I read a post the other day over at Parchment and Pen regarding “What Did Christ Mean When He Said …” “let this cup pass from me.”
The post was regarding the doctrine of Jesus being fully God and fully man. If Jesus was truly God, why was He asking if He could be spared the cross?
Let’s first take a look at the passages in Matthew that reference this. This is right after the Last Supper in the Upper Room. After that supper, Jesus and the eleven disciples (Judas left to go get the temple guards to arrest Him) made their way to Gethsemane. Jesus left them to be on watch.
And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. –Matthew 26:39, 42, 44.
Three times Jesus prayed. Three times Jesus’ sought the Father’s will. Jesus was not trying to get out of His mission: to take upon Himself the sin of the world. He knew His purpose for His existence in the world.
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God. –John 13:3.
A couple things were going on during these hours in the garden. Jesus was Holy. Jesus was God. A holy God cannot look at sin. Sin must be judged.
Sodom and Gomorrah–those ancient cities of sin–had to be judged by God.
And the Lord said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. –Genesis 18:20.
God sends two angels to investigate what is occurring in those cities. Is it because God cannot physically do it Himself? No, it’s because God is holy. In order for God to deal with His people, the sin issue has to be dealt with first.
In the Old Testament, only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies to speak with God and only on one day per year: Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:2). Otherwise, he or anyone else would die. Why? Because God is holy and man is not. Moreover, the only way even the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies–where the ark and the Mercy Seat were kept–is by first going through a ritual purification (Leviticus 16:3-4) and making a sin offering. Why? The high priest’s sin had to be dealt with before entering to speak with God and make a sin offering for the people!
Back to Gethsemane … Jesus is about to make a once-and-for-all sin offering on behalf of all humanity! It’s never been done before and will never be repeated again. Jesus, being fully God and fully man, realized the enormity of the sacrifice. Being completely holy, He would have recoiled at having to take upon Himself the sin of the whole world.
I do believe, too, that Jesus prayed three times in order to confirm, beyond any doubt, that there is only one way to the Father: by Jesus’ shed blood of His cross. He prayed three times that if there is any other way, then let’s take that route. Jesus’ prayer was answered: the only way you will ever enter heaven is by Jesus’ blood. There is nothing else that will wash away yours or my sin!
The book of Isaiah even says the same, and that’s in the Old Testament!
“I, even I, am the Lord, and there is no savior besides Me. Even from eternity I am He, and there is none who can deliver out of My hand.” –Isaiah 43:11, 13.
Buddha doesn’t save.
Confucius doesn’t save.
Mohammad doesn’t save.
Allah doesn’t save.
Joseph Smith doesn’t save.
The dalai lama doesn’t save.
Scientology doesn’t save.
Eckhart Tolle doesn’t save.
Being an atheist or an agnostic certainly doesn’t keep you from judgment; it doesn’t save.
“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” –Acts 4:12.
That name, my friend, is Yeshua, Jesus the Christ, the Messiah and our Coming King.
That cup of suffering was freely accepted by Jesus. He took it from the hand of the Father. He paid it all so He could be with you forever. Won’t you accept His free gift of salvation today?
May He Increase!
Not my will, but Thine. Sums up a lot. I love reading your blog before i turn in. great to end the day on a Godly thought. Thanks, Joe.
Will, I’m humbled by the comment. Humbled that a pastor would feel that way about something that I wrote through the grace and will of our Father. Praise be to Almighty God for the work He is calling me to do.
Good-night to you and have a blessed Sunday!
Here is a portion of an article written by a friend of my son….Jay Wingard.
“There have been many books written and sermons preached on just what the cup Jesus was praying so fervently about. In my opinion, anything other than the wrath of God would be incorrect and possibly even blasphemous. Do we really think that the Captain of our salvation, God in the flesh, was sweating drops of blood and crying out to the Father for deliverance from a cup that was the physical torment of the cross? How many thousands before and after Christ, including many of the disciples were crucified? Tradition has it that Peter was crucified upside down because he would dare not be crucified in the manner of his Lord.
You see, what Christ knew He would soon experience cannot be explained with human words. Christ prayed three times to the Father asking “if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” (Matt. 26:42b) No song, no book, no sermon could possibly describe the grief that Christ experienced looking to the cross where the sins of all who have and will believe in Him will be imputed to Him, where the wrath of God will be placed on Christ for every thought, word and deed of sin of the elect. This is exactly what Christ was dreading. The cup that Christ asked to be removed was none other than the wrath of God. Many times in the Old Testament the cup described God’s wrath and here this cup was the wrath of the Almighty that was laid upon the sinless Lamb of God. Jesus took on the wrath for our sins and became our substitute. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)”
Ike, thanks so much for sharing that. I believe the original post and these comments by Jay line up together. I agree with Jay’s conclusions 100%.
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