Jesus Christ Drinks the Cup of Wrath

The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And he went away again the second time and prayed saying, oh my father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. And he left them and went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then cometh he to his disciples and saith unto them, sleep on now and take your rest.

Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going, behold, He is at hand that doth betray me. Would you pray with me this morning? Our Father, we come to you now in the name of the Lord Jesus, what an important passage of Scripture, Lord.

Open our eyes, lord. Give us eyes to see and give us ears to hear and a heart that is not dull but a heart that is alive, that is quick to hear, and to receive, and to understand.

Lord, help us to understand and know the scriptures and especially what you’ve done for us. Lord, this year is the beginning of your sacrifice for us. We want to see it. We want to understand it. We want it to affect us. And so bless your your word to us. The scriptures help us to to receive them with meekness and to stand in awe of your great works.

In Jesus name, amen. You can see here in verse number 36, the disciples and of course the Lord, this is not including, at this point, not including Judas Iscariot now, this is Jesus and the 11 have gone into the Garden Of Gethsemane. Now, what’s interesting with the Garden Of Gethsemane, the word Gethsemane just means oil press. So, this is a place where they would gather the olives from the trees and the hillside was terraced and it was cultivated for for olive trees. It’s still, they still have olive trees there to this day on the hillside of the Mount Of Olives. Obviously, the Mount Of Olives called that for a reason but if you go down, if you go go eastward from the temple in this time you’ll go down into a valley, the Kidron Valley, and at the bottom of the valley, there’s, to this day, there is a, there is called the grotto.

And the grotto is basically a cave, and that’s where they, the press was kept in in the valley, right as you start to go, you cross the the creek there and then you go over and you start going up the hill but in still in the valley, you’re in the you’re in the the area of Gethsemane where the press is And of course, as you go up is where the trees are.

And they had to the press inside of a cave to regulate the temperature so that the oil of the olives would flow in the right way, so they did it inside of a cave. It’s it’s there to this day.

And that’s where we get this this place Gethsemane, which is interesting because the the word Gethsemane only occurs two times in scripture here and in Mark chapter 14 verse 32 and both of those places referred to the place by its proper name, the oil press, but Luke calls this place just calls it the Mount Of Olives and then John actually refers to it as a garden. But it’s all referring to the same spot.

And John 18 verse number one says this, when Jesus has spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the Brook Kedron, where was a garden into the which he was entered and his disciples. So this tells us that this garden, this place in the valley, that level area where the press was, is roughly the area where Jesus would have had his prayer and would have had this interaction we read here.

And that is interesting because Psalm 23 says, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Right? Psalm 23, you’re familiar with those words. Thou art with me But our lord here is walking through this valley, indeed a valley, a literal valley, of course, in the shadow of the temple, all of which is is foreshadowing himself, right? And of course, so you on on the one side, you have the temple which which is looking down on him in this valley.

At this moment, we’re such a an important moment in the life of Christ and an important moment in in salvation history and and looking down is all of these things that picture his death and then you look up on the on the hill, the Mount Of Olives, what do you see? You see the hill that is the place from which he would ascend, which is his resurrection and so you have him in this valley between these two major events.

Here, giving himself over to the father. And you’ll notice, you’ll notice he says, he tells the disciples to sit and he’s gonna go pray and I don’t, as we read through this, I don’t want you to pay any attention to the disciples. I don’t care about anything about them right now. I only want you to look at the Lord Jesus. Verse 38, he says this, then saith he unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death, tarry ye here and watch with me.

And then of course, we know in verse 39, he went a little further and he prayed, listen to his prayer. Oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou will. So I imagine that, you know, in another gospel, it says that he was about a stone’s throw. And if our lord is kneeled down here in great agony, Luke 22 says, he was in agony and if he’s if he’s crying out to his father in this way and his sweat sweat is his great drops of blood. I don’t think he’s quiet.

And so, a stone’s cast away, you could probably hear what he’s saying if he especially if he’s raising his voice and that’s probably why this is recorded because the disciples could hear him at least for for a little while until they fell asleep which which raises an interesting point. I’m violating my own rule. I know because I’m talking about the disciples but but hearing, we assume they he could they could hear the lord Jesus in agony and they’re just they’re just going to sleep but that’s the way it is but in verse number 38, you notice his sorrow.

His sorrow. Now, if you if you’ve ever seen something like the passion of the Christ or some other version of the crucifixion. I I’ve never seen it. I don’t know. I’ve I don’t know. I’ve ever seen any movie that depicts it maybe partially but if you’ve ever seen that, the problem with those, the problem with any kind of movie, even if you made a movie or a film that was to the tee exactly scriptural is the thing you cannot convey in that movie is the most important thing.

How does Hollywood, how do these movies, how do they depict the sufferings of Christ? They depict the sufferings of Christ mostly and primarily and mostly only as the the physical pain he suffered on the cross but I want to draw your attention to one fact here. He has suffered no physical pain up to this point. You see this? In verse 38, has Jesus had one nail piercing His hands or His feet? Has He endured the of nine tails and the whip? No. Has he had the crown of thorns pressed into his head? No, he has not. And yet the Bible says, he was sorrowful unto death even at this point. So, that tells us something. That tells us number one, that the sufferings of Christ were not were not primarily physical sufferings.

Although those sufferings were great and what we have recorded in scripture is a a narrative account of the actual events by eyewitnesses of Christ’s physical sufferings and that’s important and that fulfilled scripture as we read in Isaiah 53 which will go there in just a minute but that was not the sum total of his sufferings. Christ’s sufferings begin here.

It begins, his sufferings begin here with this cup. So, there’s a dimension of Christ’s sufferings that are not evident that that can be seen on like a movie screen or TV, they you just can’t. There’s a dimension that’s far deeper, far more eternal, and far worse, far worse.

Our Lord is suffering even though he has not yet suffered any physical pain. This repeated prayer request three times Christ reveals why he was so sorrowful. And it’s all about the cup that his father required him to drink. In John 12 verse 27 says this, now is my soul troubled. In prayer, Jesus says, now is my soul soul troubled and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour. So, there’s two things I want you to see as we go forward is first of all, obviously, the lord is is in terrible sorrow in verse 38 because of this cup but he’s also in terrible sorrow because of this hour. You see them both in this passage. We you notice the cup in verse number 39, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. And then verse 45, he says, sleep on now and take your rest, behold the hour is at hand and the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

It, you know, so so you have both of these things essentially referring to the same thing, little bit different meaning, but the same moment of time. Here Jesus is is getting ready to drink it and he is not looking forward to it. John seven verse number 30 says this, then they sought to take him. This is earlier in his ministry but no man laid hands on him because his hour was not yet come.

John eight verse 20 says something similar, these words spake Jesus in the treasury as he taught in the temple and no man laid hands on him for his hour was not yet come. Look, take a peek if you would at Mark chapter 14. Mark 14.

Mark 14 verse number 34 Says this, and saith unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death, tarry ye here and watch. And he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible, the hour, not cup, in this case, hour might pass from him. You see why I’m saying the cup and the hour referring to the same basic thing.

Take a peek at John chapter 12. I’m just trying to show you what this hour refers to because we have to get the part about the cup. We have to get a part about the hour if we get any anything out of out of the scripture today. John 12 verse number, look if you would at verse number 27. I read it to you a minute ago, but let’s read it again. Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say? Save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour.

So Jesus is talking about this hour, and he actually tells us, he gives us hints in the context of what this hour refers to. Verse 24, Jesus says to the disciples, verily verily I say unto you, except a corn of wheat shall fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He says in verse 25, he that loveth his life shall lose it.

And then you go down a little bit further to verse number 32, the Bible says this, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. And so by looking at this passage altogether and the others and then comparing that with the cup, we see that this hour is referring to this suffering, but it’s not just talking about his physical suffering as we’ll see in a minute.

This is something he dreaded. He dreaded. And then we get to the cup. He says, Father, back in Matthew, he says, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Let me get back to the text here and read it to you.

He says, oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Then in 42 he says, oh my father, if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink it, thy will be done. Now it’s it’s not in the context of this, it’s not possible to identify exactly what the cup is, but there are several cups in scripture. Jesus said, if you give a cup of cold water to to to someone in his name, you’ll not lose your reward. And then we read about the cup of the Lord that we we just celebrated, right? Using the cup of the lord, the the fruit of the vine representing his blood but those are different cups. This cup is a different cup and really there’s only about three in scripture and I I’ve just named two of them. There’s only really one left.

Let’s look at that really quick. Psalm number 75. Psalm 75. Psalm 75. These verses we’re gonna read describe to us the use of this word cup that applies to our Lord’s prayer here. Psalm 75 verse number eight.

For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red, it is full of mixture, and he poureth out of the same but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them. So in this case, the cup is there’s wine in the cup and the lord is forcing the wicked to drink the wine of this cup. Alright, look at Jeremiah 25.

Jeremiah chapter 25. Jeremiah 25 verse number 15. Says this, For thus saith the Lord God of Israel unto me, take the wine cup of this fury at my hand and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it. Again, the cup. And in this case, cup is defined as the cup of God’s what? Fury. See this? Look a little bit further, a lot further, Revelation chapter 14.

Look at Revelation chapter 14. Verse number nine. Revelation 14 verse number nine says this, and the third angel followed them saying with a loud voice, if any man worship the beast and his image and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, 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. Chapter 19, same book. Chapter 19, same book.

I apologize, chapter 16 verse 19. Chapter 16 verse 19. Says this, and the great city was divided into three parts and the cities of the nations fell and great Babylon came into in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. So, starting in the Psalms, going through the prophets, now in Revelation, touched on in Matthew and Mark and Luke and John, here you have this symbolism of God’s wrath. God symbolizes his anger, his fury, and his wrath as a cup of wine that he forces the wicked to drink.

They don’t have any choice. They have to drink it and turn it upside down completely. And that also reminds us of a truth about the the the sufferings of Christ. When Christ took that cup, that cup he dreaded, the scriptures bear out that that cup is referring to the wrath of God.

The wrath of God. That our Lord would have to drink. Now this is this cup is not a cup, this is not the wrath of man, and it’s important to note that difference. There was a lot, there were a lot of men that were angry at our Lord at this time. In fact, as our lord is praying this prayer, there are there’s a group of them that are descending that from from Jerusalem coming down into that valley getting ready to arrest him. I mean, while he’s praying, they’re coming. They’re angry. They’re angry at him and then you have the the councils waiting and bloodthirsty, ready to take his life. They hate him with with passion.

They’re angry but that is not this cup. This cup is not talking about the wrath of man that’s going to be poured out upon Christ. This is this cup is far far worse than the wrath of man poured out upon Christ. Remember, there have been Christians that have endured and have, if you will, have drunken the cup of the wrath of man. Have have there not? Who have died from being thrown to wild beasts and have been crucified and have been beheaded and and all sorts of ways. That is sadly the testimony of Christians throughout history.

They drank the wrath, the cup of the wrath of man and they felt no hurt. But our lord is not drinking that cup, although he will. The cup that he fears, the cup that he he he loathes is the cup of the wrath of god.

That’s the picture throughout scripture. Look at John 18. I want to show you this. John 18 Now Jesus says, oh father, let this cup pass from me. If it be possible, let this cup pass from me but the question I want to pose to you is where did that cup come from? Now, I’ve said it’s the wrath of god but are we reading in the scripture that this same father gave a cup of wrath to his own son?

John 18 answers this question in verse number 11. Then said Jesus unto Peter, put up thy sword into the sheath, the cup which my, what does it say? Father hath given me. Shall I not drink it? This is when Peter’s gonna defend Christ, right, with the sword. We talked about that in Sunday school. Now, we just need to let this sink down into our minds a minute.

Our Lord praying that this cup of God’s wrath would pass from him and he would not be required to drink it, but that cup came from his father. In other words, what is happening to the Lord Jesus that is starting at this moment in the Garden Of Gethsemane, is not something that is happening because a bunch of guys hate Him. It is a it is a these are the acts of god that he is setting in motion.

Without man’s help, mind you. Now, man’s gonna come and he they’re gonna do they’re he they’re gonna be the instruments. But at the beginning, it was a cup that the father gives to the lord Jesus and he recognizes that cup and what’s the contents of that cup are and he sees it and he he he winces and he he withdraws from it and he doesn’t want it and so we get to the will of god. Go back to Matthew.

Go back to Matthew 26. Oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Oh my father, if this cup may not pass from me, our lord was horrified at the idea that he would drink the wrath of god.

Here’s the problem. The problem is that we that Christianity has done a good job at re characterizing the cross as cross as essentially some some very bad unjust things that happened to a very good man. Poor Jesus. But it is so much bigger than that. You see, when our lord is preparing to go to the cross and he is accepting this cup, he has been being given this cup by the father.

The father, in essence, the father is the father is saying here, you have to take this. I’m going to give you a cup of my wrath and I am going to pour it out and empty my wrath on you. But you have to accept it voluntarily.

How would you, how, how would you respond? You would respond the same way our lord responded in his humanity. So, you have these these two wills that are going here going here. You see the will of the father and you see the will of Christ, if you will, in his humanity. And he doesn’t want that. From all of eternity, he has been, he has been in one accord of one mind in absolute and total unity with his father and his father is saying, I have something I want you to do.

I have a cup of my wrath and I want to pour it out on you. You see, we we have again, we we’ve recharacterized this idea of salvation as listen, you just all you gotta do is you just gotta you just gotta do this thing. You just gotta believe in Jesus and you just gotta pray this prayer. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Salvation, the Bible says, is of the lord.

This whole matter of our salvation, the whole matter of forgiveness of sin is is first and for, we know there’s faith involved in all of that but first and foremost, at the beginning, you know what it was? It was the father handing the son a cup of wrath and saying, drink it. Drink it in the place of sinners.

That’s an act of god. Remember on Wednesday night, we were in Psalm 66 verse number five, come and see. Come and see the works of the lord. This is the work of the lord. This is the work of the lord. Without man’s help, just a conversation between our lord Jesus and the father and nobody else. This conversation is happening.

And this transfer if you will is being made where the Father is handing Him this cup and He of His own will is going to yield to the will of the Father and drink it.

We think often of the gospel in terms of our believing the gospel but before there was a gospel, before Jesus ever went to the cross, this whole matter was set in motion by the father and by the son. In other words, it was their plan. It was their doing. This is what we mean when we say salvation is of the lord. Without this transaction, you can believe in Jesus all day long and you still no substitute who bore the wrath of god for you, right? You see, this is first and foremost and most importantly, an act of god The father insisted that the son take the wrath, the son recoiling from that prospect, but nevertheless yielding. You see, you see why the perfections of Christ are are so important, that lamb of the Passover, with the Lord’s Supper, that lamb was without blemish. Here is where it’s tested. He became Philippians three, he became Or Philippians two rather, he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Obedient. Why? Even when our even when his father said, here’s this cup, I want you to drink it.

Had our Lord had one speck of sin, one speck, at this moment is the moment when he would have said no. But because he was impeccable, because he was sinless, he said, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Christ’s righteousness is what what is the thing that urged him to take that cup voluntarily.

But there’s another thing. You read this prayer request, he says, oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. He says, oh my father, if this cup may not pass from me, not as I will, but as thou wilt. So let me ask you a question. Was the Father willing to let this cup pass from Christ? No. We know that Christ was willing to take it because he said not my will, but thine. But one other thing we see is the Father wasn’t willing to let it pass.

The father was not willing to remove the cup from the lord Jesus. Not only that, look at verse 39 again. Oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. It wasn’t possible.

Remember what I said on Wednesday night about come see the works of the Lord? If it be possible, the father says, son, I’m trying to be reverent here, son, there’s no other way.

There’s no other way. The only way that these sinners who are the object of my holy love, the only way that they will have a chance at all, the only way they can be saved is if you take this cup. If there was any other way, if it be possible, and there was none.

The Lord didn’t choose, wasn’t multiple choice where he chose one of several options, there was only one way. And that is if our Lord drank the cup of the wrath of God as a sinner where sin had been imputed on him. That was it. That’s the only way we can have eternal life. That’s the only way we can be saved. See, when we talk about believing on Christ, this is we’re we’re not we’re not talking about saying words. What we’re talking about is understanding this truth that the only hope a sinner has is that Christ drank that that cup to the full. That is it. There is no hope because there is no other way. That’s what we mean by faith.

You say why? You know, I can This is why I wanna say, this is why it’s so offensive to God. When people add to the gospel with things like getting baptized or becoming part of the church or taking the Eucharist or whatever these other things that supposedly are required and additions to the gospel, because that minimizes and sets at not this thing that Christ is doing, that that was required.

It was not possible any other way. It was impossible that he could avoid this cup and also save us from our sin. And there was no way that Christ could be a sacrifice for our sins and also appease god’s wrath because that’s what the cup is on our behalf except that god himself be the offerer. First John two verse two, you you’re familiar with this verse says this, and he is, Jesus is the propitiation for our sins and for and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. First John four ten, here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. What is a propitiation?

It’s obviously someone that propitiates. What does that mean? It means to appease, to satisfy. And in this word propitiation, a good bible word, in this word propitiation is the idea of of anger. Is the idea is someone is is there’s fury, there’s wrath, and another steps in and absorbs that, so that the wrath is appeased. And you see this, look if you would, this is our last passage, look at Isaiah 53.

Isaiah 53 verse number six. This is the prophecy of course of our Lord’s sufferings. Verse number six says this, all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. You see that? That’s not, there’s no man involved in that. This is this is the garden. This is the Lord Jesus and his father.

Right? But it goes on to say in verse number 10, yet it pleased the lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. That’s that cup. Given to our lord by his father. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, the father made the soul of his son the offering for sin. He shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the lord shall prosper in his hand. Here it is and he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be, what does that say?

Satisfied. You know what that is? Propitiated. Appeased because someone has stood in the place of Devin, whereas Devin had earned and deserved the wrath of God for his sin against a holy God. Here, the Lord Jesus takes the cup and says, hey, Devin, give me that cup.

And he takes your cup and he takes my cup and he pours it into a really big cup and he turns it up and drinks the entire thing in our place.

And he absorbs and appeases the wrath of a holy God. Listen, this is eternal wrath. This is the kind of wrath that sends somebody to the lake of fire forever and ever and ever. Wow. This is not this is not just like nails on a cross, that’s coming, but this is this is on a deeper level than even that.

This is the wrath of God on his son. Here’s the thing, probably nine out of 10 people in our world, in our country anyway, think that God’s not mad at them.

They think God likes me, I’m good. Me, I’ve heard people say it, me and God, we’re best buds, we’re good. And yet, it was required that his son drink the wrath of God in our place. You know what that tells us? We’re not good with God. It tells us God’s mad at us, that is not a popular, that’s not a popular idea, is it? But the Bible clearly says in John three that the wrath of God abideth on everyone without Christ.

Is that not what it says? It says it very plainly in John chapter three. That means God’s mad. But there’s good news, that the Savior willingly, starting at this point and culminating on the cross, He took that cup and He drank it so that you wouldn’t have to.

And so as a believer, we can be made free from the wrath of God. I don’t fear listen, I don’t fear God’s wrath. I don’t fear god’s wrath at all. I fear giving an account to god but I do not fear god’s wrath. Christ absorbed it, appeased it, satisfied it, and propitiated it. I need no other argument. Is your trust resting in Christ drinking that cup for you? Is your trust resting in the savior who bled and died in your place?

Is that where your faith is resting? Because if, listen, if it is, you have reason to rejoice and to stand in confidence before god because he has satisfied the wrath of god for you but if not, but if not, the wrath of God is coming your way.

Flee to the Lord Jesus, to the one who drank it for you. Let’s pray together.