Matthew 26:36-42 "Now cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be very sorrowful and very heavy. 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. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. 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."
You can see Jesus was facing his greatest moment during the 33 years he lived on earth. I'm sure some people would be surprised Jesus praying that prayer to his Father, but you have to remember that Jesus was robed in a body of flesh. He was God-incarnate. He dwelt among men. However, he didn't possess a sinful nature. He never sinned. But he was human. He had a body that was subject to the same temptations as man was. He also faced temptation such as Matthew 4 where Satan tempted Jesus to jump off the pinnacle of the mountain to prove that he was the Son of God. He already knew what temptation was like. However, he was facing something he had never faced before in times past nor would he ever face again. Jesus tasted death for man. When I say death I'm not making reference to physical death on the cross, as excruciating as that was. Believe me, being beaten and tortured on the cross was nothing to wink at. When we read about how he was beaten and tortured to a pulp, it's more than enough to make a person shudder, to say it mildly. Hebrews 2:9 states that Jesus was made a little lower than the angels and that he tasted death for every man.
What does it mean when Hebrews says that he tasted death for man? Isaiah 53:5 says, "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." Romans 8:3 states that Jesus was the perfect sin offering. In other words, mankind's sin was heaped upon Christ when he hung on the cross, once and for all. He paid the debt once and he'll never have to pay for it again. He learned what sin was like while hanging on the cross. He experienced the loneliness and rejection sin brought to man. He died a vicarious death. He took our place on the cross. He paid the debt that man could never pay. In paying that great price upon the cross he experienced rejection from the Father. Matthew 27:46 says that Jesus uttered, "My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?" (paraphrasing). He experienced everything that hell could muster upon him. It was horrendous. Here was the Son of God that had always had fellowship with the Father. Jesus is the third person of the Trinity. Jesus never had broken fellowship with the Father until he went to the cross to pay for mans' sins. There Jesus for the first time felt the pain and anguish of his Father forsaking him. That's how wicked and black sin is to God. It's beyond one's imagination to see what Jesus had to face.
Because Jesus paid the debt on Calvary that man could not pay, we can rejoice and sing "Joy to the World." The blessed Saviour came into this world to pay the debt that Isaiah prophesied. With Jesus being born in a manger, that reality was yet to come. That's what makes that song so special. One of these days when Jesus comes back to this world a second time those verses to that beloved Christmas carol will come to pass. What a day that will be!
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