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THE GOD-MAN LIVING

MESSAGE SEVENTEEN

THE FIRST GOD-MAN’S LIVING
A MAN OF PRAYER

(8)

Scripture Reading: Matt. 26:20-30, 36-46; Luke 23:33-34; Matt. 27:46; Luke 23:46

OUTLINE

  1. The divine facts in the mystical human life of the first God-man in the record of the synoptic Gospels concerning the first God-man as the King-Savior in the kingdom of the heavens, the Slave-Savior in God’s gospel service, and the Man-Savior in God’s salvation:
    1. In His prayer in Gethsemane before He was arrested, judged, and sentenced to be crucified, He prayed and taught His disciples to learn from Him how to pray—Matt. 26:20-30, 36-46:
      1. He taught His disciples how to watch and pray:
        1. He came to His disciples and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “So were you not able to watch with Me for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”—vv. 40-41.
        2. He came again and found the disciples sleeping, for their eyes were heavy—v. 43.
        3. He came to the disciples the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour has drawn near, and the Son of Man is being delivered up into the hands of sinners. Arise, let us be going. Behold, the one who is betraying Me has drawn near”—vv. 45-46:
          1. 1) The Lord took Peter, John, and James, who were more close and intimate to Him (see Matt. 17:1), apart from the rest of the disciples particularly and charged them to watch with Him—vv. 37-38.
          2. 2) They did not keep the Lord’s word, because they were weak in their flesh even though they were willing in their spirit— vv. 40-41.
          3. 3) This shows us the reason that we do not watch with the Lord in our prayer.
    2. On the cross Christ prayed three times:
      1. The first time, He prayed for those who were crucifying Him—Luke 23:33-34:
        1. This was prophesied by Isaiah (53:12).
        2. This indicates that the first God-man as a genuine man did have a spirit to forgive His opposers according to what He taught us to pray in Matthew 6:12, 14-15.
        3. He did this in His humanity with the divine power of the eternal Spirit—Heb. 9:14.
      2. The second time, He prayed to God, saying, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”— Matt. 27:46:
        1. Christ’s crucifixion lasted for six hours from 9:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. (Mark 15:25; Matt. 27:45). In the first three hours He was persecuted by men for doing God’s will; in the last three hours He was judged by God for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3).
        2. In the last three hours of His crucifixion God had caused our iniquity to fall on Him (Isa. 53:6) and made Him sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21), so God left Him at that juncture.
        3. Christ’s prayer here seems to contradict His word that God the Father was with Him while He was on the earth (John 8:16, 29; 16:32).
        4. This is due to the different views of the synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John. The view of the synoptic Gospels is physical concerning Christ in His flesh, that is, in His humanity; whereas the view of the Gospel of John is mystical concerning Christ in His divinity.
        5. According to John’s record in the mystical view concerning Christ in His divinity, God the Father with Him and the Spirit as the Triune God are always one essentially, coexisting and even coinhering; this is what is called the essential Trinity; whereas according to the record of the synoptic Gospels in the physical view concerning Christ in His humanity, God the Father left Him economically when He was made sin for us on the cross; this is what is called the economical Trinity.
        6. First Peter 3:18 unveils to us that when Christ suffered for our sins, on the one hand, He was crucified in His flesh (in His humanity), but on the other hand, He was made alive in the Spirit (in His divinity). This proves that concerning Christ there are two different views: the first one according to His humanity and the second one according to His divinity.
        7. He cast out demons in His humanity by the Spirit of God (Matt. 12:28), and He performed the miracles of feeding the five thousand and feeding the four thousand in His humanity by the blessing of the Father; all these prove that what Christ did in the synoptic Gospels was in His humanity with His divinity.
        8. It is in His humanity that He prayed to the Father with sorrow and distress (Matt. 26:37-38), sweating with drops like blood (Luke 22:44), and even cried strongly with tears, asking God to save Him out of death (Heb. 5:7). At that juncture, He needed an angel to strengthen Him (Luke 22:43), needless to say that He needed the Spirit to support Him (Heb. 9:14).
      3. The third time, He cried with a loud voice, before He expired, saying, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit”—Luke 23:46:
        1. This tells us that the first God-man as a genuine man trusted in God to the end of His human life.
        2. Surely such a prayer of Christ was made by Him in His humanity.

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