A CUP WE SHOULD NEVER WANT TO DRINK FROM

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Awake, awake! Rise up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes people stagger.

Among all the children she bore there was none to guide her; among all the children she reared there was none to take her by the hand. These double calamities have come upon you— who can comfort you?—ruin and destruction, famine and sword—who can console you?

Your children have fainted; they lie at every street corner, like antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the wrath of the Lord, with the rebuke of your God. Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine.

This is what your Sovereign Lord says, your God, who defends His people:

“See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger; from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again. I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, ‘Fall prostrate that we may walk on you.’ And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked on.”

Isaiah 51:17-23

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Go back to the day of Jesus’ arrest.

You’ll recall that He was in the garden of Gethsemane, not sitting around waiting for Judas to lead an armed crowd to take Him into custody but rather to pray. He gives us insight into His anguished state of mind when He says this to the disciples who were with Him:

“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.” Matthew 26:38

And with that, He went and prayed the following words:

“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.” Matthew 26:39

He then returned to His disciples only to find them sleeping, an act which drew His swift rebuke before He went back and began to pray again saying:

“My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” Matthew 26:42

Again, He went back to His disciples and once again they were sleeping, even though He had told them not to do so prior but instead of rebuking them again, He returned to where He was and the scriptures said He prayed the same prayer for the third time.

At the heart of those three prayers was the cup Jesus would have to drink from and as we gauge from His words, He wasn’t looking forward to it. This is because this was no ordinary cup He would drink from but rather the cup of salvation.

What does that cup look like?

Let’s look at our verses from Isaiah 51 as the Lord is addressing the exiled Israelites who were in the midst of their seventy year exile in Babylon, a penalty imposed on them by God after they willingly chose to worship idols and false gods:

Awake, awake! Rise up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes people stagger.

Among all the children she bore there was none to guide her; among all the children she reared there was none to take her by the hand. These double calamities have come upon you— who can comfort you?—ruin and destruction, famine and sword—who can console you?

Your children have fainted; they lie at every street corner, like antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the wrath of the Lord, with the rebuke of your God. Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine.  Isaiah 51:17-21

Note here that the Israelites had drunk from cup of judgment, full of God’s wrath. They were drunk with His consequences, staggered and disoriented, captives in a foreign land and under foreign authority and oppression. No one was there to aid them. All that they had was laid to waste, left in the ruins of destruction and desolation. They were afflicted by the punishment of the Lord God Almighty and there was no escape or pardon from His verdict, His people were going to be abducted and held for seventy years, the full content of His cup of judgment.

Now, back to Jesus.

Why would the perfect Son of God who had never sinned have to drink from the cup of His Father’s judgment?

Because it was God’s will for His Son that He bear the judgment that mankind deserved.

And so Jesus was crucified on Calvary’s cross, fully drinking all of what was in the cup of judgment so we wouldn’t have to. As we saw in His prayer, it was a cup He knew would carry excruciating pain and suffering as the wrath of His Father was poured out against the very sin that He despised.

Friends, I think you would agree that the cup of God’s judgment is one we should never want to drink from. Ever. We do have a choice.

For if you have placed your belief in Jesus as Savior, then you don’t have to worry about the cup because the price you owe for your sins has already been paid in full by Christ Himself. He has drunk for you and so you have been justified with eternal life awaiting.

But if you have not accepted Jesus as your Savior, then be warned. For you will one day drink all of what is in God’s cup of judgment and when you do, there will be no more life for you, only destruction and annihilation.  

I don’t know about you but I’m certainly glad that I will not have to partake of the cup of God’s judgment, giving thanks to Jesus for drinking from it for me. I pray you won’t have to partake of it either because only a fool would choose to do so.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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