For what did Jesus pray [in the Garden of Gethsemane]? Some have thought Jesus prayed to be spared the crucifixion. Some have thought that after agreeing to die for man's sin, planning it with the Father even before the world began, that Jesus would now avoid it! Some have thought Jesus was here praying against the Scriptures, contrary to the will of God. Some have thought that even now Jesus supposed there might be some other way to save poor sinners. God forbid! No, no; Jesus was praying IN the will of God, and not contrary to it. And He got what He asked. To understand the prayer of Jesus, twice-repeated, see the explanation of it in Hebrews 5:7, "Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared." Jesus prayed in Gethsemane to the Father "that was able to save him from death' that night, save Him from the unscriptural death in the Garden of Gethsemane, and spare Him for the Scriptural death on the cross tomorrow. That is what Jesus asked, and that is what He got! - John R. Rice [Revival Appeals, pgs. 135-136]
Jesus did not ask that the bitter cup of death would be avoided and taken entirely away. Rather He prayed that it should pass from Him for the time being [in the Garden of Gethsemane], that He might not die that night, "and was heard in that he feared." God the Father granted that prayer. Jesus prayed in the Father's will and not contrary to it. In fact, in the prayer itself, Jesus had plainly said He was not asking for His own will, but according to the Father's will. He said, "nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matt. 26:39). That was not a prayer of sad resignation to a duty that He did not want to perform. No, no! Rather it was fervent prayer that the Father would send help and help Him live until tomorrow to die according to the Father's own plan.
Oh, thank God, the Saviour's prayer was heard! Jesus had said, "I knew that thou hearest me always" (John 11:42). So an angel was sent and strengthened Him, and Jesus lived to die on the cross "according to the scriptures." - John R. Rice [Revival Appeals, pg. 136]
Any careful student must be profoundly impressed with the thoroughness God used in proving His case that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Born of a virgin, of the house of David, of the tribe of Judah, in Bethlehem; dying on the appointed dau, hands and feet peirced with nails after having been betrayed by a friend, fulfilling the picture of Psalm 22 perfectly, with soldiers casting lots for His garments, with the elders mocking Him, He fulfilled every detail of prophecy. And then, when He gave up the ghost, a soldier, surely not knowing what he did, took the spear and pierced His side! Thus the Scripture was fulfilled. Thus, then, "they shall look upon me whom they have pierced." - John R. Rice [Revival Appeals, pg. 137]
The unpardonable sin is committed only by lost people, and then it is the sin of those who do not want to be saved and deliberately refuse salvation. There is no other unpardonable sin. ― John R. Rice
I believe that Jesus was not crucified on Friday, but on Wednesday. Preachers have usually accepted the Roman Catholic teaching that He was crucified on Friday and have never investigated what the Bible teaches on that subject. All Bible evidence proves that Jesus was crucified on Wednesday, buried that night, and arose from the dead some time Saturday night, before sunrise Sunday morning. Remember that the Jewish day began at sundown and the night was counted a part of the following day.
Matthew 12:40 plainly says that Jesus would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, or the grave, like Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly. If Jesus were crucified Friday and raised Saturday night, or before sunrise Sunday morning, He would have been in the grave one day and part of two nights. Certainly that would not fulfill His plain promise.
Many people have supposed that John 19:31 was evidence that Jesus was crucified on Friday since the Jews wished to take His body down before the Sabbath. Notice, however, that "that Sabbath day was an high day." It was not an ordinary weekly Sabbath, but an annual Sabbath, the one mentioned in Exodus 12:16. It was a day of rest, the first of seven days of eating of unleavened bread, the day on which the Passover lamb was eaten.
So Jesus was crucified on Wednesday, was taken down from the cross before sunset Wednesday (John 19:31)... Jesus stayed in the grave fully seventy-two hours, three days and three nights, and arose then some time Saturday night, that is, part of Sunday, the first day of the week which began at sundown. - John R. Rice [Dr, Rice, Here is My Question, question 55]
Jesus will be the only one in Heaven with scars. His wounds will be the eternal reminder of salvation by God's wonderful grace through faith in the death of His Son. ― John R. Rice [Revival Appeals, pg. 143]
We have good reason to believe that when Jesus comes and our vile bodies are changed and glorified, we will have no more scars. In Isaiah 35:5, 6 we are told that in the happy day of the resurrection "the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing." The weakness, the frailties, the scars of our mortal bodies will all be cured in the glorified bodies. In Romans 8:23 Paul reminds us that "ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." Our bodies are to be saved then, cured from the marks of our sin. ... I believe this crooked nose which I got playing college football will be straight, and many another crooked thing about my nature, as well as scars on my body, will be cured in that good day. When I was called to the Army, in 1917, the induction papers carried a record of the scar on my right wrist cut by an axe, of the slash on the side of the left elbow cut when a bull ran into the fence with me. But in Heaven that Army record will be out of date. My scars will be gone! ― John R. Rice [Revival Appeals, pg. 143]
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