Hours before Jesus uttered, “It is finished,” and gave his life on Calvary, the Gospels record him asking his Father in heaven to, “let this cup pass” from him. Jesus knew what was coming – the betrayal, injustice, false accusations, mockery, beating, torture, and ultimately execution.
He asked for deliverance but followed that request with, “Not my will but yours be done.”
The cup Jesus referred to there certainly referred the hours to come, but that cup referred to something cosmic as well. Psalm 75 says,
“but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another. 8 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.”
Get that picture. Picture a cup in the hand of God. In the imagery, that cup contains a wine that represents God’s judgment and wrath for all the sin of the world – including yours and mine. The psalmist promises here that God is going to pour that wine down on the wicked of the earth (that’s you and me again) – down to the dregs (until there is absolutely no more wrath).
That is terrible news for me. God is just and good. Just like an earthly judge, it is RIGHT for him punish sin, so God will not unjustly leave the cup full; it must be poured out.
This cup, which should overwhelm us with dread, this is the cup Jesus is thinking about in the garden: “Father, let this cup from me.”
Jesus, as we remember on this Good Friday, provided a third option for the cup of God’s wrath. That wine cup could be left full – making God unjust. It could be poured out on us. Those were the options — but Jesus.
Jesus, in taking our stripes, accusations, and embarrassment…
Jesus, in dragging our cross up the hill called Golgotha….
Jesus, in taking the wrath intended for us, grabbed that cup from the Father’s hand and gulped it down on our behalf. He absorbed the wrath of God for us, his people.
The wrath of God is awful news, but the mercy and love of God, through Christ, is what makes this Friday, for the redeemed, truly good.
“21 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
