The Cup We Drink

Most of us are aware of the Cup that Jesus struggled with in the Garden of Gethsemane – namely, the Cup of God’s wrath against unrighteousness. It was this cup that he drank in our stead, thereby absorbing our punishment as God’s elect and cancelling the debt that stood against us. The question then turns to us: if Christ took that cup, then what cup do we drink?

We drink the Cup of the Blood of Christ. Sounds gross to drink his blood, but listen to what Christ says about this: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jn. 6:53). The blood of Christ is our only hope. It’s our only stake in heaven. Unless we enter those gates as righteous as Christ, we won’t enter them at all, so we must drink this cup before us.

Now of course, we aren’t talking about physically imbibing blood like vampires or pagans during sacrifice rituals. Rather, we are speaking of partaking in the new covenant and accepting Christ’s blood as our very defense before God. In speaking of his blood, Christ calls it the “new covenant” and says further, “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (Jn. 6:54). Still further: “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (Jn. 6:56).

At his Last Supper with his Apostles, he shares more than a meal with them. He gives them his body and blood to partake of in the “new covenant”. As Christ passed the cup of his “blood” around, he was giving them the inheritance that only he deserved. His sinless life and perfect death was to be accounted to them. As each Apostle drank, his heart overflowed with both joy and sorrow, for he knew which cup awaited him in the Garden. In this moment sat 2 ironic parties – One who deserved eternal glory and was about to receive judgment and wrath, and another who deserved condemnation and was receiving grace and eternal life.

Yet “it was the will of the Lord to crush him” says Isaiah 53. In God’s sovereign grace, he gives us a beautiful cup to drink upon forever, while he – the sinless one – has taken our guilt upon himself. He has drunk the cup of wrath to its dregs, and he has given himself to us as our righteousness before God.

If this does not awaken your spirit to praise God, then you must have never experienced the unsearchable riches of his grace. Let us praise God for the new covenant in his blood, whereby we are saved and called as sons and co-heirs with Christ, to the glory of God the Father.