Luke 22:44

Yesterday we had a youth temple trip to do baptisms for the dead. We had 41 youth from our ward. During the introduction a member of the temple presidency talked about Luke 22:44. He said that we are all familiar with Luke chapter 2, we read it every Christmas, but without Luke chapter 22, Luke 2 wouldn’t have mattered. It would have just been another story about a regular man born in very unfortunate circumstances.

In Luke 22:44 it says that Christ was “in an agony”. It sounds strange “an agony” he said. We would probably say that he was in agony. But being in “an agony” is something totally different than being in agony. He said that “an agony” is what they called the battles that the gladiators were in when they were forced to fight to the death. He asked who he was in a battle with and talked about the war in heaven and how Satan had waged a war with Christ. Then he asked us if he was in a fierce battle, was there ever really a chance that Christ would lose? He went on to explain that in verse 43 the battle was so fierce that an angel needed to come to strengthen him. Then in John 19:30 when he declared “it is finished” he was declaring victory to Satan. He was stating that the “agony” or the battle was over.
He had won, he was ready to return to the presence of his Father.

I love receiving new insights into the scriptures. This was another wonderful reminder that Christ is my Savior and that he did overcome all. He atoned for my sins and I too can return to live with him again if I will just believe and be faithful.