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Book: Jeremiah
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Jeremiah 49:12 He Drank the Cup
I. It is prophesied of Edom that they shall surely drink of the cup.
A. Drinking of the cup is a metaphor used throughout the
scriptures to indicate how the wicked were to receive the wrath
of God in judgment.
1. Ps.75:8 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup and
the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and He poureth
out the same: but the dregs thereof all the wicked of
the earth shall wring them out and drink them.
2. Jeremiah 25:15 Thus saith the Lord to me, take the wine
cup of this fury at My hand and cause all the nations,
to whom I send thee to drink it.
3. Rev.14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath
of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup
of His indignation.
B. Grape juice looks like blood, those who had been treading the
grapes looked like soldiers who were returning from a bloody
battle.
1. Isaiah had a vision of the Lord during the time of the
great tribulation and he said: Who is this that cometh
from Edom in glorious apparel traveling in the
greatness of His strength? The Lord answered, "I that
speak in righteousness, mighty to save." The question
is then asked, "Why is your apparel red, and your
garments like one that treads out the grapes?" The Lord
answers, "I have trodden the winepress alone; and of
the people there was none with Me for I will treed them
in My anger, and trample them in my fury; and their
blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments and I will
stain all My raiment. For the day of vengeance is in My
heart, and the year of My redeemed is come."
2. Rev.14:19,20. And the angel thrust in the sickle into
the earth and gathered into the great winepress of the
wrath of God, and the winepress was trodden without the
city and blood came out of the winepress.
C. Thus as the prophet speaks of Edom drinking of the cup, it is
a reference to the fact that Edom will not escape the judgment
of God, but will surely drink of His wrath against the wicked.
II. The prayer of Jesus in the garden. "Father if it is possible, let this
cup pass from Me."
A. God's plan for the redemption of mankind from the judgment
pronounced against sin, was to make His Son a sin offering.
1. In the sin offering you would place your hands on the
head of the sacrifice, and confess all of your sins.
The animal would then be slain by the priest and the
blood poured upon the altar.
a. It this way the animal became a substitute for
you.
You recognized your guilt and the fact that you
deserved to die, but the animal died for you.
b. The righteous judgment of God was satisfied in
the death of the lamb.
2. Isaiah tells us that all of us like sheep had gone
astray we had turned our own ways but the Lord has
laid upon Him the iniquities of us all. In the same
chapter God cried, "For the transgression of My
people was He stricken." He spoke of making of Him an
offering for sin.
3. Thus Jesus was to become our sin offering. Thus John
wrote,
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness."
B. The hour had now arrived that Jesus was to become the sin
offering for the world. He has gone to the garden with His
disciples as Judas has gone to the priest to tell them where
they might find Him to arrest Him.
1. There alone in the garden He is in the midst of the
greatest battle in the history of mankind. The supreme
battle of light against darkness.
2. Paul tells us that the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of
the strongholds of the enemy.
3. Here as Jesus is waging the war in prayer, His sweat
turns as it were as great drops of blood falling to
the ground.
C. He is facing that awesome and horrible prospect of soon
drinking of the cup of the wrath of God against wickedness.
1. The fury of the wrath of God against sin is to be
poured out upon Him, as He becomes our substitute.
2. Realizing what is about to transpire, I can surely
understand His reluctance, and the prayer, "If it is
possible, let this
cup pass from Me." No one in their right mind would
ever want to drink of that cup.
3. The scripture tells us that all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, thus all are destined to
drink of that cup, who do not accept the provision
that God made at such a tremendous cost. I thank God
that because Jesus drank of that cup for Me, I do not
face the prospect of having to drink of that cup.
D. I believe that in that dark hour as Jesus was hesitating at the
prospect of drinking the cup, that the Father flashed upon His
mind the glory of being able to save mankind from certain
destruction. The glory of bring man into fellowship with the
Father and the Son. So that Jesus added, Nevertheless, not what
I will, but Thy will be done.
1. In the book of Hebrews we read, "Who for the joy that
was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the
shame."
E. Soon when the soldiers led by Judas come into the garden to
arrest Jesus and lead Him away for the mock trial before the
High Priest, and Peter draws his sword and begins to wail away,
Jesus commanded him to put away his sword, it was totally
unnecessary, for the Lord could call the angels to His defense,
if He so desired. He said to Peter, "The cup that the Father
has given Me to drink, shall I not drink it?"
III. The cross was one of the most tortuous and hideous ways ever devised
by man to put a man to death. It is not a sudden death as is the
electric chair, it is not an easy death as the gas chamber. It
is a slow tortuous death, that often took hours, sometimes days.
A. Jesus hung for six hours on that awful cross. Time is relative,
and six hours in horrible torment can seem like an eternity.
B. He drank the cup, drained the dregs for you and Me
1. How foolish that one should reject the love of God, and
His only provision for our sins.
2. If you have rejected that love today, I would certainly
be curious to know what your excuse is. Sure you cannot
be in your right mind. It makes such sense to receive
the forgiveness of your sins that is being offered to
you. God said, "Come now let us reason together, though
your sins be as scarlet, they be as white as snow."
C. We are told in our text that Edom judgment was not to drink of
the cup, but surely they shall drink the cup.
1. Your judgment is not to drink of the cup, as Jesus has
already drunk the cup for you, but if you reject Him,
then surely you also will drink of the cup, and shall
not escape the wrath of God.
2. John sort of says it all in John 3:36. "He that
believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life, but
He that believeth not on the Son of God, shall not see
life, but the wrath of God abideth on Him."
3. The choice is squarely yours, either receive the fact
that Jesus drank the cup for you, or drink of it for
yourself. There is no other alternative.
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