The Two Cups

The cup of salvation and the cup of God’s anger—read about them in Luke 22:14–23, 39–44.

Think About It

As he gathered with his disciples to celebrate the Passover meal, Jesus showed them that he was the true Passover Lamb. Just as the innocent lamb died in place of the firstborn sons of Israel, Jesus’s mission of love would lead him to give his life in place of God’s rebellious people. His body would be broken and his blood poured out for us. Jesus’s sacrifice would be the start of the new covenant, or promise, from God, pictured as a cup holding the blood that he would shed for us. This cup reminds us that God, by his grace, will save sinners who trust in Christ alone.

Have you ever had to do something that you knew would be painful, but totally worth it in the end? Jesus had to do something like this, but so much harder than anything we will ever face. After eating the Passover meal, Jesus went out to pray in a garden. He knew what was ahead of him and was ready to go through with it, but that didn’t mean it was easy. In order for Jesus to accomplish his rescue mission, he knew that he would have to take the penalty for our disobedience to God. This meant that he would become the target for all of God’s wrath—God’s holy anger toward sin. To bless us with the cup of the new covenant, Jesus would take the painful cup of wrath. Every sinner deserves to be punished for sin, but Jesus would step in and take our place instead.

Talk About It

• What does Jesus mean when he says in Luke 22:22 that he will go “as it has been determined”? (Jesus’s sacrificial death would happen according to the purpose and plan of God.)
• Why did Jesus have to suffer the wrath of God? Why couldn’t God just overlook our sin? (God is holy and just. He will not let sin go unpunished, because that would be unjust.)
• When you ask God to forgive you for something you did wrong, how can you know for sure that you will be forgiven? (Because Jesus took the cup of God’s wrath for us, we can be sure that God’s anger won’t be poured out on us. When we confess our sins, we can be certain that we are forgiven because of what Jesus did for us on the cross [see 1 John 1:9–10].)

Pray About It

Thank Jesus for suffering the wrath that we deserve.

Sing About It

“There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood” (words by William Cowper)

VERSE 1

There is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel’s veins;

And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains:

Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;

And sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.

VERSE 2

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;

And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away:

Washed all my sins away, washed all my sins away;

And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.

VERSE 3

E’er since by faith I saw the stream your flowing wounds supply,

Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die:

And shall be till I die, and shall be till I die;

Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die.

VERSE 4

Dear dying Lamb, your precious blood shall never lose its pow’r,

Till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more:

Be saved to sin no more, be saved to sin no more;

Till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more.