What was Jesus referring to when He requested Peter within the backyard of Gethsemane, “Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” We could be vulnerable to suppose that the “cup” He talked about symbolized the bodily struggling Christ would meet on the cross—however, as Alistair Begg factors out in his sermon “Shall I Not Drink the Cup?,” He in all probability had one thing much more momentous in thoughts:
Within the agony of the backyard, you keep in mind, Jesus says, “Father, in case you are prepared, let this cup cross from me.” Now, the cup to which he refers is a logo of God’s judgment. It’s the cup of his wrath. You would wish to only take your concordance and work on this by yourself to construct up an image of this from the Previous Testomony. Let me cross-reference simply two locations—one, straightforwardly, in Psalm 75. And within the midst of that psalm, in verse 8, the psalmist says,
For within the hand of the Lord there’s a cup
with foaming wine, nicely combined
and he pours out from it,
and all of the depraved of the earth
shall drain it all the way down to [its] dregs
—that God, in exercising his judgment on wickedness, will pour out the cup of his wrath.
You might have it elsewhere, however let me simply give one different, and that will be in Isaiah and in chapter 51. And the prophet says,
Wake your self, wake your self,
rise up, O Jerusalem,
you who’ve drunk from the hand of the Lord
the cup of his wrath,
who’ve drunk to the dregs
the bowl, the cup of staggering.
There’s none to information her
amongst all of the sons she has borne;
there may be none to take her by the hand
amongst all of the sons she has introduced up.
These two issues have occurred to you—
who will console you?—
devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
who will consolation you?
Your sons have fainted;
they lie on the head of each avenue
like an antelope in a web;
they’re filled with the wrath of the Lord,
the rebuke of your God.
So the cup that’s being referenced right here by Jesus is that cup. It’s the cup of God’s wrath. So once we take into consideration Jesus within the backyard saying, “Father, whether it is doable for this cup to cross from me,” we’ve instantly gone unsuitable if we predict what he’s saying is just “I don’t need to must face the ignominy of this” or “I don’t like the concept of my associates and myself being separated from me” and so forth—“I’m afraid of the physicality of it,” when you like. All of that could be true, however that isn’t the difficulty. As a result of the cup that he doesn’t need to drink is the cup poured out by the Father on all of the wickedness and ungodliness of humanity. Jesus didn’t need to drink that cup. In case you mentioned, “What’s Jesus’ will?” Jesus’ will was “I don’t need to drink that cup.” How do we all know that? As a result of he mentioned it. He mentioned it.
