In the book of Mark, we see Lord Jesus praying a prayer: “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt”.

In the previous verses, we see Christ in deep agony realizing the cup He would be drinking.

In Psalm 75:8; the psalmist talks that there is a cup in the Hand of the Lord and the wine is red. It’s full of mixture. The wicked of the earth will drain it. He is talking of a cup that’s meant for the wicked of the earth. It’s in the hand of God, ready to be poured out on the wicked.

In Job 21, Job talks of all the wickedness of this earth and about the wicked people; and at the end in verse 20, he says that they shall drink of the wrath of Almighty.

Even Isaiah and Jeremiah have talked about the wrath of God.

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In Jeremiah 25, we see God commanding an angel to take the cup of wrath from His hand and give it to the wicked nations of the earth. In the chapter, we see the wrath of God brings about desolation, astonishment and a curse. The nations which drink them shall not rise anymore but rather vomit and fall. The cup has been described as the fierce anger of God bringing sword and calamity upon the nations.

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In the book of revelation, there is not just one cup but 7 bowls of the wrath of God.

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Ezekiel has said the wrath of God is for those who have forgotten God and have put God behind their back.

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This cup had all the fierce wrath of God against us. The cup was so intense and bitter because of our evil sins against God. The whole wrath of God against Sin was in that cup and it was just meant for the wicked people of this earth; for people who had forgotten God.

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Leave alone; it should be drunk by the delight of the Father’s heart- the Son of God- Lord Jesus Christ.

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Christ had all the right to pray the prayer He prayed at the garden. He had all the right to ask the Father to take the cup away from Him and give it to those who deserve it. He had all the right to profess that cup did not belong to Him but to those who had grieved the Father’s heart.

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But we see Christ praying “not My will but Yours be done”. Christ submitted to the will of the Father. He willingly agreed to drink the cup which did not belong to Him, and to face the fierce wrath of God even though He was sinless.

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The cup was so bitter that His soul was exceedingly sorrowful unto death. So intense was the wrath, that His sweat was no more sweat but big drops of blood.

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It’s so great to see that Christ agreed to drink the cup full of God’s Wrath for us.

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And it even more great to see that it was indeed the Father’s will that His well beloved Son should drink His wrath for wile and loss sinners like us.

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From the garden of Gethsemane to the cross; whatever followed was part of the cup. He was determined to drink the cup for us.

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When Peter chopped the ear of Malcus, He said, “shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?“. However bitter the cup was, He endured it. As the writer of Hebrews says- who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame.

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He was beaten, bruised, scourged, marred beyond recognition, spat upon, mocked, ridiculed, blasphemed, despised by all men and all the remaining cruelty which words would be insufficient to describe; were all part of the cup of the Wrath of God. Even that he should be forsaken of His own dear Father, was part of the fierce anger of God.

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In Psalm 88, the psalmist talking of the messiah says – Your wrath lies heavy upon me. And this exactly what Christ experienced on the cross.

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Christ drank the whole cup for us, so that he could victoriously say “It’s finished”. There is not even a single drop left for us. The entire wrath which belonged to us, Christ has drained it completely.

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The Father chose His Son to place all our sins, shame, guilt and the very wrath he had against us for our sins. His Son having loved us with the very same love which the Father loved Him, agreed till the last drop for dogs like us.

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Who were we in the sight of the Triune God that he should do so much for us?

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Today what is left for us is not the cup of wrath but as Paul said, it is the cup of blessing which we bless and is the communion of the body of Christ. We can say like the psalmist that our cup runneth over; for He has blessed us with every spiritual blessings in Heavenly Places in Christ.

An old Hymn by A.R. Cousin goes like this

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Death and the curse were in our cup
O Christ, ‘twas full for Thee
But Thou has drain’d the last dark drop
‘Tis empty now for me
That bitter cup – love drank it up;
Now blessings’ draught for me