Chances are, if you see me holding a cup, it has coffee in it. I really like coffee and I like coffee cups. I have a very large collection of coffee cups. Some of them have been given to me; others I bought while on trips as souvenirs. I actually have a coffee cup I bought on my honeymoon with Cynthia over 20 years ago that I drink out of every year on our anniversary. Today I was sitting in a coffee shop waiting to meet with a college student and enjoying a cup of coffee and I was reminded that there is one cup I will never drink from. The reason I’ll never drink from it is because Jesus drank from it. But there was a moment when it appeared that he didn’t want to drink from this particular cup. In Luke’s gospel we pick up this conversation between Jesus and the Father;
And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:41; Luke 22:42 ESV)
The “cup” here is a reference to the brutal death Jesus was about to suffer on the cross. No wonder he wants to pass if he can but he knows he can’t. It’s what he came for.
Every gospel writer mentions the cup. Mathew, Mark, and Luke all record some version of Jesus asking his Father if the cup could be removed from him. John records something amazing about the “cup.” You see, while Jesus is in the garden praying for his disciples, you, and about this cup, soldiers (led by one of Jesus’ own disciples) are making their way to the garden to arrest him. Peter sees the soldiers, pulls a sword and cuts off some poor guy’s ear and things are starting to get more than a little crazy when Jesus says this:
“Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” (John 18:11 ESV)
There’s the cup again. The very cup Jesus asks his Father to remove from him he has now declared he will drink from. But what’s in the cup? To find the answer to that you need to go to the book of Revelation:
And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, “he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.” (Revelation 14:9-10 ESV)
Read that again. John tells us very plainly that if we do not place our trust in Jesus then we will have to drink the cup of God’s wrath. Let that sink in for a moment.
That’s a cup we don’t have to drink from. Why? Jesus told us about another drink that he offers. It’s a drink that would keep us from the “cup of wrath”. In John 4, Jesus tells a woman that he can give here “living water” and if she drinks it she will never thirst again. When we put our faith in Jesus we get access to the “living water “ and we’ll never thirst again. It also means we will never even see the “cup of wrath” because on the cross King Jesus took that cup and drank it so that you and I wouldn’t have to. Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath for you.
Someday people who have not thrown themselves on the grace of God and the finished work of Jesus will have to “drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger”. But those of us who put our faith in Jesus will never drink from that cup.
For the Christian this truth should bring about at least two responses:
First, we should fall to our knees in worship!
Second, it should compel us to tell others about the grace of God in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
People are thirsty and they are going to drink. What’s going to be in the cup? Wrath or Living Water?
Do you and I care enough to tell them what’s in the cup?
