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Tag: Luke

  • Jesus – The Last Prayers of Gethsemane

    Jesus – The Last Prayers of Gethsemane

    “Drink from it, all of you;

    for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins…”

    After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

    Matthew 26:27b-28, the words of Christ Jesus to the Apostles; v.30 NASB

    Departing for Death

    The Lord blessed the Apostles in an upper room of Jerusalem in a High Priestly Prayer, institutes the Last Supper with the Twelve, reveals Judas as the one who will betray Him and finally departs the City of David one last time for Gethsemane with the eleven chosen Apostles.

    As we learned previously from John 18 in Jesus Leading Toward Gethsemane, the Gospels provide witness of much detail about this time of Jesus. All of this so far has happened in one day, mostly in the evening and what follows in the darkness of night.

    Although we have looked back mostly through John’s eyes, tonight we will fill in some detail from the other Gospels.

    Prayer before DEATH~

    Can any consequence common to man be any more daunting than facing death?

    The Messiah Jesus had known every temptation to men of dust except that which as we flee death denies our mortality.

    This night as the Son of Man and His eleven Disciples leave Jerusalem they are all certain that the Lord will be betrayed to death.

    Matthew 26:

    31 Then Jesus said to them, “Tonight all of you will fall away because of me, for it is written:

    I will strike the shepherd,
    and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.[b]

    32 But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”

    Denial of Death’s Near Approach

    Matthew, John and the others must have wondered, yet known in their hearts, what Jesus now prophesies. The Messiah must die – the Christ they know may be mortal! (For Jesus has already told them more than once.)

    Certainly Jesus is not going to Galilee this night of all nights just two days before the Passover festival. The Disciples would have dismissed it and the ‘after I have risen’ part seemed far into the future.

    Peter however, brash leader anointed by Jesus who must later act in absentia for Christ, reacts boldly before all.

    Peter told him, “Even if everyone falls away because of you, I will never fall away.”

    Matthew 26:33 CSB

    In essence Peter states: “You can count on me!”

    Sure, you do that to comfort your friend and so do I.

    How do you respond to the questions at death’s door?

    Like Peter, would we feign faithfulness to a dying friend we cannot accompany through death’s door?

    We all know how it turned out when push came to shove by a charcoal fire a few hours later. Peter slinked away from confession of his love of Jesus while the Lord was accused falsely.

    His fellow Apostle, Matthew records that in response to Peter, Jesus prophesies his three denials.

    Mark 14:

    The first Gospel writer and apostolic scribe, John Mark, later records what may have been Peter’s post-resurrection confession:

    31 But Peter kept saying insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!”

    Mark adds reactions of the other ten as well:

    And they all were saying the same thing also.

    Let us not forget our tendency to ‘follow the leader’ when a bold representative speaks of some cause from which we will likely fall away by our faithlessness.

    Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com – regarding Peter’s denials of Christ Jesus

    Luke 22:

    28 “You are those who have stood by Me in My trials…

    31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

    33 But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!”

    What do you about Jesus?

    Is this YOUR witness for Christ Jesus? ” — “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!”

    Will you really do it…

    Or like Simon Peter, will you shrink back from your defense of the Lord when Jesus is under attack by the world’s accusers?

    Jesus’ plea in Prayer

    Mark:

    32 They came to a place named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.”

    Their dear friend who will soon die asks them to be with Him.

    Luke:

    40 When He arrived at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

    Matthew:

    (who had been to this place with Jesus several times)

    37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed.

    Then He said to them,

    “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death…

    “… remain here and keep watch with Me.”

    39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying,

    “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me…

    … yet not as I will, but as You will.”

    Luke

    The agony of imminent death!

    43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

    And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly:

    … and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground…

    45 And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow…

    Reaction to sorrow..

    STRESS! The terrible personal confrontation of DEATH!

    The Lord Jesus reacts to it by praying more intently.

    And the Disciples, even His closest three friends on earth?

    Well… they failed their dear friend when He desired their understanding and compassion most.

    ‘The flesh is weak..

    Jesus’ Disciples fall into a resigning sleep at the prospect of complete change — the Sacrifice, ending the life of their beloved friend.

    Matthew

    & the others, awakened from sleep..

    40 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter,

    “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? 

    I must confess: Rare is the hour I do not fall asleep 
while praying for a time.

    The Lord Jesus continues with caution to His friends:

    “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

    42 He went away again a second time and prayed…

    Mark:

    39 Again He went away and prayed, saying the same words.

    40 And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him.

    Do you know what to say to Jesus when you fail Him in prayer?
My guilt grieves me in my severe shortcomings in prayer.

    41 And He came the third time, and said to them,

    “Are you still sleeping and resting?

    It is enough; the hour has come…

    .. behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.

    42 Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!”

    Luke:

    47 While He was still speaking, behold, a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them…

    John:

    3 Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.

    So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them,

    “Whom do you seek?”

    They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.”

    He said to them,

    “I am He.”

    So when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

    John 18:6 NASB
    To be continued...

    What to you have to say about Jesus?

    Please comment here on what you have to say about prayer.

    How can I pray for you, dear friend — beloved brother (or sister) in the Lord?

  • The Hour Is Come – Glory to the Son AND the Father

    The Hour Is Come – Glory to the Son AND the Father

    Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer of intercession begins simply and humbly.

    Even from the confines of a dark upper room in Zion which Judas has now left on the eve of Jerusalem’s great darkness, Jesus looks up to the light of a glory the Son once had – the glory of the LORD God our Father in heaven.

    Glorify your Son

    Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee…

    John 17:1 b KJV

    John 17:

    When Jesus had finished saying these things, he looked upward to heaven and said,

    “Father, the time has come.

    … glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you— just as you have given him authority over all humanity, so that he may give eternal life to everyone you have given him.

    John 17:1b-2a NET

    Our eternal High Priest has much more to say in His prayer of high importance to sinners for whom He intercedes. These include eternal life and as previously mentioned who the Father has given to the Son.

    Yet today let’s focus in on why Jesus prays for the Father to glorify the Son – His reason for entering the Holy of Holies beyond the veil of our distanced understanding, on behalf of these eleven witnesses and more.

    What is GLORY?

    The Apostle John, one of the Eleven remaining had previously witnessed the glory of Jesus.

    Luke 9:

    The Transfiguration
    28 Some eight days after these sayings, He took along Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming…

    … when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him… a cloud formed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.

    35 Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!”

    δόξα – doxa –

    From the base of δοκέω (G1380) – generally used meaning to ‘think.’

    The LORD God is a thinking All-powerful, Ever-existing Being!

    Think about it. As created and fragile beings our worship of the LORD God considers humbly our own humanity beneath His glory.

    We who can think should glorify the LORD above all, but often we will not.

    • δόξα dóxa, dox’-ah; glory (as very apparent),
      • in a wide application (literal or figurative, objective or subjective):—dignity,
      • glory(-ious),
      • honour,
      • praise,
      • worship.

    These humble acknowledgements so rare in men of flesh, yet plainly evident in all creation, reflect the glory of God. Therefore a soul who thinks about the LORD our Creator and glorifies Him is a worshiper, flesh and spirit looking up and bowing down to our Lord and God.

    Jesus prays to the Father as a Son of Man.

    Having been sent by the Father to the world He has completed the work for which He was sent by the Father. The hour now approaches for Him to return to His former glory.

    His former GLORY with the Father

    Never forget, beloved Christian disciple of Jesus, that He and the Father are One.

    Prior to creation and in the early history of God’s chosen, Jesus had the same former glory. You have read of it. Yet so often we remain blind to the LORD’S glory. How rare the time men bow before it.

    The GLORY of the LORD is perhaps as foreign to 21st c. christians as hebrew.

    וַיִּשְׁכֹּ֤ן כְּבֹוד־יְהוָה֙ עַל־הַ֣ר סִינַ֔י וַיְכַסֵּ֥הוּ הֶעָנָ֖ן שֵׁ֣שֶׁת יָמִ֑ים וַיִּקְרָ֧א אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֛ה בַּיֹּ֥ום הַשְּׁבִיעִ֖י מִתֹּ֥וךְ הֶעָנָֽן׃

    וּמַרְאֵה֙ כְּבֹ֣וד יְהוָ֔ה כְּאֵ֥שׁ אֹכֶ֖לֶת בְּרֹ֣אשׁ הָהָ֑ר לְעֵינֵ֖י בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

    Exodus 24:16-17 WLC [click for translations]

    כָּבוֹד

    • כָּבוֹד kâbôwd, kaw-bode’; rarely כָּבֹד kâbôd; from H3513; properly, weight, but only figuratively in a good sense, splendor or copiousness:—glorious(-ly), glory, honour(-able).

    Exodus 24:

    15 Then Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

    16 The glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.

    17 And to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountain top.

    18 Moses entered the midst of the cloud as he went up to the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

    the GLORY of a consuming FIRE

    Moses later confirms in Deuteronomy [ דברים 4 ]:

    “You said, ‘Behold, the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives.

    This is the former glory the Messiah Jesus knew with the Father!

    Later the prophet Isaiah would write:

    Sinners in Zion are terrified; Trembling has seized the godless. “Who among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with continual burning?”

    Isaiah 33:14

    Jesus knew a former glory with the Father, a fearful and awesome consuming fire which refines and humbles men made of dust and ashes.

    The writer of Hebrews, restating Moses warning of keeping the covenant, reminds of this glory:

    Hebrews 12:

    18 For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them. For they could not bear the command, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned.”

    21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, “I am full of fear and trembling.”

    Do you fear the LIVING GOD? And do you, O man, humbly bow down to the GLORY of the LORD?

    What is the chief end of man?

    Any teaching of faith must begin from the glory of God and consequent worship of God by man, for we are nothing more than a created being glorifying our Creator.

    We have glanced at a Hebrew origin, then New Covenant Greek.

    Moving beyond millenia of teaching from ancient latin we receive an English version of this elemental Christian teaching since the 1640’s during the Reformation.

    The Westminster Catechism begins with God’s glory.

    “Man’s chief end if to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.

    Another foundational Protestant teaching, The Heidelberg Catechism, begins by asking, “What is your only comfort in life and in death?”

    Perhaps the Disciples had wondered this often while following their Lord and Master Jesus for three years.

    What is about to take place on the Cross will fully bring light to Jesus’ prayer to the Father asking Him to bring the Son His former glory along with the Father.

    Jesus’ prayer for glory

    4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed…

    10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them…

    (John no doubt realizes that Jesus includes the Eleven here, but our Lord’s prayer of intercession goes much further than praying just for the Disciples in the room.)

    22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

    (Much to think about here even beyond the glory of the Lord.)

    24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

    High Priest of the New Covenant

    Jesus intercedes as High Priest on our behalf — between the Father and all sinners given to Him

    From here the Son our High Priest will move deeper into the unseen Holy of Holies where Jesus will present Himself as a living and acceptable Perfect Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

    To be continued...
  • Father, the hour is come

    Father, the hour is come

    Jesus uses ‘Father’ as a relational approach to God, just like the trust which the boy Jesus surely must have had with Joseph, husband of His mother Mary, many times.

    Yet what does this mean to a disciple of Jesus’ teaching to address the Lord God as Father?

    Father, the hour has come

    There’s a certain immediacy to saying, ‘the hour’ is come, or now is or has come. It is the precise time we have been awaiting – a time prepared long before now.

    Our present focus of The Hour Is Come is Jesus’ prayer at the precise time after Judas left the room and prior to the Lord and the Eleven departing for Gethsemane where He is about to be betrayed.

    When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come;

    glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.

    John 17:1-2 ESV

    Jesus begins His conversation in prayer by addressing the LORD God in a most intimate and relational way.

    “Father,” the Son of Man so boldly addresses Almighty God in heaven. What a connection!

    A Man Who IS more than a man — speaking directly to the LORD GOD, as if He Who IS the very Son of God would humbly address his papa on earth.

    Trinity begins with the Father

    The lesson and relationship learned from Jesus’ prayer is both mysterious and wonderful — glorious in a sense of worship and humbling in the light of an intimate relationship.

    Later we will focus again on Jesus the Son of God, His connection through the Holy Spirit and a new covenant of grace for all who will follow Jesus as Lord. But for now we look up only to the Father, as did Jesus in His prayer..

    πατήρ – patēr

    Choose any of the three definitions you like, but realize that John and the Eleven are listening to the Son of Man, Jesus their Master and Teacher, pray directly to the LORD God in heaven, whose Voice they have heard previously.

    1. generator or male ancestor
    2. metaphor for:
      1. the authors of a family or society of persons animated by the same spirit as himself
      2. one who has infused his own spirit into others, who actuates and governs their minds
      3. one who stands in a father’s place and looks after another in a paternal way
      4. a title of honour
        1. teachers, as those to whom pupils trace back the knowledge and training they have received (We don’t really honor teachers in this way in these last days, but some give this authority to a priest leader of a flock.)
        2. the members of the Sanhedrin (As you know, Jesus had some issue with these ‘fathers of Israel’ as well & they will be the ones to clandestinely convict the Messiah of God our Father sent as our atoning Sacrifice to save a remnant of Abraham.)
    3. God is called the Father (This applies is many ways you may read here, but above all ‘Father of spiritual beings and of all men.’)

    By all Authority implied in Jesus’ opening of HIS High Priestly Prayer, it is highly significant that the Lord Jesus ‘lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father …’

    And from Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament the definition instructs us from the everyday Greek word used by Jesus and those in Jerusalem governed by Rome:

    πατήρ : ‘from a root signifying “a nourisher, protector, upholder” (Lat., pater, Eng., “father,” are akin), is used

    [God’s] “Fatherhood” in spiritual relationship through faith is the subject of NT revelation, and waited for the presence on earth of the Son. The spiritual relationship is not universal.

    Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament

    [& an additional insight: Note: Whereas the everlasting power and divinity of God are manifest in creation, His “Fatherhood” in spiritual relationship through faith is the subject of NT revelation, and waited for the presence on earth of the Son, Mat 11:27; Jhn 17:25.

    The spiritual relationship is not universal, Jhn 8:42, 44 (cp. Jhn 1:12; Gal 3:26).] [I will leave you to your own further revelation of the Father through your research of these scriptures. RH]

    The ‘Father’ of Jesus’ prayer

    With additional insight of bowing down to God the Father in our prayer to heaven, let us recall that Jesus had already taught the Disciples that which we know so well and do take for granted.

    The Lord’s Prayer

    After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

    Matthew 6:9 KJV
    father with turban and beard seated with arms around son

    ‘Our,’ which precedes Father, in the Lord’s Prayer is a personal possessive pronoun, a possessive plural in corporate prayer.

    So perhaps appropriate in a singular personal possessive sense in prayer, you or I might reasonably pray,

    “My Father in heaven. Holy is your Name.”

    (And recall that the Lord Jesus has declared: “I and the Father are One.” [John 10:30]

    What glorious mystery for us to observe Jesus and the Father, who are One, in this, His most personal prayer prior to the Son’s sacrifice on a Cross for our sins.

    The Disciples had been accustomed to Jesus praying to the Father at many times corporately before the multitudes, more privately among them and privately away from them at times.

    Luke 11:

    And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him,

    ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.’

    And he said unto them, ‘When ye pray, say,

    Our Father which art in heaven,

    Hallowed be thy name.

    Thy kingdom come.

    Thy will be done,

    as in heaven, so in earth.

    Luke 11:2b KJV

    When your mortal ‘time is come’ will you able to approach your heavenly Father saying, ‘Thy will be done?’

    Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com on Jesus’ prayer in John 17

    So from this final prayer following the last supper of Jesus and the Disciples, John witnesses this high priestly prayer of their Master and Teacher Jesus, a beloved father to the Twelve for these past three years.

    πατήρ – patēr – a title of honour – teachers, as those to whom pupils trace back the knowledge and training they have received

    John 17:

    … “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You…

    5 Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself…

    11 I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You.

    Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me,

    that they may be one even as We are.

    One with the One Father

    Do you think that it is important to the Apostles that Jesus again prays to the Father with words confirming that He and the Father are ONE?

    שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ יְהוָ֥ה אֶחָֽד׃

    “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!

    Deuteronomy 6:4 Masoretic Text, NASB

    Jesus continues and prays just a short time later:

    21 that they may all be one;

    even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You,

    that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

    Relationship with our Father in heaven

    Paul, Apostle to the gentiles, later writes to the church in Corinth:

    Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? … But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him… Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you

    1 Corinthians 6:15-19 excerpt NASB

    Again, the Apostle Paul and Jesus both point to the glorious mystery of the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as ONE, as well as a personal relationship between the spirit of a redeemed man like you or me to the ONE GOD, Who IS Spirit and truth.

    John 17:

    Jesus continues His High Priestly Prayer as intercession for these disciples and those to follow:

    24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am…

    25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me…

    What must the Disciple have thought following Jesus’ prayer to the Father?

    What do you think of this prayer to the Holy Father in heaven by the Highest of High Priests praying for your soul?

    “Lord,” they called Jesus — “the existing One” as more than a Son of Man, as the LORD GOD IS ONE!

    אֱלֹהִים

    ‘elohiym – ʼĕlôhîym, el-o-heem’; plural of H433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God

    Our LORD is the ONE GOD — Trinity — the Son interceding by prayer and His own priestly Sacrifice for those who believe and would be saved.

    When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered.

    John 18:1 ESV
    To be continued...