God's will

Wednesday March 24, 2021

God's will

Father, if you wanted to take this cup away from me ! However, it is not my will that is done, but yours ! Luke 22:42

The scene in the Garden of Gethsemane where, three times, the Lord addresses the ardent prayer to his Father above, is mentioned in the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark and Luke. In the Gospel according to John, Jesus also refers to the cup of judgment demanded by the Father who wants to settle the question of sin : Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me to drink ? (John 18:11). This shows the dread that the prospect of God's judgment represents to him, for this judgment involves his being delivered. Jesus was delivered by the definite counsel... of God, he delivered himself for me personally, for all of us his redeemed, for the Church who is his bride and for the salvation of his earthly people (Acts 2:23 ; Galatians 2:20 ; Romans 8:32 ; Ephesians 5:2 ; Ephesians 5:25). But Jesus was also delivered by Judas, by the priests and the elders of the people, by Pontius Pilate and by all the people (Luke 22:48 ; Matthew 27:2 ; Matthew 27:26 ; Acts 3:13). Delivered... what painful implications this term evokes !

To surrender is to surrender, without recourse, to a sovereign power. For Jesus, it is to undergo the righteousness of God, for which the forgiveness of sins requires shed blood (Hebrews 9:22). Voluntarily, he accepted the judgment pronounced on evil : He gives up his soul as a sacrifice for sin (Isaiah 53:10).

To be delivered is to submit unconditionally to the righteousness of the sovereign God who declares : I have delivered the beloved of my soul into the hand of his enemies (Jeremiah 12: 7). He then finds himself handed over to the power of wicked and brutal men who, in their hatred, have taken the right to make Jesus suffer and die, like a familiar lamb... led to slaughter (Jeremiah 11:19).

In Gethsemane, Jesus surrenders to the will of God. He gives him all his circumstances. He is silent before Herod, Pilate and Caiaphas, wretched instruments of Satan. It is from God alone that he accepts all suffering.

Source (Pleasing the Lord)