Glorification

By Nathaniel Dandridge Pendleton
1941

Part V
THE LAST STATES

VI. THE AGONY IN GETHSEMANE

"And when He was at the place, He said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, If Thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but Thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." (Luke 22: 40 - 44)

The representation of the temptation at Gethsemane, given by Luke, differs from that of Matthew and Mark. The three agree in giving the prayer of the Lord that the cup "might pass from Him," which sufficiently indicates its desperate nature. In describing His suffering, Matthew and Mark speak of His being "very heavy, and sorrowful, even unto death;" while in Luke, in place of this it is said that "being in agony, He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

It has always been a question as to whether the "drops of blood" are to be taken as a literal description of an actual experience, or as a figure of speech. In either case, a spiritual interpretation of the significance of His blood, in connection with the this temptation, must be given. However, it is of interest to know that the Writings determine the question for us by the statement that at Gethsemane "He was in anguish from inmosts, even to the sweating of blood." (A. C. 1787)

This, then, was His "agony," which was so great that His whole human, from inmosts to outmosts, underwent a commotion - a strain of inconceivable violence. The word "agony" is found only here in Luke and nowhere else in the Gospels. It expresses the highest degree of suffering to which the human frame can be subjected. The word in the original Greek, in its outstanding meaning, indicates a combat or struggle, and especially bodily resistance to the last degree of strength. This accords with the teaching concerning the severity of those temptations in which natural and spiritual forces are together involved, and in which there is a supreme degree of resistance to that which is seemingly overwhelming.

If the account of His temptation at Gethsemane, as given by Matthew and Mark, points to the cross, how much more do Luke's words concerning His sweat falling as blood to the ground!  However, our concern now is not with the words of the text as a fore-representation of the cross as a natural event. Instead, we seek the spiritual meaning of His falling blood, and why, in this gravest of all His temptations preceding the cross, His blood fell to the ground.

Men say that they are redeemed by the blood of Christ shed on the cross; and if so, then we have a notable representation of His redemption in Luke's account of His agony. It is known that He came into the world to redeem men and that He gave His blood a ransom for many. But just what His redemption was, and how it was effected, is not so well known. The doctrine on this subject, given in the Writings, is that He came into the world to redeem mankind, and that in so doing He glorified the human which He had put on by birth. These two, the redemption of man and making Divine the human, while distinct one from the other, yet make one with respect to man's salvation. In redeeming man He glorified His Human, and through this glorification He maintained the gift of His redemption. Both of these were accomplished by His reception into Himself of every possible influx of evil and its entire expulsion, whereby evil was subdued and the hells put down to that level wherein human freedom was restored, as a result of the equal balance between good and evil.

This restoration of spiritual freedom was man's redemption. The effect of the Lord's victorious resistance to evil upon Himself resulted in His glorification. This glorification, in itself considered, was an intimate union of His Human, His Manhood in the world, with the Divinity of His soul, which, from its first conception, was one with the Father. This union was not effected at one time or suddenly, but successively and by degrees as He underwent and overcame a comprehensive series of assaults by the hells. These assaults were so many blinding temptations, which, while they endured, so clouded His mind that He seemed to Himself to be abandoned of God; and this to the end that He might resist the evil inflowing, with all His power as a man, and in so doing draw down into His mind and body increasingly the Divinity resident in His soul; and this until He became entirely Divine, both in mind and body.

It was because of this dual work of redemption and glorification that in Luke's account of the temptation at Gethsemane there is given a representation which tells of the one and the other; that is, not only of the redemption of man by His blood falling down to the ground, but also of His union with the Father by the descent of the Divine into Him. The descent of the Divine was signified by the angel which appeared unto Him and strengthened Him. Of all the angels, only the angel of Jehovah could impart strength to Him; or, what is the same, the Divine in the heavens, through which, in the first instance, His conception took place. This angel was therefore one with His own soul, which, in its descent into His mind and body, carried with it the Divine empowerment.

On the other hand, the consequent falling of His sweat as blood to the ground presented in a living image the mode of His actual redemption; for the blood of His agony, like the wine of His Supper, was a material correspondent of that living truth which emanated from Him, - the truth proceeding from His glorifying Human, which was represented by His falling blood penetrating to the ultimates of creation.

The sweat of man is that which pertains to the man. It signifies his natural proprium. And it was the same with the Lord. His human proprium was signified by the sweat of His body. And it was this which, by a Divine miracle, became His living blood, His redeeming truth, in the degree that His self-life as a man in the world became Divine through glorification. Because of this, the sweat of His body, at Gethsemane, was turned into blood.

Men say they are redeemed by the blood of Christ shed on the cross; but this redemption came not through an appeasement of the Father's wrath, nor because the Father was excited to pity by the sight of the suffering of His innocent Son. Redemption came through the blood of the Lord, because His blood is His redeeming truth. It is the Divine proceeding from His Human glorified, even as the sweat of His body was turned to blood by the angel who appeared unto Him and strengthened Him. And when, on the occasion, His blood fell to the ground, it carried to fruition the purpose of His coming into the world.

The ground is the basis of all life forms, and from this basis there is the all-reactive power. The Lord came into the world in order to reach and take on Himself this power. For no other cause was He born, since by this power alone could that additional force be exercised to save those men who otherwise would be lost. To take to Himself this ultimate of power, He stood upon the earth as a man stands. He put on the body of man to have and to hold within His body, not only the hereditary evils of His race, but also the extreme ultimates of creation, to the end that the Divine power might be exercised, not only through the firsts of heavenly forms, but also through the ultimates of nature, so that men could be reached by His saving grace, from without as well as from within.

Man, withdrawn from heaven, as he was at the time, and from the saving presence of the angels, could be redeemed only by the Man-God in the world, and by the new power which He took to Himself as His Own there, and which He applied to men as a saving miracle. It was this power of a new redemption which He gave in holy sign and symbol in the wine of His Supper, and which He gave also in living symbol as the blood of His agony, even as on the cross, when His blood was shed for the remission of sins.

Moreover, let us note that the power thus attained by His presence in the world as a man was not lost through His death, but was retained after His resurrection, and after His ascension - retained to be forever exercised in the bondage of the hells, and in continuance of His redemption; and also, let it be noted, as a means of His coming again, - His Second Coming, - not indeed by a repetition of His natural birth, but of His coming again through a man in the world.

His retention of the ultimate power of His Divine Manhood was therefore that which made possible a subsequent spiritual unfolding of the Scripture, whereby the Scripture was moved from within to release its secrets concerning Him, hidden from the beginning. This unfolding was that which constituted His Second Coming, and it was a Divine token of His power in and over ultimates, whereby an immediate passing of the Spirit was given through an immediate revelation. Also, He provided that His Second Coming might be continued through an enlightened perception of the truth of His immediate revelation. The individual enlightenment is signified by the sending of the Holy Spirit with power to pass, not only through angels to men, but also through man to man.

This, then, was that Holy Spirit of ultimate power, of which it is said that it "was not until Jesus was glorified;" and yet it was, in the degree and in so far as He was glorified. Therefore it was represented in and by each and every degree of the successive stages of His glorification, as in the text here by His sweat falling as blood to the ground. The Holy Spirit is the Divine Proceeding from His Human made Divine, and we are warranted in concluding that it was represented by His sweat falling as blood at Gethsemane, because of what is said of a parallel incident on the cross. When He was pierced, blood and water came out of His side, which signifies Divine Truth proceeding from Him. The "blood" is that Truth for the spiritual man, and the "water" the same Truth for the natural man. The same elements of blood and water are given in both cases.

This Divine Proceeding from His Human glorified was the ultimate of Divine power achieved by His Advent into the world and eternally retained. In the Gospels, as indicated, it is called the "Holy Spirit;" and the understanding of this Spirit as a new Divine power, with new capacities for man's salvation, is necessary to an understanding of the varied statements of the Writings concerning the Holy Spirit, one of which is of particular interest at this moment, namely, the fact, as stated, that the Holy Spirit is the Word such as it is in the spiritual sense. (A. E. 778:3)  The Writings are therefore the direct product of this Spirit. This is the ground for the statement, before made, that His retention of the ultimate power of His Divine Manhood in the world is that which made possible a spiritual unfolding of the Scriptures, such as was not and could not be given before, whereby He came again into the world, and effected a new redemption, and also thereafter made possible a continuation of His redemption through an unceasing increase of spiritual enlightenment.