What was the cup that Jesus prayed about?
Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 8:43 am
Was the cup Jesus prayed to pass from him in the garden (Mt 26:39) the cup of God's wrath? I know that most evangelicals say that it is, but if so, why does Jesus say that James and John will indeed drink from the same cup that Jesus would (Mt 20:22-23)?
I am not doubting that Jesus took on my sins and the sins of the whole world, and that He faced the penalty for those sins. I affirm that. I am just wondering how can we say that James and John also drank God's wrath, if we identify the cup this way? Couldn't we see the cup in a more general sense, as in accepting or refusing God's calling for your life? And that Jesus and the apostles all suffered for the gospel's sake, so in that way they drank from the same cup?
As an aside, I am aware that there are many OT references to God's wrath in a cup, but they seem to refer to a cup that can be filled and emptied on different occasions, and dishes out temporal rather than eternal judgment.
I am not doubting that Jesus took on my sins and the sins of the whole world, and that He faced the penalty for those sins. I affirm that. I am just wondering how can we say that James and John also drank God's wrath, if we identify the cup this way? Couldn't we see the cup in a more general sense, as in accepting or refusing God's calling for your life? And that Jesus and the apostles all suffered for the gospel's sake, so in that way they drank from the same cup?
As an aside, I am aware that there are many OT references to God's wrath in a cup, but they seem to refer to a cup that can be filled and emptied on different occasions, and dishes out temporal rather than eternal judgment.