Death of Jesus – Just before Crucifixion

Jesus knew that he was going to be betrayed, but he did not run away, instead he spent the whole night praying

O my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt
Matt 26:39

It is related that he prayed so hard that ‘tear drops fell like great drops of blood’ (Luke 22:44) and that his prayers were heard (Hebrews 5:7).

Now first of all, what was this cup that he was praying to take away from him? It was the cup of death. According to Christian belief, Jesus HAD to die, so that all the sins of man could fall on him. If that is so, why was he praying to God to remove the cup of death from him? It does not make sense. If Allah accepted this prayer, then mankind would be ruined – full of sin. Would God then have to send another son, one who would be willing to take on this responsibility?

Jesus must have known that he had to die to fulfil this supposed purpose in life of dying, therefore he should have been gladly looking forward to the day when he could achieve his purpose, but instead we find a person who does not want to die, why? Was he scared to die? God forbid he knew he had to die, he knew that mankind depended upon him dying, so why pray for Allah to save him? The early Christians gladly faced the lions and certain death, rather than give up their faith, and yet Jesus is weaker than them?

It does not make any sense. The only explanation of Jesus behaviour was that he knew his real purpose in life was in fact to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and that if he died on the cross then he would be accursed of God and thus the Jews would have succeeded in proving him to be false!

Furthermore, we see that one of the last words of Jesus on the cross was ‘my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ How did God forsake him, if he was meant to die? You would only use these words if you expected that God had accepted his prayer and he was going to be saved from the cross.

That didn’t appear to be happening, and so he cried out ‘my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

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