Son of God. All the malignant hatred of hell itself is manifested in this at- tack. Jesus stands confronted with the fact that His own people have rejected Him (Jno. 1:11); one of His own disciples had betrayed Him; the eleven were to forsake Him; He was to be numiliated before men in a moek trial; His body was to endure the cruel scourge; there was the cross and the physical suffer- ing. Beyond all this was the awful sense of the load of guilt of a sinful world and still farther and above all, the~ midnight darkness, when the Fath- er 's face was to be turned from Him. Therefore there is a threefold prayer and. perhaps, a threefold temptation, as at the first. Paul prayed three times for deliverance and was given, instead, grace to bear his trial. The Lord prayed three times and His prayer was answered. We are told in Heb. 5:7 ' ' That in the days of JLLIS flesn, when He had offered up prayer and supplica- tion, with strong crying and tears, unto Him who was able to save Him from death and was heard in that He f e a r e d ," and does this not give us the key to the meaning of the cup which He desired to pass from Him? He feared lest He might, at the crucial moment, fail in loyalty to the Father's will. The thought of the awful darkness and veiled face of His Father; the "becoming S i n " was with Him and He needed Divine power to resist the shrinking from that cup. He did not shrink from the Cross. (Jno. 12:27, 28.) His Father sent an angel to strength- en Him and He found, as aid Paul, that God's grace was sufficient. What a lesson concerning our own trialsl We pray and then faint. . If our prayers are not immediately answered, we charge God with neglect and indiffer- ence. The Son of God struggled for at least an hour and prayed three times before He received the answer. Let us learn to meet temptation and trial with pray- er. All life is a battle. There is con- flict in the state, conflict in the home, conflict in the heart; there is conflict with the will of God. We need to rec-
ognize the right of the Father to rule our lives. We must bend our wills to His will. It is well to be overcome of God, as was Jacob (Gen. 32:25). We may go limping through life, but halt- ing steps will be the seal to our victory. (3) THE SLEEPING SAINTS. " A n d findeth them asleep." What a disappointment! Here are the three trusted friends and all asleep. Peter had been sure he would never fail his Lord (Matt. 26:35). We must allow for the exciting events of the day; the strange message of the Master, and the prayer in the upper room; the agonized face of the Lord and their deep sorrow, for all of these combined to weary the flesh (Luke 22:45). He had warned them to watch. The rebuke of the Lord is gentle, but it is penetrating. When David wept at the Mt< of Olives, all of his follow- ers wept wth hm; but when Davd's Son and Lord sweat drops of blood, His fol- lowers went to sleep. Jesus felt, keen- ly, their indifference and He designed to teach them and all o f ' u s a needed lesson. We are all subject to tempta- tion. The only safety is in watching and praying. We should be on the alert to see the first intimation of temp- tation to sin, so that it may De cheeked. When we find ourselves yielding we should be alarmed. Had Peter remained awake- he might have saved the others. We should be on guard against certain tendencies. Practice makes habit. .'How humiliating to be found asleep once! How painful to be found the third time! v If Jesus needed to pray, how much more do we? (4) THE SOLEMN STATEMENT. "Sleep on now and take your r e s t ." What a sad awakening for tnose dis- ciples! Their loving Master had need- ed their sympathy; they had failed Him. The opportunity was gone; it never could return again. The trial was over. He had been victorious. He calmy looks unon them and then awakens them. The disciples awake to find them- selves in peril. They need strength •
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