From the Garden to the Cross (1) - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2025

When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered.
John 18:1

From the Garden to the Cross (1)
Leaving the upper room, the blessed Lord with His disciples now crosses over the Brook Kidron. Judas knew the place because this was a well-known place of retirement for Jesus and His disciples. He was wont to go there.

Arrived in the garden of Gethsemane, He withdraws from the main company of His disciples, taking with Him now only Peter, James, and John. These three He had taken with Him to the mount of transfiguration, and they went to sleep in the presence of His glory. Now He takes them into the garden, and they go to sleep in the presence of His sorrow. Such is man. Such is human nature. Such are you and I. We can be alike indifferent to the glory and the sorrow of Christ.

They go to sleep, while the blessed Lord passes from them a little distance and prays. Have you ever pictured this scene of sorrow in the garden? Ah! What sorrow filled the Savior’s heart. Think what lay before Him. All that God or man could put into the cup of woe He was about to drink, He foresaw. It says, “Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward” (Jn. 18:4). The Lord knew at that moment everything coming upon Him, and, knowing everything, He went calmly forth to meet it. How He felt everything! The betrayal of Judas; the coming denial of Peter; the forsaking of all the disciples; the being cast out and cast off by His earthly people the Jews, misunderstood and unwanted; the temptations of the enemy; the bearing of sin; the forsaking of God; wrath, judgment, and death as the end of His pathway here.

W. T. P. Wolston

Alone—apprehended and taken, while lovers forsook Him and fled.
Alone—and completely forsaken, God’s judgment was poured on His head.

Mrs. H. A. Berg