“And He went a little further, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” (Matthew 26:39)
After the last supper Jesus had with His disciples, He took them to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. He left all but Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, to go further into the garden to pray. The disciples knew why they had gone to this particular garden. It was His custom to go there to pray. “And Judas also, which betrayed Him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with His disciples.” (John 18:2)
He separated James, John and Peter to go further into the garden to pray with Him. “And He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith He unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with Me.” (Matthew 26:37-38) Jesus asked them to pray with Him because His soul meaning His mind, will and emotions were intensely grieved. But He goes a little further yet, by Himself and fell on His face.
There are many instances where the people of the Bible fell on their faces. It was a position of worship and submission to prostrate oneself. In the book of Revelation John writes that the angels, the elders and all the creatures of heaven prostrate themselves before God in worship. “And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, (Revelation 7:11). Jesus takes this position in worship and submission to the Father’s will at this time of great mournfulness.
The crucifixion to Jesus was going to be more than physically painful. He would at this time become sin and be separated from the Father. “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Corinthians 5:21) We cannot know the gravity of this because we’ve been associated with sin, before our salvation and sin even now after our salvation. But Jesus had no sin, ever. He would be separated from holiness and purity to take the punishment and death of sin for us.
So Jesus prays “if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me.” He prayed if there could possibly be another way to save the world, let me avoid this cup of death, spiritual and physical death. Then Jesus says, “nevertheless.” The word used in the Greek is “plane” pronounced “plen.” It means “but rather save.” Jesus was saying but save not as I will but as You will. He gave Himself over to the complete will of the Father.
Sometimes the will of the Father is hard, but we will know like Jesus God’s will in our life. It will mean complete surrender. But know that the will of the Father is the best for us. Its end is eternally good for us. It may mean separating ourselves from loved ones, family or friends who are toxic. It may mean a change of location or employment. But the thing is that just like Jesus knew how hard it would be to suffer physical death and to be separated from the Father, we will know how hard the separation will be to make a complete break that is necessary for our eternal good.
“As Thou wilt” Jesus said. Those should be our words to the Father. Our flesh many times finds it hard to do God’s will. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” (Jeremiah 29:11) We should not be afraid of God’s will because He is for us and not against us. When Ezekiel prophesied to God’s people, we who, because of Jesus and His Covenant are also God’s people, receive Ezekiel’s prophecy. “For, behold, I am for you...” (Ezekiel 36:9) The Lord is for us and with us every step of the way. We have the Holy Spirit guiding our steps. We cannot go wrong. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.” (Psalms 37:23) The last phrase of that Scripture is confusing. Does the good man delight in God’s way? Or does God delight in the man following His way? There is no capitalization, so for us it’s difficult to understand. John Gill, the biblical scholar and theologian says that God delights when man follows His directions. Either way, when God’s will is done, we delight in it also. Even though it may be a difficult thing, our human spirit is joyful because obedience to the Lord brings joy. “If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” (John 15:10-11) And God also delights in it.
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