Gethsemane--what a place to behold Jesus suffering inexpressible agony for us. Did He have to go through it? No--but infinite love constrained Him. He saw our lost condition, our utter helplessness and inability to break from Satan's power (selfishness which leads to death, for sin is the transgression of law of selfless love), and after pouring out His soul three times in prayer that the cup of God's wrath against sin might pass from Him, He consents to bear suffering infinitely greater than we can even imagine, for in Gethsemane we see the Son of God for the first time in the history of ETERNITY feeling the separation that sin brings between the soul and God. Let this thought solemnize our minds to realize how horrific sin is--for no sin is small in God's sight--and at the same time may our lips be filled with praise to God who would be wiling to risk sending Jesus to come and be born in this world, to face temptation stronger than we will ever bear, at the risk of failure and eternal loss. Let us behold Jesus afresh and let that love empower us to be His ambassadors of God's amazing grace. Beholding the love of God in Christ enables us to go from being unrepentant sinners to becoming repentant, believing sinners who are truly converted, who hate sin because of what it does to Jesus, and who love God with the WHOLE heart.
"Having made the decision, He fell dying to the ground from which He had partially risen. Where now were His disciples, to place their hands tenderly beneath the head of their fainting Master, and bathe that brow, marred indeed more than the sons of men? The Saviour trod the wine press alone, and of the people there was none with Him." {The Desire of Ages, page 693, paragraph 1}
"But God suffered with His Son. Angels beheld the Saviour's agony. They saw their Lord enclosed by legions of satanic forces, His nature weighed down with a shuddering, mysterious dread. There was silence in heaven. No harp was touched. Could mortals have viewed the amazement of the angelic host as in silent grief they watched the Father separating His beams of light, love, and glory from His beloved Son, they would better understand how offensive in His sight is sin." {The Desire of Ages, page 693, paragraph 2}
I was deeply impressed by what Jesus had to endure, and what the Father had to do in order for Jesus to become sin for us--the Father's light, love, and glory were separated from Him, because that is what sin does to us.
"But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear" (Isaiah 59:2). And the solemn reality of what sin does to us really spoke to me this morning. If we commit a known sin, we choose to separate from God's light, love, and glory. This is not a small matter. 1 John 1:5-7 connects the light and darkness significance:
"This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
I need Jesus continually to abide in my heart, or I will walk in darkness. We have a continual need of Jesus, and without Him we will wander back into darkness because that is where the fallen nature tends. We need to be continually partaking of the divine nature, so that all of the fruits of the Spirit are seen in our lives without one missing.
If we sin a known sin, love no longer reigns in our hearts:
1 John 4:8: "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." To know God is to love Him, and sin breaks that connection of faith working by love.
Glory also departs because of sin, and what is God's glory?
Moses prayed to God this prayer in Exodus 33:18: "And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory." And how did God answer that? We see His answer in Exodus 34:6-7: "And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation."
God's glory is His character, and a known sin severs us from a vital connection with God's unselfish character. Oh, how we need Jesus in our hearts and minds continually! Plead for Him to keep you from falling into sin, knowing that He is able!
Jude 24-25: "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." He has promised a way of escape whatever the temptation, however strong: "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Look to Jesus today. Remember that for YOUR sin and for MY sin He was willing to be separated from God's light, love, and glory--so we can be connected to Him moment-by-moment, and not fall back into our old sinful ways. Look and live! Jesus saves!