DID YOU KNOW?
On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane. There, He surrendered His will to the Father in the face of unimaginable suffering and death. It was in Gethsemane that the Temple guards came to arrest Him, making it the place where His sufferings truly began.
The name Gethsemane means “oil press.”
In ancient times, olives were crushed in three pressings to extract their oil. The olives were placed into a stone basin, and a massive wheel-like stone rolled over them, crushing them. From that crushing came the oil.
Why is it significant that Jesus’ suffering began in a place called the oil press?
Because throughout Scripture, oil is associated with healing, joy, and, most sacredly, anointing. Kings and prophets were anointed with oil. In its highest meaning, oil represents the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
So if crushing olives releases oil, then the crushing of Jesus in Gethsemane releases something far greater.
From the oil press of Gethsemane flows:
- healing for the broken
- joy for the sorrowful
- and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
It all begins in the place of surrender.
Before the cross…
before the nails…
before the resurrection…
there was the oil press.
TODAY:
Bring every desire, ambition, and will that is not of God into your own Gethsemane.
Let it be surrendered.
Let it be crushed.
And in that surrender, be filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit, so that healing and joy may flow into every area of your life.
