Luke 22:40 And when He came to the place, He said to them, Pray that you do not enter into temptation. (41) And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, (42) Saying, Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet, not My will, but Yours be done. (43) And an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. (44) And being in agony He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down upon the ground.
In 22:39-46 the Man-Savior prayed about the sufferings of His death and charged the disciples to pray. The Man-Savior charged the disciples to pray so that they might be prepared to receive His death. The "cup" here [v. 42] refers to the Savior's death on the cross. In verse 42 the Man-Savior prayed that the Father's will would be done. The Triune God determined in His divine plan in eternity past that the Second of the divine Trinity should be incarnated and die on the cross to accomplish His eternal redemption for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose (Eph. 1:7-9). Hence, the Second of the Trinity was ordained to be the Lamb of God (John 1:29) before the foundation of the world, that is in eternity past (1 Pet. 1:19-20), and in the sight of God as the Lamb of God, He was slain from the foundation of the world, that is, from the existence of God's fallen creatures (Rev. 13:8). After man's fall, lambs, sheep, calves, and bulls were used for God's chosen people as types, pointing to Him who was to come as the real Lamb foreordained by God. In the fullness of time, the Triune God sent the Second of the divine Trinity, the Son of God, to come in incarnation to take a human body (Heb. 10:5) so that He might be offered to God on the cross (Heb. 9:14; 10:12) to do the will of the Triune God (Heb. 10:7), that is, to replace the sacrifices and offerings, which were types, with Himself in His humanity as the unique sacrifice and offering for the sanctification of God's chosen people (Heb. 10:9-10). In His prayer here, immediately before His crucifixion, He prepared Himself to take the cup of the cross. He was willing to do this unique will of the Father for the accomplishment of the eternal plan of the Triune God. (c) 2007 Living Stream Ministry.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Luke, pp. 436-437. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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