Latest / Reformed Thinking / Christ's Agony (Luke 22:44) | Jonathan Edwards

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Christ's Agony (Luke 22:44) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Imagine knowing the precise minute of your own death, not
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just the time, but the specific method of your execution.
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You know the identity of the people who will betray you, and
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you know the sheer physical and spiritual terror you are about
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to face. That is a terrifying thought.
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It really is. And now imagine having the
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absolute authority to stop the entire process with a single
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word, but you choose not to. Welcome to reformed thinking.
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Glad to be here for this one. I am your host, and with me is
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our resident theology expert. Today, our deep dive takes us
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into a moment in history that is so familiar to many, yet I think
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it is often misunderstood by modern readers.
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Yeah, I would agree with that completely.
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We are looking at Jonathan Edwards and his intricate
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sermon, Christ's Agony. This is based on the text of
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Luke 22.44. Our mission today is to examine
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what actually happened in the Garden of Gethsemane.
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Right, getting past the surface level.
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Yes, we want to look past the common assumptions.
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We need to understand the specific theological and
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physical realities of Christ's bloody sweat, His intense
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prayer, and his substitutionary obedience.
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It is heavy material, but so necessary.
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So to you listening right now, whether you have read the
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biblical account of Gethsemane 100 times or you are looking at
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it fresh today, this deep dive will present to you a striking,
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vivid picture of what divine wrath and perfect obedience
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actually look like. OK, let's unpack this.
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Sounds good, where do we start? Well, we have to start with the
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person at the center of the narrative, right?
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To understand the agony in the garden, we first have to
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understand the specific nature of the person experiencing it.
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That is the crucial first step. We are looking at the physical
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and spiritual makeup of the God man.
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Edwards points out a massive contrast here.
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On one hand, you have Christ's infinite original divine nature.
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Right. What Edwards calls God over all.
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Yeah, but when he became man, he did not just put on a human
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suit, you know, he took on a human nature that was uniquely
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feeble and exposed to suffering that.
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Distinction right there sets up everything that happens in the
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garden. Edwards is very careful to
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distinguish the divine nature from the human nature that
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Christ assumed. Because it is tempting to think
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he took on human nature in its pristine state well.
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Absolutely. When we talk about the
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incarnation, we might picture the vigorous, perfect state of
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Adam before the fall. You know, functioning the
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absolute peak of human physical and mental capacity.
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Like a superhero or something. Yeah.
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But instead, he took on the frail state of humanity that
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resulted from the fall. Now he did not take on a sinful
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nature, but he assumed a nature subjected to physical
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weaknesses. You know the exhaustion, the
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hunger, and the fragility that entered the world because of
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sin. And Edwards draws some pretty
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vivid metaphors for this, doesn't he?
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He really does. He pulls them straight from
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Scripture. He compares this human nature to
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the grass of the. Field which we know easily
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Withers and decays under the hot sun, right?
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He likens it to a leaf blowing in the wind to dry stubble to
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dust and ashes. Those are incredibly fragile
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things. He even uses the image of a
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creature that is so fragile it could be crushed before a moth.
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A moth that is just wow. Yeah, and then drawing from the
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prophet Isaiah chapter 53, he describes Christ as a tender
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plant and a root out of a dry ground.
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So definitely not a description of physical invincibility.
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Not at all. It is a description of supreme
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vulnerability. I was actually trying to
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conceptualize this extreme vulnerability earlier today.
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Oh. Yeah.
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What did you come up with? Well, it is like taking a
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pristine indestructible titanium engine.
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OK, I am tracking with you. And you place that
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indestructible engine inside a fragile paper chassis designed
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to feel every single bump, every Pebble, and every vibration on
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the road. That is a great visual.
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The titanium engine itself is perfect and untouchable, which
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represents his divine nature, but the vehicle it is driving
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around in his human nature is completely susceptible to the
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elements. Every cold wind, every physical
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blow, it all registers with maximum impact.
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That captures the dynamic perfectly.
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But that raises a massive logical question for me.
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Let's hear it. If he knew the road ahead was
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going to be so brutal, filled with the worst physical and
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spiritual affliction imaginable, why take on such a specifically
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weak form? It is a fair question.
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I mean, why choose the paper chassis when you are heading
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straight into a war zone? It just seems counterintuitive
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to prepare for the greatest battle in history by adopting
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the weakest possible armor. What's fascinating year is how
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Edwards answers that question or pointing to the specific
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mission. OK, how does he frame it?
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He states that Christ's principal errand into the world
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was suffering His whole mission, His reason for the Incarnation,
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was to suffer as a substitute for guilty people.
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So the weakness was a requirement.
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Therefore, it was entirely fitting that he assumed a nature
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uniquely exposed to and capable of suffering.
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He needed a form that could actually fulfill that specific
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errand. That makes a lot of sense.
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If He had taken on an indestructible, glorified
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physical state right from the start, or if He had come in the
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blaze of glory of His divine nature, He would not have been
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capable of the kind of substitutionary suffering
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required to make atonement. Because atonement requires
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blood, right? It requires blood, it requires
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death, and it requires the bearing of a curse.
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An invincible being cannot be crushed, and Edwards notes that
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as his life progressed, this suffering escalated.
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It was not a sudden onset in his final days.
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It started early. From his infancy, starting with
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his family fleeing from Herod's massacre, his life was filled
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with affliction. Yeah, the opposition just grew
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worse and worse. Exactly.
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The more men saw His Holiness, the more they hated him.
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The religious leaders were enraged by his opposition to
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their hypocrisy. And the spiritual attacks too.
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Right. The devil, having been baffled
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by him time and again in the wilderness, increased the
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spiritual attacks against him. The shadow over his head just
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grew darker and darker. Throughout his whole life, yes,
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culminating in the greatest blackness on the cross.
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But right before that cross, the darkness became exceedingly
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heavy in the garden. That progression makes a vast
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amount of sense. The suffering was escalating
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year by year, month by month, leading directly to the defining
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moment of that suffering. The Garden.
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Yes, the event the biblical text literally calls in agony.
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This brings us to the actual language used in the Gospel of
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Luke. The Greek word there is really
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interesting. Yeah, Edwards does a fascinating
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analysis of the Greek word used in Luke 22.44, which is Agnes.
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This type, right? When we use the word agony
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today, we usually just mean, you know, feeling very sad or being
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in severe pain. Like having a bad headache or
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something. Yeah, but the historical context
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of the word is much more intense than that.
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It signifies an earnest strife, a violent struggle.
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It specifically references the Olympic Games in ancient Greece.
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Yes, the athletes who competed in wrestling, running and
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fighting for a prize were engaged in this specific type of
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exertion. The actual physical place where
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these brutal athletic games were held was called the Eggen The.
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Place of agony. The place of agony.
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So when the text says Christ was in an agony, it means he was
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engaged in an intense Olympic level combat.
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It is a wrestling match for his very life.
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That is a staggering image. But the cause of this intense
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wrestling match was the impending bitter cup of the
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cross. And Edwards makes it very clear
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that the cross, not the garden, was the main event.
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Right. The cross is where he would bear
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the wrath of God for sin. The garden was the preparation
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room, the intense mental and spiritual wrestling match before
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the actual execution. Recognizing that distinction
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between the garden and the cross is so helpful for understanding
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the sequence. It really is.
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The sufferings in the garden were terrible, but they were not
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his principal sufferings. His final hours upon the cross
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were where the actual payment for sin occurred.
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That is where he made atonement. Yes, that is the bitter cup he
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had to drink. In biblical theology, the cup is
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a frequent metaphor for the wrath of God.
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Like in the prophets. Right.
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The prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah talk about the cup of
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staggering, the cup of God's fury that the wicked are forced
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to drink down to the dregs. And Christ was preparing to take
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that cup from the hands of the Father.
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And drink it dry on behalf of his people.
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And we know his mind was entirely consumed by this
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specific cup because of the prayers he offered in the
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garden. Matthew records him retreating
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to pray three separate times, right?
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Three times, yes, and every single time the subject is the
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bitter cup. He was looking ahead to the next
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morning, to the physical torture, but much more
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significantly, to the spiritual darkness.
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The moment the Father would forsake.
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Him exactly that darkness would cover the earth and crush his
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own soul. Here is where it gets really
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interesting for me. Oh, Jesus knew about this cup
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for years. Yes, he did.
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This impending execution was not a surprise ambush.
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He talked about it constantly with his disciples.
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He talked about it at the Transfiguration with Moses and
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Elijah. They discussed his departure,
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which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
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Right. And he called it his bloody
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baptism in Luke 12, stating how distressed he was until it was
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accomplished. He asked James and John if they
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could drink the cup he was going to drink.
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He mentioned the temple of his body being destroyed and raised
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three days. So he was entirely aware of the
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road map. Entirely.
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So if he already knew about it, and if he had been prophesying
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about it for years, why the sudden, overwhelming Olympic
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level struggle on this specific night in Gethsemane?
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It is a huge shift in his demeanor.
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Right. Why did the knowledge of it
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suddenly cause him to break down?
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Sweating, blood in the dirt, the.
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Answer lies in how the cup was presented to his mind at that
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specific moment. Unpack that.
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God the Father gave Christ an extraordinary, immediate and
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full view of the wrath He was about to face.
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Oh wow. Up until that night, the cross
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was a certainty, but it was still future.
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It was not yet resting on His shoulders in the garden.
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The cup was set directly before him to drink without delay.
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So became real in a new way. Edwards explains that a sense of
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the wrath that was to be poured out upon him was strongly
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impressed on his human mind by the immediate agency of God.
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God drew back the curtain, so to speak.
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Yes. Christ had vastly more lively
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apprehensions of the bitterness of the cup than he ever had
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before. He saw the sheer terror of
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divine justice. And his frail human nature
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shrank at the sight of it. Furthermore, he was represented
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as being just at hand. It was no longer months or days
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away. Judas was literally on his way.
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Within that same hour, Judas was going to arrive with the band of
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men carrying torches and weapons.
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The time for waiting was over. He had to make the call.
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He had to decide in that literal moment to deliver himself up to
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the authorities or to escape into the dark Judean wilderness,
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which physically he still had the opportunity to do.
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The sudden proximity of the cup really explains the timing of
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the agony. It does if you are standing in
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line for a terrifying drop on a roller coaster.
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The anticipation builds the closer you get to the front
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right? But when you are finally
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strapped into the seat and looking over the edge of the
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precipice, the physiological reaction peaks.
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It makes sense that the reality hitting him right in the face
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would cause a massive reaction. That is a solid comparison.
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But this raises A deeper theological issue about Christ's
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two natures and his human will. Edwards asserts that the human
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nature of Christ was brought to the mouth of the furnace to look
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inside. That is such a terrifying image.
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It really is. He uses this terrifying imagery
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to explain the psychological torment.
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Christ had to stand at the edge of the furnace, see the raging
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flames of divine justice, and feel the glow of the heat on his
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face. He had to know precisely where
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he was going. Right, and what he was about to
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suffer. But why was this necessary?
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Edward says it is because Christ had to take the cup as a fully
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conscious, voluntary act of his own will.
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As a man, Yes, as God in his divine nature, He knew the
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suffering completely from all eternity.
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But as man, his human mind had never experienced the active
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outpouring of divine wrath. He could not plunge himself into
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it blindfold. Exactly.
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He needed to know the cost in his human nature before he paid
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it. This raises an important
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question about the nature of true obedience and substitution.
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For an act to be considered obedience, it must be a
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conscious choice. If the human nature of Christ
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was ignorant of the terror of the cross, there could be no
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explicit choice made by the man Christ Jesus.
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And without an explicit choice. There is no proper trial of his
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love. Edwards argues that it would not
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have been a fully voluntary act if he was ignorant of the
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magnitude of the suffering. He was going to be cast into a
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dreadful furnace of wrath. Right.
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And it was entirely inappropriate for him to plunge
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into it blindfolded. OK, let's use an example.
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Sure, if a soldier volunteers for a mission thinking it will
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be a light skirmish, but it turns out to be a suicide
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mission, his volunteering does not carry the same weight of
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sacrifice. No, not compared to a soldier
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who sees the overwhelming enemy force, knows he will die, and
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still volunteers to protect his unit.
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Right, so God brought Christ to the mouth of the furnace.
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Let his human mind feel the intense heat and see the
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devastating flames so he could voluntarily enter it for
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sinners. That is the crux of it.
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Let me push back on the mechanics of that just a bit
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though. OK, let's hear it.
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Let's assume for a moment he did go in blindfolded.
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Let's say his human nature just trusted the divine plan without
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seeing the flames first, without feeling the heat at the mouth of
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the furnace. Wouldn't it still count as a
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valid sacrifice? You mean just based on the
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physical act? Yeah, I mean, he is still
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physically dying on the cross. He is still shedding his blood
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to satisfy the requirements of the law.
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Why does the experiential foreknowledge of the wrath
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matters so much for the atonement to be effective?
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It matters intensely because of the nature of the act of
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obedience required to save humanity.
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The act of obedience, OK. And Reformed theology, we
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recognize that Christ didn't just die to pay the penalty for
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sin. That would be passive obedience.
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Right. He also lived a life of perfect
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obedience to earn righteousness for his people.
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The obedience had to be a conscious, deliberate act of the
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will under maximum pressure. Under pressure, right?
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Edwards points out that Christ as God knew the sufferings, but
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he was going to suffer as a man. The act of taking the cup was
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the act of the Incarnate God, man.
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And the man had never felt the wrath.
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The man Christ Jesus had never experienced the furious wrath of
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God. The only way to fully know what
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the suffering will be like before physically experiencing
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it on the cross is to have an extraordinary, terrifying view
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of it impressed upon the mind beforehand.
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So seeing it beforehand proves something.
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It did By seeing the sheer terror of hell in his mind's eye
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beforehand and then still choosing to proceed forward, his
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decision became an act of spectacular love and flawless
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obedience. It.
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Proved his willingness, yes. If he had not fully known the
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dreadfulness of the sufferings, his taking them upon him could
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not have been fully his own act as a man.
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There would be no proper trial. Exactly.
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The Father required the Son to look at the full bill of human
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sin, see the precise cost of the penalty, and signed his name to
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it willingly. Looking at that bill seeing into
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that furnace, it had an immediate violent physical
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reaction on his fragile paper chassis.
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It absolutely broke him down physically.
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The psychological weight of the impending wrath broke down his
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physical body. Edwards notes that Christ's soul
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was exceeding sorrowful even and to death.
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He explains that phrase is a Hebrew idiom, doesn't he?
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He does. It is an idiom that brings the
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shadow of death over a person's soul.
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It is the absolute utmost degree of sorrow a created being can
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experience without dying on the spot.
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And the physical result of this immense, crushing sorrow was
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sweat, like great drops of blood falling to the ground.
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This medical phenomenon is known as hematidrosis, right?
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Yes, hematidrosis. It is where extreme anguish
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causes the capillaries around the sweat glands to rupture,
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mixing blood with sweat. And Edwards points out the Greek
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word used by Luke here is thromboy.
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Which specifically means lumps or clots.
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We are not talking about a light pink mist on his forehead.
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No, the internal strife was so fierce it forced thick, clotted
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blood through his pores, running down his face to the dirt.
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It is a gruesome reality. And to add to the starkness of
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the picture, Edwards notes the weather.
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It was a cold night. Oh, that makes it even more
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severe. We know this historically from
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the Gospel of John chapter 18. It mentions that the servants
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and officers in the courtyard needed a fire of coals to warm
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themselves while Jesus was on trial.
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So it was genuinely chilly out. Yes.
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So you have a man kneeling in the open cool air of the night,
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sweating so profusely that his blood is mixing with his sweat,
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congealing in the cold air and falling as heavy clots to the
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ground. The physical reaction is a
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direct measurement of the internal anguish.
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It really is. An ordinary violent sweat in the
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cold night air would show great mental exertion, but to sweat
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clots of blood indicates an anguish beyond human
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comprehension. His body was failing under the
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stress. The distress of his mind was so
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extreme it broke down the physical barriers of his body,
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and Edwards uses this extreme physical reaction to draw a
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striking historical contrast that forces the reader to think
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critically. I found this part fascinating,
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the contrast with the martyrs. Right.
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He points out that many Christian martyrs throughout
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church history have faced horrific physical torture.
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Think of men like Polycarp of Smyrna or Ignatius of Antioch.
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Many believers were burned at the stake, thrown to wild beasts
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in the Coliseum, or crucified just like Christ.
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Yet historical accounts tell us they often went to their deaths
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with a sense of peace. Some were even recorded singing
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hymns while the flames were lit. We have absolutely no record of
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these martyrs experiencing overwhelming, paralyzing sorrow
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or sweating blood in anticipation of their
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executions. That is a staggering
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observation. You read Fox's Book of Martyrs
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and you see ordinary men and women facing the most gruesome,
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inventive torture methods of the Roman Empire, and their faces
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are described as shining with peace.
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They seem almost joyful to lay down their lives.
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Then you look at the perfect, sinless Son of God, and he is
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breaking down, trembling and sweating blood and terror in a
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quiet garden before anyone has even laid a hand on Him.
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If we are just looking at the surface, it almost looks like
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the martyrs were braver than Jesus.
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That is a horrifying conclusion, and obviously it cannot be true.
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So what is the difference? Why did the perfect man react
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with such extreme physical and psychological distress when
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ordinary sinful martyrs faced gruesome deaths with relative
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calm? The difference is entirely bound
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up in the nature of what they were facing.
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OK, unpack that. The physical pain of the cross,
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while awful, was the absolute least part of Christ's
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suffering. The least part?
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Wow. The martyrs only faced physical
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death. Men could break their bodies,
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but men cannot touch the soul. And when the martyrs face the
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flames or the lions, they face them with God's comforting
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presence upholding them. They felt the Holy Spirit with
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them. Exactly.
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They felt the nearness of the Holy Spirit granting them peace.
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Christ was facing something entirely different.
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He was facing the unfiltered, infinite and terrifying wrath of
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God. The reality of imputation, yes.
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The theological mechanism where the filthy guilty record of
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every person he would ever save was legally transferred onto his
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account. God was preparing to treat his
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perfect Son as if he had committed every murder, every
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theft, and every blasphemy in history.
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And crucially, he was facing it with the comfort of the father
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withdrawn. That is the key difference.
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The anticipation of mere physical torture would never
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cause the Son of God to sweat blood.
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What caused the extreme agony was looking into the furnace of
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divine justice and knowing He had to absorb the penalty fully.
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Alone in the dark. Alone, forsaken by God, the
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martyrs died with God smiling upon them.
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Christ died with God pouring out fury upon him.
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That is why his reaction in the garden is drastically different
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from theirs. Understanding the sheer terror
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of what Christ saw in that furnace makes His choice to
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proceed forward the greatest historical display of love
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imaginable. Without a doubt.
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And this is especially true given who he was doing it for.
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This brings us to a section where Edwards outlines the
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twofold display of love and human depravity.
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Right, the two things he saw at once.
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In the garden Christ the dreadfulness of the cup.
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But simultaneously He was given an extraordinary view of the
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hatefulness of the wickedness He was atoning for.
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He did not just see sin as a sterile abstract concept on a
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Ledger. He saw human depravity without
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disguise. He saw precisely what humanity
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was capable of. He saw men conspiring in the
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dark to betray him for the price of a slave.
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He saw the religious leaders preparing to falsely accuse him
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in a sham trial. He saw the crowds, the very
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people he had healed and fed, preparing to scream for his
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execution and prefer a murderer, Barabbas, over the Prince of
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Life. And he saw their primary desire.
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Which was a deep seated hatred of holiness and a desire to kill
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God himself. This simultaneous vision of the
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cup of wrath and human wickedness is crucial for
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understanding the depth of the atonement.
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To comprehend the magnitude of His love, you have to understand
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the complete unworthiness of the recipients.
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Edwards argues that Christ saw human depravity in its true
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grotesque colors. He saw that it's natural
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tendency is hatred and contempt of God.
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He saw that it's highest act, the peak of human rebellion, is
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murdering a person that is God. And he was actively feeling the
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bitter fruits of that wickedness directed right at him in real
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time. The very people he was preparing
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to die for were the ones mocking him.
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Preparing the scourges, plotting his crucifixion, He was dying
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for his enemies while actively feeling the sting of their
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enmity. He wasn't laying down his life
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for righteous people who loved him.
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No, he was laying it down for rebels who are actively trying
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to destroy him. It makes me think of an analogy
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to grasp the sheer willpower of that love.
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I love your analogies. Let's hear it.
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Imagine a highly trained rescue swimmer standing on the edge of
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a freezing, raging river. He sees a person caught in the
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Rapids drowning. The rescuer knows that jumping
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into that freezing water will cause him immense physical pain,
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hypothermia, and will likely cost him his own life to pull
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the victim out. A huge sacrifice.
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But as he is standing on the shore or agonizing over the
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decision to jump, the drowning person looks up, grabs rocks
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from the riverbed and starts throwing them at the rescuers
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head, screaming curses at him. Wow, the person he is about to
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save is actively attacking him. That is what Jesus faced in the
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garden. He was looking at the agonizing
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cost of rescue while the people he was rescuing were actively
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spitting on him and preparing the nails.
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That paints such a stark picture.
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Furthermore, the isolation was absolute.
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He saw the ungratefulness of his closest friends.
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The disciples. The disciples who had received
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so much grace, who had seen the miracles, who had promised to
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die with him, couldn't even stay away with him for one hour in
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his darkest moment. The indifference of his friends
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adds A remarkably heavy layer of grief to the trial.
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It must have been crushing. Christ to distinguish the
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disciples from the rest of the world.
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He had taught them the mysteries of the Kingdom.
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He had already promised them an interest in the benefits of his
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upcoming death. Yet when he asked them simply to
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stay awake and watch with him so he might be comforted by their
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company, they fell asleep. They showed a complete lack of
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concern for the agony he was enduring on their behalf.
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But even this total isolation did not deter him.
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His love held out against the malice of his enemies and the
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apathy of his friends. He even excused his disciples in
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the midst of his own terror, saying the Spirit indeed is
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willing, but the flesh is weak. And when Judas finally arrived
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for the temple guards, Jesus voluntarily surrendered.
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He pointed out to Peter that he could have easily called 12
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legions of angels to deliver him.
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But he refused to make the call. He let his enemies bind his
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hands. He looked at the drowning men
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throwing rocks at him, and he chose the furnace anyway.
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Knowing that His love compelled him to move forward against all
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odds changes how we must interpret the earnest prayer he
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prayed while sweating blood. The prayer.
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Is a major focus for Edwards. Edwards shifts his focus to the
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actual mechanics of the prayer in the garden, dissecting its
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nature. He categorizes different types
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of prayer found in Scripture. Like confessions of
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unworthiness, right? Doxologies praising God's
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greatness, Thanksgivings for mercies received, submissive
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addresses yielding to God's Providence, and supplications
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asking for a specific benefit. And Edwards argues that the
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prayer in the garden was not a confession.
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Because Christ had no sin to confess.
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It was not a doxology or a prayer of Thanksgiving either.
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It was a supplication. He was earnestly asking for
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something specific. But.
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What was he supplicating for? This is where Edwards makes a
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fascinating observation about the sequence of events.
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The text notes that after the Angel appeared from heaven to
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strengthen him, Christ was not praying more earnestly for the
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cup to pass from him. That is a critical sequence of
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events to get right. Missing it distorts the entire
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meeting of his prayer. Walk us through the sequence.
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Christ initially prays. If it be possible, let this cup
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pass from me. Then the gospel of Luke tells us
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an Angel appeared to him from heaven, strengthening him.
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OK, so the Angel arrives. Edwards interprets the arrival
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of this Angel as God's clear intimation that the cup would
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not pass. The Father was sending strength
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to endure the cup, which meant the cup was mandatory.
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The decree was set. Therefore, Christ's subsequent
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prayers, the ones where he prayed more earnestly and his
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sweat became like great drops of blood, could not have been
25:58
asking to avoid the cross. It would make no logical sense
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for him to pray more earnestly to avoid the execution after the
26:04
Father had just confirmed he must undergo it.
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She is no longer asking for a different path.
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So what does this all mean? When Jesus says thy will be done
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after the Angel appears? How is that an earnest request?
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That sounds like resignation, doesn't it?
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Usually when we face a tragedy and we finally say thy will be
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done, we are just giving up. We are throwing our hands in the
26:25
air, accepting defeat and resigning our sells to whatever
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happens. It feels passive.
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I think most people read it that way.
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If the Angel already told him the cup was mandatory, isn't he
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just passively submitting to the inevitable?
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If we connect this to the bigger picture of Reformed theology in
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Christ's mission, we see the brilliant nuance in Edwards
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argument. Tell me more about that nuance.
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Thy will be done was not passive resignation, it was an active,
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earnest petition. He was praying for the strength
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to actively do God's will. OK, strength to do it.
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We have to distinguish between God's sovereign will and his
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perceptive will. God's sovereign will is what he
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decrees will happen. God's perceptive will is what he
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commands us to do. Got it?
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The Father's perceptive will, His explicit command to the Son,
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was to drink the cup, endure the wrath, and make atonement.
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But Christ, in his frail human nature, having just looked into
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the terrifying furnace of wrath, feared that His human strength
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might fail before the obedience was finished.
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He feared his human body and mind might sink and be swallowed
27:27
up by the terror. Failing the trial before the
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atonement was complete. Exactly so.
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With strong crying and tears as the book of Hebrews, He
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petitioned the Father for the divine support necessary to
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successfully drink the cup, endure the cross, and secure
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salvation. He was asking for the power to
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obey the command. Yes, that entirely reframes the
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scene in Gethsemane for me. It changes everything.
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It takes away the image of a reluctant victim.
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He is not trying to find a loophole at the last second or
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begging to back out of the deal. He is a determined, resolute
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savior asking for the strength to complete the most difficult
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mission in the history of the universe.
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He knows the weight of the wrath will crush a normal human.
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So he is agonizing in prayer for the divine support to hold the
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lion and finish the work. And Christ's successful prayer
28:15
for strength resulted in his absolute victory.
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This brings us to how Edwards applies all of this heavy
28:20
theology directly to the listener.
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The application part of the sermon.
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He sets up a massive contrast between Christ's situation and
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ours. He talks about the obedience of
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the second atom. The two atoms.
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The first atom had a relatively light trial.
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He was placed in a perfect garden with no corrupt nature,
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no enemies attacking him, and only a single restriction.
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And yet he failed. Utterly failed.
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Christ, functioning as the second Adam, faced the heaviest
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trial imaginable. He faced the wrath of God, the
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hatred of men, the extreme frailty of his own assumed
28:52
nature, and the fierce attacks of Satan.
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Yet in a dark, hostile garden, he obeyed perfectly.
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The contrast between the two atoms is a core concept for
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understanding federal headship. We are all represented by an
29:05
atom. The first atom represented
29:07
humanity and plunged us into ruin by failing a simple test of
29:10
obedience. Christ, the second Adam,
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succeeded where humanity's first representative failed.
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He secured righteousness for His people through His perfect
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active obedience under extreme duress.
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But Edwards does not stop at theological observation.
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He was a preacher, and he turns this massive theological reality
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into a very sharp warning. A warning for what he calls the
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Saddish Center. By saddish he means someone who
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is fuch numb, secure in their rebellion, and completely
29:37
fearless of God's wrath. He quotes Jesus's own words from
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Luke 23.31 spoken on the way to the cross.
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If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done
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in the dry? Christ is the green tree.
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He's innocent, full of life, completely free of personal sin.
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And yet the fire of God's wrath burned intensely against him
29:58
when he stood as a substitute. Unrepentant sinners of the dry
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tree, they are guilty, devoid of spiritual life, dead in their
30:05
trespasses, and entirely ready for the fire.
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Edwards reasons that if the holy justice of God was so dreaded
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when it fell on the innocent Son of God, it will be infinitely
30:14
worse for the guilty who have to bear it themselves without a
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substitute. Edwards does not leave that as a
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vague threat either. He lays out four terrifying
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specific differences between Christ's suffering and the
30:25
reality of hell for the unrepentant Sinner.
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Let's walk through those four specific differences that make
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the fate of the dry tree so much worse.
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First, Christ had no guilty condemning conscience.
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He suffered the penalty for sin, but his own conscience was
30:39
clear. He knew he was personally
30:40
innocent and perfectly righteous.
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The unrepentant Sinner will have the gnawing worm of a fully
30:46
awakened guilty conscience, forever knowing they deserve the
30:49
punishment. That internal guilt is a torment
30:52
all on its own. Second, Christ felt no torment
30:55
from inward raging lusts. What does that mean in this
30:58
context? Edwards describes hell as a
31:01
place with no restraining grace, where malice, envy, and hatred
31:05
against God will rage like an unquenchable fire within the
31:09
person's own heart. They become their own internal
31:11
tormentors. Because God removes all common
31:14
grace. Right.
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Christ had none of that internal corruption.
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His heart was perfectly pure. What's the third difference?
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3rd Christ knew the Father still infinitely loved him.
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Even while pouring out judicial wrath upon him, He still cried
31:26
out, My God, my God. He knew His relationship with a
31:29
Father was secure. But for the dry tree.
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The lost will know that God is an irreconcilable enemy and that
31:35
there is absolutely no love, pity or mercy left for them.
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And the fourth difference. 4th Christ did not suffer eternal
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despair. Even in his darkest agony, He
31:44
knew his trial would end in a few hours.
31:46
He knew the joy set before him. He knew he would be raised to
31:49
eternal glory. Hell has no end.
31:52
There is no hope of the suffering ever ceasing.
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It is an eternal conscious state of ruin.
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Those four points are devastating to consider, and it
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leads to a very sobering conclusion that Edwards pushes
32:04
on to his congregation. Is a harsh wake up call.
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If the mere expectation of this wrath for a few hours caused the
32:11
flawless, sinless Son of God to sweat blood and terror, it is
32:15
supreme foolishness for ordinary people to walk around careless
32:19
and unworried about an internal version of that precise same
32:22
wrath. If the green tree reacted that
32:24
violently to the approach of the fire, the dry tree should be
32:27
trembling constantly. It makes no sense for a guilty
32:29
person to sleep soundly while rejecting the very substitute
32:33
who absorb the wrath on their behalf.
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That is the whole thrust of Edwards application.
32:37
He wants his listeners to realize the absolute reality and
32:40
severity of divine justice. Human beings have a natural
32:43
tendency to treat sin and its consequences lightly.
32:47
We rationalize it. We ignore it.
32:49
People sleep quietly, eat, drink and go about their daily lives
32:53
without a single concern for the justice of God.
32:55
Edwards is trying to shake them awake by pointing to the agony
32:59
of Christ. If you want to know what God
33:01
thinks of sin and what the strict penalty for sin actually
33:04
entails, you don't look at human philosophy.
33:06
You look at a perfect man kneeling in the dirt, sweating
33:09
clots of blood in the cold night air, just anticipating it.
33:12
If that is what the substitute endured, you absolutely do not
33:16
want to bear it yourself. It shatters the illusion that
33:19
God will simply brush sin under the rug.
33:22
We have covered an immense amount of ground today.
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We started by looking at the fragile human nature Christ
33:27
assumed. The paper chassis designed to
33:29
feel every element of the affliction.
33:31
We looked at the intense Olympic level struggle in the garden,
33:35
where the bitter cup of wrath was set directly before him to
33:38
drink without delay. We talked about him looking into
33:41
the terrifying mouth of the furnace.
33:43
Feeling the heat so his choice to enter it would be fully
33:46
voluntary and completely obedient, we examined the
33:49
violent physical reaction, the bloody sweat of the green tree,
33:53
contrasting it with the peaceful demeanor of the early church
33:56
martyrs. We saw his substitutionary love
33:59
hold out against the worst human depravity and the total
34:02
isolation from his friends. And we saw that his final prayer
34:05
was not a plea to back out, but a triumphant, agonizing petition
34:09
for the strength to secure salvation for his enemies.
34:12
It is a staggering picture of the atonement.
34:15
It takes the events of Gethsemane from a simple
34:18
historical story of sadness and elevates it into a massive
34:22
theological reality of justice, substitution, and active
34:25
obedience. It shows the sheer cost of
34:27
redemption. The voluntary submission of
34:29
Christ is highlighted in its absolute brightest light against
34:33
the blackest backdrop of the wrath He was willing to absorb.
34:37
I want to leave you listening today with a final thought to
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Mull over. Consider the times you face a
34:42
severe trial or hardship in your own life.
34:44
Our default human reaction is almost always to pray for the
34:48
hardship to be immediately removed.
34:49
We want the cup to pass. We want the pain to stop.
34:52
But think about what we just discussed regarding Christ's act
34:55
of obedience. If Christ's greatest act of love
34:57
was not a passive resignation. But an agonizing, blood sweating
35:01
prayer for the strength to walk right into the furnace for the
35:04
sake of others and the glory of God.
35:06
How might that reframe the way you view your own trials?
35:10
That changes everything. How might that change the
35:12
specific way you pray when the heat is turned up in your own
35:15
life? Are you always just asking for
35:17
the fire to go out, or are you actively agonizing in prayer for
35:21
the divine strength to walk through it faithfully?
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Thank you for joining us on this deep dive.
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We will see you next time.