[I (Jacob) have adapted this post from my March 3, 2024 sermon from Mark 14:12–52 titled The Cup of the King and the Cup of Sinners].
The King’s Cup of God’s Salvation
And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God” (Mark 14:22–25).
The first cup we’re introduced to is the King’s cup of God’s salvation. Jesus describes the cup at the Last Supper with his disciples as, “my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many” (Mark 12:24). Jesus speaks into redemption history the salvation promise that the Mosaic covenant pointed to when Moses on Mount Sinai sprinkled the blood of a sacrifice on the people. Jesus says, his blood, which the cup points to, is what will lead to salvation. His blood secures the new covenant of Jeremiah 31 and the everlasting covenant of peace in Ezekiel,
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31).
I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them (Ezekiel 37:26).
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you (Ezekiel 36:25).
This is what God’s sovereign plan of salvation was always driving toward. Every sacrifice, every Passover Lamb, every covenant, finds its fulfilment in the man Jesus the Messiah. Jesus is God’s promised salvation that will cleanse his people from all their uncleannesses and sins. And King Jesus holds in his hand, the cup of God’s salvation for his people. And here he gives that cup to his people, all his people, to drink. And notice again that it is for many. That is, the all, is ultimately many—from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. King Jesus’ cup of salvation is for many. There is only one requirement to sit at this table of God’s salvation and drink from the King’s cup. You must be a sinner, who recognizes your only hope is not in yourself but in Jesus because this cup is for the forgiveness of sins.
The Sinner’s Cup of God’s Wrath
And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:35–36).
Here we’re introduced to the second cup, the sinner’s cup of God’s wrath. Jesus goes farther than his disciples, who being of Adam’s race are not able to drink this cup and live, into the darkness of the garden. How distressing is this moment? Distressing enough that Jesus asks of God that it might pass from him. He cries out intimately to his Father—his Father with whom he has walked more closely than any man. His Father, with whom he is one in his divinity. He cries out, “ABBA FATHER! You can do anything. Take this cup from me!” How much did Jesus in his humanity endure temptation and testing and suffering? More than any other man the author of Hebrews tells us. He endured the full weight of it and never sinned. Thank God he never sinned. And this was the perfect opportunity to. But he says instead,
“not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36).
Jesus is obedient to his Father, even unto death. He resists sin to the point of shedding his blood, a reality Luke alludes to as he describes this moment saying that Jesus sweat became “like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). Does Jesus anticipate the torture and death that awaits? Sure. But the true wrath he sees is the forsakenness that awaits him. He will be forsaken by his Father. And the reality is, he is he Son of God. He is the King. At any moment he could call down twelve legions of those angels (Matthew tells us) that are peering down. He could call—do some math—thirty-six to seventy-two thousand angels to come and wipe out all humanity so that he can take his throne. But this is not the Father’s will…so he stands fast. He submits himself to the Father’s will.
Consider the contrast with Adam’s helpless race. While Jesus prays what evangelist Leonard Ravenhill said is ” the most wonderful thing human lips have ever uttered,” Peter and James and John don’t hear it. At least not all of it. Why? Because they are sleeping! They are not strong enough in their physical flesh, let alone in their sin-sick flesh, to even stay awake and pray. They can’t even obey Jesus’ command to, “Watch and pray” for the sake of their own souls. While Jesus endures and resists temptation for the sake of all.
The picture Mark offers here is one of completion. This scene illustrates the complete weakness of Adam’s race. Three times Jesus comes and finds the disciples asleep. Three times they fail. Adams’ race, sinful man, is completely lost. The cup of God’s wrath, not the cup of God’s salvation awaits their lips…if not for Jesus. He is their hope. They’re not strong enough to drink it and live, and yet it is their destiny. If not for Jesus, the last Adam. The new Adam does what the old Adam and his race could never do. He trusts God completely. He trusts his Father, and he gives up his life for the sake of the kingdom of God. And he drinks the cup reserved for sinners.
The Cross and the Great Exchange
At the cross, Jesus drank to the dregs the full cup of God’s wrath so that the cup he gave us to drink, the cup of his perfect blood, truly is the cup of God’s salvation.
Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath, tasting the poisonous agony of every sin, small and great, mingled with the fiery torment of God’s wrath crying out, “My God, God, why have you forsaken me?” And the cup had its full transforming effect. The man who knew no sin, became sin for us.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin…(1 Corinthians 5:21).
And at the cross, King Jesus gave to us, sinners, his cup of God’s salvation. He was the only one who deserved to drink from this cup, and in his death, he gave it to us. And because of the cross, the cup of God’s salvation has its full transforming effect. We become the very righteousness of God in Jesus.
…so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (1 Corinthians 5:21).
No man in history ever perfectly loved, trusted, and submitted to the Father even when he promised him life. But Jesus perfectly loved, trusted, and submitted to the Father even when he promised him death. He knew his Father would not abandon his soul, though all others would. This was a death leading to life. And Jesus, our champion of the faith, the true disciple of God the Father, our King invites us into his reward of eternal life.
This Good Friday remember that at the cross, our King took our sinner’s cup of God’s wrath and gave to us his King’s cup of God’s salvation. Long live the King.
