was never a time that Jesus was never struck by fear or anxiety. I would be a fool to even think this because all His life He was filled with concern for His loved ones. He was anxious that His disciples were too slow to learn. The most trying moments of His life were the hours leading up to His arrest and as He hung on the cross, bereft of the very presence of God. Those were the times when we witnessed just how much He was tortured by fear and anxiety. His very own words and action clearly reveal the true state of mind that He was in.
“And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be very sorrowful and heavy. Then saith He unto them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with Me. And He went a little farther, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass over Me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” (Matthew 26:37-39)
No one can associate this kind of a behaviour with someone who is not subjected by fear. Notwithstanding this, Jesus was never overcome by these things. What was the secret to His victory? What is the difference between Christ and the rest of humanity? Well some may say that even as a man He was divine and this was what aided Him in His struggle against the difficulties He encountered. But if it were possible for Him to rely solely on His divinity to sail Him through the storms of life, what need was there for Him to wait on the Father to send the gift of the Spirit on His baptism which enabled Him to bring relief to those who were in pain and sickness? The mistake that most Christians make concerning Christ is that they misattribute the reason for the miracles He performed and the battles He won. It is most commonly believed that Christ had in Him the all-powerful nature of divinity. However, Christ did not possess the attributes of divinity, namely, omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence. He was a divine being devoid of divine powers. Hence, the secret to his victory does not lie solely on His divinity but rather His faith in God.
The faith of Christ is witnessed in His total submission to the will of God. One such example is His custom to spend long hours in communion with God through prayer and supplication. In fact, He would often go out of the way to seek God’s face. The following verse testifies to this truth.
“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” (Mark 1:35)
Realising just how vital prayer is in His walk with God and as an essential factor in strengthening His faith, Christ shrank not from this practice. It is also worthy to note that, the more He was weighed down by trials and difficulties, the more earnestly He spent time in prayer. This was exactly the case in the scene that transpired in the garden of Gethsemane.
“And being in agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22:44)
The life of Christ, as can be seen in the above passage, is self-evidently clear that He relied fully on the One who sent Him to sustain Him and be of comfort in times of distress and agony. While God did not grant the request that His Son made to be shielded from the coming ordeal, He gave His Son what He needed the most - comfort and strength - to prepare Him for what was to come. The Saviour of the world stood up from the hour of prayer a man ready to face whatever the enemy of souls had to throw at Him. The change of perception on the coming crisis could be seen in the way He responded to Peter’s act of cutting off the ear of the high priest’s servant.
“Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?" (John 18:10,11)
The total change in Christ’s attitude towards the impending trial speaks volumes of His trust in God. Nevertheless, the agonising hours spent in the garden of Gethsemane were but “the beginning of sorrows” for Jesus. Not long after He had concluded His prayer that He found Himself being betrayed by one of the twelve, disserted by those whom He called His own, (except for John who followed Him till the scene on Calvary concluded). He was then delivered in the hands of His enemies who made sure that He was thoroughly persecuted and be subjected to the most ignominious and humiliating death known to man at the time. He endured the scorns and jibes of men He came to redeem. The anger of the world was wholly directed at Him. If that was not enough trial to bear, during the most trying episode of His life, He was forsaken by His own God and Father! One can only imagine what it was like for Jesus to go through that terrible ordeal. Yet, in spite of all this, Christ had a strong faith in God and rather than choosing to fall prey to the temptations of the Devil to end the struggle and come down from the cross or find ways and means of escape, He chose to stay in the course and committed His life to God by openly declaring with a loud voice, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit” (Luke 23:46). A confirmation of His victory came on the day of His resurrection.
The thing that sets Christ apart from the rest of humanity is the close connection He had with the Father. This connection was so special and so close that it did not depend on the situation He was in. In good and in bad times, Jesus never failed to seek His Father’s face. As a consequence, Christ came out victorious and even fear, anxiety and death could not overcome Him.
What about us today? Do we not find ourselves in a similar situation that Christ found Himself in? A careful examination of the closing scenes of Christ’s ministry here on earth resembles the situation that humanity faces at this point in time. Take a look at the following statement made by Christ concerning the scenes in the last days and compare it with the current situation.
“And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” (Matthew 24:6-8)
Is it not true that because of this pandemic, the world is staring down the barrel of another more severe crisis of famine and food shortage that has the potential of leaving many people dying of hunger? Do we not hear of tensions between the major world powers heating up? And amid the pandemic, do we not witness major natural calamities making their presence felt across the globe? Also, I cannot help but see it all too vividly that the present crisis brings us directly to the fulfilment of the prophecy concerning the mark of the beast as told in Revelation 13. Hence, I have every reason to believe that the words in the above passage point particularly to this time of earth’s history. What is more alarming to see is that most, if not all, of the events listed by Christ are occurring simultaneously. And yet, according to this passage, these are but the “beginning of sorrows.” In other words, the worse is yet to come. The world is now preparing for what is going to be final battle between Satan and his agents on one side and Christ and his people on the other. Things will continue to get worse for everyone, especially for God’s people. This is evinced by the words that we find in the very next verse, verse 9.
“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake.” (Matthew 24:9)
This period of earth’s history dubbed as the “beginning of sorrows” will be followed by the period of the “great tribulation” which is the worldwide persecution of God’s church. Concerning this period, Jesus once again took the liberty to warn us of just how bad the situation will be for God’s people when it finally arrives.
“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there would no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” (Matthew 24:21,22)
It is during this time that Christians will have to endure a humiliating and an ignominious death. Interestingly, Jesus also made mention of the fact that what accompanies this period of “great tribulation” is the betrayal of God’s true people. As per the words of Christ in Matthew 24:10, He has explicitly mentioned that the betrayal is the result that many will “be offended”.
“And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.” (Matthew 24:10)
The meaning of the word, “offended” can be better understood from the warning that Jesus gave to His disciples before He made His way with them to the garden of Gethsemane where He spent time earnestly praying for deliverance.
“Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of Me this night: for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.” (Matthew 26:31)
The New American Standard Bible renders the word “offended” in the above verse as “fall away.”
Then Jesus said unto them, “You will fall way because of Me this night, for it is written, I WILL STRIKE DOWN THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK SHALL BE SCATTERED.” (Matthew 26:31, NASV)
In other words, when the King James Version (KJV) uses the word “offended”, it goes to show that this is actually an old way of saying that there will be a departing from the faith. The words in block letters in the NASV, reveal that the “falling away” was immediately followed by the scattering of “THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK”. Both the KJV and the NASV are in agreement with this. There is no disputing the fact that the ones who were offended were the disciples themselves – the people who claimed to be followers
of THE TRUTH, which is JESUS CHRIST. Therefore, it stands to reason that when Jesus said in Matthew 24:10 that many shall “be offended and betray one another”, He actually meant to say that there will be a falling away from the faith from within the family of God’s church on account of the persecution that is raging all around them. Speaking of the last days, Paul also makes mention of men departing from the faith (1 Timothy 4:1) and in his letter to the Thessalonians, he also reveals that the second coming will be preceded by the falling away from the truth.
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3)
In the interest of preserving their own lives, those who abandon God’s people will eventually betray those who remain true and loyal to the truth and they will, like Peter, deny the Lord Jesus Christ. Concerning such individuals, the Bible emphatically states that they are the ones who have only a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. What is more interesting is that, Paul made this statement in connection with the “perilous times” of the last days.
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
In light of these eye-opening statements made by the Saviour concerning the last day events and how these bear a close resemblance to the trial faced by Christ in the closing hours of His ministry here on earth, I take this opportunity to warn our readers that the real danger is actually in the future. Let us not be misled or fooled by the rhetoric made by “false Christs” and “false prophets” who paint a very deceptive picture of the future, one that is bright and promising. The aim of the arch enemy of souls is to keep you and me from staying awake and be vigilant soldiers of Christ. Let us not make the same mistakes that the disciples in general, and Peter in particular, made in not heeding the words of Jesus to watch and pray lest they fell into temptation. In fact, after Christ warned them that they would “be offended” because of Him, Peter and all the disciples vehemently and confidently boasted of how they would remain loyal to His Saviour even to the point of death. However, when the real test came, they all found themselves unable to meet the trial and denied the Lord because of their unbelief. This was the result of the disciples placing so much of confidence on themselves. They did not realise that the real danger was actually lying ahead. What developed from the disciples’ actions or inactions was that they were quick to flee from the scene of the battle. Hence, let us not place our confidence on ourselves or on any scheme or proposal of man, but let us steadfastly take hold on the promises of God’s word that He will see us through the trying circumstances in life.
It is an undeniable fact that when we are seeing the current situation for what it really is, we, being humans, tend to shrink from facing the coming crises that are brewing in the horizon. But we are not alone in this. Take comfort in knowing that we have a Saviour who had once gone through a similar experience we are now going through. It is all the more encouraging to know that we have a Saviour who is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities.”
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
“For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted.” (Hebrews 2:18)
As the danger was not in the garden of Gethsemane but what came after the scene in that peaceful garden, even so, for as long as we are in this peaceful period, our “garden of Gethsemane”, let us, like Christ, get down on our knees and pray to the Lord for strength and comfort to be able to meet the challenges ahead. Rather than wasting our time in vain pursuits and looking for ways and means to pacify the storm that is raging within and without by fooling ourselves that the end is still far away or by having a false assurance that a solution will soon be found, instead let us fix our eyes on Him who is the Author and Finisher of our faith.
The battle against fear has been overcome by the Saviour two thousand years ago in Gethsemane. Our part is to have faith and claim that victory as ours. But this is possible only if Christ lives in us. Because of the indwelling of Christ in the soul, a believer is spared from the fear that now grips many people of the world today. There is in this relationship a stronger and closer connection that binds humanity to God than the relationship that binds brothers and sisters by blood. I therefore admonish you to receive this life and experience the peace that surpasses all understanding.
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