Hymns: “Go to Dark Gethsemane”

“Go to Dark Gethsemane”, a traditional hymn of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, was written by James Montgomery. Montgomery was born in Scotland in 1771. He worked as a newspaper editor and wrote around 400 hymns and poems during his life. Another well-known hymn of his was “Angels from the Realms of Glory”. Though he supported various churches and Bible-based organizations, and wrote many hymns, he was not a minister. He did, however, have a great understanding and knowledge of Scripture, which is well-displayed in his hymns and poetry. He died in 1854, leaving his legacy as a well-loved and respected man.

The traditional tune used for the text of “Go to Dark Gethsemane” is the same for “Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me”. The tune’s name is REDHEAD NO. 76, after its composer, Richard Redhead. It is also sometimes called PETRA because of its association with “Rock of Ages”. This tune was first coupled with the hymn in 1853. Redhead was born the same year that the original version of this hymn was published and he died in 1901.

This is the first version, published in 1820:

1. “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 from Him to watch and pray.

2. “See Him at the judgment-hall, Beaten, bound, reviled, arraign’d: See Him meekly bearing all! Love to man His soul sustain’d! Shun not suffering, shame or loss; Learn of Christ to bear the cross.

3. “Calvary’s mournful mountain view; There the Lord of Glory see, Made a sacrifice for you, Dying on the accursed tree: ‘It is finish’d,’ hear Him cry: Trust in Christ, and learn to die.

4. “Early to the tomb repair, Where they laid his breathless clay; Angels kept their vigils there: Who hath taken Him away? ‘Christ is risen!’ He seeks the skies; Saviour! teach us so to rise.”

In 1825, Montgomery published a second version, which most would recognize today. The first focuses more on the suffering of Christ and the second, while still focusing on the final hours of Jesus before His sacrifice, also seeks to teach the singer to follow Christ’s example. The second version of the hymn uses more imperative verbs, not only leading the singer through the account, but also setting an example and command. Additionally, each stanza ends in a petition for us to “follow in His steps” (1 Pet. 2:21).

Go to dark Gethsemane,
You who feel the tempter’s pow’r;
Your Redeemer’s conflict see;
Watch with Him one bitter hour;
Turn not from His griefs away;
Learn of Jesus Christ to pray.

The hymn begins the journey immediately after the institution of the Lord’s Supper (Mat. 26:17-20). We are told to go and watch the journey of Jesus, beginning with Him and His disciples at the Mount of Olives and Gethsemane, which means “oil press” (Mat. 26:30 & 36). Here were are reminded of what suffering Jesus endured even before His Crucifixion – and He knowing fully where He was going and what He would endure! – and praying to His Father  in agony (Heb. 4:14-16, Mat. 26:26-46, Mar. 14:32-42, Luk. 22:39-46). As the disciples are implored to keep awake and pray, so are we, be that “bitter hour” Good Friday night, the times we pray in trouble, or every day of our lives (Luk. 11:1-4, 1 Thes. 5:17, Jas. 5:13). Let us not ignore or forget what He suffered, but remember and be thankful, praying to the Lord for His help.

Follow to the judgment hall;
View the Lord of life arraigned;
O the worm-wood and the gall!
O the pangs His soul sustained!
Shun not suff’ring, shame, or loss;
Learn of Him to bear the cross.

The hymn skips the betrayal and moves us straight to the judgement when our sinless Savior was questioned, though He remained silent (Mat. 26:57-67, 27:11-31, John 18:28-19:16). He knew the sacrifice that needed to be made for our sins so that we might be made righteous (Isa. 53:1-12, John 1:29, 1 Pet. 2:22-25). We need to watch and know how He took on our iniquities and was willing to die even though he was without sin. The hymn uses a word found in Revelation, but the “wormwood and the gall” is to describe the bitterness and ugliness of the Crucifixion in addition to the spiritual pain our Lord went through (Mat. 27:32-44, Rev. 8:11, Lam. 3:19). There is no better word than excruciating. Here we are implored and encouraged to not avoid suffering, but instead to learn from Christ how to endure suffering as Christians (1 Pet. 2:21, Mar. 8:34-37,  Rom. 5:1-8, Heb. 5:8-9).

Calv’ry’s mournful mountain climb
There’ adoring at His feet,
Mark the miracle of time,
God’s own sacrifice complete:
“It is finished!” Hear Him cry;
Learn of Jesus Christ to die.

Finally, we make it to  Calvary, Golgotha, where Christ made His redeeming act for our souls (John 3:16, 19:17-37, Mat. 27:45-54). While many there were mocking Him, we should be the ones at His feet adoring Him. Our sins were on Him and our souls redeemed with His blood. Without Him, we are truly dead; nothing but adoration should be in us for our Lord (1 Cor. 15:32, Eph. 2:1-10). It is Jesus Words that we quote when we say, “It is finished!” And what was finished, fulfilled? His promise from Creation: that God would die for the sins of many (Gen. 3:15, 1 John 2:2). This is the miracle of time. We too are to die to ourselves, to die to the sinful nature, that we might be made alive in Christ and gain the life that is truly life in Christ (Mat. 10:38-39, 16:24-26, Luk. 9:23, Rom. 6:11, 1 Pet. 3:18). We should follow Christ’s example in this matter: to put our Father’s will above our own (Phil. 2:5-11).

Early hasten to the tomb
Where they laid his breathless clay;
All is solitude and gloom;
Who hath taken Him away?
Christ is ris’n! He meets our eyes:
Savior, teach us so to rise.

finally, we are brought to the last station, and this is the Resurrection! Though He died, was buried, and descended into Hell, He also rose again, as He promised, on the third day! (John 2:19, Mat. 27:57-28-10, Luk. 23:50-24:49, John 19:28-20:31) Though we are mournful on Good Friday, we can rejoice because He is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia! Why can we rejoice? Because death is not final and we will live forever with Him who saved us (Hos. 13:13, 1 cor. 15:20-22, 57). We also press on in faith and hope towards the goal to which Christ has called us (Phil. 3:12-21, Heb. 12:1-3).

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

~ Lamentations 3:19-26 ~

Blessings to you and yours,

~Rose

 

---

Works Referenced

“Gethsemane.” The Online Etymology Dictionary. 

“Go to Dark Gethsemane.”: History and Lyrics

The Lord’s Prayer: Forgive Us

Keeping in mind the holiness of God, His awesome power, and our subjection to Him as paupers and children, we ask from Him a great thing: to forgive us. This is no small task, as we are sinful from birth, our flesh embedded with shame from Adam, our souls unclean by what we have and have not done (Psa. 51:5, 1 Cor. 15:22 & 45). We are slaves to sin (Jhn. 8:34, Rom. 7:14), yet we come to the Lord and ask Him that He might wash away our sin, buy us back, redeem us.

We go to the Father, our Redeemer, with this request,

Forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors.
~ Matthew 6:12 ~
Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
~ Luke 11:4 ~

The question is, what does it mean to forgive? In the Greek, the word is ἀφίημι or aphiemi, which means a variety of things: forgive, forsake, lay aside, omit, and send away (Strong’s “863.”). Thus, when we ask God to “aphiemi” our sins, we ask for Him to send them away, to forsake them, to take sin away from us.

But what are our sins that they need to be taken away? Our sins are debts to Christ. In the verse from the book of Luke, the word is hamartia, which plainly means “offence” or “sin” (Strong’s “266.”). This is the same word used in literature: a fatal flaw leading to the downfall of the “protagonist”, or “hero”. Thus, our sin is too our fatal flaw in that with it, we will surely die. Our sin is a penalty against us for disobedience and rebellion against God, causing us to have a debt to our God. In Matthew, the word is opheilema, which is “something owed” but is “morally a fault: a debt.” (Strong’s “3783.”) Thus, our debt to God is our every fault against the Lord, every act of rebellion against His Word and His commands.  We cannot pay the debt of this sin ourselves; this is the helpless state that we find ourselves in.

Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults.
~ Psalm 19:12 ~

For the sake of your name, O Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.
~ Psalm 25:11 ~

But in the same breath, we are reminded that we must also forgive our own debtors. We must not be like the unmerciful servant who, after he had been forgiven of all his debt to the king, which was no meager payment, condemned a friend who owed him next to nothing and was then condemned by the king (Mat. 18:23-35). Thus, we should and must forgive our debtors as we were forgiven our indebtedness.

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”
~ Matthew 18:21-22 ~

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
~ Matthew 6:14-15 ~

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
~ Luke 6:36-37 ~

If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.
~ Luke 17:3-4 ~

Why should we not forgive our brother after all the Lord has forgiven us? We deserve worse than death, and that is what we would receive if it were not for the Lord’s mercy and grace. This is the Law. We now know the sin that dwells within us and our bondage to its will (Rom. 7:13-25). We know that without Christ, we could not cleanse ourselves of the filth that plagues us. Yet we are not left alone to try and cleanse ourselves, to repay our sins. In spite of the wretchedness in us, the Lord was faithful and sent his son to die for us so that we might be healed (Gen. 3:15, Luk. 4:17-21, 22:7-24:12, Acts 5:31).

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world though him.
~ John 3:14-17 ~

When the Lord forgives our sins, He remembers them no more. The Lord’s forgiveness makes it as though the sin never was. He shed His own blood that we might live with Him, for only what is holy can stand before God.

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.
~ Hebrews 8:12 ~

He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.
~ Hebrews 9:12 ~

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive the full rights as sons.
~ Galatians 4:4-5 ~

He has already forgiven us, redeemed us, and bought back our debt through His sacrifice. He came without our request, for we did not even know that we needed a Savior. Yet He bought back our sin by His own blood, for He knew we could be redeemed no other way. We go to Him still, asking for forgiveness for our sins daily. For we know that when we do, He “is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

And again, this is why we take Holy Communion, in remembrance of Him and to physically receive the promises He gave us (1 Cor. 11:23-26). We ask him to forgive us and also to keep sin from us that we might live holy lives for Him who saved us. Though we live in sin, and commit sins, we are forgiven and purified in Christ. We go to our Father in heaven to ask for His forgiveness, not because by doing so we make ourselves clean, but because we know the promises that God has made: that He will make us pure.

Keep your servant from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
~ Psalm 19:13-14 ~

Blessings to you and yours,
~Rose