We have been reading the Gospels for almost four months in our Bible reading program. For four months we have been consumed with Christ. For four months, each day we have had a new or increasing view of the nature of Christ. Perhaps the temptation has been to think, “there must be something more that I’m missing…”
No, the Gospels are about Christ. They are designed to show His greatness and supremacy. We are to read them as revelations of Him above all else. Here then is one more indication of the nature of Christ in John 18.
The Roman soldiers, the Pharisees, and the traitor Judas arrive to arrest Jesus. Impetuous Peter responds with an apparent attempt to swing his sword through the skull of the nearest opponent, a servant named Malchus. Because he missed, he only cut off Malchus’ ear (v. 10). What did Jesus do? Putting the various gospel accounts together, the chronology would read something like this:
“Stop! No more of this.” And He touched his ear and healed him. (Lk. 22:51) “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen this way?” (Mt. 26:53-54) “The cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” (Jn. 18:11b)
Apart from the gracious miracle of healing Malchus’ wound, there is another component to this interaction that is unique about Christ. He had just prayed that the Father might keep Him from suffering the cup of His wrath (Mt. 26:36ff), though He willingly submitted Himself to the Father’s will. Then just moments later, Jesus says, “It must happen this way” (i.e., He must suffer and die) and He will drink the cup of God’s wrath.
In fact, throughout this chapter, Jesus is resolute in His intention to go to the cross: “He went forth” (v. 1) to meet His accusers; and again, “knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth…” (v. 4); and, He boldly asserted His identity to the betrayer and the Romans, “I am He” (v. 5). Having prayed to the Father and having reaffirmed His submission to the eternal plan of the Father, Jesus went to the cross. And He went to that cross, the writer of Hebrews says, “with joy” (Heb. 12:2).
Notice also that Jesus says that this cup is a gift from the Father — “the cup which the Father has given Me…” (v. 11). The Father did not force it upon Christ. The Father did not manipulate Christ into taking it. The Father did not place it on Christ in anger. No, it was a gift. It was a gift.
This cup was part of the good and sovereign plan of God to redeem men. The cup of wrath was a gift because through the suffering of Christ, He redeemed people who became His eternal possession. The suffering was a gift that resulted in the greater gift from the Father, a redeemed people who would forever affirm the greatness and glory of Christ (Jn. 6:37-44; Titus 1:2).
The cup was a cup of wrath. And it was a gift from the Father to the Son, so that those of us who believe in Christ might know eternal redemption.
Words of Grace 