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As Jesus faced the epic battle of the ages in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before He would be crucified thoughts that our poor minds cannot begin to conceive pounded into His head.  And while everything in His body and mind told Him to run away from tomorrow, something deep in His spirit witnessed that He must submit to this death—that He must trust when He couldn’t see.  And ultimately, though deserted by those closest to Him in this darkest hour of need, He chose what He had always chosen:  To do the will of God.  He chose to not just submit to, but embrace the will of His Father.  And when He did, strength came.  A special messenger from the Father appeared and touched Him, releasing strength into His weakened body and embattled mind.  Now, though He had sweat blood due to the emotional pressure, His body felt much better.  His mind was now at peace, as always comes with a surrender to the will of God.  Joy—small, but strong—began to course through His being.  He was now ready.  And the time had come.

Judas had walked with Jesus the last three years.  He had even been the treasurer of the group.  But there was something about him that was different from the rest.  Whereas they had each been touched with the way Jesus lived and taught, Judas seemed to keep himself beyond the reach of Jesus’ friendship.  He never opened his heart to Jesus as the others had done.  His mind had never actually changed as theirs had.  Thus, his will had never been submitted to the Christ as the personal Master of his life.  Jesus had been warned by the Spirit that it would be Judas who would betray Him.  Now, the moment had come.

Judas stepped forward as if to plant a kiss on Jesus’ cheek, the usual greeting of friends in Palestine during the first century.  It was then the soldiers made their move—for this customary greeting had been the agreed-upon signal that would identify the man they were to seize.  Then it happened.  As if by an unseen force, these big, strong, Roman soldiers found themselves lying on the ground. Jesus had not moved—but they had!  (John 18:6)  All of a sudden, they began to realize they weren’t dealing with an ordinary man.  They got up carefully, hesitant to move again.  Jesus had already asked them whom they were seeking.  Now He simply agrees to go with them but requests that they would allow His companions to go free.  They were certainly willing to agree to that just to avoid another mysterious “throw.”  All His friends quickly deserted Him, as had been prophesied hundreds of years before.

The rest of this night would see Jesus experience six illegal trials.  Held at night, which was illegal for the Jewish nation to do, these first trials would be done by the local authorities. The last one would end with His sentencing by the Roman governor of the region.  Only God could know the pressure Jesus would experience in these trials.  For Jesus would know not only the pressure of being captive to the civil authorities of His day, but also the torture of mind-invading thoughts shot at Him from the demonic realm of wicked spirits surrounding this scene.  Indeed, hell’s hordes were the real agents carrying out these trials, and they were gleeful as they sensed that they now had Jesus in their grasp.  They were going to take full revenge on this “God-man”. (1 Corinthians 2:8)  He had ruled over them for years (as God had always intended man to do).  Their pride had been devastated, but now they suddenly (somewhat to their surprise) again had the upper hand.  Now this Jesus would pay dearly!

Ladies and Gentlemen, God was showing His love for us in these trials—“even while we were yet sinners” (Romans 5:8).  Have you submitted your life to this “loving Lord Jesus”?

Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you—and for your children!  And you won’t like what that brings to you.  I’m Don Pinson; this has been Think About It.

(This message has been taken from our book Why God Birthed America.  You can order a copy of Why God Birthed America at HERE)