Easter Thoughts

I was reading Hebrews chapter 12 yesterday and stopped to consider verse 4, "You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin" (NASB). Have I ever struggled so hard to defeat sin in my life that I bled? Not even close! In fact, I can’t imagine that it would be possible for me to stress that much, although it is medically possible to sweat blood under extreme circumstances. Did the author of Hebrews have first hand knowledge of striving against sin to the point of bleeding? What could this mean?

Then I remembered a passage where Jesus bled. I re-read Luke 22:39-46, where Jesus prayed before His crucifixion, asking God to “remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Thine be done” (verse 42). Verse 44 says; "And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down to the ground." I always thought Jesus sweated blood because He was not looking forward to receiving God’s wrath for my sin and all the sins of all the people of the world. That, to me, was a stressful enough circumstance for a person to sweat blood and I’m sure that was part of it. But, the context of the passage is Jesus warning His disciples to pray against temptation. Reminds me of 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.”

The connection I made between Hebrews 12:2 and Luke 22:44 is that Jesus was also praying against His own temptation. The temptation to quit the calling the Father had given Him - to suffer and die for us that we might have access to His righteousness and therefore His heaven, among many other blessings. In verse 43 an angel strengthens Him. He could have asked God to send angels to save him from the coming death, but this would have been sin to Him – disobeying His Father. Out of his love for us He strove against this sin to the point of shedding blood. What greater temptation than to skip out on experiencing the wrath of God for the sins of the world, but He resisted for our sake! Fortunately, we don’t have to deal with the temptation that Jesus faced – we would not be able to endure it.

Jesus took God’s justice on Himself out of mercy for us (Isaiah 53:6). Amazing Love!

Ian