Page 62 - Gods Plan of the Ages

keep watch with Me." And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed,
saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You
will."

Christ's hour of wrestling in the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives shows
us clearly that struggle that all who would be conformed to Christ must experience. The
details of this event also serve as a great parable. It was from the crushed flesh of the olive
that the Levites obtained the oil used for anointing, and to light the candlesticks in the
Temple. The olive tree serves as a type of Yahweh's people, and the individual olives are a
type of individual saints. Our lives must be crushed if the oil of anointing is to be released
from within. If we are to be lights in a dark world, we too must experience the crushing of
the soul in our own Gethsemane experiences.
That Christ's suffering occurred on the Mount of Olives was chosen by great design
by His Father. The word Gethsemane means "olive press." It is where the olives are crushed
to obtain the oil from them. Christ was experiencing the crushing of His soul while in
Gethsemane. He had to make the decision to deny His soul's desires, and to put the will and
pleasure of the Father above all else. It is this death to the soul that is the hallmark of
everyone who is a disciple of Christ.

II Corinthians 4:11
For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Yahshua's sake, so that
the life of Yahshua also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

As the soul is crushed, the life of Christ is revealed in us. It is appointed to Christ's
disciples to be the first among men to follow Yahshua through the waters of death. This was
symbolized in the crossing of the Jordan by those priests who were first to walk into the
waters of the Jordan as they carried the Ark of the Covenant on their shoulders.

Joshua 3:13
"It shall come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the Ark of Yahweh,
the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan will be
cut off, and the waters which are flowing down from above will stand in one heap."

As Christians, we are appointed to be priests of God.

I Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people,
that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light...

There is much symbolized by the priests as they carried the Ark of the Covenant into
the Jordan. The Ark was borne on the shoulders. The shoulders are symbolic of the place
where authority and government rests.

Isaiah 9:6
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on
His shoulders...

As mentioned previously, the Ark is a symbol of perfected man. Christ is the original,