Lucifer was created as a beautiful holy angel, but he sinned and fell from his lofty position and became Satan the diabolical tempter.  But who was it that tempted Lucifer to sin? 

There was not an evil entity that preceded him – no one to poke and prod him to sin.  Evidently, it was his own independent self-will that set itself against the Lord.  The devil made the devil do it!

This caused me to wonder about Gethsemane.  There, Jesus asked God to remove the cup He was expected to drink.  The cup was a metaphor that represented the trauma that was to quickly come.

There would be the betrayal, the mockery of a trial, the whip lashing, the crown of thorns and the nails in his hands and feet.  On the cross He would suffer an insatiable thirst and find it extremely difficult to catch a breath.  Only then would He die.

Worst of all – the sins of the world, past, present, and future would be piled upon Him so that for the first time in eternity the Father would turn away from His Son causing Him to cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” – Matthew 27:46.

Jesus knew it was coming, and he dreaded it. Three times He prayed, “My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me!” – Matthew 26:39.

He was honestly struggling.  Should we call it temptation?  It seems like it, but is this the devil’s doing?   Maybe not?

In the Gospels, we find Satan and his crew showing up on many occasions.   He took center stage when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4).  Jesus often interacted with demons who opposed Him (Matthew 8:31-32; 9:32; 12:22).

When Peter defied the Lord, Jesus recognized the influence of the evil one and said, “Get behind me Satan” – Matthew 16:23.  And then in John 13:27, we find Satan actually entering Judas.

It surely seems that if Satan was responsible for the traumatic struggle at Gethsemane, it would have been apparent.  But the narrative mentions only Jesus.

What was going on?  Well, the beauteous mystery of Christ is His incarnation, where Almighty God took on human flesh while remaining 100% God.

Paul described it this way, Jesus “who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature.  He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross” – Phil 2:6-8.

This was an incredibly unselfish act and very necessary.  The holiness of God was needed to atone for man, but an eternal God could not die to provide it.  A man, however, could die, but had no holiness to offer.  So, God emptied Himself and took the form of a bondservant to redeem us.

Gethsemane then was the supreme test of His humanity.  He became flesh to redeem man, but when the time came, would He in His humanity choose to freely suffer to make it happen?

He didn’t need the devil to manipulate him, He had His own flesh to contend with.  Ironically it was during this test that He found His disciples sleeping instead of watching and He reminded them that “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” – Matthew 26:41. Could Jesus have been speaking out of His own struggle?

How glad I am that His threefold plea to the Father was also underlined by His submission.  He prayed, “My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me! Yet not what I will, but what you will” – Matthew 26:39.

He defied His very human inclination for self-preservation and humbly submitted Himself to the severe will of the Father.  Shortly thereafter, He peacefully surrendered to those who would crucify Him.  How fortunate for us that He did!

A PRAYER: Lord – thank you for freely grasping that cup and drinking of it for us

This has been Jim Johnson and picklheavenpress.com

May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you always.

Scripture passages are from the NETBible.com