Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Day 11 -- The Cross He Bore

"And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it." ~ Mark 15.23

We're made aware in today's reading that there are two cups that have been offered to Christ. There is the one we have read and discussed already, God's cup. Now we learn of another cup, Satan's cup. One would bring the wrath of Almighty God striking Christ for the sin of His people. The other cup would bring ease from the burden of the first cup.

The Father's cup, full of wrath. Satan's cup, full of a mixed potion for diluting the Father's cup. Would Christ gladly drink from both cups? Would He sip away from Satan's cup to ease the pain and torment from the Father?

"Not only would the Saviour drink the cup of divine wrath, with its steadily increasing bitterness, but also, in terms of his suffering, he would drink no other cup, nor would he accept any admixture. He would drink the cup that the Father had given him unmixed. Not a solitary drop of any other potion must blend with that prepared by the Father. That cup must be kept pure. He must drink it as it was poured out by God. Only thus could he drink it to the glory of God and only thus could he drink it savingly for his people. God's cup of wrath is essentially unmixed, that is undiluted. Dilute the cup with a single extraneous drop and it is no longer the cup of God's wrath. For that matter, add one foreign ingredient to the cup of God's mercy and it ceases to be such. God's wrath and God's mercy alike are unmixed."

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