The Empty Cup

“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Matthew 26:39

Throughout the Bible, God’s wrath is connected to the imagery of a cup. Jeremiah 25:15, Isaiah 51:17, and Revelation 14:9-10 all speak of “the cup of God’s wrath” that will be poured out on sinners. Jesus confirmed this connection in His prayer in the Garden Gethsemane – the night before His arrest – when He prayed, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me…” Many people wrongly assume that Jesus was referring only to the physical pain that awaited Him; but He was not the only person to be brutally crucified in that day. What Jesus dreaded most was not the physical agony, but the emotional and spiritual agony of separation from God.

He knew better than anyone how much God detests sin. From that first bite of fruit in the Garden Jesus had watched God’s fury build and build. He was there when God flooded the earth. He watched the whole Tower of Babel incident unfold. He was at God’s right hand when He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and unleashed the plagues on Egypt. He had seen God tip the cup of His wrath…but never – until the cross – had it been completely poured out. Jesus knew that only He – the perfect Lamb of God - could empty that cup. Only He could satisfy God’s righteous anger against sinners.

Jesus’ suffering on the cross was different than others who suffered similar deaths, because His suffering happened under God’s anger. He drank the cup that had accumulated all the fury of God against sins of all types. Adultery, rape, lying, stealing, child molestation, pornography, careless words, murder – all of it will be punished by God. He cannot overlook any of it. This is the cup Jesus drank on the cross.

But He didn’t just drink it…He emptied it forever for all who believe in Him. God poured out His anger in its fullness and entirety on His precious, blameless Son. “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).  It was the only time in history – past, present, or future – that God the Son was separated from God the Father. At that moment, Jesus became the only human being to ever be completely devoid of the presence of God in His life.

Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath so that He could offer to us the cup of God’s fellowship forever. If we repent of our sins and place our faith in Christ, we no longer get wrath – we get an eternal relationship with Him through the Holy Spirit. This is our portion forever; and it is the cup we can now offer to those who don’t know Him yet.

God, I will never fully understand what Christ endured on the cross for my sins. All I can say is thank You for Your mercy and grace. Thank You for forgiving me and adopting me into Your family forever. In Jesus’ name, amen.