There is a nationwide media campaign that is attempting to introduce Jesus to culture.
The campaign is called He Gets Us. Jesus is portrayed as a person who was wrongly condemned, unjustly criticized, and universally misunderstood.
It seems that the people behind this campaign wish to convey that living life as you please, doing what you deem most enjoyable, and never paying attention to criticism for your life’s choices is how Jesus lived His life. He Gets Us.
But the Bible teaches that the Messiah’s work on our behalf is completely different.
Whether Jesus gets us is secondary.
The truth that Jesus saves us is primary.
But you may ask: Jesus saves us from what?
And the biblical answer to that question is clear:
Jesus saves us from drinking “God’s wine cup of wrath.”
God’s Wine Cup of Wrath on Sinners
We live in a day when people declare:
“I will NOT be judged! I’ll live as I please, do as I desire, and I won’t back down! Don’t tell me any different.”
People in our day, however, do not understand love.
To love someone is to tell them the truth. Jesus calls us to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15)
That means we accept people where they are but we tell them where they are headed. Every person in rebellion against God is headed toward drinking from God’s wine cup of wrath.
The “cup of God’s wrath” is drunk by people who are rebelling against God. The cup of God’s wrath is a common them throughout the Bible.
- The LORD said: “Because you forgot Me and have thrown Me behind your back, you will bear your sins and drink from the cup (of My wrath).” (Ezekiel 23:35).
- “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath.” (Jeremiah 25:15)
- “For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.” (Psalm 75:8)
The imagery of God’s cup of wrath given to those who have forgotten Him is derived from the ancient custom of a host filling his guest’s cups with ample drink. A host, after filling his guest’s cups, would sit down and have communion (fellowship) with his guests.
God is the Host of this entire universe. He created us. We are in His House. When we disrespect Him, ignore His commands, and “throw Him behind our back” like a piece of trash (Ezekiel 31:35), He fills our cups with “the wine of His wrath.”
The prophet Jeremiah said in his scroll:
“15 This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: ‘Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16 When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.’ 17 So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand and made all the nations to whom he sent me drink it: 18 Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a ruin and an object of horror and scorn, a curse –as they are today; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his attendants, his officials and all his people, 20 and all the foreign people there; all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines (those of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the people left at Ashdod); 21 Edom, Moab and Ammon; 22 all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; the kings of the coastlands across the sea; 23 Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who are in distant places; 24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who live in the wilderness; 25 all the kings of Zimri, Elam and Media; 26 and all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the other–all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshak will drink it too.” (Jeremiah 25:15-26).
Again, the pouring out of God’s wrath occurs when people throw God “behind their back” like a piece of trash or an unneeded item (Ezekiel 31:35).
Rebels deserve the righteous anger of God. His just anger is an attribute of His character.
The LORD created us to walk with Him and to fellowship with Him in His House. We have other plans.
We are the ones who disrespect Him. We break His rules. All of us have said, “We don’t need God, and we won’t listen to Him.” All of us are guilty before Him (Romans 3:11-18).
There is no escape, excuse, or exemption from drinking the LORD’S cup of wrath.
The “dregs” (sediment) of this cup of wrath represent:
- Economic disaster.
- Crime in the streets.
- War at the borders.
- Captivity by foreign nations.
- A national humbling of proud leaders and people.
The LORD’S SUPPER and the Cup of Christ’s Blood
But God…who is rich in mercy, entered our world to bear “the cup of wrath” for those who trust Him. 
Jesus died on the cross to bear God’s wrath for the sins of His people.
The night before He died, He took the cup and said, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:27-28).
This cup that Jesus took and drank is “the cup of God’s wrath.” The Messiah bore the wrath of God due the sins of those who trust Him.
- ‘Jesus took a cup… and He gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:27-28)
- “This cup is the New Agreement with my blood.” (Luke 22:20)
- “As often as you drink this, remember Me.” (I Corinthians 11:25)
Interestingly, those who “drink wine cup of God’s wrath” for themselves have “Forgotten God.” Those who drink of the Lord’s Supper “cup of wrath” are to “Remember Jesus.”
God gave His Son to drink His cup of wrath so that those who trust His Son might never drink from the cup.
Everyone is judged by God. Everyone is condemned by God. We are all sinners.
That said, the question for you is clear:
“Will you drink from the cup of God’s wrath yourself or will you trust the Savior who drank from it for those who will trust God?
“For our sake He made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Jesus drank from the cup of God’s wrath for us so that we might never drink from it. When we trust the Messiah, we have fellowship with God.
Yes, our lives on earth might require enduring suffering (a result of the nation’s sins against God), but we personally will never bear God’s wrath.
Jesus saves us. We get God. We used to FORGET God. Now, we REMEMBER Jesus. Through Him, we have fellowship with our Creator. We trust the Messiah who bore the cup of God’s wrath for us.
So, today, we offer this cup that Jesus drank to all those who don’t know Him yet. We invite you:
“Come, trust Jesus who drank the cup of wrath for us.”
Anyone who rejects the message of God’s mercy in Jesus Christ will drink from the “wine cup of God’s wrath” for themselves.
Hopeful that everyone has a chance to hear Mike Pence speak tonight on CNN at the town hall w/ Jake Tapper.
“The night before He died, He took the cup and said,
“Drink of it, all of you, for this is My blood of the covenant,
which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins”
(Matthew 26:27-28).
‘Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
miserere nobis.’ Amen.
CHRISTIANE,
“As they were eating, Jesus took some bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take and eat it, this is My body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, He gave it to them and said, “Drink from it all of you. For this is My blood that establishes the covenant; it is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:26-28 NLT).
Wade, “The Lord said: “Because you forgot Me and have thrown Me behind your back…” should be Ezekiel 23:35.
Rex, as always, “Thank you!”
REX RAY,
How is your daughter and her family doing? My prayers continue for them.
CHRISTIANE,
My daughter, husband, and son are doing better. Thanks for your prayers. If she had gone with us to visit my brother-in-law, Joe Deupree, she wouldn’t have gotten COVID. He is 92 and almost blind. He only has a ‘helper’ that stays with him. I wanted the helper to read him a story, but he said, “I can read it.” He had something that took a picture of it and he heard it through something he had on his ears.
We discussed an old story when their mother was told, “These biscuits are so hard the dogs wouldn’t eat them.” She threw them in the yard and said, “The dogs didn’t think they were too hard.”
CHRISTIANE,
My daughter went back to work today. THANK YOU.
Praise God Who brings all healing on the earth!
Good News!
Hopefully, everyone here will be able to have a safe Thanksgiving holiday surrounded by their loved ones.
🙂
CHRISTIANE,
All our kin are eating at our house tomorrow. I expect to hear some tall tales.
My daughter wanted to have our four-wheeler here to go to our lake. (Got my truck stuck on the dam the last time I was there.)
CHRISTIANE,
We had 19 people for Thanksgiving. The ones that ‘stole the show’ were the children of the grandchildren.
REX RAY,
your holiday sounds wonderful . . . . my brother in Charlottesville had 24 at his table (he called it ‘controlled chaos’ 🙂
I love the holidays: the feeling of ‘abundance’ and the welcoming with ‘groaning board’ where the food is plentiful and there is joy at seeing people who have come in for the feasting. . . . .
I saw that film ‘Don’t Look Up’ and there was a scene towards the end where people gathered for ‘a meal’ together and someone said ‘we really did have everything, didn’t we?’
and I was touched that there is something communal and basic to our humanity about gathering together to celebrate and share with one another – a time to come together, yes
Glad you had your family with you. Family is, in my culture, the most important thing.
And ‘gathering’ celebrates this in my own view, yes. 🙂
Let me know how you are doing these days. Hope all is as well as can be.
c.
CHRISTIANE,
This is an old story:
My wife, Belle, and I heard rats in the attic. We poisoned and a few days later while eating supper, a huge sick rat stopped a few feet from us. He seemed to want us to get him out of his misery.
I got a broom from the closet, and hit at him, but he changed his mind and ran down the hall.
I searched every inch of our room, and convinced Belle; he’d gone back to the attic.
Around midnight, she woke me up. “Did you touch me?”
“Stop thinking about the rat and go to sleep.”
“DID YOU TOUCH ME?”
“No.”
She reached up and flipped the headboard light on. Then she started lifting the covers off. When she lifted the sheet, the rat was laying between her legs.
I hoped her scream didn’t wake the neighbors.
She began to jump up and down on the bed. “Get him! Get him!”
Broom got him.
REX RAY,
so happy that the Capitol police officers will receive some justice for their Jan 6th suffering, as today, Stewart Rhodes (Oath Keepers founder) was convicted of sedition . . . .
finally!
CHRISTIANE,
Thanks for the ‘heads-up’ about Oath Keepers.
Oath Keepers – Wikipedia tells the charge against Oath Keepers is seditious conspiracy, and members of another rightwing group, the Proud Boys are due for trial on seditious conspiracy charges.
The picture Wade provided for this post with the lit candle reminds of that we are in the midst of the First Week of Advent. So in honor of this time of preparation for the celebration of Our Lord’s birth, here is an Advent poem from Malcolm Guite:
” O Emmanuel
O come, O come, and be our God-with-us
O long-sought With-ness for a world without,
O secret seed, O hidden spring of light.
Come to us Wisdom, come unspoken Name
Come Root, and Key, and King, and holy Flame,
O quickened little wick so tightly curled,
Be folded with us into time and place,
Unfold for us the mystery of grace
And make a womb of all this wounded world.
O heart of heaven beating in the earth,
O tiny hope within our hopelessness
Come to be born, to bear us to our birth,
To touch a dying world with new-made hands
And make these rags of time our swaddling bands.”
I hope everyone takes time during this busy season to sit at peace and contemplate the mystery of Our Lord’s coming among us, that those quiet moments might bring peace to our hearts.
🙂