There’s an old hymn that begins with a sacred invitation to reverently consider Jesus’ agony in the garden right before He was betrayed and arrested.

Go to dark Gethsemane,

all who feel the tempter’s power;

Your Redeemer’s conflict see,

watch with Him one bitter hour.

Turn not from His griefs away;

Learn of Jesus Christ to pray.

Words: James Montgomery, 1820. Music: ‘Gethsemane’ or ‘Petra’ Richard Redhead, 1853.

As we consider the agony that Jesus experienced in the garden, and how He prayed, and what He prayed for…the first thing we need to remember is that He was fully God and fully man. This truth impacts how we see Him, how we understand His agony, how we learn from Him, and how we worship Him.

The theological term used to describe Jesus’ 2 natures is the hypostatic union. (“hy” rhymes with sky)

The Hypostatic Union: “Two natures without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.” from Biblical Doctrine, ed. John Macarthur and Richard Mayhue

In my lecture, first we will consider the incomprehensible mystery of Jesus’ suffering the abandonment of the Father while bearing His wrath on sin. Then, we will “learn of Jesus Christ to pray.” His prayer was a request yielded to God in every way: in love, in submission, and in humility.

“Father, if it is Your will, ………… however – not my will but Yours be done.”