Gethsemane - Into the Furnace

Luke 22:39–46 (ESV)

I’d like to welcome all of you here today and those watching online - I hope that you stay connected with us during the week through our radio program, Maximum Life, or our podcast - Code Red. And those watching online, we hope you will join us in person when you are able.

INTRODUCTION: Over the years, Julie and I have been fortunate to make several trips to Israel. On our first trip, we were told by our guide that there is typically one place where you will have a unique encounter with the Lord. For me, it was the place we are studying in our text this morning - the Garden of Gethsemane.

There will be aspects of the text that are most familiar- the disciples sleeping, the Lord sweating, as it were, drops of blood. But I want to show you a few things that have come to be very special to me about the Garden of Gethsemane - some immensely practical, others near incomprehensible.

But if ever a place was holy ground - it is this place, and if ever a text was a holy text - it is this text.

CONTEXT: Remember, the last time we were together, we saw Jesus and the disciples leaving the upper room and making their way to Gethsemane. Judas had already departed to notify the temple officials concerning where Jesus could be found. Jesus reproved Simon Peter for his overconfidence and assured him that before the rooster crows, he would deny three times that he knew the Lord.

Now they come to a grotto nestled on the side of Mount Olivet - called Gethsemane.

The name Gethsemane means “olive press.” Olive Oil was a staple item for people in the Middle East - they used it for cooking, medicine, and lighting their homes. So it wasn’t uncommon to find this sort of Olive Press throughout Israel. Several were likely located on the Mount of Olives.

John MacArthur tells us in his commentary that the garden probably belonged to a believer who allowed Jesus to use it as a place of retreat and prayer.

During the day, an Olive Press would be bustling with activity, but at night, it was a place of quiet and solitude. Look with me at verse 39 -

TEXT: Luke 22:39–46 (ESV)

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