Ever wondered what was in the cup?
We hear about it, we read about it, and we study the context, but
have you ever thought about what was inside of it? Just hours before
His death, we see Jesus in a way that the gospels rarely portray Him.
Matthew says that Christ “began to be sorrowful and very
[distressed].” Luke 22:44 has Him sweating “as it were great
drops of blood falling to the ground.” In the Garden of Gethsemane,
we see Jesus suffering in a way He did not even as Pilate proclaimed
His death sentence. The reason for His suffering? A cup. Just a cup.
Christ engages in three rounds of intense prayer in the garden, and
all three times He begs of the Father, “If it be possible, let this
cup pass from me…” What was in the cup?
Talk to some theologians and skim
the religion section in the library, and you’ll here mostly about
the nails, the soldiers, and crown of thorns. Go to an Easter service
in an average church and you’ll get the parting of Christ’s
raiment, the spear in His side, and the beating He received. You’ll
hear that Christ could see the physical suffering coming, and it
caused Him this great agony. This was what the cup held.
Honestly, it sounds pretty good,
but there’s a hitch. Thousands of believers suffered in horrible
ways for their faith. Most of them exhibited a\n unbelievable amount
of peace in their deaths. Some forgave their oppressors, others died
singing hymns. And you think that the same future had the Commander
of the Heavenly Hosts cowering in a garden?? No, the cup was a far
greater penalty.
Turn to Isaiah 51:17. “Awake,
awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the
LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of
trembling, and wrung them out.” Revelation 14:10: “The same shall
drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without
mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented
with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in
the presence of the Lamb.” Speaking of an apostate city known as
Babylon in the end times, Revelation 18:5-6: “For her sins have
reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward
her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to
her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.” I
know this is a lot of hard, symbolic language, but look for the
common denominator in reference to the cup. Let me give you one last
verse, Revelation 16:19. “And the great city was divided into three
parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in
remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the
fierceness of his wrath.”
What was in the cup? All
throughout Scripture, this symbolic cup is filled to the brim with
God’s wrath against sin. Every sinful motive, thought, word, and
deed are stored up carefully, waiting to be revealed against
unrighteous men who commit them (Romans 1:19). We wonder why
wickedness seems to take the upper hand. On the basis of Scripture, I
can tell you with full assurance that any victory or prosperity
gained by unrighteous individuals and entities is a façade, and one
day, the veil will be lifted. God, from His throne will bring forth
the cup of His wrath against their sin, and they will be forced to
drink the consequences.
In the cup was the wrath of God
against sin. That’s what Christ suffered. In comparison, the nails
were trivial. The crown? Secondary. The thorns? Peripheral. Even the
cross itself? Nothing compared to the perfect Son of God drinking
down the wrath of God in our place. His response in the garden to the
mere thought of the wrath we had stored up is a testimony to what He
endured. Christ, on the cross, drank down every drop of the wrath we
deserve. The wrath of God is not simply appeased for a time or held
back by Christ’s sacrifice. For you who have put your faith in
Jesus, there is no more wrath stored up against you. Christ took the
cup from the hand of the Father, and when it fell to the ground, not
even a drop was left to ever be brought against you.
