There comes a time when God will move on, whether His people are ready or not (Genesis 6:3).  Jesus had concluded His three sessions of prayer to prepare Him to win through to the final victory: and the disciples had finished their three sessions of sleep, leaving them wide open for spiritual defeat.  There was no more time for infinite chances to choose to obey.  The dreadful hour of betrayal had come.  We may point the finger at Judas, lurking in the bushes, but what about the disciples?  They would all let down their Master.

Jesus is prepared for the ordeal to come, but His men were (literally) all over the place. They would run away (Mark 14:50), and Peter was to dishonour his treasured relationship in a series of spectacular denials (Mark 14:66-72).  The time had come and Jesus knew the gruesome timetable.  It was time to meet His Satan-filled betrayer (Luke 22:3), who was once the trusted treasurer for Team Jesus (John 13:29), to be arrested in secret, tried unfairly, mocked blasphemously, beaten cruelly and crucified mercilessly.  Jesus had an appointment to meet and the sleepy disciples had no authority to delay Him.  

Indeed, Jesus knew that the summit of His work was approaching and He had no doubt that He had come for this very hour (John 12:27).  In the same way that the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness to confront Satan's authority, He was now obeying the Father in submitting to the false authority of sin and Satan, so that He might break it for ever (1 John 3:8).  It was to be a cosmic power struggle (Mark 15:33) which Jesus would win.  What was the role of the trainee apostles?  Still to watch and pray and see the salvation of God erupt on a sin-soaked world (Luke 3:6;  1 Peter 1:5).

Spiritual preparation is essential before every spiritual battle.  But the casualness which dresses many believers today is in stark contrast to the earnestness of Jesus in Gethsemane - it is much more like the apathetic attitude of His three key disciples.  Who are we most like?  If we have lost our vigour for obedience, watchfulness and prayer, we will also lose the next set of spiritual battles!  This is a serious challenge to us and the whole church today.  We do not know the future, but we have God's Word to obey each day and to share with others.  If we do that, we have done all that is required of us (1 Corinthians 4:2).  Let us decide to stop challenging God's Word, redefining it to suit ourselves or our generation, or carelessly let the gospel slip from our reason for living.  The time for salvation is now, so go obediently with Jesus to your friends and colleagues, those who you meet and those you influence and tell them how to trust in Jesus.  If we are not trusting, how can we help others to trust?