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A recent Newsweek study says 1 in 25 people executed in the U.S. were innocent. While some may question the accuracy of the study, still it shows that some innocent people are put to death, and that should bother all of us. But it raises the question: What does it feel like to face death knowing you are innocent? Was that on the mind of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane? Though perfectly innocent of any crime, He volunteered to take our place as God’s sacrificial Lamb. And many believe the Gethsemane experience was far more painful than hanging on the Cross; that in Gethsemane, God the Father turned His back on His Son, allowing Him to experience the Father’s full wrath on our behalf. So those who argue that a loving God would never allow a person to experience His wrath ought to take a good look at God’s Son in Gethsemane—or hanging on the Cross bleeding and dying. Jesus bore God’s wrath that we deserved so that we could be spared if we accept Him as our Savior. In the garden, Jesus prayed, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Jesus volunteered to suffer for us. Yet His death does us no good unless we repent of our sins and accept Him by faith.
