This week's Truth Keepers for Truth Seekers column talks about the ultimate price when God would pour His wrath on Jesus.
Is there a Cup left to drink for us? Are you familiar with the Words: “remove this cup from me, yet not My will but yours be done? “This is taken from The Gospels in The Bible (Luke 22:42). This was when Jesus, the Son of God was wrestling in prayer with His Father God. It transpired in a garden called Gethsemane just before the most dramatic historic event and cruelling sacrifice ever made was about to take place.
The One having to be that sacrifice knew the stakes were high. He knew if He would not finish His appointment with the whipping post and the cross, the whole universe would implode. Literally. Mankind would be lost forever. Whatever promises were made to mankind since the beginning of creation when man betrayed God and God HAD to separate Himself from mankind till THE solution would come, would have been in vain. God would have to reverse everything. All Words God the Father would have spoken to those He promised that there WOULD be a Saviour to get them back in relationship with Him, would then be a lie. All those who had been born and would be born from then onward would not have a chance to ever get back in relationship with God the Father and be forever separated from Him and those with Him in the spiritual realm. Mankind forever lost. Darkness forever. The solution? The price had to be paid. And the only one capable was someone who would be able to pay the perfect price.
The standard God had set to have any relationship with Him, was perfect pure blood. This would have to be shed as well as fulfilling all Words, AKA as prophecies, spoken till then. Promises given that had gone before Jesus came would now be false promises if Jesus would not make it.
For about 4000 years, God the Father had done everything possible to make the promises come to pass. Jesus knew. He was the culmination of all those prophecies. The main battle was not on the cross. But in that garden -- Gethsemane. It was the most intense battle in the soul of Jesus He had ever gone through and would ever had to go through. What was that “Cup” He wanted His Father to take away from Him? Gethsemane is described as a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron Valley from Jerusalem. It is the site of the Agony in the Garden, where Jesus, in intense distress, prayed to God before being betrayed and arrested.
"Gethsemane" (Greek: Gethsēmanē) comes from the Aramaic "gat shemanim," meaning" oil press," suggesting the presence of an area for pressing olive oil in the garden. The events at Gethsemane are described in all four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), Jesus is shown to be deeply sorrowful and praying for God to remove the "cup" (his impending suffering, death and more) from him, while also submitting to God's will. The disciples, Peter, James, and John, are depicted as falling asleep despite Jesus' requests for them to watch and pray with him, highlighting their human frailty and inability to fully grasp Jesus' suffering. It was likely not one hour but three hours of intense praying. So much that He sweat blood and went through immense heartache. The heartache he went through caused the capillaries on His forehead to burst, so drops of blood came out, medically indicating intense heart trouble.
What price had to be paid and why so much agony on Jesus side? Was it the whipping post and having to be beaten almost to death with 9 long strings of leather on a whip, which had pieces of metal and steel and broken glass at the end? Him being unrecognisable after that horrible beating because of the literal blood stripes all over his back, face, legs and arms but especially on his back? So much that the Bible says: It would look like a “plowed field”. Or was it the horrible 6 hours of agony on the cross where He would have to gasp for every breath, hanging on long thick nails through his wrists and feet? Loosing all his blood till there was none left? What was the price to be paid?
The ultimate price was that moment that God would pour His wrath on Jesus. The wrath He would have against all sin and sickness that existed till then and that would ever exist. That cup of Divine wrath was to be poured on Jesus in that final moment on the cross. In that final moment God the Father, would totally forsake His Son because of those sins and all that sickness. When Jesus would cry out: “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” right after He cried out: “It is finished!” Those were not the sins or sicknesses of Jesus. But those of mankind. Yours and mine included. Past, present, future. The consequence for Jesus was separation with the Father. And then having to go to hell alone and having to face the devil and all his demons. He knew He would rise again. But the thought of this separation was what He dreaded most. This struggle at Gethsemane – the place of crushing -- has an important place in fulfilling God’s plan of redemption. If He, Jesus failed here, He would have failed at the cross. His success in the Garden, made the victory at the cross possible. The struggle at the cross was first won in prayer in Gethsemane. Jesus fell on His face, and prayed.
Jesus found victory at the cross by succeeding in the struggle in Gethsemane. After that is written: And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. But Peter--just like us--failed in later temptation because he failed to watch and pray with Jesus. When Jesus needed his disciples most to pray WITH Him, they fell asleep. The spiritual battle is often won or lost before the crisis comes. The concept of "God already paid the price" refers to the Christian belief that Jesus Christ, through his sacrifice on the cross, fulfilled the debt of sin for humanity, making it unnecessary for individuals to pay for their own sins.
God's provision of Jesus' sacrifice is seen as an act of grace, a free gift, offering forgiveness and reconciliation (reunion with God the Father) to those who believe. Jesus has fully paid for our sins, meaning we are no longer under the obligation to pay for them ourselves. This understanding is meant to inspire gratitude and a desire to live lives that reflect the love and grace of God.
While the sacrifice is a gift, it's not automatic. It requires a response of faith, trust, and a willingness to follow Jesus. Acknowledging that God has paid the price should give us the relief from the burden of guilt and shame associated with sin. But knowing that we have been "bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:20) should motivate us to live in a way that honours God with our lives. This is what He prayed in that Garden: And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove (take away) this cup [of divine wrath] from Me; yet not My will, but [always] Yours be done.” THIS Cup of wrath we will never have to endure! There two other cups of wrath mentioned in the Bible which we never have to endure. There IS one that remains. Not a cup of wrath though. You will find out, when you keep following these posts. Until then: Thank Jesus for drinking this Cup of wrath that has passed from you if you accepted Jesus as your Saviour. It did not pass from Him. He drank it for you. Be blessed as you meditate over that amazing truth this week!
Akhrienuo