Complete said in reply #59
'Who in the days of His flesh,
when He had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears
unto Him that was able to save Him from death,
and was heard in that He feared; ... '
(
Hebrews 5:7)
Hello @PloughBoy,
Looking back at your OP I see that you refer to the Garden of Gethsemane, and the occasions that the Lord prayed to God that, ' ...
this cup pass from me'.
'Then saith He unto them,
My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death:
tarry ye here, and watch with Me.
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."
(
Matthew 26:38-39)
'He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying,
"O my Father,
if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done."'
(
Matthew 26:42)
'And he left them, and went away again,
and prayed the third time,
saying the same words.'
(
Mat 26:44)
* I believe that,
Hebrews 5:7, quoted at the beginning of my post, tells us that those prayers were indeed answered: for He was saved from death on that occasion. In Luke's account of that ordeal in
Luke 22:43, we are told that:-
' ... there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him.' The only other occasion that we hear of angels ministering to the Lord in this way, was following His time of temptation in the wilderness:- '
Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him' (
Mat 4:11) .
* The symptoms that are described in the three accounts that we have in Matthew, Mark and Luke, describe the effects of the ordeal He was encountering, and they could have led to His death taking place before the time appointed by the Father: that is why He prayed that the cup of suffering he was enduring be taken from Him. He had come to die, He was not seeking to avoid what He was born to do, no, for He had,
'put His hand to the plough', and would not '
look back' (
Luke 9:62). This warfare He was undergoing could have ended in His death, and He did not want to die prematurely, He wanted to fulfill His Father's will, and be able to say, '
It is finished' (
John 19:30).
'Who in the days of His flesh,
when He had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears
unto Him that was able to save Him from death,
and was heard in that He feared; ... '
(
Hebrews 5:7)
Thank you
In Christ Jesus
Chris