This study is based on the principle contained in 2Corinthians 13:1, which is: Let every word be established by two or three witnesses. There are premises brought forth that are not generally taught in denominational theology but I pray that anyone who reads it will be as the brethren of Berea, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so (Acts 17:11). Any comments or suggestions that would bring greater clarity and understanding to the word of God are welcome.

. Throughout Christianity, salvation is preached by way of Calvary for that is where we obtain the forgiveness of our sins (plural). Yet, the most overlooked aspect of the substitutional sacrifice of Jesus Christ is that of Gethsemane, for it was there that Jesus offered his soul as a sacrifice for Sin (singular). At Gethsemane, Jesus reestablished total submission and obedience to God’s authority and will in man’s behalf, that was lost when Adam transgressed in the garden of Eden. Before we can partake of Calvary, we must partake of Gethsemane. It is there that selfishness, pride, and self will are put to death so that we submit and receive God’s provision of forgiveness for our sins. As we search the scriptures, we will see that this is abundantly documented. Gethsemane and Calvary together reveal the purpose and result of our Lord’s sacrifice, which is the total restoration of man’s spirit, soul, and body, into relationship, fellowship, and intimacy with God.

The Bible is very distinct in distinguishing between Sin (singular noun) and sins (plural verb). Sin is the fallen state of human nature in which the soul is estranged from God. The soul consists of the mind, will, and emotions and is synonymous with self. It is what makes us unique as individual personalities. Sin is of the soul and can be characterized by rebellion and disobedience. Sin is driven by the desire to fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Sins are the continuing series of acts, manifested through the flesh, that are a result of the Sin nature. Sins are of the flesh. It is very important to see this distinction because it helps to document the need for that portion of the sacrifice that occurred at Gethsemane as well as that of Calvary. To further document the premises stated heretofore, we must go back to man’s beginning.

Adam and Eve were created to live forever, in that, they were created in God’s image and likeness (Gen.1:26-27). God formed man from the dust of the earth (flesh), breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (spirit), and man became a living soul (soul)(Gen.2:7). God imparted the eternal essence of his Spirit into the substance of man’s flesh and man became a unique personality with an eternal existence.

Our relationship with God the Father can be characterized by righteousness and holiness (Eph.4:24). Righteousness essentially means right standing or innocence. Holiness is the awesome perfection only God possesses that sets him above and apart from all his creation. When Adam and Eve were created, they stood in God’s righteousness and in the presence of his holiness. Gen.2:25 says they were both naked and were not ashamed. In other words, their whole being was fully exposed before God and they were without fault. Gen.3:8-9 gives the impression that God had continual fellowship with man in the garden. Luke 3:38 tells us that Adam was a son of God having therefore a family relationship with God that entailed close intimate fellowship.

God took Adam and placed him in the Garden of Eden. He gave him responsibility and authority to oversee everything within the garden. The only command given to Adam was "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." What God was saying was "don’t circumvent my authority and position by deciding on your own what is good or evil. If you do this, you will sever the intimate family relationship that we have because of your rebellion against me and you will die." This is the Law of Sin and Death (Gen.2:15-17). Death began to work in Adam when he partook of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It affected his whole being: spirit, soul, and flesh. Spiritual death occurred through the severance of relationship and fellowship with God. He could no longer stand before God in righteousness and holiness. Soulish death occurred because man stopped relying upon God to guide him. He became self oriented and relied upon his own views and opinions to make decisions. His thoughts became separated from God and his personality no longer reflected or represented God (Adam begat sons in his own image and likeness, Gen.5:3). Death began in the flesh because the glory of God’s presence departed. Man’s flesh deteriorated until it returned to the dust from whence it came (Gen.3:19). Man hid from God, as most continue to do today (Gen.3:8). The family relationship was lost and so was eternal life because of disobedience to God’s word.

Although man’s situation appeared to be hopeless, God had already formulated a plan to restore man to his previous state of existence. God’s plan involved the substitutionary sacrifice of his son to atone for man’s transgression. This atonement would be complete, encompassing man’s spirit, soul, and body. It is interesting to note that the order in which man entered the world was body, spirit, and soul (Gen.2:7). In man’s departure from the world, through the death of Jesus, that order is reversed (as in the swing of a pendulum): soul, spirit, and body. Jesus put his soul (self will) to death at Gethsemane, he partook of spiritual death on the cross (which is separation of relationship with God, i.e. Father, Father, why hast thou forsaken me?), and finally his body died. Jesus partook of the full sentence of the law of sin and death on our behalf.

The atonement of Calvary where Jesus offered his flesh as a sacrifice for sins is evident. It was performed in public and proclaimed to the world for all to see. There is a multitude of scripture that gives testimony to what Jesus accomplished. 1Peter 2:24 says Jesus "bare our sins (plural) in his own body on the tree." Galatians 1:4 tells us that Jesus "gave himself for our sins (plural)". Calvary represents the flesh. It has substance that can be seen by all. The work of the cross was manifested publicly to the whole world. Gethsemane represents the soul. It’s substance cannot be seen. The work of God on the soul is done in the privacy of individual relationship, but the result is manifested through the flesh. The sacrifice at Gethsemane was manifested through the sacrifice at Calvary. Calvary is a manifestation of obedience to God’s will, the obedience which was accomplished at Gethsemane.

In John 6:54-55, the Lord said "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed". When we partake of the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ we become participants not only in the greatest act of love ever to occur, but also in the two most awesome acts of submission to authority and obedience in the history of man. The flesh and the blood are representative of Calvary and Gethsemane. You cannot partake of the flesh only or the blood only. You must partake of the whole sacrifice, both Calvary and Gethsemane, for the full restorative work of Jesus Christ to work in you because they are inseparable.

Hebrews 8:1-5 says that those sacrifices and ministries of the tabernacle contained in the Old Testament are examples and shadows of heavenly things. They are patterns of those things that were fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ. In the rituals performed in the law there is a clear reference to two deaths or two distinct aspects of sacrifice. For instance, in Numbers 8 when the Levites were separated for service unto the Lord, there were two bullocks offered unto the Lord, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In other words, one for the soul and the other for the flesh. In the tabernacle sacrifices, the animal was first put to death and the blood taken before the flesh was offered up on the brazen altar. Jesus began the sacrifice at Gethsemane with the death of his soul, his self-will, to obey the will of the Father that he go to the cross and it was here that the blood of the sacrifice was first taken (Lk.22:44). The sacrifice was finished at Calvary with the offering of his flesh.

Gethsemane is where the Lord offered up his soul as a sacrifice for sin (singular) fulfilling Isaiah 53:10-12. It was the souls of Adam and Eve that fell in the garden, choosing to disobey God which birthed sin in man. It is not coincidence that Adam was defeated in a garden and Jesus was victorious in a garden, both in battles of the soul. Jesus, as the second Adam, came to restore man from a self-willed soul to a soul submitted and obedient to the will of God. Romans 5:19 says "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Leviticus 17:11 says that "the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I (God) have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul". The Hebrew word NEPHESH is used both for life and soul. The Hebrew word BASAR, translated as flesh, also means self. So verse 11 could also be translated as "the soul of self is in the blood". The blood sacrifice represents not only the death of the flesh but the self willed soul also; Jesus offered his soul to redeem us from Sin. We see in Matthew 26:37-44 that it was in Gethsemane where the travail of the Lord's soul took place and where he poured out his soul unto death. In fact, Jesus’ statement "my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death" was a direct reference pointing us to Isaiah 53. In Luke 22:42-44 the Lord asks the Father to remove the cup from him, but he said "nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." It was here that he poured out the life (soul) of the flesh when the blood fell as sweat. It says in Hebrews 12:4, "You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin". Jesus strove against sin (disobedience), resisting unto blood when he was in Gethsemane. He did not strive against sin at Calvary, it was there that he became the sin offering so that sin could be judged (2Cor.5:21, Ro.8:3) according to the Father’s will.

Jesus said in John 15:13, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." The Greek word for life is PSUCHE, also meaning: soul. Again, Jesus said in Mt.20:28 "Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life (Psuche) a ransom for many. In Isaiah 53:10-12 it says that it pleased the Father to bruise the Lord and bring him to grief after he offered his soul an offering for sin. It was after Gethsemane that the Lord was bruised and brought to grief at Calvary. After the travail of his soul at Gethsemane he bore our iniquities at Calvary. After he poured out his soul unto death at Gethsemane, he was numbered with the transgressors bearing the sin of many at Calvary. Sin, which is disobedience, was birthed in the soul. Sins are the manifestation of sin, birthed in the flesh through our constant acts of disobedience to God. The sacrifice for Sin occurred at Gethsemane when Jesus put his soul (self-will) to death to obey the Father. The sacrifice for sins occurred at Calvary when Jesus died in the flesh, taking upon himself all of our sins, sicknesses, and the curses that were the result of our Sin. Phillippians 2:8 says the Lord humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Here again we see the two aspects of death in the one sacrifice. Obedience unto death occurred at Gethsemane; the death of the cross occurred at Calvary. Both Gethsemane and Calvary ended with the shedding of blood as seen in Luke 22:44 and John 19:34. Hebrews 9:22 says that almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

It was needful then that when Jesus was sacrificed for us that both the soul and body should die. Hence we have Gethsemane and Calvary. We can see this sequence of order in the sacrifices of the tabernacle in the Old Testament. Look at the order in the sacrifice of the passover lamb in Exodus chapter 12. In the Passover sacrifice the lamb is put to death, the blood taken and struck on the doorposts, then the lamb roasted and eaten. The Red Heifer of Numbers chapter 19 is sacrificed to be a purification for sin. Notice that the heifer is put to death and the blood taken and sprinkled before the door to the tabernacle prior to the burning of the sacrifice. You will find this same order in all the temple sacrifices outlined in Leviticus. The soul of the animal was put to death before the flesh was offered on the altar. In essence, when Jesus went to the cross where his flesh was offered, his soul had already been put to death.

Jesus was the King who was hung from a tree, becoming a curse that our sins would be upon him and buried with him that the land would no longer be defiled. This fulfilled the shadow and type in Deuteronomy 21:22-23, Joshua 8:2,23-29 and 10:26-40. Again, notice that the kings are already dead before they are hung on the tree. In fulfilling the type, Jesus, the King of the Jews, had died to self before he was hung on the tree, taking our sins upon himself, to die in the flesh. The reason the kings were hung on the tree was because they were the authority responsible for everything that happened in their kingdom. The sins that defiled the land were placed upon them and buried with them. Jesus, being THE KING, took responsibility for the sins of the world; thus cleansing ALL.

Through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus we see not only the love of God in the Father, providing a sacrifice to deliver his children from the law of sin and death, but also the love of God in Jesus where he submits to the will of the Father in the offering of his soul at Gethsemane and his body at Calvary. When Jesus entered into the Most Holy after the resurrection to pour his blood on the mercy seat he poured the blood of the whole sacrifice. Now, when the Father sees the blood, he sees Jesus not only at Calvary where our sins are forgiven but at Gethsemane as well, where self-will was put to death to establish obedience and submission to His will.

In entering into the Kingdom of God, we partake of the whole sacrifice. Earlier we saw that Jesus said we must eat his flesh and drink his blood for us to have eternal life. When we partake of the flesh (Calvary) we are forgiven all of our sins which enables us to begin a renewed fellowship with God. We become the tabernacle of God wherein he now dwells and when we receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit we are given power enabling us to continually live in righteousness and holiness, witnessing to the world the resurrection of Jesus Christ by our manifest actions. But if Calvary was all that we needed to partake of then we would never again sin against God. We saw before that sins are a manifestation in the flesh of the sin that dwells in our soul. Calvary took care of our sins, Gethsemane takes care of the sin.

Gethsemane is not a one time experience but is a progression of experiences that purge the soul of self-will. Even Jesus learned obedience by the things he experienced (Heb.5:8). Jesus partook of the Gethsemane experience many times. John 18:1-2 tells us that Jesus often resorted in Gethsemane with his disciples. Luke 22:39 tells us that he went to Gethsemane as he was wont (accustomed, habitually). This points out that his presence in Gethsemane on the night he was betrayed was the culmination of many experiences there where he poured out his self will to do his Father’s will. Jesus knew that his end would be at the cross (Mt.16:21, 17:23, 20:18-19, 26:2, Mk.10:32-34). Being in the form of a man subject to temptation (Heb.2:18), he certainly had to continually pour out his self will to fulfill the will of the Father. Likewise, we as his disciples must continually drink the cup of his suffering represented by Gethsemane. Paul wrote in Phillippians 3:10 that he wanted to know Jesus, the power of his resurrection (the Holy Spirit), and the fellowship of his suffering, being made conformable unto his death. The death Paul is speaking of here is that of self, which Jesus accomplished at Gethsemane. The progression of Gethsemane experiences we endure cause us to become one with God’s will. In turn, this causes us to commit less sins. Calvary brings forgiveness, Gethsemane brings change.

We do not have the power of ourselves to be obedient to God. Jesus said in John 15:5 that without him we can do nothing. It is therefore necessary that we be born again coming through the cross at Calvary so that we can receive the engrafted word (Jas.1:21) and enabling power from the Holy Spirit to go to Gethsemane and purge the soul of self-will. Even though we separate Gethsemane from Calvary, it is only for clarification because they both comprise the one sacrifice. We actually partake of them simultaneously and continuously from the day we are born again because we submit the soul in obedience to make Jesus Lord of our life according to the will of the Father which allows us to obtain the forgiveness of sins.

In Genesis 22:8, Abraham said to Isaac that God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. This was when Abraham, in obedience to God, was preparing to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. God provided another sacrifice because Abraham was obedient, not withholding his only son. Abraham called that place Jehovah-jireh, meaning God will provide. John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life". God's own son was the lamb he provided. There will never be another sacrifice. Jesus did it all for us, Gethsemane and Calvary was the fulfillment of the law of sin and death, established by God in Genesis 2:17, which required death for the act of sin. Upon completion of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, man had now died spirit, soul, and body so that, with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we can now be restored spirit, soul, and body.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul shares about the supper eaten the night the Lord was betrayed. Jesus told the disciples to eat the bread and drink the wine in remembrance of him. Paul goes on to say that as often as we eat the bread and drink of the cup that we do show the Lord's death till he comes. To partake of the communion the Lord provided for us, we not only eat the bread of his flesh given at Calvary but must also drink of the cup of his suffering given at Gethsemane. In doing so, we will publish and manifest the fullness of his death which will bring us into the fullness of the resurrection life. Remember also, that we do not show the Lord’s death by physically partaking of the communion, it is by applying what they represent in our lives and manifesting it.

It is very easy to preach Calvary to people for it is there that forgiveness is obtained. The only requirement is to confess Jesus as Lord. Seemingly a very easy process. Gethsemane on the other hand is not so well received, even in the church, because it is there that change is required. It is at Gethsemane that we encounter God’s authority and the requirement to submit to his will. The revelation of Gethsemane reveals what it truly means to confess Jesus as Lord and be born again. In Romans 10:9 it states "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." The full meaning of the Greek word translated "confess" is: to declare openly by way of speaking out freely, such confession being the effect of deep conviction of facts. The word Lord means: supreme authority, master, and king. In other words when we freely acknowledge with our lips that which is a fact in our heart, that Jesus is our King, Master, and Supreme Authority with the full right to dictate to us how we think, feel, and act, then we shall be saved. That reveals the importance of Gethsemane in our life. We must pour out our hauty, puffed up, prideful, and rebellious soul to conform to the will of our Almighty God and Father. The Father has provided the way through his Son to obtain the life of the second Adam, but we must proceed beyond Calvary and immerse ourselves in Gethsemane.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, "wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be which go in thereat. Because narrow (strait) is the gate and to suffer affliction (narrow) is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Gethsemane is not a pleasant experience because death is not pleasant, but it’s needful. In Matthew 7:21, Jesus went on to say that "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." How needful is Gethsemane in the church today, for without it the church will never mature into the fullness of Christ manifesting the power thereof.

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