It took some doing but once the LORD, in his great patience, responded to all of Moses’ reservations and concerns about leading the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses at last determined to do as God had told him. As indicated in verse 18 of Exodus 4, “Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, ‘Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.’” Now this is an interesting way of phrasing his desire to return yet, upon reflection, it’s one that makes sense. Remember that Moses had last been in Egypt forty years earlier when, as a result of protecting one of his fellow Israelites and killing the Egyptian slave master who was beating him, Moses was forced to flee the Pharaoh in whose household he had been raised and who, consequently, sought to kill him.[1] Therefore, despite the LORD telling Moses to return to Egypt to deliver his people, Moses may well have wondered “if any of them [were] still alive” given the cruel treatment of the Israelites he had witnessed at the hand of the Egyptians. Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, gave Moses his blessing saying, “Go, and I wish you well.”
Next, verse 19 states, “Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, ‘Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.’” We don’t know when God said this to Moses. The end of Exodus 2 similarly states that during the “long period” that Moses was in Egypt, “the king of Egypt died.” As we’ve previously noted, according to Stephen, the New Testament martyr, this “long period” between the time that Moses went to Midian and the time that God appeared to him in the burning bush amounted to forty years.[2] And just prior to the LORD appearing to Moses is when we learn that God heard the groaning of his people and remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.[3]
Moses was now at the other end of his encounter with the LORD in the burning bush and was ready to obey him. Having received the blessing of his father-in-law, verse 20 states, “So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.” Two things are worth noting here. First, although so far we’ve only been told about the birth of Gershom,[4] Moses’ first son, the plural here indicates that his second son, Eliezer, had also been born.[5] Second, Moses’ obedience is evident not only in his returning to Egypt with his family, but in his bringing “the staff of God” as God had told him to take “so you can perform the signs with it.”[6]
Before Moses embarked upon this journey the LORD said to him, verses 21–23, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’”” We see here that in addition to telling Moses that he could perform the wonders the LORD had given him the power to do before the Israelites[7]—turning the staff into a snake,[8] causing a hand to become leprous,[9] turning water into blood[10]—God now told Moses that he was to perform “all the wonders I have given you the power to do” before Pharaoh as well. However, God being sovereign, he knew that Pharaoh wouldn’t listen when Moses told him that Israel, the LORD’s firstborn son—firstborn because it was a nation that the LORD brought into existence by way of Abraham and his descendants[11]—was to be let go to worship him. God knew that it was only when Pharaoh’s own firstborn son died that he would finally allow the LORD’s firstborn to go and worship him.
Now I confess that I find verses 24–26 in Exodus 4 to be an unexpected break in this account of Moses’ return to lead the Israelites out of Egypt as they state how “24 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. ‘Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,’ she said. 26 So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said ‘bridegroom of blood,’ referring to circumcision.)” What is difficult to understand here is why the LORD was about to kill Moses whom he had just called to lead his people out of Egypt. The answer lies in what Zipporah did.
If you’ll recall, Zipporah was one of Jethro’s seven daughters who had been present forty years earlier when Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian. At that time Moses had gotten water for their father’s flock when the shepherds had chased them away.[12] Subsequently Jethro gave Zipporah to Moses to be his wife and he later named their son Gershom.[13] However, since no mention is made of Moses having circumcised either Gershom or Eliezer as God required, it’s likely that this failure to circumcise one of them was the reason that the LORD sought to kill him for circumcision was the momentous sign God had given Abraham to designate his covenant people. Recall part of what God told Abraham when he instituted this ritual:
10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring.
And listen to what God then added, “Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”[14] Moses’ failure to circumcise his son would cause him to be cut off from God and would have led to his death. When Zipporah assessed the situation and in obedience circumcised their son, God’s anger was turned aside. Therefore we see that as Moses had once rescued Zipporah and her sisters from the shepherds, Zipporah now rescued Moses—and their son—from God’s wrath over Moses’ disobedience for her swift action resulted in assuaging the LORD’s anger. This whole incident is a reminder to us of the greatness of God’s holiness and therefore of the importance of our following his commands for it makes evident that God takes sin, disobedience to his Word, far more seriously than we do.
Beginning with verse 27 we see confirmed what the LORD had earlier said to Moses. In response to Moses’ request to send someone else, the LORD had offered up Aaron, Moses’ brother noting, as stated in verse 14, “He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you” (emphasis added). Though God wasn’t pleased by Moses’ reluctance to obey, he wasn’t surprised by it either for he knew that Aaron was already on his way. As verse 27 states, “The LORD said to Aaron, ‘Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.’ So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him.” Now the fact that they met at Mount Horeb (or Sinai), the very place where the LORD had appeared to Moses from the burning bush,[15] indicates that this meeting between the brothers occurred prior to Moses leaving for Egypt. The ordering of events in this chapter isn’t a straight chronology for it was upon meeting at “the mountain of God” that, as stated in verse 28, “Then Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and also about all the signs he had commanded him to perform.”
The chapter ends by relating how “29 Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, 30 and Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people, 31 and they believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.” All of this occurred just as the LORD had said it would:
In the first place, Aaron had acted on Moses’ behalf just as the LORD had said for it was he who “told them everything the Lord had said to Moses” and performed the signs;[16]
Second, the elders of Israel listened to Moses, again just as the LORD had said they would[17]—although, as we’ll see, many of the elders and Israelites will cease to look favorably upon Moses once further trials come their way;
Last, it’s touching to note the elders’ response to what the LORD—via Moses—via Aaron told them. For upon learning that “the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery,” they bowed down and worshiped him. Isn’t this one of the reasons we bow down and worship God each week? For we know that the reason our heavenly Father sent Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, his Son was to show us how much he cares for us. For he sent his Son to die in our place, to take away our sin by placing it upon himself, in order that we might live in and through his resurrection from death. This is why, from our deep sense of gratitude we, too, bow down and worship him each week knowing that he is concerned for us and sees our misery.
Well, through all of these events it becomes evident that Moses, at long last, was “all in” with doing God’s bidding. For as a result of God’s long-suffering patience in addressing all of his questions and concerns, Moses had gone from asking to have his way to submitting to God having his. As indicated in what the author of Hebrews states in verse 24 of chapter 11, “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” When Moses finally stepped out in obedience to the God of his fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob whose name is Yahweh, that is, the LORD;[18] when he finally stepped out in obedience to I AM who sent him to rescue his people from the Egyptians,[19] Moses’ identifying with his people, with the Israelites, was complete. For by his faith in God who had appeared to him and called him, he no longer viewed himself as Moses, son of Pharaoh’s daughter who had raised him, but as Moses, servant of the one true God. Consequently, rather than merely witnessing the mistreatment of his people, the Israelites, as he had in the past,[20] Moses, as stated in verse 25, “chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (emphasis added).
And then the author of Hebrews makes the remarkable statement recorded in verse 26: “He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward” (emphasis added). The remarkable part is “for the sake of Christ” for Moses lived long before Christ was sent to earth by the Father in the person of Jesus. Yet if Jesus Christ, as the Scriptures teach and as we noted a couple of weeks ago,[21] is also I AM, then Moses’ suffering and disgrace was for his sake as well. For the God who revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush is one with the eternal Son he sent in the person of Jesus Christ. This very Jesus is the one with whom Moses, long after he had died, spoke with at Jesus’ transfiguration vividly demonstrating that God is not the God of the dead but of the living.[22] This very Jesus who after dying and rising from death lives eternally is the one whom Moses valued more than the treasures of Egypt. In this Moses lived out what Jesus later taught in his Sermon on the Mount: “19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Moses’ treasure wasn’t in Egypt but in Christ. He knew that our eternal reward is to be found in Christ and in him alone.
For as our passage from Exodus states that Israel is God’s firstborn son,[23] so is Christ referred to as Israel, God’s firstborn Son. In relating Joseph and Mary’s escape from Herod by going to Egypt, Matthew applies a prophecy from Hosea to Jesus. The prophecy from Hosea states, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”[24] Matthew applies this to Jesus’ escape from Herod’s attempt to kill him, declaring “And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’”[25] God loves his firstborn son, Israel; and God loves his eternal Son, Jesus who is also his Israel. One commentator observes concerning this parallel between Jesus and Moses, “As Christ (the true Israel…) truly suffered on behalf of the people of God, so too Moses, who similarly suffered on behalf of the people, is said to bear Christ’s reproach. Hence Moses serves as a model for Christians to endure such reproach.”[26]
Moses can indeed serve as a model for Christians to endure such reproach. But I think he can serve as a model in other ways as well. For as we noted last week, in his reluctance to follow God’s call, Moses is all too relatable for he asked God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”[27] And then he wondered what he would say to the Israelites if they asked him God’s name. [28] This was followed by his asking God what would happen if they didn’t believe or listen to him or even denied that the LORD had appeared to him at all.[29] All of these make Moses someone with whom we can identify in the midst of his questions and concerns and self-doubt. And we should certainly follow his example in the way in which he brought his fears and concerns to God. For out of his deep love for us, God desires us to bring all our fears and concerns to him as well.
But a further point where Moses should serve as a model for us is in his transition from focusing upon himself to focusing upon the God who made him:
For this is God who can cause a staff to turn into a snake and back again; [30]
this is God who can make a hand leprous and make the same whole[31]—who gives humans mouths—and makes them deaf or mute—who gives them sight and makes them blind.;[32]
this is God who can cause water to turn into blood;[33]
this is God who listens—and responds—to our concerns and prayers;
this is God who, when we are reluctant to do as he bids, sends us help in the form of a brother.[34]
For it was through all of these things, through God revealing to Moses who he is, that he changed Moses’ heart. By revealing to Moses who he is, God brought him from saying, “Please, let me have mine own way” to “LORD, have Thine own way.”
Dear brothers and sisters, this should ever be our heart’s desire. We should ever seek to follow Moses’ example and desire for God to have his own way knowing, as the elders were told, that he is concerned about us and has seen our misery.[35]
Therefore let us bow down and worship him and, as Peter taught, “Cast all [our] anxiety on him because he cares for [us].”[36]
Let us follow Moses’ example and trust in the truth and goodness of who God is;
Let us obey him even when—especially when—doing so is difficult or painful;
Let us realize that in all of this we are never alone for he is with us and he is for us. For he has given his Son, his risen Word; his Son who died to save us from sin, to take away sin, the cause of death; his Son who rose from death in order that all who believe in him might have eternal life.
And to all who do believe in him, he gives his Holy Spirit so that we might become holy even as he is by our union with him.
And he gave us his written Word that we might be able to read and consult and meditate upon and obey it knowing that God’s commands are ever for our good.
And he gave us not just one brother, Aaron, to help us on our way but he gave us all who believe in him as family that together we might help one another live the challenging, rewarding walk that God’s saints—his holy ones who are righteous and holy in and through him alone—are called to walk.
Dear ones, God did all of this in order that we, like Jesus, might know the costly joy[37] of saying, “Not my will, but Thine be done;”[38] God did all of this in order that we, like Moses might know the costly joy of saying, as we’ll be singing in our closing hymn, not “Let me have mine own way,” but “Have Thine own way, Lord. Have Thine own way.”
Let us pray.
Benediction: Romans 15:5–6: 5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[1] Exodus 2:11–15: 11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” 14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.
[2] Acts 7:30: “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.” The first forty years are noted in Acts 17:23–29: 23 When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. 24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. 25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. 26 The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, “Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?” 27 But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? 28 Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?”[Exodus 2:14] 29 When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.
[3] Exodus 2:23–25: 23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.
[4] Exodus 2:21–22: 21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”
[5] See Exodus 18:2–4: 2 After Moses had sent away his wife Zipporah, his father-in-law Jethro received her 3 and her two sons. One son was named Gershom, for Moses said, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land”; 4 and the other was named Eliezer, for he said, “My father’s God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.”
[6] Exodus 4:17: But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.
[7] Exodus 4:8–9: 8 Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. 9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”
[8] Exodus 4:2–5: 2 Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. 3 The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”
[9] Exodus 4:6–7: 6 Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow. 7 “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
[10] Exodus 4:8–9: 8 Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. 9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”
[11] Genesis 12:1–3: 1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
[12] Exodus 2:15–17: 15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. 16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.
[13] Exodus 2:21–22: 21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”
[14] Emphasis added. Genesis 17:10–12, 14. See sermon preached on August 2, 2020, Almighty Humor—and Blessing on Genesis 17:1–11, 15–19, 23.
[15] Exodus 3:1–2a:1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush.
[16] Exodus 4:15–17: 15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. 17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”
[17] Exodus 3:18a: The elders of Israel will listen to you.
[18] Exodus 3:15: God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’
[19] Exodus 3:14: God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
[20] Exodus 3:11: One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.
[21] See sermon preached on July 25, 2021, God Inexhaustible! on Exodus 3:11–22.
[22] Luke 20:37–38: 37 But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’[Exodus 3:6] 38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”; Matthew 22:31–32: 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’[Exodus 3:6]? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”; Mark 12:26–27: 26 Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’[Exodus 3:6]? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
[23] Exodus 4:22–23a: 22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.”
[24] Hosea 11:1.
[25] Matthew 2:13–15: 13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
[26] Crossway ESV Study Bible note on Hebrews 11:24–26. In the ellipses, the passage from Matthew 2:15 referenced above is noted as well as Hebrews 10:33 and Hebrews 13:13. Hebrews 10:32–35: 32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. 35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.; Hebrews 13:11–14: 11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
[27] Exodus 3:11.
[28] Exodus 3:13.
[29] Exodus 4:1: “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”
[30] Exodus 4:2–5: 2 Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. 3 The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”
[31] Exodus 4:6–7: 6 Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow. 7 “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
[32] Exodus 4:11: The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?
[33] Exodus 4:8–9: 8 Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. 9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”
[34] Exodus 4:14–16: 14 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. 15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him.
[35] Exodus 4:31: And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.
[36] 1 Peter 5:7. Emphasis added.
[37] Hebrews 12:1–3: 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
[38] Jesus’ words in the Garden of Gethsemane. See Matthew 26:39, 42: 39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will….” 42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” Mark 14:35–36, 39: 35 Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will….” 39 Once more he went away and prayed the same thing.; Luke 22:42–44: 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.