Luke 22:42

In His life of obedience Jesus suffered the opposition of sinners. He never turned away from them, and He never asked that such a cup should be taken from Him. Why this, then? Because this was not merely the cup of the wickedness of men or of Satan's malice, but the cup of the wrath of God. In what He suffered before from men, He had the joy of doing His Father's will. But in this cup, the cup of wrath, there was not one drop of sweetness. Jesus prays that, if it is possible, this cup may pass far from Him. And why impossible? Here is the reason. God cannot bear with sin. And since Jesus Himself was made sin for us, God's wrath had to fall on sin.

He knew that if He did not drink that cup of judgment on the cross, you and I would have to drink it in eternity. If He did not drink the cup in our place, there was no deliverance, no pardon, no cleansing possible for you and me. As He looked at that cup He shrank from it in all the perfect holiness of His being. He pleaded against it with everything in Him. Then He took it, and drank it to the very dregs in the perfection of His love.

Notice that our Lord says, "Father"; on the cross, "My God" (Matt. 27:46; compare Ps. 40:8).

The Lord's dependence as man is then displayed in the most striking way. The whole scene of Gethsemane and the cross, in Luke, is the perfect dependent man. He prays; He submits to His Father's will. An angel strengthens Him: this was their service to the Son of man. Afterwards, in deep conflict, He prays more earnestly. As dependent man, He is perfect in His dependence. The deepness of the conflict deepens His conversation with His Father.

To say He had to fight to bring His own will into line with the will of God suggests a struggle to do so. For His will not to have been at all times one with His Father's would have been sin. In such a statement, then, we have lost a perfect Saviour, and a Saviour who is not perfect is no Saviour at all. True, He said, "not my will, but yours, be done" (Luke 22:42). But that showed no struggle. It showed submission to His Father's will.

Will, which in us is sin, becomes obedience when He offers up Himself. He was perfect in all His ways, in all His life, in giving Himself wholly to God; and this perfect thing itself He offered up to God in perfect obedience — "not my will, but yours, be done." There was the perfection of glorifying God in it. In the first Adam, who sought himself, the purpose of self-will brought in death. In the second, the Lord Jesus Christ, the will to glorify God brought in life to us through death.

Then came the great moment in the garden of Gethsemane. He came face to face with the sorrows of death, and His cries were heard. He was heard "in that He feared," or, "for His piety." His personal perfections as Man required that He be heard. His cry was that He should be saved out of death. The force of the word here is "out of," not "from." He was not saved from death. He was heard and saved out of it by resurrection.