Thank you, Linda, for sharing this. I am so grateful that He 'drank from the
cup' for me.
Love, Rhonda
On Friday, April 12, 2024 at 06:10:51 AM EDT, Linda Ryan
<claminator@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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The Cup of Suffering |
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“But Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not
drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?’”
—John 18:11
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One day, the mother of James and John, the Sons of Thunder, approached Jesus
with them and said, “In your Kingdom, please let my two sons sit in places of
honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left” (Matthew 20:21
NLT).
Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink
from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?” (verse 22 NLT).
As He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was looking at the cup He had
spoken of. And He wasn’t going to take just a sip of it. He was going to drink
it all. He would taste death for everyone. And He had to drink it and die on
the cross.
The prophet Isaiah described this cup that Jesus recoiled from as God’s fury:
“Wake up, wake up, O Jerusalem! You have drunk the cup of the Lord’s fury. You
have drunk the cup of terror, tipping out its last drops” (Isaiah 51:17 NLT).
That is why it is insulting to God to suggest that all religions are true and
that whatever belief system you adopt will get you to Heaven if you are
sincere. If that were the case, do you think that God the Father would have
allowed His Son to suffer like He suffered, both in Gethsemane and on the cross?
No.
But because there was no other way for us to be brought into a relationship
with a holy God from whom we are separated by sin, the wrath of God the Father
had to be poured out on God the Son. And for Jesus, this was a fate worse than
death.
Then what kept Him going? What enabled Him to press on despite such difficult
circumstances? We find the answer in Hebrews 12: “Because of the joy awaiting
him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the
place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from
sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up” (verses 2–3 NLT).
Jesus told a story of a shepherd who had a hundred sheep, but one went astray.
So, he went searching for it. And when he found it, he brought the sheep back,
wrapped around his shoulders. Jesus concluded, “In the same way, there is more
joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over
ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!” (Luke 15:7 NLT).
Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man
discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold
everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field” (Matthew 13:44 NLT).
But what was that joy that was set before Him? It was you. And it was me. That
is why Jesus went through all that anguish. He did it for all those who would
come to faith in the world. We were the joy set before Him.
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