From the Garden to the Cross

Before you start todays devotional, ask the Lord to use it to grow you up in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Gethsemane is holy ground. We cannot comprehend the mystery of what Jesus accomplished there.

At the beginning of our Lord’s ministry, Satan tempted Him in the wilderness, offering all the kingdoms of the world if He would worship him and skip the Cross. Now at the end of His ministry years, Satan tempts Him again to avoid the Cross.

The Lord agonized in prayer, on His face in the garden. He asked His Father if the cup might be removed. It wasn’t that Jesus was afraid to die or afraid of the cross, but it was “the cup” that was so repulsive. Jesus, the spotless Savior, would be made sin for us.

But the Lord had come to do His Father's will, and so He could say “nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” The victory of Calvary was won in Gethsemane.

Stand in the hush of Gethsemane and listen. Do you hear the sob of His soul? Look through the olive trees and see Him on the ground in agony, the Savior who became sin for us. His heart broke over our lost souls. He bled and died for our eternal forgiveness. He loved a lost world so much that He went to the very depths of hell itself to offer us salvation.

He is now just hours from the Cross. See Judas, leading soldiers through the darkness to arrest Jesus. How dastardly to use a kiss, a badge of love and affection, to betray Jesus Christ. And so, according to prophecy, Jesus was delivered into the hands of sinful men.

As the soldiers led Jesus away, Peter followed from afar, frightened and ashamed to be known as Jesus’ disciple. Peter loved Jesus, and sincerely promised to be faithful. He just didn’t know his own weakness. The difference between Judas and Peter is that Peter immediately repented of his sin. Jesus prayed Peter's faith would not fail.

Thus began a long night of trials. Jesus was shuffled around first from religious leaders to a Roman official, to a Galilean governor. All of the trials illegal in the middle of the night.

Imagine this scene. Here is a carpenter in peasant robes standing before the highest Roman official in the land. Pilate asks Jesus, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus just says, “It is as you say” (23:3). Pilate wanted to let Jesus go, since He had committed no crime, but sent Him to Herod instead.

Too bad for Herod that Jesus wouldn’t play any of his games. Frustrated, Herod mocked Jesus, threw one of his old robes on Him, and taunted Jesus’ claims of royalty. Then he sent Jesus back to Pilate.

The crowds were getting out of hand, demanding Jesus’ death, so Pilate had Jesus flogged. Because it was Passover, he proposed to release Jesus. But the crowds wouldn’t have it. After several politically correct attempts to free Jesus, Pilate relents and decides to crucify Jesus.

At Calvary, the middle cross was ready for Jesus. On either side, two thieves, likely part of Barrabas’ band, already hung. At first they ridiculed Jesus. But during the last three hours, one thief saw something unusual taking place. He recognized this One next to him was not dying for Himself but for another; He was dying for him. He recognized this death on the cross was a transaction between God and the Man, and the Man on the cross was God. In faith, the thief turned to Jesus.

These two thieves had been arrested for the same crime, tried for the same crime, condemned for the same crime, and were dying for the same crime. The difference between them? One thief believed in Jesus Christ and one did not.

Jesus said to that thief, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise” (23:43). The thief went into the presence of God because of his faith in the Man who hung beside him on a cross.

1. What does it tell us about ourselves that Jesus’ death on the cross was the necessary remedy for our sins?

2. How would you describe the attitude Jesus portrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane? Are there any ways in your life you can emulate His example?

3. How would you describe the difference between the betrayal of Judas and the betrayal of Peter?

Additional Resources

Listen to Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s complete teachings on Luke 22:35-62 and Luke 22:63—23:43.