God Speaks I Listen

Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Revelations 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

We know that Jesus drank from that cup for our sins which is known as the wrath of God. He knew that this was going to be so awful that this happened to Him when He prayed to God about His upcoming sacrificial act:

Luke 22:43-44 Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.

Jesus prayed so hard that an angel had to come and strengthen Him. In His travail He was in agony!! He was sweating so bad that it looked like blood dripping down His face. That was some very very very intense praying!!!! Jesus had been really cool about everything in His life up to this point. (Except when they disrespected His Father’s house).  I asked myself why was He so stressed out. He was human so I believe He was stressed. Many people had been beaten and crucified before Him. Many people in 2016 are sitting on death row but I don’t think they are as stress as Jesus was.

I believe that having zillions of peoples sin placed on Him was a heavy load for sure. When you think of all the nasty, dirty, disgusting, horrible things aka sins, that’s in the hearts of man you can see how this would seem like a unbearable task for Jesus. He indeed did finish His work here on earth but as I was pondering how hard he was praying I had a disturbing thought about Jesus situation. Could the cup He was about to suffer also be something else in addition?

There is one thing that God can not do…and that is to look at sin. God is Holy and cannot deal with sin whatsoever!  He could not look upon Jesus at that special moment in time.

Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

God had to abandon Jesus!!! Because He was baring our sin! Yes Jesus was fully God but Jesus had a very difficult job to do for God which required God to look away from His obedient Son. Even if it was only briefly this had to be so hard that Jesus reacted by praying in advance for God to maybe have another way this could be accomplished. There was no other way!!

Jesus does not want us to forget what He did for us. I don’t think we really understand what it feels like to have God turn His back on us. We only know the opposite which is the relief we felt when God turned His back around toward us and hugged us. You know that we were His enemy before salvation.

None of us could have done what Jesus did on that cross!!! I think when we get to heaven and the truth of what Jesus did for us can be fully realized by us we will fall down at His feet in awe. This knowledge is way beyond our capacity to understand in our human form. In my heart I feel it but it’s muffled. As I pondered Jesus pain I heard Him screaming in sheer terror when He forsaken by His Father on the cross. It was a terrifying, blood curdling scream!!!

For me personally I celebrate Jesus death and resurrection communion by myself several times a week with bread and grape juice. After some people pass away people will put a sign on the back of their car that says “We will never forget.” I feel that way about Jesus. I WILL NEVER FORGET WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR ME!!!! NEVER!