WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:04.839 Imagine the scene. Midnight descends upon an ancient grove where 2 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:10.880 gnarled olive branches twist toward Heaven like desperate hands. Beneath them, 3 00:00:11.119 --> 00:00:14.480 collapsed in the dirt, lies the architect of the universe, 4 00:00:15.080 --> 00:00:19.280 the voice that commanded light from void, and he is breaking. 5 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:24.239 Blood tinged perspiration streams down his face. Anguished cries rip 6 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:26.960 through the silence as he pleads with someone beyond the 7 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:31.440 darkness and hears what demolishes everything You've been taught? The 8 00:00:31.559 --> 00:00:36.560 creator of all things is begging in prayer. If Jesus 9 00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:40.759 of Nazareth truly is God in flesh, eternal, all powerful, 10 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:44.359 the uncreated, first and last, then who on earth is 11 00:00:44.439 --> 00:00:49.000 listening to his desperate cries? This paradox has shattered faith, 12 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:55.359 armed atheists, and ignited theological wars across twenty centuries. Skeptics 13 00:00:55.359 --> 00:00:59.840 wield it as proof of Christianity's fatal flow. Cults twist 14 00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:03.399 it to strip Christ of his throne. Even devout believers 15 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:07.239 whisper doubts their afraid to voice. But what if this 16 00:01:07.319 --> 00:01:12.640 apparent contradiction actually unlocks the most staggering truth about God's 17 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:17.159 identity that most preachers never dare to explore, and so 18 00:01:17.239 --> 00:01:20.079 you don't miss a single moment of this revelation that 19 00:01:20.200 --> 00:01:25.079 will fundamentally reshape how you see the Godhead. Hit subscribe now, 20 00:01:25.719 --> 00:01:29.480 because the answer we're about to expose doesn't just explain 21 00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:35.000 jesus prayers. It exposes the beating heart of eternity itself 22 00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:38.599 and why what happened in that garden holds the master 23 00:01:38.680 --> 00:01:42.719 key to understanding who God has been since before time began. 24 00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:48.439 For centuries, ancient Hebrew scribes carefully copied manuscripts that contained 25 00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:51.680 a mystery hidden in plain sight, a mystery about the 26 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:55.040 nature of God himself that would only become clear when 27 00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:59.920 the Messiah walked among us. Long before Bethlehem, before Mary's War, 28 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:05.000 whom before time itself began, there existed a relationship so profound, 29 00:02:05.319 --> 00:02:09.439 so intimate, that human language struggles to capture it. The 30 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:12.800 Rabbis of old studied the Torah and notice something peculiar. 31 00:02:13.159 --> 00:02:17.479 God spoke implural, let us make man in our image come, 32 00:02:17.560 --> 00:02:21.120 Let us go down and confuse their language. Who was 33 00:02:21.159 --> 00:02:26.360 he speaking to angels his own reflection? Or was there 34 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:30.719 something deeper, something the ancient world wasn't ready to understand 35 00:02:31.719 --> 00:02:35.039 when Jesus stepped into human history. He didn't come to 36 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:41.759 explain theology. He came to reveal relationship. Every miracle he performed, 37 00:02:42.199 --> 00:02:45.759 every word he spoke, and yes, every prayer he prayed 38 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:49.039 pulled back the veil on a truth so staggering that 39 00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:53.400 it would split history. In two tonight, we're going to 40 00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:57.719 walk through the sacred texts, trace the ancient Hebrew understanding 41 00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:01.680 of God's nature, and discover why a Jesus praying doesn't 42 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:06.879 contradict his divinity. It confirms something even more extraordinary. This 43 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:11.000 isn't just theology. This is the heartbeat of creation itself. 44 00:03:11.479 --> 00:03:15.560 Let's begin where it all begins, not in Bethlehem's manger, 45 00:03:15.639 --> 00:03:19.680 but in the beginning, before beginnings. In the beginning was 46 00:03:19.719 --> 00:03:23.039 the Word, and the word was with God, and the 47 00:03:23.080 --> 00:03:28.120 Word was God. The apostle John didn't open his Gospel 48 00:03:28.159 --> 00:03:32.840 with Jesus birth. He opened it with Jesus existence before time. 49 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:37.840 This wasn't poetic language or symbolic metaphor. This was a 50 00:03:37.879 --> 00:03:41.680 declaration of war against every false teaching that would try 51 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:45.919 to diminish who Jesus is. The Greek word logos, the 52 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:50.120 word carries weight that our English translations can barely hold 53 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:55.000 in ancient Jewish thought. God's Word wasn't just sound or speech. 54 00:03:55.719 --> 00:04:00.400 It was creative power, divine wisdom, the very express of 55 00:04:00.439 --> 00:04:04.520 God's being. When John says the Word was God, he's 56 00:04:04.520 --> 00:04:07.240 telling us something that would have made every first century 57 00:04:07.319 --> 00:04:11.800 Jew gasp. The one who became Jesus existed as God 58 00:04:12.039 --> 00:04:16.680 from eternity, not a created being, not an angel promoted 59 00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:20.120 to divine status, not a good man who became enlightened 60 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:24.040 God himself. But here's where it gets fascinating and where 61 00:04:24.040 --> 00:04:28.439 the mystery deepens. John says, the Word was with God 62 00:04:28.759 --> 00:04:32.639 and was God in the same breath. How can someone 63 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:36.959 be with God and be God simultaneously. This isn't contradiction, 64 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:41.759 it's revelation. It's the first glimpse into the relational nature 65 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:45.000 of the Godhead that the entire Bible has been hinting 66 00:04:45.079 --> 00:04:49.560 at since Genesis chapter one. The writer of Hebrews goes 67 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:53.120 even further, quoting Psalm forty five and applying it directly 68 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:57.720 to Jesus, but to the Son. He says, your throne, 69 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:02.959 O God is forever and ever. Stop right there? Did 70 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:07.279 you catch that? God? The Father is calling the Son God, 71 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:14.879 not symbolically, not metaphorically. The Father himself declares the son's deity. 72 00:05:15.399 --> 00:05:21.279 This isn't interpretation, this is direct biblical testimony. Paul writes 73 00:05:21.319 --> 00:05:24.800 to the Colossians with even more clarity, for in him 74 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:29.120 dwells all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily, not part 75 00:05:29.160 --> 00:05:32.959 of God's nature, not some of God's attributes, the fullness 76 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:36.319 the pleurroma in Greek, the totality of what makes God 77 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:46.560 God dwells in Jesus, in bodily form, every attribute of deity, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, eternality, immutability, 78 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:51.560 all of it completely in Christ. Now watch what happens 79 00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:55.360 when we trace this through scripture. Jesus claims to be 80 00:05:55.439 --> 00:05:58.879 the i Am, the sacred name God revealed to Moses 81 00:05:58.920 --> 00:06:01.879 at the Burning Bush. When the Jewish leaders picked up 82 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:05.160 stones to kill him, it wasn't because he claimed to 83 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:07.759 be a prophet or a good teacher. It was because 84 00:06:07.800 --> 00:06:11.439 he claimed to be Yahweh in the flesh. They understood 85 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:15.319 exactly what he was saying. With the ones who sometimes 86 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:19.199 miss it, Isiah prophesied about a child who would be 87 00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:24.560 called Mighty God, everlasting Father, not just anointed by God, 88 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:30.360 but God himself, taking on human form. The prophet wasn't confused. 89 00:06:30.920 --> 00:06:34.360 He was seeing something that wouldn't make complete sense until 90 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:39.000 Jesus walked out of that tomb on resurrection morning. Here's 91 00:06:39.079 --> 00:06:42.959 what the early Church understood that we often forget. Jesus 92 00:06:43.240 --> 00:06:47.519 didn't become God at his baptism. He didn't earn divinity 93 00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:52.079 through perfect obedience. He didn't get promoted to deity after 94 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:56.439 the resurrection. He was is and forever will be god 95 00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:02.600 fully completely, without diminishment or qualify. But if that's true, 96 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:07.240 and scripture overwhelmingly testifies that it is, then we're left 97 00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:11.279 with the question that's troubled seekers and scholars for two millennia. 98 00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:16.439 Why does God pray to God? What no one expected 99 00:07:16.600 --> 00:07:19.759 was that the answer wouldn't be found in denying his divinity, 100 00:07:20.279 --> 00:07:24.600 but in understanding something even more profound about the nature 101 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:29.480 of God himself. The question echoes through history like thunder 102 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:32.839 in a canyon. If Jesus is God, who was he 103 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:36.720 praying to Critics have used this for centuries to attack 104 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:39.839 the doctrine of the Trinity. Muslims point to it as 105 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:43.600 proof Jesus was merely a prophet. Jehovah's witnesses use it 106 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:47.720 to claim Jesus is a created being subordinate to the Father, 107 00:07:48.279 --> 00:07:52.360 even sincere believers sometimes struggle with it, sensing a contradiction, 108 00:07:52.439 --> 00:07:56.399 they can't quite reconcile. But here's what they all miss. 109 00:07:56.800 --> 00:08:00.920 The question itself reveals a shallow understanding of what scripture 110 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:04.439 has been teaching about God's nature since the very first 111 00:08:04.519 --> 00:08:10.319 chapter of Genesis. Let's go back way back to the beginning. Then, 112 00:08:10.439 --> 00:08:14.680 God said, let us make man in our image according 113 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:20.879 to our likeness, Us our not i and mi. The 114 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:24.680 Hebrew word for God here is Elohim, a plural noun. 115 00:08:25.439 --> 00:08:27.680 Now some scholars try to explain this away as a 116 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:32.759 royal we or plural of majesty, but ancient Hebrew kings 117 00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:36.440 didn't speak that way. That's a much later convention borrowed 118 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:40.440 from other cultures. Others suggest God was speaking to angels, 119 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:44.799 but the text says man would be made in our image. 120 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:50.360 Our angels creators, do they share God's image? The text 121 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:54.799 won't allow these explanations. Something else is happening here. Fast 122 00:08:54.840 --> 00:09:00.000 forward to Genesis eleven, the Tower of Babel. Again, God says, 123 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:04.639 let us go down and confuse their language. Who is 124 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:08.759 he speaking to The pattern continues through the Hebrew scriptures. 125 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:13.440 In Genesis eighteen, Abraham encounters three men. He addresses them 126 00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:18.600 as Lord singular, yet three are present by the end 127 00:09:18.639 --> 00:09:21.759 of the chapter. Two go to Sodom while the Lord 128 00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:25.960 remains with Abraham. Jewish rabbis have wrestled with this passage 129 00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:29.159 for millennia. Some call it a vision, others see it 130 00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:33.320 as angels. But what if it's something more? What if 131 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:36.759 God was revealing something about his own nature that wouldn't 132 00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:41.279 become crystal clear until Jesus. Now watch this, because here's 133 00:09:41.320 --> 00:09:45.480 where it gets really interesting. Psalm one to ten, written 134 00:09:45.519 --> 00:09:49.639 by David, a thousand years before Christ, begins with these words, 135 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:52.639 the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right 136 00:09:52.679 --> 00:09:57.519 hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Read that 137 00:09:57.600 --> 00:10:02.480 again slowly. David, the King of Israel, calls some one 138 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:07.000 my Lord, and that person is having a conversation with 139 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:13.039 the Lord Yahweh himself, two divine persons distinct yet unified 140 00:10:13.480 --> 00:10:18.240 in relationship before the foundation of the world. Jesus himself 141 00:10:18.360 --> 00:10:22.120 quotes this psalm to confound the Pharisees. He asks them, 142 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:26.320 if David calls the Messiah Lord, how can the Messiah 143 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:30.320 be his son? They had no answer, because the answer 144 00:10:30.440 --> 00:10:35.039 required accepting something Their theology couldn't hold that the Messiah 145 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:40.480 would be both David's descendant and David's God. The prophet 146 00:10:40.519 --> 00:10:44.240 Isaiah sees this too. In Chapter six, he has a 147 00:10:44.360 --> 00:10:47.679 vision of the Lord high and lifted up on his throne. 148 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:53.000 Seraphim cry, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts. 149 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:56.799 The apostle John tells us in his Gospel that Isaiah 150 00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:01.639 was seeing Jesus's glory, not just Prophet siyhing about Jesus 151 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:06.480 actually seeing him, the preincarnate Christ, dwelling in unapproachable light, 152 00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:11.559 worshiped by angels, ruling from eternity. Are you starting to 153 00:11:11.559 --> 00:11:16.039 see the pattern. The Old Testament is saturated with hints, whispers, 154 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:19.399 shadows of a truth that the New Testament brings into 155 00:11:19.480 --> 00:11:24.000 blazing light. God is not a solitary being. He is 156 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:28.200 relational in his very essence. The Father, Son, and Holy 157 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:31.720 Spirit are not three gods, their one God, existing in 158 00:11:31.799 --> 00:11:37.559 eternal perfect relationship. Before creation, before humanity, before sin and salvation, 159 00:11:38.039 --> 00:11:42.960 there was love, communication, fellowship within the Godhead. And here's 160 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:48.600 where everything shifts. When Jesus prays, he's not contradicting his divinity. 161 00:11:48.919 --> 00:11:52.399 He's revealing it. He's showing us that relationship isn't something 162 00:11:52.440 --> 00:11:56.879 God has, it's something God is. The Father and Son 163 00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:00.600 have been in eternal conversation since before. Let there be 164 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:04.919 light echoed through the void. Prayer isn't a weakness in Jesus. 165 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:08.159 It's a window into the very nature of God himself. 166 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:11.799 But what happened next would change everything about how we 167 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:17.480 understand that relationship. Imagine the moment, not with sentiment or 168 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:21.240 religious cliche, but with the weight of what actually happened. 169 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:25.039 The eternal Son of God, through whom galaxies were flung 170 00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:28.480 into existence, who holds atoms together by the word of 171 00:12:28.519 --> 00:12:32.480 His power, who knows the end from the beginning, voluntarily 172 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:36.840 steps into the fragility of human flesh, not as a disguise, 173 00:12:37.399 --> 00:12:41.639 not as a temporary costume, but as a genuine, complete, 174 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:47.279 permanent assumption of humanity. Paul describes it in Philippians, too, 175 00:12:47.399 --> 00:12:52.759 with language so radical it still makes theologians tremble. Jesus, 176 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:57.360 being in the form of God, did not consider equality 177 00:12:57.399 --> 00:13:02.000 with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking 178 00:13:02.039 --> 00:13:05.120 the form of a bond servant, being made in the 179 00:13:05.240 --> 00:13:09.600 likeness of men. That word emptied Askenosis in Greek has 180 00:13:09.639 --> 00:13:14.279 sparked countless debates. What exactly did Jesus empty himself of? 181 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:19.759 Here's what he didn't empty, his divine nature, his deity, 182 00:13:20.519 --> 00:13:25.600 his essential godhood. You can't stop being God. Deity isn't 183 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:30.000 a coat you take off. Jesus remained fully God throughout 184 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:32.960 his earthly life. But here's what he did lay aside 185 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:39.720 the independent exercise of his divine attributes, the constant, unfiltered glory, 186 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:45.440 the omniscient awareness of all things simultaneously, the unrestricted access 187 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:50.080 to omnipotent power. He veiled his glory so thoroughly that 188 00:13:50.120 --> 00:13:53.600 people could look at him and not be consumed. He 189 00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:57.720 limited his human consciousness so genuinely that he could grow 190 00:13:57.759 --> 00:14:02.679 in wisdom and learn obedience through suffering. He chose dependence 191 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:07.200 when he could have chosen sovereignty. This wasn't weakness. It 192 00:14:07.320 --> 00:14:11.000 was a strategic withdrawal of privilege for a purpose beyond 193 00:14:11.080 --> 00:14:16.039 our comprehension. Isiah prophesied about this in chapter fifty three. 194 00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:19.919 He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, 195 00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:23.919 nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. This 196 00:14:24.120 --> 00:14:28.200 is God, the source of all beauty, all majesty all desire, 197 00:14:28.679 --> 00:14:32.519 choosing to appear so ordinary that people missed him, so 198 00:14:32.759 --> 00:14:36.399 humble that he could walk through a crowd unnoticed, so 199 00:14:36.600 --> 00:14:40.799 authentically human that his own brothers didn't believe in him. 200 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:45.000 When Jesus experienced hunger in the wilderness, it wasn't pretend. 201 00:14:45.639 --> 00:14:49.919 When he grew tired by Jacob's well, his exhaustion was real. 202 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:54.960 When he wept at lazarus tomb, those tears were genuine 203 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:59.399 human grief. And when he prayed here it is he 204 00:14:59.480 --> 00:15:02.759 prayed us, a real human being in genuine dependence on 205 00:15:02.840 --> 00:15:06.759 his father. But here's the mystery within the mystery. He 206 00:15:06.919 --> 00:15:10.720 was still God while doing it. How is this possible? 207 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:15.399 How can someone be fully God and fully dependent simultaneously. 208 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:20.279 The answer lies in understanding what humanity was always meant 209 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:25.519 to be. Adam was created in perfect dependent relationship with God. 210 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:29.840 He was meant to live by constant communion, to derive 211 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:35.480 his strength from unbroken fellowship, to exercise dominion not through independence, 212 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:40.320 but through surrender to divine will. Adam fell when he 213 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:45.080 chose autonomy over dependence. He wanted to be like God, 214 00:15:45.639 --> 00:15:50.120 not in relationship with God, but independent from God. Jesus 215 00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:53.639 came as the second Adam, the true human, showing us 216 00:15:53.639 --> 00:15:57.639 what humanity was always supposed to look like. Not independence 217 00:15:57.679 --> 00:16:03.600 from God but perfect dependence, him not grasping at divine prerogatives, 218 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:08.000 but submitting divine will to divine will. When you see 219 00:16:08.120 --> 00:16:11.840 Jesus praying in the Gospels, you're not seeing a contradiction 220 00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:16.000 to his deity. You're seeing deity functioning within the chosen 221 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:20.159 limitations of authentic humanity. He prayed because he chose to 222 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:23.200 live the way Adam should have lived. He sought the 223 00:16:23.240 --> 00:16:26.840 Father's face because that's what humans were designed to do 224 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:31.759 from the beginning. In Gathsemone, when drops of blood mingled 225 00:16:31.799 --> 00:16:34.840 with his sweat and he cried out, Father, if it 226 00:16:34.919 --> 00:16:38.919 is possible, let this cup pass from me. That wasn't 227 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:43.360 divine doubt. That was human dread, facing the weight of 228 00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:47.080 sin he'd never known, and separation from the Father he'd 229 00:16:47.080 --> 00:16:51.279 never experienced. And when he added, nevertheless, not as I will, 230 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:54.559 but as you will, that was the perfect harmony of 231 00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:59.320 two divine wills choosing the same redemptive purpose through different rolls, 232 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:04.519 the son's human will submitting to the father's divine plan, 233 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:08.920 even though both wills belonged to the same unified God. 234 00:17:09.960 --> 00:17:14.519 Are you seeing it yet? Jesus prayers don't diminish his divinity. 235 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:19.200 They demonstrate how divinity was always meant to interface with humanity. 236 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:24.119 God didn't send a representative, He came himself and in coming. 237 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:28.000 He didn't cheat by using divine short cuts. He lived 238 00:17:28.039 --> 00:17:35.279 authentically human, which means he prayed constantly, desperately, dependently, just 239 00:17:35.319 --> 00:17:37.759 as we were meant to from the beginning. And hear 240 00:17:37.920 --> 00:17:41.960 the mystery deepens even further. Let's trace a line through 241 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:46.559 scripture that most people miss. In Genesis, Adam walked with 242 00:17:46.680 --> 00:17:50.200 God in the cool of the day. This wasn't ritual 243 00:17:50.359 --> 00:17:57.039 or duty. It was relationship, communication, communion. The Hebrew word 244 00:17:57.240 --> 00:18:02.799 used suggests habitual, regular fellowship. Adam's life was meant to 245 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:06.599 be lived in constant conversation with his Creator. He ruled 246 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:11.160 creation not through his own wisdom, but through divine partnership. 247 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:16.599 Every decision, every act of dominion, every exercise of authority, 248 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:21.400 flowed from his connection to God. Then came the serpent's whisper, 249 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:28.880 you will be like God, not dependent on God. Like him, independent, autonomous, 250 00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:33.680 self sufficient. Adam chose to act without consulting the Father. 251 00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:38.480 He ached without prayer, he decided without divine counsel, and 252 00:18:38.599 --> 00:18:43.000 in that moment, humanity fell from its design. Not because 253 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:46.759 we became sinful creatures, but because we severed the prayerful 254 00:18:46.839 --> 00:18:50.920 dependence we were created for. Death entered not just as 255 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:56.039 biological decay, but as spiritual disconnection. Man was cut off 256 00:18:56.279 --> 00:19:00.039 from the constant conversation with God. The prophets tried to 257 00:19:00.119 --> 00:19:04.240 restore it. They cried out in the wilderness, seeking God's face, 258 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:08.279 hearing his voice, speaking his words to a people who'd 259 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:12.240 forgotten how to pray. But every prophet eventually failed or 260 00:19:12.279 --> 00:19:18.359 fell silent, Every priest eventually died, every king eventually turned away. 261 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:25.960 The conversation remained broken. The relationship stayed severed until Bethlehem. 262 00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:28.960 When Jesus took on flesh. He didn't just come to 263 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:32.519 pay for sin. He came to restore what Adam lost, 264 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:38.480 authentic human relationship with God through constant, dependent prayer. Watch 265 00:19:38.759 --> 00:19:44.279 how the Gospels portray him Before every major decision. Jesus 266 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:48.359 prayed before choosing the Twelve Disciples. He spent the entire 267 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:52.640 night in prayer before his miracles. He looked up to 268 00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:58.640 Heaven before raising Lazarus. He thanked the Father openly before 269 00:19:58.680 --> 00:20:02.759 the cross. He agone ed in prayer until sweat became blood. 270 00:20:03.319 --> 00:20:07.039 This wasn't because he lacked divine power or knowledge. It 271 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:10.079 was because he was living as the true human, the 272 00:20:10.119 --> 00:20:13.640 second Adam, showing us the pattern of life we were 273 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:19.440 always meant to follow. Where Adam chose independence, Jesus chose dependence. 274 00:20:19.799 --> 00:20:23.839 Where Adam acted without prayer, Jesus acted only after seeking 275 00:20:23.880 --> 00:20:28.480 the Father's face. Where Adam fell through self will, Jesus 276 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:33.079 conquered through submission. Paul makes this explicit in Romans five. 277 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:37.480 For if by one man's offense, death reigned through the one, 278 00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:41.000 much more those who receive abundance of grace and of 279 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:43.960 the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the 280 00:20:44.039 --> 00:20:49.559 one Jesus Christ. Jesus didn't just reverse Adam's sin, he 281 00:20:49.720 --> 00:20:53.519 reversed Adam's method. The way back to God wasn't through 282 00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:57.519 human striving or independence. It was through the prayer life 283 00:20:57.559 --> 00:21:01.680 of perfect dependence that Adams could have modeled from the beginning. 284 00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:05.960 Here's what this means. Every time Jesus prayed, he was 285 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:09.279 doing far more than communicating with the Father. He was 286 00:21:09.400 --> 00:21:13.480 demonstrating the restored human pattern. He was showing what God 287 00:21:13.559 --> 00:21:17.960 always intended that humans would live in continuous conversation with Him, 288 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:23.720 deriving all wisdom, strength, and direction from constant communion. The 289 00:21:23.799 --> 00:21:27.359 religious leaders of Jesus day had turned prayer into performance, 290 00:21:27.799 --> 00:21:35.000 lengthy recitations, public displays, ritualized formulas. Jesus shattered that he 291 00:21:35.079 --> 00:21:39.480 prayed in private. He prayed simply. He prayed honestly, sometimes 292 00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:43.000 with groaning too deep for words. He prayed not to 293 00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:45.839 be seen by men, but to be heard by the Father, 294 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:50.000 and the Father heard him always, because this was the 295 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:54.720 relationship that existed before time began, now functioning within time, 296 00:21:55.079 --> 00:21:59.400 within flesh, within the dust of a fallen world. When 297 00:21:59.480 --> 00:22:02.599 Jesus taught the disciples to pray, he wasn't giving them 298 00:22:02.599 --> 00:22:06.880 a religious technique. He was inviting them into the relationship 299 00:22:06.920 --> 00:22:11.880 that his own prayer life exemplified. Our Father, not distant deity, 300 00:22:11.960 --> 00:22:18.279 but intimate relationship. Your kingdom, Come, not my kingdom, not 301 00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:24.240 my will, but yours. Give us this day, daily dependence, 302 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:28.559 not yearly stockpiling. This is the prayer life that Adam lost. 303 00:22:28.920 --> 00:22:31.880 This is the prayer life Jesus restored, And this is 304 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:34.880 the prayer life we're called in too through him. But 305 00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:37.839 there's one more peace to this mystery that changes everything. 306 00:22:38.920 --> 00:22:43.079 The night before his crucifixion, Jesus gathered his disciples in 307 00:22:43.160 --> 00:22:46.599 an upper room and prayed what scholars call the high 308 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:51.359 priestly prayer. John chapter seventeen records it in full, and 309 00:22:51.400 --> 00:22:54.440 it's here that the mystery of jesus prayer life reaches 310 00:22:54.519 --> 00:22:59.440 its most profound depth. Listen to how it begins, Father, 311 00:22:59.799 --> 00:23:04.279 the hour has come, glorify your son, that your son 312 00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:08.000 also may glorify you. This isn't the prayer of a 313 00:23:08.039 --> 00:23:11.400 creature to creator. This is the conversation of the son 314 00:23:11.480 --> 00:23:15.319 with the Father within the eternal Godhead. He speaks of 315 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:19.319 glory he had with you before the world was not glory. 316 00:23:19.359 --> 00:23:23.839 He hopes to receive glory he possessed in eternity, past 317 00:23:23.880 --> 00:23:29.279 glory he temporarily veiled in incarnation, glory he would soon resume. 318 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:33.440 Then he says something staggering. I have glorified you on 319 00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:36.039 the earth. I have finished the work which you have 320 00:23:36.119 --> 00:23:40.279 given me to do. Every miracle, every teaching, every act 321 00:23:40.319 --> 00:23:45.000 of obedience flowed from this relationship. The works Jesus did 322 00:23:45.319 --> 00:23:48.640 weren't proof of his independent power. They were fruit of 323 00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:52.480 his dependent partnership with the Father. He had said earlier, 324 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:56.079 the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he 325 00:23:56.160 --> 00:24:00.160 sees the Father do not nothing of himself because as 326 00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:03.960 he's not God, but nothing of himself, because he chose 327 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:08.440 to function in perfect unity with the Father's will. This 328 00:24:08.599 --> 00:24:13.720 is the trinitarian dance pericaresis. The ancient theologians called it. 329 00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:18.160 Each person of the Godhead dwelling in the others, moving 330 00:24:18.200 --> 00:24:23.200 with the others, glorifying the others. Not competition but cooperation. 331 00:24:23.960 --> 00:24:28.839 Not hierarchy of being, but economy of function. The Father sends, 332 00:24:29.240 --> 00:24:33.559 the Son obeys, the Spirit empowers all, acting as one 333 00:24:33.640 --> 00:24:38.720 God with unified purpose and distinct roles. Jesus's prayer life 334 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:42.880 gives us a window into this eternal reality. When he prays, 335 00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:47.279 we're not watching God talk to himself like some cosmic schizophrenic. 336 00:24:48.279 --> 00:24:51.039 We're watching the Son relate to the Father in the 337 00:24:51.079 --> 00:24:54.519 way they have related for all eternity. Only now that 338 00:24:54.640 --> 00:24:58.960 eternal relationship is being lived out within human limitation for 339 00:24:59.079 --> 00:25:04.039 human observation, as human redemption. And then Jesus prays for us. 340 00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:07.279 I do not pray for these alone, but also for 341 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:10.559 those who will believe in me through their word. He's 342 00:25:10.599 --> 00:25:15.599 praying for you right now. From eternity, his intercession continues. 343 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:19.799 Hebrews tells us he always lives to make intercession for us. 344 00:25:20.839 --> 00:25:24.559 The same Jesus who prayed in Gethsemone prays now at 345 00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:27.799 the Father's right hand, not because he needs to convince 346 00:25:27.839 --> 00:25:31.480 the Father to love us. Father, Son and Spirit are 347 00:25:31.599 --> 00:25:36.559 unified in their love, but because intercession is the eternal 348 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:40.279 ministry of the Son within the Godhead, now applied to 349 00:25:40.319 --> 00:25:43.880 our redemption. This is why prayer isn't optional in the 350 00:25:43.960 --> 00:25:48.759 Christian life. It's definitional. Jesus didn't pray because he was 351 00:25:48.839 --> 00:25:53.759 merely human. He prayed because he was perfectly human, showing 352 00:25:53.839 --> 00:25:57.279 us what humanity was meant to be. And now, through 353 00:25:57.319 --> 00:26:00.599 his spirit dwelling in us, he invites us into that 354 00:26:00.680 --> 00:26:05.440 same relationship. Paul writes in romans Ate that we do 355 00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:07.640 not know what we should pray for as we ought, 356 00:26:08.039 --> 00:26:12.799 but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us. The entire 357 00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:15.920 Trinity is involved in our prayer life. We pray to 358 00:26:15.960 --> 00:26:20.240 the Father through the Son in the Spirit, not as 359 00:26:20.279 --> 00:26:25.240 outsiders begging for scraps, but has adopted children, invited into 360 00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:30.119 the eternal conversation of love that has existed before time began. 361 00:26:31.160 --> 00:26:35.000 When you pray, you're not just saying words into the void. 362 00:26:35.759 --> 00:26:40.519 You're participating in the relationship that defines reality itself. You're 363 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:45.160 joining the conversation that Jesus lived, modeled, and died to 364 00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:49.480 restore for you. The same dependence he chose in Gethsemone. 365 00:26:49.880 --> 00:26:53.720 He offers to you in your garden of struggle, the 366 00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:57.000 same access he had to the Father he has purchased 367 00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:00.000 for you through his blood. The same spirit that is 368 00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.759 empowered his prayer life now dwells in you, groaning, interceding, 369 00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:08.680 connecting you to the heart of God. This is why 370 00:27:08.799 --> 00:27:13.839 Jesus prayed, not despite being God, but because of being God, 371 00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:17.319 God who chose to become man to show man how 372 00:27:17.359 --> 00:27:21.240 to be human in relationship with God. Every prayer he 373 00:27:21.359 --> 00:27:25.000 uttered was another thread woven into the tapestry of redemption, 374 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:29.119 another brick laid in the bridge between Heaven and Earth, 375 00:27:29.400 --> 00:27:35.279 another invitation extended to lost humanity. Come back. The conversation 376 00:27:35.400 --> 00:27:38.400 you were made for has been restored. The Father is 377 00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:42.279 waiting pray. But there's one prayer left, the one that 378 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:45.359 would tear the fabric of eternity and change the course 379 00:27:45.400 --> 00:27:48.519 of all creation. They came for him in the darkness, 380 00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:52.799 as he knew they would. Judas's kiss still wet on 381 00:27:52.920 --> 00:27:58.559 his cheek, torches flickering, swords drawn. But the real battle 382 00:27:58.839 --> 00:28:02.160 had already been fought hours earlier, in a garden where 383 00:28:02.200 --> 00:28:06.119 ancient olive trees had witnessed something heaven and Hell would 384 00:28:06.119 --> 00:28:11.319 never forget. Father, if you are willing remove this cup 385 00:28:11.359 --> 00:28:16.680 from me, the cup not just physical death. Thousands had 386 00:28:16.759 --> 00:28:21.440 died on Roman crosses. This cup held something infinitely worse. 387 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:26.759 Every sin, every betrayal, every act of hatred, violence and 388 00:28:26.799 --> 00:28:29.720 rebellion from every human who had ever lived or ever 389 00:28:29.759 --> 00:28:32.720 would live, was about to be poured out on him. 390 00:28:33.319 --> 00:28:37.440 The sinless sun would become sin, The pure lamb would 391 00:28:37.480 --> 00:28:40.480 be covered in filth he'd never known, and for the 392 00:28:40.519 --> 00:28:44.160 first time in eternal ages, the fellowship between father and 393 00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:50.160 son would be broken. The humanity of Jesus recoiled, His 394 00:28:50.359 --> 00:28:55.119 sweat became drops of blood, a medical condition called heimatidrosis 395 00:28:55.519 --> 00:29:00.640 caused by extreme anguish. His prayer wasn't calm, except it 396 00:29:00.720 --> 00:29:04.759 was desperate petition. If there is any other way, but 397 00:29:04.839 --> 00:29:10.160 there wasn't, and he knew it. Nevertheless, not my will, 398 00:29:10.559 --> 00:29:15.799 but yours be done. This is the prayer that split history, 399 00:29:16.240 --> 00:29:20.119 the prayer that sealed our redemption, the prayer that demonstrated 400 00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:23.880 once and for all that Jesus prayer life wasn't a weakness, 401 00:29:24.599 --> 00:29:28.799