Hungry for God: Horror of Horrors

"Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.”—Luke 22:42

Why did Jesus shudder when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane? This was a man who didn’t fear being in Satan’s presence. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a room and heard a strange sound or seen something out of the corner of your eye and chills run down your spine. Because if you have, there is a moment if you wonder if something else is there—a person, or thing. I’m not talking about monsters—I’m talking about demons. There is a fear that sends shivers all over your body. Why? Because you have met something more powerful than you, but Jesus, He didn’t have that fear. He didn’t fear the demons. He cast them out, they were afraid of Him. Satan? If we were to meet the devil, we would be afraid, but not Jesus. Jesus had confronted demons and He had beat Satan. What was it then that caused Him to plead for God the Father to remove the cup from Him while He was in Gethsemane? What would cause Him to recoil and beg God to take it away from Him? Could it be that He knew the suffering that awaited Him? No one can fathom how much He suffered, for it was more than just a physical death—it was a spiritual one. He experienced the horrors of all that we deserved because He took our suffering upon Himself.

He became sin. He bore our sins, but while on the cross, He actually became sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says,  

“For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Jesus actually became sin while He was on the cross. Which is why Jesus said, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”—Mark 15:34.

For that moment, Jesus became sin God turned His face away. Jesus bore the full weight of the Father’s wrath as He became the sin that God so hates. But it is at the cross, so despised and so rejected by the world that God provided us with salvation. Satan thought it was his greatest victory, but it was actually his greatest defeat. The Bible tells us in Colossians 2:13-15,

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him.”

It was the greatest tragedy known to man, while at the same time it was the greatest triumph. It is through the cross, the instrument reserved for criminals that God would have His Son die, and it is through that same cross that we can now have salvation. But the world doesn’t think so. They think the cross is foolishness, as the Bible says,  

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God”—1 Corinthians 1:18.

Is the cross foolishness to you or is it the power of God? Have you trusted in the Savior—Jesus Christ—who bore your sins, who became your substitute, who bore your sentence, who suffered for you, who took your shame, and who became sin for you? Because if you do not trust in Him, hell is waiting with all of its terror. If you want to be saved from the wrath of God that He took upon Himself, then you must place your faith in Him. And the Bible says that “whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”—Romans 10:13. And that,

“if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved”—Romans 10:9-10.

Do so today! Amen.