Comming up with gimme 5 things is hard. I propose we just do a regular Bible Trivia and you can still as for 5-somethings if you want. I have got a couple up my sleave, I want to try out. I think this one might be tricky.


What was the scene of Jesus' greatest agony?

(For these kinds of questions, it would be helpful to explain your conclusions, because others might want to know how you came up with that OR if you don't give the particular answer I'm looking for, prehaps you answer is just as good, so explain it.)

Ok, here's a try...

What came to my mind first is Jesus' agony while He was praying in the garden of Gethsemane. It was during the night just before His betrayer, Judas Iscariot, arrived on the scene with the Roman guards to arrest Him.

The Bible says that His sweats became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. It must have been a terrible experience. I have read elsewhere that there is a medical term for this condition, that when a person undergoes severe stress and agony, he could literally sweat drops of blood through the capillaries on his skin.

Only a while ago in the upper room before He went to Gethsemane with His disciples, Jesus was still cheerful while He was encouraging His disciples not to be troubled, saying that He would send His Comforter after His resurrection later, and that He said all those things so that His joy might remain in them. (John 15:11)

However, when Jesus and His disciples reached Gethsemane, and when He prepared to pray, Jesus began to be troubled and deeply distressed. He said to Peter, James and John, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch." (Mark 14:34)

Jesus knew His hour had come, when He would soon be led away by the Roman soldiers, and would undergo gruelling trials where He would be falsely accused and mocked, and then beaten and scourged, and finally be made to carry the wooden cross all the way to Mount Calvary, where He would be crucified for six hours. Not only that, on the cross, He would be bearing all the sins and sicknesses of the whole world, and be forsaken by His Father in heaven. On the cross, He would bear the full brunt of the fiery wrath of judgment of God on our behalf upon Himself, until every stroke of God's justice is satisfied for God to clear us from all guilt.

The very thought of going through all these must have been terrible. Jesus prayed, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevetheless, not what I will, but what You will." (Mark 14:36) Even in His agony, Jesus still desires to do the will of His Father. Isn't He beautiful? Also, it shows Jesus did not choose to die for us reluctantly, but He did it willingly. He could have said, "Father, this cup is too much for Me to bear. Please take me back to heaven", and God would grant His beloved Son His wish, but that would mean there would be no redemption for our sins, and we would all remain destined to end up in the lake of fire when we die. Thank God Jesus was willing to be our Sin-bearer, because He loves us so much.

Luke 22:43 mentions that an angel appeared to Jesus from heaven, strengthening Him. That shows the Father's heart, for He knows what His Son would go through later. Because later on at the cross, there would be no angel helping Him, and He Himself had to turn His holy face away from His Son because His Son was bearing all our sins, causing darkness to cover the whole earth for three hours.

Thank God for Jesus. Thank God that His Son was willing to die for us so that we might live and be reconciled to Him forever when we take Him as our Lord and Saviour.

Very good, you got it. I think people would of wanted to say the cross.

The word "agony" is only used when describing Gethsemane. While the cross might of been some agony, the blood from every pore was something that not even the agonies of the cross produced.

It seems Gethsemane was the scene of Jesus' greatest agony, surpassing that which he suffered on the cross, supported by Mark's description of Jesus' experience (Mark 14:33-39).

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Next:

In a race, who is the faster Apostle. Peter or John?

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Some more theological thoughts on Gethsemane;

It believed that before he was offered up as a final sacrifice for sin, it was in Gethsemane that Jesus took on Himself the sins of the world, in Gethsemane that His pain was equivalent to the cumulative burden of all men, where He descended below all things so that all could repent and if they would come unto Him. Jesus suffering was so great that he asked to be released from his duty if it were somehow possible (something he did not even ask when suffering on the cross).

According to Luke 22:43-44, Jesus' anguish was so deep that "his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground," an observation that harmonizes with the view that Jesus suffered of all sins was in Gethsemane. Its confirmed in other scriptures. His atonement included the shedding of his blood in the garden of Gethsemane and 'then' his death and 'then' a subsequent resurrection from the grave (Isa. 53: 3-12; Mosiah 3: 5-11; Alma 7: 10-13):

The Atonement was foreshadowed by the lamb (Lev. 4; Lev. 23: 26-32; Heb. 9).

Its blood is meant to be a symbol. The blood of the sin offering of atonements. (Ex. 30: 10)

The blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. (Lev. 17: 11)

The cup is my blood of the new testament. (Matt. 26: 28 Mark 14: 24; Luke 22: 20; 1 Cor. 11: 25)

Whoso . . . drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. (John 6: 53-57)

Remove this cup from me... not my will, but thine... being in an agony... his sweat was as it were great drops of blood. (Luke 42-44)

All this is not to say that the cross was not the completion of the atonement, but simply recognize what Gethsemane meant, as where he took upon the guilt of all sin, suffered for those sins, so that the would be punishment of all man's sin would be upon his head when he died, so that upon his death he'd take it with him, he could deposit it, this pay for those sins by his death and satisfy justice for any one who would be willing to accept this offering.

Also, another interesting purpose or Gethsemane, is the idea that Jesus couldn't die before he did that.

Jesus is the Son of God and Mary. In theory, Jesus didn't have blood until Gethsemane. Do to his immortal father, Jesus as some sort of half-god, and for most of his life he could never bleed and be harmed.

When he ministered, he never bleed nor could he be harmed. Attempt of those in Nazareth to kill Christ, he was "passing through the midst of them" such that they could not lay a hand upon him (Luke 4:16-32). Again in the temple "they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come" (John 7:30). Of yet another occasion we read, "They sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hands" (John 10:39).

He couldn't die "yet", he had not bleed.

When Jesus was just praying one day in the garden of Gethsemane and suddenly blood was coming out of his pores, dripping on the ground.

The guilt of sins placed upon him, he could bleed, so much blood his body couldn't contain it, as it was coming out his pours. I asume having recieved blood, he could now bleed and die, seeing how bleed and dieing is what was happening after that prayer.

A spear pierced Christ's side and "blood and water" came out (John 19: 34) Why water?

Perhaps being this Half-God, has had some clear fluid "immortal blood" instead of blood, which now is mixed with blood as its comes out.

Thus the resurrected body of Jesus, retaining certain physical properties.

The resurrected Jesus, after meeting Mary, having "ascended" unto his Father with his resurrected body, showed them his open wounds that weren't bleeding. "Thomas.... reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side" (John 20: 27).

He tell them that he's not a spirit, "a spirit hath not 'flesh and bones' as ye see me have." No mentioning of blood.

Paul says "Flesh and blood' cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption."

Paul the also says: "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body"

Joseph Smith (LDS Prophet) explained that resurrected bodies will be "spiritual" by virtue of "having spirit in their bodies, and not blood." (TPJS pg 200) Bodies of flesh and bone are animated by spirit and not by blood.

The early Christians believed this too. Athenagoras on the resurrection explained that the resurrected body is the same as the mortal body, except that it has no need of blood, as its strictly useful only in mortality. Compare this statement as Athenagoras stated:

"For the bodies that rise again are reconstituted from the parts which properly belong to them, whereas no one of the things mentioned is such a part, nor has it the form or place of a part... since no longer does blood, or phlegm, or bile, or breath, contribute anything to the life. Neither, again, will the bodies nourished then require the things they once required, seeing that, along with the want and corruption of the bodies nourished, the need also of those things by which they were nourished is taken away. " (Athenagoras', The Resurrection of the Dead)

Thanks for sharing the details concerning Jesus' sufferings at Gethsemane. I believe we will all continue to know about His love when we get to heaven. Now, to the question...

In a race, who is the faster Apostle. Peter or John?

This reminds me of the next event after the cruxificion, death and burial of Jesus Christ. Let's follow the story... I will quote some parts from John Kenyon's description in his book "New Creation Realities":

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John 20:1-10 gives us a picture of His Resurrection. "Now on the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, while it was yet dark, unto the tomb, and seeth the stone taken awaqy from the tomb.

"She runneth therefore, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we know not where they have laid Him.

"Peter therefore went forth, and the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb.

"And they ran both together: and the other disciple outran Peter, and came first to the tomb; and stooping and looking in, he seeth the linen clothes lying; yet entered he not in.

"Simon Peter therefore also cometh, following him, and entered into the tomb; and he beholdeth the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, that was upon His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself.

"Then entered in therefore the other disciple also, who came first to the tomb, and he saw, and believed.

"For as yet they knew not the scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.

"So the disciples went away again unto their own home."

What a shock it must have been to MAry.

She had come to the sepulchre to finish the embalming and saw the stone rolled away.

She never stopped to look in but turned and ran back to the room where PEter and John were stopping.

Bursting in upon them she cried, "They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him."

Who had dared to desecrate the tomb?

No people among all the nations paid such reverence to the dead as the Henrew Nation.

The Romans had stripped Him; they had scourged Him; they had nailed Him to the cross, with a mock crown on His Head. That wasn't enough.

Had they dared to desecrate the grave?

Peter and John would not wait; they both started toward the tomb.

John outran Peter and arrived there first.

Stooping down, he looked into the tomb and was staggered at what he saw.

Peter came. He hadn't the fine feelings that actuated John. He just bowed his head and stepped into the sepulchre and John followed him.

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I will stop here... for further reading of Kenyon's writing, get his book. You'll be blessed. :)

Ok, back to the question... Were Peter and John running a race? No, they weren't. So in an actual race, we may never know who is faster. Then why did I type all those verses? Well, I just love the Word of God, and feel like doing some Bible Study... Hope you dun mind. :)

I love because He first loved me, as 1 John declares, so I will boast of His love for me, instead of my love for Him.

The apostle John received the revelations of God's love more than the apostle Peter. John practised the love of Jesus for himself, by describing himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (even though Jesus loves all of us equally). On the other hand, Peter had boasted of his love for Jesus, yet during the night of Jesus' betrayal, Peter was found denying Jesus three times. In comparison, John was at the foot of the cross, where Jesus entrusted His mother to his care.

Lesson for us? When we focus on Jesus' love for us, we end up loving Him more. We end up knowing His heart of love intimately. So, in a race where we run long distance for the Lord, doing His will, we will always be more replenished with energy. Because just as a car needs petrol to continue moving, we need the love of God to continue living victoriously and purposefully. :)

Ultimately, it doesn't matter who is faster. Each of us runs our own race for the Lord. Each of us will get a crown from our Lord Jesus, one that is imperishable. Amen. :)

You nailed it.

Hmm.

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Who is the oldest man who ever lived yet died before his father?

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Methuselah lived to be the ripe old age of 969. He died before his father, Enoch, because Enoch was taken to heaven alive... thus he never died.


hope you didnt want a lecture.... :P