God created the Garden of Eden and He created Adam and Eve to live there, to enjoy it and to maintain it. They had the freedom to enjoy every tree in the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God forewarn them that there would be consequences for not being obedient. They were guilty of sin and guilt requires punishment, so Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden. All of life has been disfigured and stained by sin and evil ever since.
The Garden of Gethsemane is across the Kidron Valley below the Mount of Olives. The word Gethsemane means oil press. This is a very appropriate name since it sits at the base of the Mount of Olives. Gethsemane is located at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, Israel. The garden features ancient olive trees, some of which are believed to be over a thousand years old. My late husband and I had the opportunity to visit Israel in 2008. Words cannot describe its beauty. The garden is on the east side of the Temple Mount. The Basilica of All Nations is built there.
Jesus had arrived into the city of Jerusalem on Sunday, greeted by the crowd spreading their cloaks along the road, waving palms and there was shouts of hosanna. What a wonderful celebration and beginning for the Passover. His disciples were with Him and there was a sense of festival in the air.
Jesus gathered His disciples around him and celebrated the Passover meal, what was to become the "last supper." Before the meal, he washed all of His disciples' feet. Jesus, the Son of God took upon himself the role of a lowly servant. Then they all sat down and ate the Passover meal. I am sure we all are familiar with the painting, The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. When looking at the painting it looks like everyone is really enjoying themselves without a single care in the world. This painting portrays the reaction given by each apostle when Jesus said that one of them would betray him. All twelve apostles had different reactions to the news, with various degrees of anger and shock. Jesus knew what was going to happen, but looking at the painting without knowledge of the upcoming event, one would think they were having a great time.
After dinner Jesus and his disciples left for the Garden of Gethsemane to mediate and pray as they often did. Upon arrival at the garden He told His disciples to sit down and wait while he went ahead to pray. But Jesus only wanted his closest to go and pray with him, so he asked Peter, James and John to go with him to a quiet place for him to pray. So Jesus and the three went a little further into the garden. Jesus knelt in prayer, knowing what was about to happen, praying that this burden might be taken from Him. After praying he returned to the three to find them asleep. He scolded them for failing asleep, asking them to remain with Him as he prayed again.
After He prayed a second time, He returned to find them asleep again. Imagine how He must have felt. They could not have possibly comprehend the enormity and significance of what to come. So he went back a third time to pray saying the same thing each time, "My Father! If possible, let this cup be taken away from me. But I want your will, not mine." Jesus knew that He must fulfill His destiny.
Jesus' prayer changed from a prayer of petition to a prayer of acceptance. God wasn't going to allow this cup of suffering to pass from Him. God didn't say "yes" to Jesus' plea, because He knew that He had to accept God's will even if it was different from His own will. Jesus agreed to drink the cup down to its very last drop.
When Judas Iscariot arrived, accompanied by the mob, Peter cut the ear of the High Priest's servant, but Jesus instructed everyone to put away their swords and after His rebuke, everyone left. The disciples succumb to fear and they all deserted Jesus and fled. He was left alone and abandoned by all those He had come to save. Jesus was arrested and carried out of the garden and into the nearby town of Jerusalem.
Jesus lived a life without ever committing a single sin. He was willing to give Himself up to be the sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. He was crucified, died and buried, and placed in a borrowed tomb. But on the third day, He was resurrected from the dead and he appeared to over 500 people. He met his disciples and one day while he was with them He was taken up before their very own eyes into heaven.
There never has been a man as great as Jesus and there will never be. He was alive before the foundation of the world were set. He came to earth, lived a perfect life, died for the sins of all mankind. He rose from the dead to prove that He was really the Son of God. Now He sits at the right hand of God in heaven. Some day He will come back and claim His own. Are you one of His own?
It is impossible for us to fully enter into the full significance of the Garden of Gethsemane? I am very sure that there in the Garden the victory of Calvary was won. Because it was there in the Garden that the real battle was fought and won. It was there in the Garden that Satan had his last chance to derail God's plan for salvation. Satan lost and you and I have won.
When Jesus was praying in the Garden, He said: "My Father! If it is possible, let this cup be taken away from me" (Matthew 26:39). So just what was in that cup? There was a trial in that cup. There was foul smelling sins in that cup. There was suffering in that cup. There was a crown of thorns in that cup. There was the anger of the people in that cup. There was mocking in that cup. There was suffering in that cup. The terrible death by crucifixion was in that cup. The whole sinful world was in that cup. Jesus drunk the cup of God's wrath, a cup that had accumulated the fury of God against all types of sins. Horrible crimes, disgraceful thoughts, lies, adultery, things that are punishable by God. But the One who has never known sin would become every sin that had ever been committed or ever would be committed was also in that cup.
We can't even imagine the horror that Jesus felt when all those sins was poured into Him. It had to have been a horrible nightmarish experience for Jesus who had never known sin. There was a separation from His Father, God in that cup. There was death in that cup, but there was the forgiveness of our sins in that cup. There was salvation for millions of lost souls in that cup. There was eternal life in that cup. There was redemption for you and me in that cup. When Jesus accepted that cup, the cross was in that cup. John explains so well to us: "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it. There is no eternal doom awaiting those who trust him to save them. But those who don't trust him have already been tried and condemned for not believing in the only Son of God" (John 3:16-18).
What began in the garden must also end in the garden. In the Garden of Gethsemane the condemnation that was upon mankind was reversed.
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