Sermon Tone Analysis

I’ve mentioned that throughout Matthews Gospel Jesus is undoing the failures of Israel with His faithfulness.

Jesus fled to Egypt under duress like Israel did under Joseph.

Jesus came up out of Egypt like Moses led the people out of Egypt

Jesus passed through the water of baptism like Israel passed through the Red Sea on the way to the promised land

Jesus went out into the desert like Israel did after the Red Sea.

Jesus was faithful in the face of temptation where Israel failed.

Jesus taught them from a mountain like Moses read the 10 commandments

Jesus spoke the truth of God better than the prophets who came before Him.

Jesus performed signs and wonders greater than the prophets of old.

It’s truly magnificent to see the way Matthew weaves the story of God’s people with the life and ministry of their Savior.

But, it’s not just that Matthew takes us back to the life and history of Israel.

Matthew also takes us back to the Garden of Eden when Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane.

You see The entire Bible is the story of God’s redeeming love.

You can call it redemptive history, the story of God’s love, etc.

But, the truth is that through Scripture we see the end in the beginning and the beginning in the end.

I am really excited about 2022.

We will spend our entire year working through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

Our goal is tie it all together through the big picture of God’s redemptive love.

Today’s passage gives us a glimpse of the way that we see the continuity of God’s redemptive plan through the entire Bible, and because we see it in the Bible we see it in all of human History.

The Bible begins in Genesis with God walking among us in the garden, and the Bible ends in Revelation with God dwelling with us again on the earth.

Here in Matthew 26 we see Jesus in a garden praying.

But, Jesus is sorrowful, troubled, and according to verse 38 “deeply grieved to the point of death.”

In this prayer of Jesus we see the evidence of His human nature and the truth of His divine nature.

Jesus is completely man and completely God.

He is 100% of both, not 50% of one and 50% of the other.

He is fully and completely the 2nd member of the Trinity, and at the same time He is fully and completely the son born to the virgin Mary.

This is known as the Hypostatic Union, the combination of divine and human natures in the single person of Christ.

As we read through the book of Matthew the humanity of Christ is present, but we are awed at the divinity of Christ.

From His miraculous virgin birth to His baptism to the healings, prophecies, and authority over demons the power of Jesus is constantly in front of us.

But, here in Matthew 26 we get a large glimpse of His humanity.

Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, the Savior of the world is struggling and grieving over the task that lay before Him.

Jesus asks the Father in Matthew 26:39 (CSB), “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.

Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

The plan of salvation is set.

God’s plan to redeem the world involves the suffering and death of His son Jesus Christ.

Jesus knows what lies before Him and we see the temptation of the moment present in His prayer.

Unlike Adam, who gave in to temptation and rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden, Jesus chooses to obey and follow the plan in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The NT teaches us that Jesus is the 2nd or last Adam. 1 Corinthians 15:45–48 (CSB) says,

“45 So it is written, The first man Adam became a living being;, the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual.

47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.

48 Like the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; like the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven.”

- 1 Corinthians 15:45–48 (CSB)

Paul writes more deeply on this truth in Romans 5:12–17 (CSB),

“12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.

13 In fact, sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not charged to a person’s account when there is no law.

14 Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression.

He is a type of the Coming One. 15 But the gift is not like the trespass.

For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many.

16 And the gift is not like the one man’s sin, because from one sin came the judgment, resulting in condemnation, but from many trespasses came the gift, resulting in justification.

17 If by the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive the overflow of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.”

-Romans 5:12–17 (CSB)

The point Paul is making is that through Adam’s the world was plunged into brokenness.

And through Jesus Christ the curse of sin is undone and all who trust in Jesus will receive the gift of salvation rather than the punishment their sin deserves.

I want to make sure that we understand a few things about Jesus’ prayer:

1. Jesus does not sin with His question to the Father, He simply brings the weight of the moment to the Father.

Jesus is not questioning His Father’s wisdom when He asks the cup (that is, God’s wrath; see Jer. 25:15; Zech.

12:2) to pass from Him (Matt.

26:39, 42, 44).

Instead, while bowing to the Almighty’s will, He admits honestly His dread of what is to come upon Him — divine affliction for the sins of His people.

As Calvin says, Jesus trembles in Gethsemane “because he [has] before his eyes the dreadful tribunal of God, and the Judge himself armed with inconceivable vengeance; and because our sins, the load of which [is] laid upon him, [presses] him down with their enormous weight.”

Back in Matthew 11 Jesus told us to come to Him if we are weary and heavy laden.

In this moment with the Father Jesus shows us what it looks like when He takes His burden to the only one who can help Him with it.

Jesus was genuinely burdened by the cup that He was about to drink.

In Matthew 26:26–29 (CSB) we read about Jesus’ last supper with the disciples.

26 As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take and eat it; this is my body.”

27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you.

28 For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

29 But I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

In this meal Jesus held up the cup of redemption and said that He was going to pour out His blood for their sins.

This meant that instead of the blood of a lamb in the temple sacrifice, Jesus was going to offer His own blood as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.

And, He tells them that He isn’t going to drink the last cup of the passover meal.

They drank 4 cups in the course of the meal and each one represented something different.

The third cup in the passover was the cup of redemption, and it celebrated when God redeemed Israel from Egypt under Moses.

Jesus tells them from now on they will drink to remember when He redeemed them from their sins.

The fourth cup was associated with God’s promise: He told them in Exodus I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God (Ex.

6:7).

It is called the ‘Cup of Praise’, and the accompanying liturgy looks forward to God’s victory over his enemies and the final vindication and future blessing of his people.

But, Jesus knew that there was another cup that He had to drink before He would drink this fourth cup.

In fact, Jesus tells us that He won’t drink the fruit of the vine again until He has come the second time and gathers us to Himself at the end of the age.

This moment is referred to as the marriage supper of the lamb and for many of us Baptist we will drink our first guilt free cup of wine with Jesus.

2. Jesus is burdened by the cup of wrath that He is about to drink.

“In both the Old and New Testaments, the cup is often used as a metaphor for the wrath of God (Ps.

75:8; Isa.

51:17, 22; Jer.

25:15; Hab.

2:16; Rev. 14:9–10).

The cup, then, that Jesus found so abhorrent to drink was a cup filled with the wrath of God.

In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was staring intently into that cup — the one He would drink the very next day as He hung on the cross in excruciating agony.”

It’s not so much the physical pain and torture that Jesus is referencing in His prayer.

Jesus is referring to the spiritual agony that would accompany the wrath of God that our sins deserve.

Jesus is so burdened by the impending wrath of the Father that His sweat became like drops of blood.

Luke records this chapter 22:42–44 (CSB).

Luke 22:42-44 says.

42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me—nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

43 Then an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him.

44 Being in anguish, he prayed more fervently, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.

The Father answers His prayer through the attendance of an angel.

And, with the news that the angel brings Jesus sets His sights on the cross and the wrath that He will endure.

But, the determination to follow the will of the Father is followed by a depth of passion that produces droplets of blood rather than sweat.

The intensity of Jesus’ passion and prayer is the fruit of His desire to redeem us through the cost of the cross.

But the sorrow and the aguish is simply the evidence that He is the Messiah who was promised.