What are the scariest words you have ever heard or read? To some, it might be a passage from the hand of Edgar Allen Poe, Bram Stoker or Washington Irving. For many people it is the vivid imagery found in biblical writing such as is seen in the apocalyptic books of Ezekiel, Daniel and Revelation. Still others may shudder at the fire and brimstone sermons they heard as a small child. But as for me, the most frightening words ever uttered are when Jesus said the following while in the Garden of Gethsemane the night He was betrayed in Matthew 26:53: “Do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once send Me more than twelve legions of angels?” Take a few moments to ponder and consider the significance about what Jesus said here, and the eternal implications behind its meaning. Jesus was telling the absolute truth here, for had He been lying, then He would have sinned, and going to the cross would have become meaningless, for He could not have been that perfect, unblemished sacrifice and blood atonement required to satisfy the Father’s demand for justice as the penalty for the sins of the world. Jesus would still have been a sinless, perfect Man, He still would have remained the faultless Son of God, but He would not have been the Redeemer. Jesus could have pleaded to the Father to save Him from the agony awaiting Him, and the Father would have granted His request immediately! And had Jesus the Son of Man made that choice, a choice well within His grasp and purview as seen in the Scripture above, He still would not have sinned by making that choice. But had He taken that road, He would not have become the propitiation for our sins, either, which means that none of us would have the opportunity to be saved through the grace of God and live eternally with the Lord.
Jesus Christ was fully God, but He was also fully human. This means He was able to be tempted in every respect as we are, tempted, yes, but He never succumbed to those temptations, and He lived His life completely void of sin (Hebrews 4:15). So when we see Jesus rebuking the Apostle Peter by saying to him in Mark 8:33, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men,” we know that He said this because Peter was tempting the Lord to take the easy road. Jesus had just proclaimed to His disciples that He had to suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again, and he taught this plainly and openly. But Peter would have none of it. He loved Jesus, but he did not understand the Lord’s mission, and so Peter rebuked Jesus (Mark 8:31-32). When Peter said that none of these things should happen to Jesus (Matthew 16:22), Peter was saying the very last thing Jesus needed to hear at that moment, for it was the very thing Jesus the Son of Man desired. Jesus did not want to take on the burden that was being placed before Him, and that is why we are told He prayed to the Father three times to have that cup removed (Matthew 26:44). But because Jesus did everything to please His Father, He always added, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). This is why Jesus added in Matthew 26:54, “But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” after stating He could ask His Father to rescue Him. He chose to do the Father’s will, not His own. No, Jesus did not have to go to the cross, but He chose to take that road out of His great love for His Father, and out of His great love for you and me.
Jesus Christ was fully God, but He was also fully human. This means He was able to be tempted in every respect as we are, tempted, yes, but He never succumbed to those temptations, and He lived His life completely void of sin (Hebrews 4:15). So when we see Jesus rebuking the Apostle Peter by saying to him in Mark 8:33, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men,” we know that He said this because Peter was tempting the Lord to take the easy road. Jesus had just proclaimed to His disciples that He had to suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again, and he taught this plainly and openly. But Peter would have none of it. He loved Jesus, but he did not understand the Lord’s mission, and so Peter rebuked Jesus (Mark 8:31-32). When Peter said that none of these things should happen to Jesus (Matthew 16:22), Peter was saying the very last thing Jesus needed to hear at that moment, for it was the very thing Jesus the Son of Man desired. Jesus did not want to take on the burden that was being placed before Him, and that is why we are told He prayed to the Father three times to have that cup removed (Matthew 26:44). But because Jesus did everything to please His Father, He always added, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). This is why Jesus added in Matthew 26:54, “But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” after stating He could ask His Father to rescue Him. He chose to do the Father’s will, not His own. No, Jesus did not have to go to the cross, but He chose to take that road out of His great love for His Father, and out of His great love for you and me.
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