Season 5 Podcast 57 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew 26 E, “Gethsemane B.”
In last week’s episode we explored the first half of the story of Gethsemane. In this week’s episode we shall explore the second half. Last week Linda and I ended with Christianity’s favorite scriptures.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
Christ alone had the power to remove the cup. He didn’t need the Father’s permission for that. Christ was God. Christ was sinless. Christ’s calling and election were made sure. He could have walked out of the Garden of Gethsemane and still been God for justice had no power over him, being perfect. He could walk away still being God, but he couldn’t walk away still satisfying the law of justice and becoming our Savior and Redeemer, and he couldn’t walk away and still do the will of the Father. It was Christ’s obedience to his Father’s will that kept Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane where in unspeakable anguish he suffered for our sins by satisfying the precise demands of the law of justice.
There was no alternative. That is why the Father remained silent. The law of justice demanded it. That is why the Father could not let Christ off the hook. It was all or nothing. The entire burden fell upon Christ. It was either him or us. Both God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son chose us. The Father suffered as much as the Son did. Remember he is omniscient. He knew what his Beloved Son was going through because it was because of the Father’s laws that Christ had to suffer. This is one of the greatest paradoxes in Christianity. God could not rescind the law of justice, not even to save his Son from agony, or he would cease to be God.
God’s very existence depends upon the Law of Justice being unconditional and absolute.
Christ did not ask the Father to remove the cup three times. He only asked him to remove it once. In the other two prayers, as recorded by Matthew, Christ acquiesces to the Father’s will.
1. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
2. And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.
There are three important differences between the law of justice and the law of mercy.
1. The law of justice is unconditional. The law of mercy is conditional.
2. The Law of Justice is primary. The Law of Mercy is secondary.
3. Only God can live the law of Justice; man can only live the law of mercy.
By satisfying the law of justice Christ made it possible for us to return to the presence of God through the conditions of the law of mercy imposed by the law of justice. Though no man is perfect, it is theoretically possible for man to live the law of mercy perfectly else God would not be just. Christ judges us only for the sins we commit, not for the sins of others. That is just one of the free gifts of the atonement.
We cannot live the law of justice because we are already outside the law of Justice. That happened not in the Garden of Gethsemane but in the Garden of Eden. Two things occurred in the Garden of Eden that we had no power over. One was Spiritual death, and the other was Temporal death. In spiritual death we were cut off forever from the presence of the Father; in temporal death our spirit and our body were separated forever, never to be rejoined.
Season 5 Podcast 57 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew 26 E, “Gethsemane B.”
In last week’s episode we explored the first half of the story of Gethsemane. In this week’s episode we shall explore the second half. Last week Linda and I ended with Christianity’s favorite scriptures.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
Christ alone had the power to remove the cup. He didn’t need the Father’s permission for that. Christ was God. Christ was sinless. Christ’s calling and election were made sure. He could have walked out of the Garden of Gethsemane and still been God for justice had no power over him, being perfect. He could walk away still being God, but he couldn’t walk away still satisfying the law of justice and becoming our Savior and Redeemer, and he couldn’t walk away and still do the will of the Father. It was Christ’s obedience to his Father’s will that kept Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane where in unspeakable anguish he suffered for our sins by satisfying the precise demands of the law of justice.
There was no alternative. That is why the Father remained silent. The law of justice demanded it. That is why the Father could not let Christ off the hook. It was all or nothing. The entire burden fell upon Christ. It was either him or us. Both God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son chose us. The Father suffered as much as the Son did. Remember he is omniscient. He knew what his Beloved Son was going through because it was because of the Father’s laws that Christ had to suffer. This is one of the greatest paradoxes in Christianity. God could not rescind the law of justice, not even to save his Son from agony, or he would cease to be God.
God’s very existence depends upon the Law of Justice being unconditional and absolute.
Christ did not ask the Father to remove the cup three times. He only asked him to remove it once. In the other two prayers, as recorded by Matthew, Christ acquiesces to the Father’s will.
1. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
2. And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.
There are three important differences between the law of justice and the law of mercy.
1. The law of justice is unconditional. The law of mercy is conditional.
2. The Law of Justice is primary. The Law of Mercy is secondary.
3. Only God can live the law of Justice; man can only live the law of mercy.
By satisfying the law of justice Christ made it possible for us to return to the presence of God through the conditions of the law of mercy imposed by the law of justice. Though no man is perfect, it is theoretically possible for man to live the law of mercy perfectly else God would not be just. Christ judges us only for the sins we commit, not for the sins of others. That is just one of the free gifts of the atonement.
We cannot live the law of justice because we are already outside the law of Justice. That happened not in the Garden of Gethsemane but in the Garden of Eden. Two things occurred in the Garden of Eden that we had no power over. One was Spiritual death, and the other was Temporal death. In spiritual death we were cut off forever from the presence of the Father; in temporal death our spirit and our body were separated forever, never to be rejoined.