Cup of Salvation

Jeremiah 49:12- This is what the Lord says; If those who do not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, why should you go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, but must drink it. 

Luke 22:42- Saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.

Matthew: 26:27- Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

 

The cup that the Lord was talking about in Jeremiah is the cup of wrath. That wrath was poured out to punish those who were wicked, yet even those who were deemed righteous had to drink from it. They were caught up in a bad situation based on the law.

Whether or not we are righteous in this world, the enemy wants you to believe that you must be punished. Regardless of the severity of our sins, even if people think we are righteous, or wicked, the enemy will try and persuade you to believe that the cup of wrath must be drunk by you. That may have been the case before Jesus came, but for those of us in Jesus Christ, the cup of wrath has been taken once and for all. 

You see, Jesus is the only one who could swallow the cup of wrath on our behalf. There is no way you or I could ever absorb the punishment of the wrath of God. We are not equipped to handle it, regardless of how good or evil we are. 

Jesus even prayed to remove the notion that He would have to drink it, yet He did it so that we could all be liberated from that punishment. 

On the night that Jesus was betrayed, He took the cup, blessed it, gave thanks and shared His blood, the cup of salvation with His disciples. He gave them the life giving, punishment removing gift of eternal forgiveness. Yet when that cup was emptied that night, the fate of wrath still hung for Him to drink. In doing so, Jesus took from us the cup of wrath and from the shedding of His blood, gave us true life outside of that certain punishment. 

We must see His blood when we drink from the cup of salvation. We must ingest that cup instead of drinking from the cup of wrath which is what the enemy wants us to drink from. 

When we do something wrong, and sin, we are looking for the cup of wrath to drink, yet the cup of salvation is right there in front of us. One cup is based on our merit, and one is based on the work of Jesus. When we see our faults and guilt being poured into a cup, we have to see that Jesus drinks from that cup, not us. The world looks at ways to convict us, and Jesus looks for ways to forgive us. When we choose to drink from His cup, we are saying, Jesus we receive your life giving, forgiveness poured out for me and for many for the forgiveness of my sins. You have to say that out loud and drink from, and give praise to, the one who took away our cup of wrath. Discerning the truth that Jesus is the cup of salvation is paramount in our walk. Look at 1st Corinthians 11:29- For those you eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ, eat and drink judgement on themselves. 

Do you understand? The body and blood of Jesus, our communion with Him is based on what He did, not what we do. When we discern His blood in the cup that we drink in thanksgiving to Him, we drink life. If we instead see the cup of wrath, we inflict judgement upon ourselves because we see ourselves and not Jesus. Jesus gives us the choice to drink from life or death, and it is wrath that kills through punishment, and it is through His blood that gives us life. Drink from the cup of salvation, give Him thanks and praise, and be transformed from condemned to forgiven.