But it was not the dread of death which caused the inexpressible agony of Jesus. To believe this would be to place him beneath the martyrs in courage and endurance; for many of those who have died for their faith, yielded to torture and death, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer for Christ’s sake. Christ was the prince of sufferers; but it was not bodily anguish that filled him with horror and despair; it was a sense of the malignity of sin, a knowledge that man had become so familiar with sin that he did not realize its enormity, that it was so deeply rooted in the human heart as to be difficult to eradicate. {3SP 162.1}

Men det var ikke frygt for døden, som frembragte Jesu ubeskrivelige sjælekval. At tro dette ville være at sætte ham under martyrerne, hvad mod og udholdenhed angår; thi mange, som er døde for sin tro, hengav sig til pine og død, glade over, at de blev agtede værdige til at lide for Kristi skyld. Kristus var en fyrste for alle dem, som lider. Men det var ikke legemlig smerte, som fyldte ham med fordærvelse og fortvivlelse, det var en følelse af syndens onde natur, det var bevidstheden om, at mennesket var blevet så fortrolig med synden, at det ikke engang mærkede dens afskyelighed, og at den var så dybt indgroet i menneskets hjerte, at den vanskelig kunne udryddes.