And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Revelation 19:11-13<\/p>\n I have read this description of Jesus many times and my mental picture has always been of a great military leader at the head of his army, going into another battle anticipating another victory. That is correct. Jesus is all of that and we know that He is always successful. But just recently I had one of those moments when I suddenly realized something that I had known to some extent before but it never really impacted my mind. I studied deeper into the meaning of that phrase he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood.<\/em><\/p>\n When I think of something being dipped in liquid, I picture just a small part of it getting wet. Dipping your finger in the water to test the temperature. Dipping a rag in paint thinner to clean up a paint smudge. Dipping your feet in a lake on a hot summer day. So when I have read that phrase about Jesus’ garment being dipped in blood, I imagined some blood on some of it. Since He is riding a white horse, my mind pictures Him dressed in something that is predominantly white also. Many artists must have had the same thought.<\/p>\n But that word “dipped” means more than being slightly wet. It comes from the Greek root word bapto<\/em> which means to totally immerse something in a fluid. Our word “baptism” comes from this word and we know that to be baptized means to be fully buried under the water. Jesus’ vesture, His outer garment, is baptized in blood, fully immersed, totally and completely stained by blood. It is not just partly red; it is all red. That thought startled me. I searched through the whole book of Revelation to find out who wears white. The saints and twenty-four elders are clothed in white; the angels are clothed in white; the Bride is wearing white. Jesus rides on a white horse and has white hair, but He is not described as wearing a white garment. The only verse that mentions what He wears is Revelation 19:13 – he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood.<\/em><\/p>\n Some commentators think that His garment is merely spattered with the blood of His enemies because this is a description of a battle scene. That may be part of the meaning but my thoughts were turned to sacrificial blood, His own blood, a symbol of His death for our sin. He was totally plunged into the experience of dying for sin. It was not a superficial, limited thing.<\/p>\n The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Revelation 14:10<\/p>\n This warning from the third angel speaks of God’s wrath being poured out on sinners without mixture.<\/em> That expression means “undiluted.” Jesus experienced that undiluted wrath, not just for one individual the way each sinner will experience for himself, but for all sinners in one huge load.<\/p>\n Upon Christ as our substitute and surety was laid the iniquity of us all. He was counted a transgressor, that He might redeem us from the condemnation of the law. The guilt of every descendant of Adam was pressing upon His heart. The wrath of God against sin, the terrible manifestation of His displeasure because of iniquity, filled the soul of His Son with consternation. All His life Christ had been publishing to a fallen world the good news of the Father’s mercy and pardoning love. Salvation for the chief of sinners was His theme. But now with the terrible weight of guilt He bears, He cannot see the Father’s reconciling face. The withdrawal of the divine countenance from the Saviour in this hour of supreme anguish pierced His heart with a sorrow that can never be fully understood by man. So great was this agony that His physical pain was hardly felt.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Desire of Ages<\/u>, p. 753<\/p>\n This was the baptism that He was referring to in the following scene:<\/p>\n Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Matthew 20:20<\/p>\n Most of the disciples suffered martyrdom, some in cruel circumstances. Many Christians through all of history have suffered incredible, unimaginable torture. Here is a heart-wrenching description related by Richard Wurmbrand, a Romanian pastor who suffered much under Communism for his faith:<\/p>\n “I have testified before the Internal Security Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate. There I described awful things, such as Christians tied to crosses for four days and nights. The crosses were placed on the floor and hundreds of prisoners had to fulfill their bodily necessities over the faces and bodies of the crucified ones. Then the crosses were erected again and the Communists jeered and mocked: “Look at your Christ! How beautiful he is! What fragrance he brings from heaven!” I described how, after being driven nearly insane with tortures, a priest was forced to consecrate human excrement and urine and give Holy Communion to Christians in this form. This happened in the Romanian prison of Pitesti. I asked the priest afterward why he did not prefer to die rather than participate in this mockery. He answered, “Don’t judge me, please! I have suffered more than Christ!” All the biblical descriptions of hell and the pains of Dante’s Inferno are nothing in comparison with the tortures in Communist prisons.”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0(Richard Wurmbrand. Tortured for Christ<\/u>, p. 18)<\/p>\n When I first read that, I thought it was blasphemous for that priest to think he had suffered more than Christ. But when I thought about what is described in the paragraph from The Desire of Ages<\/u> above, I realized that this poor man may have been correct in a certain sense. Jesus suffered physical torture at the hands of His tormenters for no more than twenty-four hours. Most crucifixion victims suffered for several days before they died. Many martyrs suffered for weeks, months, years. Some survived, most didn’t. But no other human has suffered the other kind of anguish that Jesus suffered from, and what actually killed him – the anguish of the guilt of sin crushing out His life. It was not His own guilt, nor the guilt of one other person, but the guilt of multiplied billions of sinners, all that have ever lived on this earth. We humans have physically survived the sin condition in this world for about 6000 years. We have deteriorated significantly and are failing rapidly, but by God’s grace we are still alive. But when the whole load of iniquity and guilt was poured on Jesus at one time, it killed Him within a few hours. Here is another excerpt from The Desire of Ages<\/u> describing some of what He went through.<\/p>\n The awful moment had come – that moment which was to decide the destiny of the world. The fate of humanity trembled in the balance. Christ might even now refuse to drink the cup apportioned to guilty man. It was not yet too late. He might wipe the bloody sweat from His brow, and leave man to perish in his iniquity. He might say, Let the transgressor receive the penalty of his sin, and I will go back to My Father. Will the Son of God drink the bitter cup of humiliation and agony? Will the innocent suffer the consequences of the curse of sin, to save the guilty? The words fall tremblingly from the pale lips of Jesus, “O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.<\/em> Christ’s agony did not cease, but His depression and discouragement left Him. The storm had in nowise abated, but He who was its object was strengthened to meet its fury. He came forth calm and serene. A heavenly peace rested upon His bloodstained face. He had borne that which no human being could ever bear; for He had tasted the sufferings of death for every man.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Desire of Ages<\/u>, pp. 690-694<\/p>\n In the Garden of Gethsemane Christ suffered in man’s stead, and the human nature of the Son of God staggered under the terrible horror of the guilt of sin, until from His pale and quivering lips was forced the agonizing cry, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:” but if there is no other way by which the salvation of fallen man may be accomplished, then “not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Human nature would then and there have died under the horror of the sense of sin, had not an angel from heaven strengthened Him to bear the agony.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary<\/u>, Volume 5, p. 1103<\/p>\n For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Hebrews 12:3, 4<\/p>\n Jesus suffered contradiction of sinners<\/em>, the physical persecution and pain perpetrated on Him by humans. But He suffered much more. He was striving against sin itself. He was baptized totally into that experience. None of us have gone through that.<\/p>\n Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: . . .<\/em> Isaiah 63:2, 3<\/p>\n And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Luke 22:44<\/p>\n This verse gives us another very small glimpse into the agony Jesus was going through in Gethsemane. It is more vivid when you realize that the expression great drops of blood<\/em> is thromboi haimatos<\/em>. That is Greek for “clots of blood.”<\/p>\n In one of her early visions, Ellen White was shown some of the experiences of God’s people on their way to Heaven and soon after their arrival there.<\/p>\n As we were traveling along, we met a company who also were gazing at the glories of the place. I noticed red as a border on their garments; their crowns were brilliant; their robes were pure white. As we greeted them, I asked Jesus who they were. He said they were martyrs that had been slain for Him.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Early Writings<\/u>, p. 18, 19<\/p>\n Notice that the martyrs had a border of red on their garments, a symbol of their suffering, but only a small taste of it. Jesus’ garment did not have just a border of red; it was baptized in blood. He was plunged completely into the entire experience – physical, mental, emotional, spiritual agony – the Second Death.<\/p>\n And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Revelation 5:9-14<\/p>\n HE IS WORTHY OF OUR PRAISE!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, … <\/p>\n
\nThree times has He uttered that prayer. Three times has humanity shrunk from the last, crowning sacrifice. But now the history of the human race comes up before the world’s Redeemer. He sees that the transgressors of the law, if left to themselves, must perish. He sees the helplessness of man. He sees the power of sin. The woes and lamentations of a doomed world rise before Him. He beholds its impending fate, and His decision is made. He will save man at any cost to Himself. He accepts His baptism of blood, that through Him perishing millions may gain everlasting life. He has left the courts of heaven, where all is purity, happiness, and glory, to save the one lost sheep, the one world that has fallen by transgression. And He will not turn from His mission. He will become the propitiation of a race that has willed to sin. His prayer now breathes only submission: “If this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.<\/em>
\nHaving made the decision, He fell dying to the ground from which He had partially risen. Where now were His disciples, to place their hands tenderly beneath the head of their fainting Master, and bathe that brow, marred indeed more than the sons of men? The Saviour trod the wine press alone, and of the people there was none with Him.<\/em>
\nBut God suffered with His Son. Angels beheld the Saviour’s agony. They saw their Lord enclosed by legions of satanic forces, His nature weighed down with a shuddering, mysterious dread. There was silence in heaven. No harp was touched. Could mortals have viewed the amazement of the angelic host as in silent grief they watched the Father separating His beams of light, love, and glory from His beloved Son, they would better understand how offensive in His sight is sin.<\/em>
\nThe worlds unfallen and the heavenly angels had watched with intense interest as the conflict drew to its close. Satan and his confederacy of evil, the legions of apostasy, watched intently this great crisis in the work of redemption. The powers of good and evil waited to see what answer would come to Christ’s thrice-repeated prayer. Angels had longed to bring relief to the divine sufferer, but this might not be. No way of escape was found for the Son of God. In this awful crisis, when everything was at stake, when the mysterious cup trembled in the hand of the sufferer, the heavens opened, a light shone forth amid the stormy darkness of the crisis hour, and the mighty angel who stands in God’s presence, occupying the position from which Satan fell, came to the side of Christ. The angel came not to take the cup from Christ’s hand, but to strengthen Him to drink it, with the assurance of the Father’s love. He came to give power to the divine-human suppliant. He pointed Him to the open heavens, telling Him of the souls that would be saved as the result of His sufferings. He assured Him that His Father is greater and more powerful than Satan, that His death would result in the utter discomfiture of Satan, and that the kingdom of this world would be given to the saints of the Most High. He told Him that He would see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied, for He would see a multitude of the human race saved, eternally saved.<\/em><\/p>\n