John 18:7-8 (Amplified) says, "Then again He asked them, Whom are you seeking? And they said, Jesus the Nazarene. Jesus answered, I told you that I am He, so if you want Me (if it is only I for Whom you are looking), let these men go their way."
Even in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus' character was still under the character of the Holy Spirit Who guided Him throughout His entire ministry. The Fruit of the Spirit, the very character of Jesus, was still more concerned for His disciples rather than Himself.
As Jesus spent more time in prayer before His betrayal, His entire character was for others and not Himself. Jesus could have been bitter about His betrayal or been concerned about Himself, but He wasn't. Jesus' joy was for the thing that was to come upon those of us who would follow Him. The Fruit of the Holy Spirit wasn't for Himself even in His hour of trial.
Nobody had any idea of what it was Jesus had to face; only He knew. The fruit (or character) of faithfulness that held Him to His course was strong even in the face of the cross. Self control kept Him in the full course of His task at hand. They all watched Jesus being beaten, spit upon and mocked. They all watched Jesus carry the cross that would make Him a cursed for us. No one understood the fullness of what was to happen, but His character held true until the very end.
As He hung on the cross and felt the pain and agony of His torture, Jesus' self control was towards those who place Him there and He said, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." As He gave up the Spirit, they could only know what they could see with their natural eyes. No one in the crowd knew or could know at the time, that all the sin, sickness, disease, curse and spiritual death was consuming Him. Yet, His Own character held fast and never faltered.
We've never endured or encountered anything like He was going through. Many in today's Church still have no idea what happened that day. They don't know that all the judgment of a righteous God came down on Him, for us. Jesus was separated from the Father, into the place of the lost, so we could become reunited to the Father again.
The entire curse of the Law from Deuteronomy 28:15-16 was coursing through His body and spirit until He Himself became a curse for us. Galatians 3:13 says that, "He became a curse for us so that we might be blessed." 2Corinthians 5:21 (Amplified) says, "For our sake He made Christ (virtually) to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become (endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of) the righteousness of God (what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness)."
No one could know that Jesus was to descend into the lower parts of the earth for us so we could ascend into the throne room with Him. Ephesians 4:9 (Amplified) says, "(But He ascended?) Now what can this, He ascended mean but that He had previously descended from (the heights of) heaven into (the depths), the lower parts of the earth." They couldn't possibly know that what He said concerning Jonah was being fulfilled before their very eyes at the cross. Matthew 12:41 (Amplified) says, "For even as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
If you read the 2nd chapter of Jonah, then you'll find a man who was not in paradise, but in serious trouble. Thus, Jonah 2:1-10 (Amplified) reads, "Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish's belly and said, I cried out of my distress to the Lord, And He heard me; out of the belly of sheol cried I, and You heard my voice." Verses 3-10 go on, "For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me, all Your waves and billows passed over me, Then I said, I have been cast out of Your presence and Your holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the (extinction of) life; The abyss surrounded me, the seaweed was wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms and the very roots of the mountains; the earth with its bars closed behind me forever. Yet You have brought up my life from the pit and corruption, Oh Lord My God. When my soul fainted upon me (crushing me), I earnestly and seriously remembered the Lord, And my prayer came to You, into Your holy temple. Those who pay regard to false, useless, and worthless idols forsake their own (source of) mercy and loving kindness, But as for me, I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that which I have vowed, Salvation and deliverance belong to the Lord, And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land."
Those people surrounding the cross, only saw the Man Jesus as He died. None knew what was transpiring in the spirit realm. None could see Him become sin with our sin. None could see Him become a curse for our blessing. None could see Him be separated from the Father so we could be reunited with Him. None could witness the great exchange that took place at Jesus' death. All they could see was what happened in this natural realm.
Throughout Jesus' entire ordeal, the Fruit of the Spirit or the character of Christ, never once became tainted or twisted from the love that consumed Him. All the sin, sickness, disease and punishment that came upon Him for our sake, but Jesus' only concern was for us and not Himself. This is the fruit, the character of our Lord the Holy Spirit is working to produce in our lives.
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