Episode Transcript
Hello, I'm Dr. Kylie Fisher. Welcome to heavenly harmonies.
First Corinthians chapter fifteen and verse fifty seven says, but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our lord Jesus Christ. Do you want to gain the victory over sin? Our hymn for today, go to dark Gethsemane, was written by James Montgomery. Now James Montgomery was the son of a moravian minister and he wrote many very deep and thought provoking hymns.
He also set many of the psalms two verses. And so he actually wrote 22 books of psalm in verse. And this hymn that we have for today is such a powerful hymn.
I've very rarely heard this hymn sung, which I think is very sad, even though it's such a sad and kind of a dark song. I mean just, even the title says go to dark Gethsemane. But it's just so powerful and so I absolutely love it.
I hope that you will gain a rich blessing from thinking about this beautiful hymn. So let's start by looking at the first verse of this hymn which says go to dark Gethsemane, ye that feel the tempter's power, your redeemer's conflict. See, watch with him one bitter hour.
Turn not from his griefs away. Learn of Jesus Christ to pray. So let's think a little more about the words of this hymn.
And so we have been going through the life of Christ and we're now come up to the very last scenes in his life. And this hymn actually walks us through about the last 24 hours really in the life of Christ here on earth. It speaks in this verse about him being in the garden of Gethsemane.
Then the second verse is about his trial and the final verse is about his. So it is contemplating a very, I guess, sorrowful subject, sorrowful and yet joyful because it was through sufferings that Christ brought us life. He brought life and immortality to light through the.
Let's, let's think a little bit about what this hymn means and what we can learn from it because the Bible speaks actually about one of the purposes of hymns being to teach us spiritual truth. Let's have a look at a Bible verse about this and let's have a look in the book of colossians. Colossians, chapter three and verse 16.
Colossians, chapter three and verse 16 which says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And so there it specifically mentions hymns and it says that the purpose of hymns is to teach and to admonish one another. And it's so that Jesus'word can be dwelling in our hearts.
And, yeah, it's really wonderful. I mean, we have been kind of talking about performing songs, and so that is one way in which to share the word of God, and that's a wonderful way to do it. But also just to be able to sing hymns, or even if you feel like you can't sing very well, just to be able to think about the melody and the words of hymns during that day is a very powerful thing and it can be a real help in our christian life.
And as we were saying in our previous programme, if we can put greater feeling behind the expression of the words in the hymns, then when we're directing our thoughts and our worship heavenward, no matter what we're doing, then I'm sure that it brings greater joy to the heart of God to think that, to see his love reflected in us and us returning his love and expressing that in more and more sensible ways. So, anyway, the purpose of hymns is to teach, and we can see this even back from in the Old Testament. Let's have a look at deuteronomy, chapter 31 and verse 19.
Deuteronomy, chapter 31 and verse 19. Now, in this verse, God is actually speaking to Moses. And God says to Moses, now, therefore write ye this song for you and teach it.
The children of Israel put it in their mouths. And so God told Moses to set the words of the law to song so that the Israelites could sing them in their daily life. And as they walk through the wilderness and so forth, we see the idea of, and the power of music right back in Old Testament times.
And so music was created to serve a noble purpose and it can really do that. So let's just think about what is this hymn teaching us? Because we've looked at, and I did not do this on purpose, but we've looked at a series of hymns that all ended up being prayers about five in a row. But now, this one is slightly different because the previous ones were really directly addressing God.
Like in our previous episode, we said, oh, come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for thee. And so it's a cry to God from the heart. It's directly speaking to him and addressing him directly.
But our hymn for today is a little bit different. And so who is this hymn actually speaking to? Who is the actual audience that we're speaking to, whether no matter who we're singing it to, who are the words directed to? And so let's just have a look. It tells us here in the first verse, so it says, go to dark Gethsemane, ye that feel the tempter's power.
So this song is very directly addressing those who are struggling under the power of temptation. And is that you? Have you ever struggled under the power of know? We all have. We all have that inborn propensity to sin.
Sadly, we, as human beings, we've been born of Adam and Eve. They took the fruit from that tree. And ever since then, human beings, sadly, have been in love with sin.
And that's a tragedy, because sin brings death. And so we, as human beings, we struggle with the power of sin and we feel that struggle even after we've given our lives to Christ. The struggle doesn't end, it intensifies.
Know, if we're honest with ourselves, we all would have to say, yes, that's me. And this is something that we are just destined to struggle with as long as we're on this earth. So this hymn is speaking to every one of us.
This hymn speaks there about the power of sin. The tempter's power is speaking about Satan. He's a foe that we as humans do not have the power to try to fight in our own strength.
If we do that, we will just come out the loser every single time. Eve thought that she could match wits with Satan in the Garden of Eden, or she didn't realise it was Satan. Actually, she didn't even realise.
That's how deceptive the power of the tempter is, that a lot of the time we don't even realise we're being tempted. So we need to just recognise that we can only do this in the strength of Christ. So how can we do this? Well, those very first words of the song really start to give us the answer.
And they say, go to dark Gethsemane, ye that feel the tempter's power. So what is it? What is it about Gethsemane? What is this even talking about that can give us the victory over sin? Well, let's turn to the Bible and let's see what it says to us. And so let's have a look in Matthew.
Matthew, chapter 26. And this is, of course, right at the end of Jesus life. Matthew, chapter 26.
And beginning at verse 36, and it says there in verse 36, then cometh Jesus with them, that is the disciples, unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. So this is the place that it was talking about there go to dark Gethsemane. It was this place that Jesus went to.
And this was the place where Judas and the chief priests actually came in the middle of the night, not during the day, while Jesus was teaching in the temple. They didn't dare to take him then because they knew that there would be a riot and all the people would protest about it. But instead they came in the middle of the night and took Jesus.
They arrested him, and he was then put on a form of a trial again during the middle of the night because there was no other time that they would be able to actually get away with what they were. Gethsemane was the place that Jesus came to on the night of his betrayal and arrest. And let's just see, what did Jesus experience at this time? So verse 37 says that he, that is Jesus, took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
Then saith he unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry ye here and watch with me. So why was Jesus in such distress? Why was it that he was so sorrowful? Well, if we turn over a few pages to Matthew, chapter 27 and verse 46, that actually gives us the answer to this.
Matthew, chapter 27 and verse 46. And this says, about the 9th hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, eli, eli, lama sabaktanai. That is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And so when Jesus was on the cross, he felt separated from his father.
And so that was what was causing him this tremendous agony of soul. The reason why he felt separated from his father was because he was bearing the load of our sins. Let's have a quick look at a verse about this.
In two corinthians chapter five and verse 21. Two corinthians five, verse 21, which says, he have made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. In Isaiah 59, verse one says, your sin has separated you from God.
And so sin separates us from God. It cuts us off from God. And what tremendous thing this was for Christ.
When we think about Christ, and he was one with the eternal father, I mean, he himself was eternal. Through eternal ages, they had always been one. And now that unity was being broken up, this was causing this terrible, deep sorrow.
So why is this so important? How does that help us to overcome sin? Well, once we realise that it was our sin that came and caused this tremendous pain to the heart of Christ, that is what helps us to recognise how dangerous sin is and the price of sin, because we're just so incognit of it. We just have no idea of the terrible cost of sin. And so it's only by seeing the terrible agony of our saviour in that garden and as he suffered for our sins, it's only by seeing that that we can begin to turn away from sin, because we realise the malignant nature of sin.
And we also realise the tremendous love of Christ in willingly offering himself for us. In fact, if we read in the next verse, verse 39 of Matthew, chapter 26, it says that Jesus went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed, saying, o my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. You know, Jesus did not want to go through that pain of Gethsemane.
Well, the pain of feeling our sins pressing upon him and the pain, the humiliation of the trial and crucifixion. And he prayed that if there was some other way, could God do it. But there was no other way for our salvation.
And so in that moment, our salvation trembled in the balance. But Christ took that cup. He took the cup of suffering, the cup of sorrow, and he drained it.
He drunk it right to the end. And because of that, he offers to us the cup of salvation. And so it's as we think about this sacrifice of Christ that we will be transformed in our lives.
And as we were discussing in our last episode, revelation 14, verse twelve, this really graphically portrays for us the faith of Jesus, that even when he could not feel God's presence there close to him, he still clung to the word of God and determined to obey it, to follow through on God's plan. And that's the sort of faith that we need to have living in these last days of earth's history, when we're going to see every power of earth and hell arrayed against those who choose to remain faithful to Christ. So we have to develop this faith of Jesus.
So let's go on to the second verse, because Gethsemane was the start of Christ's intense sufferings, but they only became greater and greater as he went through that final 24 hours period of his life. So the second verse of our hymn for today says, see him at the judgement hall, beaten, bound, reviled, arraigned. See him meekly bearing all love to man, his soul sustained.
And then it speaks directly to us. Shun not suffering, shame or loss. Learn of Christ to bear the cross that's the lesson for us from the sufferings of Christ.
And, I mean, look, we don't have time to go through it all in our episode for today, but I would just encourage you in your own time. I hope that you might take more time to meditate over the words of this hymn and to go through these scenes, as we were reading last week from the desire of ages. If we allow our minds to dwell on the scenes of the life of Christ, and especially those closing scenes, if we allow our imagination to dwell upon them, then our love for Christ will be increased and we will have power to gain the victory over.
Yeah, this is what the crucifixion of the trial of Christ teaches us. Shun not suffering, shame or loss. Learn of Christ to bear the cross.
And so then going on to the final verse, it says, there Calvary's mournful mountain, climb there, adoring at his feet, mark that miracle of time. God's own sacrifice, complete. It is finished.
Hear him cry. Learn of Jesus Christ to die. So these words.
It is finished. Hear him cry. So that's actually recorded in John, chapter 19 and verse 30.
So there were a number of things that Jesus said when he was on the cross. John 19, verse 30, it says that Jesus said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost.
Or in other words, that was his last breath. In other words. So, yeah, that was his absolute final cry.
And so it says there, learn of Jesus Christ to die. Yeah, I find it really interesting. Once again, the structure of this hymn.
We see a very similar structure between the different verses. We have a narration of a scene from the life of Christ, and we then have the application in our own lives. And I love it how at the end of each verse, there's something that we learn from Christ.
So the first verse, learn of Jesus Christ to pray. The second verse, learn of Christ to bear the cross. And the final verse, learn of Jesus Christ to die.
So that emphasis, that repetition of the word learn is so powerful. It's a one syllable word, one syllable word's the most powerful and the most direct. So, yeah, learn of Jesus Christ to die.
What does that know? There might be some of us that are called on to actually die as martyrs for Christ. There have been many of those, actually, in past ages, but, yeah, I mean, I guess I don't know who's listening to this broadcast or what the future might hold for those listening to this broadcast. But for many of us, we might not be called on to face that martyr's death.
But every day we are called on to die to self. Let's just have a quick look at a verse about this. Let's have a look at Galatians, chapter two, verse 20.
And Galatians, chapter two, verse 20. The apostle Paul says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the flesh.
I live by the faith of the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. So there Paul says, I am crucified with Christ. So even if we're still alive, what does that mean? It means that we crucify those, I guess, like the desires that we have that would lead us away from Christ.
Those sinful desires. Of course, we've spoken before about God brings us joy. So it doesn't mean that we don't experience joy in our life, but we don't find joy anymore in sin.
We find joy as a Christian. We find joy in communion with God. We find joy in service to others.
And in doing the things that God has meant for us to enjoy, know he created Adam and Eve to live in the garden. And so doing all that we can to restore the beautiful things of nature that God has made. All of these things are joys that we experience, but we crucify the things that would do us harm, really, that's all that God actually asks us to give up.
So that's the experience of dying daily. And even if we die a martyr's death, we still have to die daily. So that's what this final verse is speaking about.
So then just thinking about how would you express these truths musically? So I've spoken about this repetition and this word learn in each of the verses. And so, really, as we think about this hymn, as with many hymns, but I think particularly this hymn, it's going on from one intensity to another, and it just becomes more intense as you go through. And so what you do have to think about, I think, in this hymn, is not to.
You sort of have to pace yourself, and you can't just express everything in first verse or you've got nowhere to go. That's what I would encourage you to think about. How will you intensify that experience as you go through it? And also, too, this song has very distinct pictures, very distinct scenes that are described there, and they're just described in such a short and compact number of words.
It can really bring all those sufferings of Christ to our minds and help us to really imagine them. I would just really be striving to have those scenes in the mind's eye and, yeah, I mean, that's not something you can achieve in one day. It's something that is a deepening experience every day through spending time with Christ, through spending time in prayer.
So let's listen now to this hymn, go to dark Gethsemane. And we've got today the Guildford Cathedral choir to sing this for us. Go to the centre.
Glory. I see what Jesus Christ you see, we are trusting Christ. Is that your design today? To die to self and sin and to live to Christ? Let's close with a brief prayer to ask God to transform our hearts and to give us a new heart so that we can experience that change in our life that Christ came to bring.
Dear Lord, we have spent a few moments today thinking about what Christ suffered for us. And indeed, it is beyond our comprehension. We cannot fully understand the sufferings of Christ as he felt himself cut off from his heavenly Father for our sins.
Dear God, we cannot fully understand it, but we can choose to let Christ rule in our hearts. And so that's the prayer, that's the desire of each one of us today. Dear Lord, so please, may Christ come into our hearts and change our lives.
I pray in Jesus name. Amen. So thank you so much for joining me today on heavenly harmony is remember, you can join me again next time to discuss another beautiful hymn.
Until then, goodbye and God bless.
