a way of escape

The moment Adam & Eve bit the forbidden fruit they were bit by the serpent and the venom of sin entered our DNA

But they didn’t have to.

satan could only lead them to water, he couldn't make them drink...

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. ( 1 Cor. 10:3)

What is that way of escape?

Jesus told us in, another Garden, a garden called Gethsemane meaning “oil press” as it sat at the foot of the Mount of Olives where olives were crushed until they bled oil...where Jesus was crushed til He sweat blood.

No. This garden is no Eden, no Paradise, where God’s voice “Be fruitful and multiply” still echoes off the fruits of the trees, surrounded by beautiful rivers like Pison and Gihon and Hiddekel and Euphrates; meaning increase, and bursting forth and rapid and fruitful; where gold and all precious stones lie aplenty. No, this garden, Gethsemane, is dark, surrounded by names like Golgotha, because it resembles a skull. 

The dull thud of hammers on bloody nails murmurs through the trees…and the snoring of eleven men, too weary to watch …too weak to pray.

And there, in the distance, about a stone’s throw away, the sound of a Man on His knees, the words can barely be heard through His groanings, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me…but…not My will, but Thine be done.”   

It is here in this dark garden where we learn how He resisted temptation, where everyone from Adam and Eve to you and me can resist temptation, can find our way of escape….

Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.And he went a little farther, 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 thou wilt.And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

 ipray4u

Doug