0405 祂的痛苦和我们的通路
耶稣同门徒来到一个地方，名叫客西马尼，就对他们说，「你们在这里等候，和我一起警醒。」《马太福音 26:36, 38》
我们永远无法完全理解基督在客西马尼园的痛苦，但至少我们不必误解它。这是神与人在一个位格中的痛苦，与罪面对面的痛苦。我们无法通过个人经历来理解客西马尼园，客西马尼园和加略山代表着完全独特的事物——它们是我们进入生命的大门。
耶稣在客西马尼园的痛苦并不是十字架上的死亡。事实上，祂非常强调祂来的目的就是受死。这里祂担心的是，祂可能作为人子无法通过这挣扎；祂有信心能够作为神的儿子度过这挣扎——撒但无法在那里触碰祂。但撒旦的攻击，是我们的主将只能以人子的身份为我们度过。如果耶稣那样做了，祂就不能成为我们的救主（见希伯来书 9:11-15）。读祂在客西马尼园痛苦的记载，思考祂早先在旷野受试探——「魔鬼用完了各样的试探，就暂时离开耶稣」（路加福音 4:13）。在客西马尼园，撒旦又来了，并再次被推翻。撒但对我们的主作为人子的最后攻击是在客西马尼园。
在客西马尼园的痛苦，是神的儿子履行祂作为世界救主的命定的痛苦。幔子在这里被拉开，以揭示祂为了使我们能够成为神的儿子而付出的一切代价；祂的痛苦是我们得救简朴的基础。基督的十字架是人子的胜利；这不仅是我们的主已经获胜的标志，而且也是祂已胜利地拯救人类。因为人子所经历的，每个人都得到进入神面前的通路。
来自章伯斯的智慧
要谨防孤立；提防你必须独自发展圣洁生活的想法，独自发展圣洁生活是不可能的；你会变得古怪和奇特，与神要你所是的样子完全不同。灵性发展唯一之道就是进入神儿女的社会里，你很快就会发现神如何改变你的布景。神不会违背我们的社会本能；祂改变它们。《圣经心理学》
0405 His Agony and Our Access
Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples….”Stay here and watch with Me.” —Matthew 26:36, 38
We can never fully comprehend Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, but at least we don’t have to misunderstand it. It is the agony of God and man in one Person, coming face to face with sin. We cannot learn about Gethsemane through personal experience. Gethsemane and Calvary represent something totally unique— they are the gateway into life for us.
It was not death on the cross that Jesus agonized over in Gethsemane. In fact, He stated very emphatically that He came with the purpose of dying. His concern here was that He might not get through this struggle as the Son of Man. He was confident of getting through it as the Son of God— Satan could not touch Him there. But Satan’s assault was that our Lord would come through for us on His own solely as the Son of Man. If Jesus had done that, He could not have been our Savior (see Hebrews 9:11-15). Read the record of His agony in Gethsemane in light of His earlier wilderness temptation— “…the devil…departed from Him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13). In Gethsemane, Satan came back and was overthrown again. Satan’s final assault against our Lord as the Son of Man was in Gethsemane.
The agony in Gethsemane was the agony of the Son of God in fulfilling His destiny as the Savior of the world. The veil is pulled back here to reveal all that it cost Him to make it possible for us to become sons of God. His agony was the basis for the simplicity of our salvation. The Cross of Christ was a triumph for the Son of Man. It was not only a sign that our Lord had triumphed, but that He had triumphed to save the human race. Because of what the Son of Man went through, every human being has been provided with a way of access into the very presence of God.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Beware of isolation; beware of the idea that you have to develop a holy life alone. It is impossible to develop a holy life alone; you will develop into an oddity and a peculiarism, into something utterly unlike what God wants you to be. The only way to develop spiritually is to go into the society of God’s own children, and you will soon find how God alters your set. God does not contradict our social instincts; He alters them. –Biblical Psychology, 189 L