The Gospel of Luke 22:39-53 Prayer & betrayal at Gethsemane

Good morning. We're going to step into Luke 22, 39 through 53. And so as we go through this, one of the things that we want to point out here, Luke wrote this by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And we're looking now at the last two and a half chapters of the Gospel of Luke. We're going to be looking at a few other things kind of in parallel with that.

The first one is we're going to be looking at specific confirmations of these dates and events, and particularly looking at specific dates, as the evidence now allows us to do. We're going to be glancing off at different passages in Mark and in Matthew and in John, simply because they have something significant to add, but we won't be parking there a great deal of time. And thirdly, we'll be looking at the identification truths regarding these events, because in fact Christ crucifixion and death, Christ's burial, his resurrection, and Christ's seating, excuse me, Christ's ascension. Those four things all happened within a short period of time and all happened either, you know, very close to Jerusalem as it was defined back then. And so we'll be looking at those as we proceed through here.

Now, in the past, various students of scripture, and I would say scholars, would put the crucifixion somewhere between 28 and 33 A.D., occasionally outside of that, but that was common. As a matter of fact, even today, 30 A.D. is the date of Christ's crucifixion, is popular. And there's also been some variation on what day of the week Christ was crucified, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. However, starting about 40 years ago, evidence began to be put forth that the crucifixion took place on Friday, April 3rd, 33 AD. In the last four years, more evidence of that specific date has been discovered and also brought forth. Here is chronological aspects of the life of Christ.

This was written by Dr. Harold Hohner. over 40 years ago and He's home with the Lord now, but at any rate he Has written this book, and I've been kind of looking at it and saying okay. We'll let time test it and He was the prophecy in the book of Daniel to arrive at the date of April 3rd 33 AD for the day of the crucifixion and He also gave dates and details for other events. Let me give you, for instance, from some of his chronological studies, he concluded that in Acts 21-18 when Paul was coming home from his third missionary journey, He met with James, who was an elder of the church at Ephesus, and the other elders, excuse me, the church in Jerusalem, and the other elders there in Jerusalem. And he, the Apostle Paul met him on May 28th, 57 AD, the date, okay, specific date. So there's, there in some cases, you know, here's a season and some cases specific dates that he nailed down. Now here's something else that happened since Harold Hohner went home to be with the Lord.

On November 7, 2012, Dr. Stephen A. Austin, a Christian but also a doctorate in geology, he dated, using geological information, the earthquake that took place on Christ's crucifixion day to April 3, 33 AD. Isn't that amazing? So geological information, the earthquake lines up with that date.

In addition, the darkness from noon to three on the day of Christ's crucifixion is recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and we're going to talk in a couple weeks about why that was a miserable time, but only the start of a miserable time for the Sadducees. That darkness is recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and it's also referenced by other ancient authors outside of the Bible.

One of those ancient authors, Phlegon, was a Greek historian writing about a hundred years after the time of Christ. He dated things by Olympiads. That is, we have our Olympic cycle of every four years. And so he said that the darkness came about on the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad, which guess what? That dates the darkness to 33 AD, okay? And when you line it up with the Passover, Friday, April 3rd, 33 AD, okay? Lines up again.

Just in January 2014, January 31st to be exact, this book was published, The Final Days of Jesus. It was written by Andreas Kostenberger and Justin Taylor, and they brought together various reasons for arriving at the date of the crucifixion as April 3rd, 33 AD. Isn't that interesting? Some of their conclusions differ in earlier parts of the week from Harold Hohner's writing. but they all agree that Thursday April 2nd was the day of preparation and of the Last Supper and that Christ was crucified on April 3rd 33 AD. Isn't that interesting?

One of the reasons I bring this out is not to just be full of technical detail, but just to focus on the idea this is reality. Christ died on the cross and it is a piece of confirmable history, not just some sort of a myth or story. That's why I would go through all this detail. It actually happened, and it happened at a specific place and on a specific date. It's real. It's not just myth or wishful thinking or people having hallucinations.

From a number of different places around the Roman Empire and from a number of different lines of evidence, including geological evidence, which only in our era could be studied, all those are lining up with the exact same date for Christ's crucifixion. Here is another point of evidence that confirms, again, the same date, Luke 3, 1 through 3, which, by the way, we studied two years ago. It's been that long.

Now in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Iteria and Trichonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas. So what has Luke done? He has taken several of these different, you know, people from the highest political position down to a local position within Judaism. And he's listed a number of these. And of course, we have information about those and when they ruled and all those sorts of things. But he nails it down in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar.

Tiberius Caesar took over from A relative, he was adopted as a son when Augustus Caesar died in 14 AD. So I take 14 AD when Caesar Augustus died, 14 AD when Tiberius Caesar reigned, I add 15 to that, I get 29 AD as the start of the ministry of John the Baptist. That's the rest of what's described there. the start of the ministry of John the Baptist in 29 AD, later that year Jesus began his ministry.

When I go through the recorded Passovers in the Gospel of John, I end up, believe it or not, coming up with the date for Christ's crucifixion of April 3rd, 33 AD. The numbers keep lining up again and again and again for that specific date. Why would I make a point of it? Christ actually died. This is not just some religious wishful thinking. Christ died on the cross, and we can date it, and we can show the specific place where it happened. It's real. It is historical reality, not fantasy, not just wishful thinking, not just religious myths.

April 3rd, 33 AD is the date for Christ's crucifixion, then allows us to be more specific on some subsequent dates. in the four Gospels and in the Book of Acts. And I'll give you an example. Christ was raised on Sunday, April 5th, 33 AD. Christ ascended from the Mount of Olives on May 14th, 33 AD, and that was a Thursday. He actually ascended on May 14th, 33 AD, a Thursday. Pentecost, the day at which the church began, was May 28th, 33 AD, and that was a Sunday. These were real, actual events. They actually happened. These guys aren't making it up. This is real dates.

Each of the four Gospels gives us an account of the Last Supper. This is the Passover meal to the time that Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. They all have something of that, but they also all have something to add. We'll glance at what Matthew, Mark, and John have to add to this account at certain places here, in addition to what's recorded for us by Dr. Luke. The Gospels also provide a four-channel stereo insight into the life of Christ, and especially these last days here. Here's Luke 22-39, and He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples also followed Him.

You have on the top of page two of your handout this map, and we're going to keep referring to it all the way up to the time of Christ's resurrection. And so what we have here is the upper room in the southwest area of Jerusalem at the time. And so that upper room is where they had the last supper. And Jesus, then at the end of John 14, said, let's get up from here. And then the contents of 15, 16, and 17 are recorded after they had gotten up from the Passover.

They proceeded over here to Gethsemane. The location of Gethsemane is known with a great deal of certainty. This is it. And so that's where they proceeded. We find out in here, because it's actually not written earlier, we found out in here that Gethsemane was a place that Jesus went to regularly. So regularly, in fact, that Judas could count on bringing the soldiers there and finding Jesus and the disciples there. So Dr. Luke records this, so here's Jesus and the eleven disciples making their way, and by the way we're not given the path that they took. They could have gone, for example, through the temple courtyard.

That would have been one possible path. Another possible path would have been to have gone south and outside of the city gates and then north then up to Gethsemane. They head to the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, located on the western slope of the Mount of Olives, just across the Kidron Valley, that's the name of the little valley there. And it looks from there to the eastern, or sometimes called the Golden Gate, and the Temple Mount. this would be a view from today using today's geography looking from the Garden of Gethsemane across the small Kidron Valley there and then that would be the Eastern Gate that Eastern Gate has been reconstructed by the Muslims so that it has a it's not only blocked up but has a different configuration it will be opened Ezekiel 44 verses 1 through 3 prophesied that we blocked So it's no surprise it'll be opened when Christ comes again.

So John 15 and 16 are recorded as the things that Jesus said and he was either on the way to Gethsemane when he said those things or at the Garden of Gethsemane and he told about the coming of the Holy Spirit. He told about his leaving and he told them things that they needed to know when he was gone. It was Jesus' kind of last opportunity, so to speak, before he would be arrested and gone. John 17 records a wonderful prayer in the midst of a very intense time as Jesus is praying to the Father.

It was Jesus' custom to go to the Garden of Gethsemane. We find that out here in this passage. Earlier it's not recorded, so it's just this passage that reveals that it's His custom. So Judas then would know exactly where to bring his soldiers and those that he had agreed would support him as he betrayed Christ.

Here's Luke 22 40, when he arrived at the place he said to them that as Jesus said, pray that you may not enter into temptation. So, as they go into the Garden of Gethsemane to imagine, here he's telling them, pray that you may not enter into temptation.

Now, put yourselves in the disciples' sandals here for a minute. Okay? Put yourself in the disciples' sandals. Now, you've just had a really big meal. You've had with it at least four glasses of dilute wine. How are you feeling? Aside from that, Jesus has told them a great deal that is distressing, confusing, and it might be nice to just sort of sleep it all off. So that's kind of the picture.

So if you put yourself in their position, they understood when Jesus said things that were part of the Passover meal and the celebration. That was okay, right? That was all right, because they'd seen that before and there was nothing disturbing about that. Jesus had told them about the kingdom and their place in the kingdom, and that was okay.

Everything else that He said was disturbing, right? Everything else that He said, I'm going, what? And you know the place where I'm going. No. Believe in God, believe also in Me. What? That's not a part of the Passover celebration, right? I go to prepare a place for you. I'll come again and take you to myself.

What's he talking about? You can kind of imagine as you crank through this, you know, and several times when you put the Gospels together, several times he warned about a betrayer, and they couldn't figure out who it was. And you can imagine, so a lot of what Jesus said that night was incomprehensible and disturbing. And they'd had four glasses of dilute wine and a big meal. Hope you like lamb. Right?

So they're just getting sleepy and they'd really rather go to sleep than try to sort this thing out. Ever try to sort something out when you're sleepy? Doesn't work very well, does it? Or try to sort something out when you're trying to sleep? So now it's better to just check out, right?

So the temptation for all of the disciples, and by the way, we pointed out last week, Satan had not just asked to sift Peter like wheat. Jesus was talking to Peter and He said, you, plural. So that meant all the eleven disciples were going to be sifted like wheat. They were all in trouble.

They'd better pray. They'd better pray. He wanted them to pray so that they would not go into utter despair when the next things happened. And by the way, did they pray? Not so much. They did go to sleep. And what did they do? They went into utter despair and worse. Jesus told them at the Passover meal, do not let your heart be troubled. How do you follow that? Believe in God, believe also in me. Did they do that? No, they did not. Their heart was troubled. They weren't believing, and they weren't understanding.

Here's Luke 22, 41-43, And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw. He knelt down and began to pray, and saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Yet not my will, but yours be done. Now an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him. Let's take a look at that.

So in his humanity, anticipating what was about to come, there would first be the physical pain. That's what all the other people who were crucified went through. The physical pain. But that was really actually only a small part of the total agony that Christ went through.

Jesus would bear, and this is I think much, much greater, The pain of the wrath of the Father. Had he ever had any broken fellowship with the Father up to this point? Not at all. Not at all. That, that was the greater pain. Far beyond just the crucifixion. As a human being, This would be unimaginable. And for him, as deity, to have broken fellowship with the Father would be unimaginable pain. But what did he do? He said, not my will, but yours. He submitted his will to the Father, even though as a human being, would he rather not do this as a human being? Yeah, most certainly he'd rather not do it.

Now, it says an angel from heaven was sent. This isn't the first angel or angels that ministered to Jesus. As Jesus was tempted by Satan, and by the way, part of that included just being within view of the Garden of Gethsemane, right? That was where the temple precipice would be that Jesus would be encouraged to jump off of. And Satan brought him up then to the pinnacle of the temple. So angels came following that period of temptation. The angels ministered to Jesus.

What's interesting is we have no details as to what that looks like. I don't know about you, I don't have the angel manual that says what to do to minister to the Son of God, right? I don't have any idea. So it just says that the angel did, or previously that the angels did, minister and strengthen. We don't know what that looks like, but it's also apparently unique. They ministered to his humanity. His deity didn't lack anything. They ministered to his humanity.

Hebrews 2.9 gives us some insight here.

But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For a little while made lower than the angels. So here are these angels coming to minister to Him. And in this position for He was a little while lower than the angels. Luke 22 44 reads, and being in agony he was praying very fervently and his sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground.

Certainly being crucified had to be a horrible, horrible death. It was one of the most cruel ways you could possibly imagine dying. And these Romans were unfortunately very good at it. They had lots and lots of practice. We have record, for example, outside of scripture that they did as many as 6,000 crucifixions at once. So this was not something that was just done once in a while here and there. They got lots of practice at it. It may even been somewhat monotonous to them.

Taking the sins of the whole world for all time upon himself, imagine you're going to pay for the sins of the whole world within a few hours. You will experience the wrath of the Father against all those sins for all time. This is what Jesus is anticipating, is this period of wrath after having eternity past unbroken fellowship. So anticipating the bearing of our sins was in Christ's humanity a horrific weight and even in his deity a time period, and time is a created entity, a time period of horrific pain from being separated from the Father and receiving his wrath. Here's Luke 22, 45 and 46, when he rose from prayer he came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow. And I would add to that probably from some lamb and probably from some unleavened bread and four cups of dilute wine.

And he said to them, why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation, which he of course had told them in the first place. We have the insight from the other Gospels that Jesus actually went back and forth like this three times. that in fact he had repeatedly done this. So Luke kind of shortens it up in terms of just kind of one cycle of going back, when in fact with all the Gospels we get the picture three times. He went back and, wake up, why are you sleeping? So the disciples had just experienced the weirdest Passover their entire lives. They didn't understand most of what Jesus said or did. during their time in the upper room.

We look back on it now and say, oh boy, this is a great time. He said these wonderful things. But to them, they were just confused. They were distressed. He said things that they didn't understand, but what they could grasp of it was it wasn't something they were going to like. So now after this meal, he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane, and they're overwhelmed. They're both baffled and confused.

They began to cope by just sleeping it all off. The disciples don't understand how spiritually pivotal a moment is upon them. They have no idea. All they know is they're sleepy. They don't understand most of what Jesus said. What they do understand was distressing, right? Bothersome, troublesome.

So Satan had demanded and was granted for him to sift the disciples, all of them, like wheat. All the eleven disciples are going to keep on, continue, to trust Jesus, right? Believe in God, believe also in me? Is that what they're going to do? Not so much. Are they going to pray to continue in faith in God as these hours and days ahead come to pass? No, not really.

Luke 22, 47, while he was still speaking, behold, a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them, and he approached Jesus to kiss him. Imagine, all this time they're wondering, who's he talking about being the betrayer? Then they find out. They start to get a grasp of what is happening here. Here's John 18, 2 through 6, which gives us some additional insight about what happened that night.

And it says, And now Judas also, who was betraying him, knew the place, for Jesus had often met there with his disciples. Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. I put Roman in italics because it doesn't actually say that. in the original text. It is a Roman word for a cohort or battalion, but it's not actually in there as Roman.

Verse 4, So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, Whom do you seek? They answered Him, Jesus the Nazarene. He said to them, I am He, and if you know why I capitalize that, He said, I, being in fact God, am He. And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. So when He said to them, I, being in fact God, am He, they drew back and fell to the ground." So it's amazing. He first said this, I am He, in words that were understood as, I am in fact God. They drew back and fell to the ground.

They were impacted that much by His words. It says there in Matthew and Mark and Luke that a crowd came. And that, of course, a crowd could be, you know, various sizes. John records using this particular word, it means a cohort or a battalion, usually about 600 men, although it could vary up to a thousand. So this is a pretty good-sized crowd of people coming out, and it appears to be a collection. Some of them are soldiers, some of them are just the high priests and that group. Some of them are servants and of the household of the high priests. So this is quite a group, possibly including some genuine Roman soldiers. It seems to be more of a collection, a combination among the group.

Judas Iscariot led the group because of course he knows where Jesus is going to be and he is going to at least attempt to kiss Christ in order to point out this is the one whom you are to arrest. And Jesus also stepped ahead of his disciples to come out and meet them. Judas approached Jesus to kiss Him so as to mark Him as the one for the cohort there, or battalion, to arrest. Here's Luke 22, 49 and 50.

When those who were around Him saw what was going to happen, they said, Lord, shall we strike with the sword? And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. So, we have to ask, what were they thinking? So far as we know, there were eleven disciples with two swords. You're going to take on 600 men, almost all of whom are armed. That's not good. This is a bad deal. So anyway, the question was asked of Jesus, shall we? And they didn't wait for the answer. Rush in! Shall we? Lunge! Now, it was more like an announcement than asking permission, and they asked quickly and didn't wait for Jesus to answer.

It was one of those times when Jesus could click on the undo button, and we find out that this is Peter who did the ear cutting to fix Peter's problem, right? So, and also we find out that it's the right ear, okay? Both Dr. Luke and John wrote that the high priest's servant lost his right ear. Thus the expression, you know, it's all fun and games until somebody loses an ear, right? Okay. We went from John that the disciples swung, we learned from John rather, the disciple who swung fast and first, kind of fast and furious, right? Okay.

It was Peter who cut off the ear of Malchus. That is John that gives us that. that this high priest's servant, whose right ear was cut off, his name was Malchus. So, it's a good thing that the armed cohort did not react to that and just start charging, because they'd have wiped them all out, I'm sure.

But Jesus' immediate response, no, stop! As a matter of fact, I can imagine Jesus saying, no, stop, right as the ear is being cut off. And seeing that Jesus is not wanting this to happen, perhaps that is what stopped them from reacting with a great violent reaction. So Luke 22, 51, but Jesus answered and said, stop, no more of this. And he also said, according to the other Gospels, put the sword back in its sheath. We're not doing this.

He touched his ear and healed him. Now I have a question. Did he pick up the ear and put it back on, or did he touch it and he instantly grew another one? Which one? In any boats, one way or the other, right? It doesn't say, except it was reread Luke directly, he touched his ear and healed him. So he, it sounds like from reading this, he just touched it and grew another one. Amazing. So Jesus quickly stopped Peter from going on here with this foolish defensive action. Then he immediately restored the severed ear. We're going to fix this. Click undo.

What's rather amazing here is that there doesn't appear to be any spiritual realizations on the part of those who are coming, including the high priests and the servants and all that. When Jesus said, I am He, and everybody drops back, falls over, and then restores Malchus here, nobody has any aha moments. Isn't that amazing? I mean, wouldn't you think that they would? But nobody does. There's no evidence that anybody goes, Wow! This guy really is the Messiah! This guy really is who he says he is. No, it doesn't happen. As a matter of fact, the disciples don't even seem to have any enlightening moments either, right?

So, here's Luke 22.52, And Jesus said to the chief priests and the officers of the temple and the elders who had come against Him, Have you come out with swords and clubs as you would against a robber? So Jesus rebuked them with this. and the other leaders coming out with a cohort and full weaponry, and throw a few clubs in there, right? As if they're arresting a robber, like the ones Jesus was going to be crucified between, right?

Those kind. There had not been one instance of Jesus robbing anyone. And what do the robbers do? They hide out. and surprise somebody. Had Jesus hidden out and surprised somebody? Not that. Had he hurt anyone? No. Had he threatened anyone? No. These men, however, were afraid of the people. That's what their fear was all about. They were afraid of the people.

We get that from Luke 20.19 and 22.2. They were very afraid of the people, which would explain why they would come at night, why they would meet Him at some place and at a time when everyone else would be busy with something else, like falling asleep from the Passover meal. These men were very much afraid of the people.

Here's Luke 22.53, While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me, but this hour and the power of darkness are yours. Jesus was, in fact, with them daily. That's what we saw earlier in the Gospel of Luke, and that also is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew as well.

He taught daily. He answered questions. He even asked some questions, especially when they were done asking questions of him. But there's no word of any attack on his part, except for him cleansing the temple. And when we Read about Jesus cleansing the temple. He does make a whip. What does he use the whip on? The animals. He whips the animals to get them out and he dumps over the tables.

But there's no evidence they went and hurt anybody. He's not a threat in that regard. So the leaders of the Jews certainly had lots of opportunity to take Jesus into custody earlier in the week. He was there in the temple every day. But they feared the people. They feared the people.

Let's take a look at Peter here. When Peter should have been praying, instead he slept. And you can say the same for the others. When Peter should have been listening, instead he spoke. When Peter should have been humble, he boasted. Oh, I will follow you to prison and to death. When he should have been waiting for Jesus' answer, he sliced and diced, right? Instead, Peter jumps and acts contrary to what the Lord would have answered if Peter had waited. And Peter, Jesus has warned, will deny the Lord rather than claim Him. So, after doing all these things wrong, Peter's put out of commission and never ministers again, right?

That's not what happens, is it? The Lord instead commissioned him, as we'll see later, Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord. Feed my lambs. Peter, do you love me? Oh, yes, Lord. You know that I do. Feed my lambs. Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. And after we have done things and not done things, the Lord can still put us back in commission, too.

Something we'll be looking at next week, Dr. Leigh and Rittmeyer, who by the way is working with the authors of that earlier book on the final days of Jesus, is talking to Bryant G. Wood. Bryant G. Wood has spoken in this room about 14 years ago. And Dr. Rittmeyers will see, I believe he knows the exact place where Peter was standing when his eyes met Jesus' eyes after dying Christ three times. And we'll take a look at that next week.

I'd like to turn our attention to John 17 briefly here. We're not going to go through it. But just to look at it, in John 17, which records more of what Jesus prayed, aside from what Dr. Luke had for us here, he prays first to the Father for himself. Notice that that is the minority of what he prays for himself, interestingly. From verses 6 to verse 19, he prays for these 11. But from verses 20-26, He prays for you and for me. He prayed more for you and for me than He prayed for Himself.

Isn't that amazing? I think that should tell us how much He loves us. And I think you should take it personally. Ever hear somebody say, don't take that personally? We do the opposite here. I think you should take this personally. He prayed more for you than he did for himself in this passage. And it's because he really, really loves you. And even though in his humanity he would rather say, I'd rather not do this. He really, really loves you. Let's take a look briefly, John 17, 20 and 21.

I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those who will believe in me through their work. Are you among those? Yeah. That they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. You are in me, and I in you. They also may be in us. Romans chapter 8. Are you in the Spirit? Yep. Are you in Christ? Romans chapter 6. Yep. John 17. Are you in the Father? Yep.

You are in positionally all three persons of the Trinity. John 17, 22-24, the glory which you have given me I have given to them that they may be one just as we are one. I in them and you in me that they may be perfected in unity so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you have loved me. Pause one moment there. I in them. So you are in Christ and Christ is in you. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory which you have given me.

For you loved me before the foundation of the world." It is that love from before the foundation of the world that Christ is going to miss miserably on the cross in just a few hours. That's when he's going to say, My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me? It's that breaking of fellowship with the Father that he has so enjoyed from all eternity past up to this moment. You can tell he's enjoying it then. He knows that the Father loves him, but it's going to be broken for a few hours that next day.

You love me before the foundation of the world. John 17 25 and 26 O righteous father although the world has not known you yet I have known you and these have known you that you sent me and I have made your name known to them and I will make it known so that the love which you love me may be in them and I in them. This is starting off with talking with the disciples but actually still includes you too.

So Jesus prayed for you before he went to the cross. He prayed to the Father. The things that he said here are marvelous truths, wonderful, wonderful things. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that as we look at these marvelous, rich truths, we thank you that You have had the gospel authors record these precious things, even immensity and intensity and intimacy of fellowship with you. And we see in these words that Christ prayed that we would be a part of that too. And he prayed not just hoping, but knowing in fact that these things would come about, that they would in fact be real and they're true of us. And we just thank you for that. What tremendous comfort and what closeness, what intimacy you intend for us to have with you. The intimacy is there in who we are and who you are in us. And we just thank you in Jesus name. Amen.