Morning & Evening Daily Devotional Reading– March 23

by Charles H. Spurgeon, Revised and Edited by William C. Neff

“His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

—Luke 22:44

The mental pressure arising from our Lord’s struggle with temptation forced his body into an unnatural excitement, and his pores sent forth great drops of blood that fell down to the ground. This proves how tremendous the weight of the world’s sin must have been to him. It also demonstrates the mighty power of his love.

We know that when certain trees are cut they gush forth with sap. But the sap that arises naturally without cutting is always the best. To be sure Jesus was later cut with whips and nails, producing the sap of His love; but look at him now in the Garden! He gives forth the best spices when there is no whip, no nail, and no wound. This shows us the voluntary nature of Christ’s sufferings for us, since without a single cut the blood flowed freely and spontaneously. Usually when men suffer great pain of mind the blood rushes inward to the heart and they turn pale. But our Savior in His agony was so oblivious to self that his blood is driven outward to fall like dew on the earth for us.

Here we find a picture of the fullness of the offering he made for men. Do we perceive how intense his wrestling must have been? The Apostle tells us that we “have not yet resisted unto blood in our striving against sin.” Let us learn to sweat with the intensity of our Savior, rather than to yield to the great tempter of our souls. [M&E]