Walk around the margin of His loneliness

"The disciples have sung songs and they have His prayer in their ears that tells of the coming darkness.

"Jesus quotes Zechariah 13:7 in Matthew 26:31 about how they're going to be offended: [31] Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.

"That word comes from the Greek word that means to be scandalized. He's saying, 'I'm going to be an embarrassment and a scandal to you. You're going to be offended in me.'

"He quotes Zechariah and then He says in verse 32: [32] But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.

"What He's telling them is, 'Look, you guys are going to betray me. You're going to scatter, but Zechariah already prophesied that you would.' The prophetic plan that was prophesied is in motion.

Verses 33-35: [33] Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended.

[34] Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
[35] Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.

"What did Jesus just tell Peter He was going to do? 'You are.' Instead of saying, 'Lord, I don't want to, but if you say so, I know it would be true.' No, Peter says, 'I don't care what you say; I won't do it.' What obstinance.

"Rather than believing what Jesus told them, they all reject what He said, contradict Him, and that's a picture of the loneliness. There He is, trusting the Father's will, knowing the Scripture's being fulfilled, and even the men He's trained don't stand with Him in it. It's just a demonstration of what you're going to see down through here about the loneliness He goes through.

"Christ is going to go through some things now that only He can go through and every support system is taken away from Him. 

Verses 36-37: [36] Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.

[37] And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

"That's an Aramaic word in the Bible; Gethsemane is generally defined as 'the oil press, the place of olive trees.' G. Campbell Morgan calls it 'an enclosed place.' In fact, he calls them going into Gethsemane 'the sanctuary of sorrow,' and certainly it's going to be that. It's going to be a place apart where you see the pressure of sorrow and the rejection.

On verse 37, Morgan said something that I've written down in my Bible: 'With reverent reticence we have now to follow the king through Gethsemane. We can only walk around the margin. We can only know in a very faint way all that is revealed in this story of sorrow.'

"Listen, if you ever go through things that burden your heart, there's nothing you've ever been through that's crushed your spirit that you won't find here. The Lord Jesus Christ has been through it before you and He says, 'I go through it with you because I've already been through it.' So the hardest things you endure in life, He's there. That's what Gethsemane was. He began to be sorrowful.

"Three times in the Book of Matthew it says He began. Matthew 4:17: [17] From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Matthew 16:21: [21] From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

"This is the last stage, the final 'began.' Now His public ministry is over. Now begins His direct moment--the hour has come and the Cross is ahead. The rejection is ahead.

[38] Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
[39] And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
[40] And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?
[41] Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

"He said unto them, 'My soul is exceedingly sorrowful. It's not just my emotions; this is right down to the depths of who I am.'

"He went a little further. He says, 'I'm going to go yonder and pray and you come with me,' and He's giving them an opportunity literally to enter in to some of the sufferings and an understanding of what He's going to be doing.

"Now, they muff it; they don't do very well with it. He's giving them the opportunity to engage with Him and they don't get it."

(new article tomorrow)