“Jesus said to them, ‘My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; tarry here and watch with Me’. Then He went a little further and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘O, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will'” (Matthew 26:38-39).

Sacrifice (Def.): (Heb): Zebach from Zabach: To slaughter an animal; Offering

There is a participation in what the Psalmist, Asaph, describes as “a covenant. . .by sacrifice”. The covenant is cut, the sacrifice is offered between the parties and the vows are exchanged to seal up the sum of the Agreement.

“Gather My saints together unto Me, those who have made a Covenant with Me by sacrifice” (Psalm 50:5).

The Father has gathered us unto Himself in a great participation in the Covenant of Blood, initiated by the Vow of Gethsemane when Jesus committed Himself to drink the cup of suffering by His oft quoted, “not My will, but Thine be done” (Luke 22:42).

Jesus, “the Mediator of the New Covenant, by the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24); has brought us into His Covenant of Sacrifice with the Father, by His death on the Cross, the place of slaughter, where the offering was made for the sin of the whole world.

Christ, the Crucified, has mediated a new Covenant of Blood, by being the Lamb of God, the Pascal Lamb, whereby our sins are forgiven by the atoning sacrifice for sin; and by our participation with Him have become separated from sin through death and made alive by His Resurrection, just as the Apostle has declared:

“I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live; yet not I but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

The Vow of Gethsemane was a vow made before the foundation of the world (cf. Revelation 13:8), In the foreknowledge of God the plans were made, just as Jesus declared:

“Wherefore, when He came into the world He said, ‘Sacrifice and offerings you would not, but a body have you prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the Volume of the Book it is written of Me), to do Your will, O God'” (Hebrews 10:5-7).

In types and shadows, by prophetic utterances, by signs, wonders, angels, and by the appearing of the Son of God, the Vow of Gethsemane was manifested to us and fully fulfilled in the body of Jesus Christ on the Cross. “Not my will but Thine be done” is the vow we all must make in our identification in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, our Lord. It is symbolized by baptism, as we enter into Covenant by Sacrifice with the Father and are joined by one Spirit with the Son who becomes our Life in a New Creation (cf. II Corinthians 5:17) in the “newness of Life”.

“Therefore, we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the Newness of Life” (Romans 6:4).

The Vow of Gethsemane is decisive. It was decisive for our Lord, and it is decisive for us as well, for in it we determine our destiny. There were two Gardens: Eden and Gethsemane. In Eden we died, in Gethsemane we can live. Choose Life.

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