Bruce R. McConkie wrote:
Of all prayers ever uttered, in time or in eternity—by gods, angels, or mortal men—this one stands supreme, above and apart, preeminent over all others.
In the garden called Gethsemane, . . . the greatest member of Adam’s race, the One whose every thought and word were perfect, pled with his Father to come off triumphant in the most torturous ordeal ever imposed on man or God.
There amid the olive trees—in the spirit of pure worship and perfect prayer—Mary’s son struggled under the most crushing burden ever born by mortal man.
There, . . . while Peter, James, and John slept—with prayer on his lips—God’s own Son took upon himself the sins of all men on condition of repentance.
Upon his Suffering Servant, the great Elohim, there and then, placed the sins of all men in all ages who believe in Christ and seek his face. And the Son, who bore the image of the Father, pled with his divine Progenitor for power to fulfill the chief purposes for which he had come to earth.
This was the hour when all eternity hung in the balance. So great was the sin created agony—laid on him who knew no sin—that he sweat great drops of blood from every pore, and “would,” within himself, that he “might not drink the bitter cup” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:18). From creation’s dawn to this hour, and from this atoning night through all the endless ages of eternity, there neither had been or would be again such a struggle as this. ~Elder Bruce R. McConkie (deceased, was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles), The Gift of the Atonement (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2002), 41
