The Cup

"He loved Judas. He still loves Judas."

“AND HE WENT a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt (Matthew 26:39).” Exceedingly sorrowful, “He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done (verse 42).” Jesus’ dedication to His Father caused Him to sweat great drops of blood, so great was the weight of what He must do, yet there, before Him, His head bowed, He set aside His own will and chose to drink of what He would rather not.

Minister Rick Renner says this prayer in the garden was Jesus’ most difficult moment. Here, He had to overcome the desire of His flesh at what lay before Him. We’ve misunderstood why, yet it’s so plain in the text. Matthew 26:45 says, “Then cometh he [Jesus] to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.” It was not the weight of the cross that He dreaded, nor the suffering of His death. It was not the devil He feared nor what man has often spoken, any separation from His Father. None of these caused Him to ask for the cup to pass. In fact, He would never be separate from the Father.

And He had no fear. 2 Timothy 2:7 says, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear.” Upon Him moved the spirit of “power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” He was the Christ, without sin, having the Holy Spirit without measure. He was THE LIFE of the world. He told His disciples, “For the prince of this world … hath nothing in me (John 14:30).” The Phillips translation puts it this way: “For the spirit that rules this world is coming very close. He has no hold over me.” The devil could not take His life from Him. Jesus had to lay it down. “I lay it down to take it up again,” He said (John 10:18). This means even hanging on the cross, beaten and bloodied, His insides exposed, He could not die. Not having sin, He was eternal. Being the Christ, the Anointed One, He had all of the Life-giving Spirit.

They would never be separated, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit would never be separate from the Father. They were one. Jesus speaks this in John 17:21. He wanted the onlookers to know and to see what they witnessed, so He quoted familiar Psalm 22. They recognized its words and knew the completion. Here was their Messiah being crucified for them. Jesus was the sacrifice for sin, not a sinner. There is a huge difference. A sinner dying would suffer in hell because he did not choose redemption. Jesus is redemption. He is the life of God. As the Levitical sacrifice took on the sin of the people then was killed in the manner ordered, Jesus took on the sins of the people and released His spirit so that He would physically die and having died, death was ended for all mankind.

“And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.” (Luke 25:46)

Being physically dead, He was alive in the Spirit. This was immediate and NOT after suffering for three days. That is entirely unscriptural. The apostle Paul tells us Jesus is “the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29).” In other words, He is the original “new creation.” He is also THE LIFE. He spoke this at the tomb of Lazarus, and the people did not understand. “Don’t you get it? I am THE RESURRECTION? I am THE LIFE,” He said. The beloved disciple tells us this in John 1:4. “In him was life.” John goes on to say the darkness HAS NEVER OVERPOWERED Him (John 1:5, Weymouth). Never is not at any moment.

Jesus told the thief beside Him on a cross that they would be together that very day in Paradise. This leaves us no doubt. Jesus was triumphant in death, the Victor over hell and the grave. Colossians 2:15 in the BSB says, “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” The power of darkness was shown to the spirit world as defeated. Additionally, 1 Peter 3:18-19 tells us, “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but MADE ALIVE IN THE SPIRIT, in whom He also went and PREACHED to the spirits in prison.” That word “preached” means to herald. Jesus went and proclaimed what He’d done! He wasn’t afraid of what He’d come to do nor was He ignorant of any part of it. He spoke this to His disciples in His words recorded in John 14:29. I love the Remedy translation which says, “And none of this has taken me by surprise.” Over and over again, He’d told them He would die and rise again. They’d seen Him transfigured into the glory of God. He’d used the example of Jonah, being in the belly of the whale for three days and of the temple being torn down and re-erected.

He had no fear from any sort of ignorance of the future, nor as I’ve said, of any separation from the Father or the Spirit, nor fear of death. He had no fear at all. So the cup He didn’t want to drink of wasn’t one made of fear. The devil never at any time exalted His throne above God’s. Jesus came to fulfill the Law and return man to God, to shed His blood for the remission of sins, and place the love of God inside anyone who would believe. He knew this.

• Take this cup from me. HE KNEW WHAT WAS IN THE CUP.
• This day you will be with me in Paradise. HE KNEW HE WOULD BE IN PARADISE.v 
• It is finished. HE KNEW HE CAME TO FULFILL THE LAW
• For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly. HE KNEW HE WOULD BE DEAD 3 DAYS.
• We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands. HE KNEW HE WOULD BE ALIVE.
• The transfiguration, seeing Moses and Elijah. HE KNEW ABOUT HEAVENLY THINGS
• I could call down legions of angels. He was Lord of Hosts. HE KNEW WHO HE WAS.
• Art thou the Son of God? HE KNEW WHO HE WAS.
• He makes himself to be a King. He is King of Kings. HE KNEW WHO HE WAS.
• Art thou King of the Jews? HE KNEW WHO HE WAS.
• Are you the Christ? HE KNEW WHO HE WAS.
• This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. HE KNEW HIS PLACE WITH THE FATHER.

What Jesus did not want to do was be the cause of any man’s betrayal. Read Matthew 26:39, 41, and 45 again. “Don’t make me do this. Please, take this from me.” “The hour of betrayal is at hand.” Then in verse 49-50, Judas kisses Jesus and Jesus asks why. In order to die on the cross and be sinless, not just innocent of a crime, but without any sin at all (this was the requirement of the Law), there was only one way for Him to die, the cross (Galatians 3:13), and men had to put Him there. He died FOR them, and He died BECAUSE OF them. Judas’ betrayal fulfilled Scripture. Jesus said this. He knew it. But He didn’t WANT it. He loved Judas. He still loves Judas.

The Father SO LOVED the world that even the death of Himself, of Jesus, was worth it. He had no fear of it. He knew His life would prevail. His Spirit cannot die and so nothing is impossible with God. He knew what it would entail and how it had to happen. He’d suffered great betrayal many times before – the devil who’d conceived sin and taken one-third of heaven’s angels down with him, Adam who deliberately chose sin, mankind who’d become so violent in Noah’s day God destroyed them in a flood, and of course, Israel. Despite being delivered from Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, she doubted God again and again and chose false gods, chose doubt in His goodness. Yet He showed her mercy. He promised her blessing and an everlasting kingdom, which in that moment in the garden came down to the heart of the Father, who just couldn’t be the reason any man would die, and yet is the choice between life and death today. It’s more than physical blessings, although those are in Him with abundance. It’s more than eternal life and heaven one day. It’s such a great personal moment of gentleness and meekness that would rather give up something of its own, of Himself, than condemn even the greatest betrayal.

Why do we doubt Him today? Why have we made Him hard and harsh and coated in religion? Baptist religion, Pentecostal religion, Faith-preaching religion. He isn’t a religion. He came to set us free from the Law, from rules we follow to obtain forgiveness, or healing or anything else. He came to instead be our Friend who laid down His life for ours. God help us see it.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com