03/26/18 JESUS WAS HEARD
(notes from a video I did concerning Hebrews 5:7)
Hebrews 5:7
7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
During the time of Jesus earthly life and ministry. Jesus still has a human body, because His resurrected body was glorified, as we will also be glorified in our resurrected bodies.
Jesus faced extreme trials, which depleted His physical strength, such as His time of testing in the wilderness (Mt. 4:1-11), His prayer in the Garden (Mt. 26:36-39; Lk. 22:39-45), and His beating and crucifixion (Mk. 15:33-37).
Jesus had faced violent mobs and Satanic attacks before, trying to keep Him from the cross. In fact, Satan probably tried to have the baby Jesus aborted. We know that Herod tried to kill the infant Jesus. Satan tried to kill Jesus during the wilderness temptations. Jesus always escaped assassination. But in the Garden He thought He was about to die. This appeared to be an attack He would not escape or survive (Mk. 14:34), at which time Jesus called on the Father to let THIS CUP pass from me.
While "cup" is a term used in reference to the death of Christ on the cross, it was also used in other situations. When Jesus realized He was about to die in the Garden, He cried out to the Father to LET THIS CUP PASS FROM ME. Jesus did not want to die in the Garden. Jesus wanted to make it to the cross, in order to be the promised Sacrifice.
Jesus, as a man, was not turning from His lifelong mission of death on the cross. Jesus, as the eternal God was not turning from His eternal mission to die on the cross. He feared (a natural and normal fear) that He body would not survive the Garden. He feared (in His weakened state and in His emotional upheaval (sweating drops of blood) that He would not make it to the cross.
It was at this time Jesus prayed, asking the Father to let this cup pass from Him.
Our passage in Hebrews 5:7 says that He was heard. Not only did the Father hear Jesus, the Father granted Jesus request. The cup of death passed from Jesus in the Garden. He was so physically tormented and spent that the angels came to Him, strengthening Him.
The Father saved Jesus from physical death in the Garden and granted Him His intended goal of dying on the cross.
Even on the cross Satan tried to thwart the plan of God by tempting Jesus to come down from the cross. Jesus could have called the angels to His side, but He did not.
Even after Jesus was buried the devil tried to hide the facts of the death and resurrection by spreading the lie that Jesus had been stolen away by His disciples.
Jesus feared death in the Garden, not death on the cross.
