Matthew 26:26-28 (KJV) 26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed [it], and brake [it], and gave [it] to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is My body. 27 And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave [it] to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 28 For this is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
I had always wondered why is it a cup. What’s significant about a cup? If you didn’t know, cups are made to hold liquid. Liquids play a major part in our body. According to H.H. Mitchell, Journal of Biological Chemistry, “The body is 60% water. The brain and heart are composed of 73% water. The lungs are about 83% water. The skin contains 64% water, muscles and kidneys are 79%, and even the bones are watery at 31%.” Water is needed for our daily well-being. It’s the maintenance that our body requires to keep running. Wine is about 85% water. Most drinks we consume are going to run around 70-80% of water.
What all can go in a cup? You already know. Water, fruit & vegetable juices, wine, alcoholic beverages, any consumable liquid, poison (gasp!)… the list goes on and on. Death or life could be in the cup. It’s a risky proposition to drink something with an unknown source especially during the times of Kings and Queens. There was a special position held for the royal butler AKA the cupbearer. Their job was to taste the wine (or whatever was being served) while royalty watched to see if it was poisoned. If it was okay then they served them. This was an honored title and position for a person held in high-esteem by the royal family. They were paid well and they also carried influence in the King’s courts. They had to be a trustworthy fellow to serve in this capacity.
When Adam, the first man was born, he was made in perfection. God was his provider in the Garden of Eden. He had everything he needed to flourish on Earth. Nothing was withheld except the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Why was it a tree with fruit? My theory is that a fruit is the closest thing we can have between and eating & drinking something at the same time. Fruit, as an average, is made of 80% water. Just a thought also… a fruit tastes better than a vegetable! God had to give Adam freewill to make choices to direct his life. Love does not brainwash, manipulate, or force its way in. Love requires choice. God created Adam with choice.
Eve was created from Adam’s rib. She was given all the same benefits as Adam and also the same restrictions. She was deceived by the serpent (Satan) and ate of the forbidden tree. She then convinced her husband, who was with her the entire time while the ordeal was taking place, to eat of it as well. At that moment, they let Satan become their cupbearer. He offered them fear veiled as wisdom. They ate the fruit and gave up their authority, purpose, blessing, and identity in the process. Satan usurped the throne that was intended for man to have. Now, every human would be enslaved to the false king because of Adam’s sin of trusting Satan more than God.
Now, I don’t believe any of this surprised God. Scripture mentions in Ephesians 1:4 that we have been chosen before the foundation of the world to be found blameless in Christ. God’s original plan was to send Christ. Which must mean, that God knew we could not uphold our own salvation. We could not maintain living in a perfect world apart from Christ. They walked and talked with God in the Garden and yet they still doubted Him. Satan pounced on the opportunity to steal God’s most precious creation from Him, but he didn’t know that God already took that into consideration. Jesus was always the 1st plan. There was no backup. As God was cursing Satan, Adam, and Eve, He made mention that her Seed would crush his head and he would bruise His heel. This was the first prophecy of Jesus. God wasted no time prophesying into the future what would happen.
Jesus, the promised Son of the Spirit, was born with the power of choice. He was not chained to man’s tainted sin nature. He chose to follow God completely. Jesus had opportunity to sin. Scripture says in Hebrews 4:15 that Jesus was tempted in all the same ways we are but did not sin! In James 1:13 it also mentions that God cannot be tempted by evil. When Jesus was at His lowest point (before the crucifixtion), after a brutal 40-day fast in the desert, Satan tried to get Jesus to drink from his cup. He used the same tactics he used with Adam and Eve and yet Jesus was not swayed. He conquered Satan with the spoken Word of God.
Jesus did not drink from Satan’s cup, however, He did drink something. Matthew 26:39, 42 KJV – “39 And He went a little further, 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. … 42 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.” Wow! Jesus had to seek the Father in deep prayer to prepare Himself for the next stage of deliverance. What is in this cup though?
In scripture, God uses the analogy of cup and wine to talk about His impending judgment. Jeremiah 25:15-17 (KJV) – “15 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. 16 And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. 17 Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:”. God is holy and righteous. Anything unholy and unrighteous cannot be in His presence. Holy means set apart. It cannot ever touch something unholy. God’s indelible nature cannot tolerate sin. Sin has to be wiped out and dealt with at some point. This cup that Jesus drank was the righteous judgment reserved for man’s original sin of trusting Satan over God which branched into every sin that man could commit. All unrighteousness flows from that original sin that disconnected us from the spirit of God. Since we were not tethered to God anymore, Satan tethered us to himself.
Let’s fast forward to the finished work of Jesus. Jesus drank the cup of judgment unto Himself, became an offering for sin, and was separated from God. Jesus died just like us, but He arose from the grave in three days due to His sinless nature. Jesus could not stay dead because He willingly sacrificed Himself. He chose to lay down His life so He could take it back up in forever victory.
Jesus became our cupbearer. He knew it would hurt. He knew it would be an agonizingly long drawn out experience and that didn’t stop Him. He drank, in our stead, the judgment that kept us from God. I can imagine this whole scene play out in my head. I’m using creative license here! Jesus goes back in time. He intercepts Satan giving the cup to Adam (mankind’s representative in this case) in the royal court. Jesus passionately offers to drink it first to check it out for poison. Adam, not seeing any harm allows Him to. Satan, watches intently as He knows Who that is. Jesus drinks it all and suffers mightily before dying. Satan, thinking he’s won celebrates as a confused mankind looks on. Satan, turns around, oblivious to his surroundings and sees Jesus standing. Mankind is in awe as He watched Jesus stand up. Adam, realizing that Jesus died to protect him, loses all faith in Satan. He chooses Jesus as his cupbearer. Jesus casts a dumbfounded Satan out of the court. He slinks away into the dark realizing His defeat. Jesus, then offers His own cup of wine. Jesus, now makes sure Adam only gets the best wine. He protects him from all the enemy’s tactics. He is always by his side with wisdom and truth. Please keep in mind, this is just an imaginative take on Jesus as a cupbearer.
Jesus, has passed on the same choice that He was born with to all who believe. We can either follow Satan or Jesus. Who you gonna trust?
There’s more to this. Jesus stuck around 40-days after rising from the dead and before ascending to Heaven. Scripture mentions that crowds of people saw Him. Seven days later, on Pentecost (50 days after Passover), the Father sent us the Holy Spirit. This is the wine that Jesus provides! Wine can take as little as seven days for yeast to ferment sugar into alcohol. Holy Spirit was sent after Jesus had prepared Him for us. We read that Jesus turned water into wine in a short period of time: the natural becoming supernatural. Jesus supersedes time and is all about acceleration and maturation. Once the time of fermentation was complete, seven days, Holy Spirit was poured out by the Father. He is the Water of Life, New Wine, and is the down payment of our new life as children of God.
We can have all these wonderful benefits because Jesus took the cup that we could not drink. Now, we can take and drink His cup of blessing that He personally prepares for us out of love. Mark 10:37-39 (KJV) – “37 They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on Thy right hand, and the other on Thy left hand, in Thy glory. 38 But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? 39 And they said unto Him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized:”. Yes, they did suffer as Jesus was alluding to, but, on the other side of it, we can take this to mean that we will drink of the same cup of blessing and be baptized with Holy Spirit just as He was. Psalms 116:13 (KJV) – “I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.” The Hebrew word for salvation in this context, “yᵉshûwʻâh (yeh shoe aw)” means deliverance, welfare, prosperity, and victory! It also has the exact same root word that we get Joshua (Jehovah is Salvation) from. Jesus, is a derivative of Joshua in Greek. Jesus is our salvation because He took our cup!
Now we drink in His honor. We feast in His admiration. We celebrate the forever victory He’s given us. We partake of the fruit of the tree of life. We partake of the bread of Heaven. Existence was forever shaken because of what Jesus has done for us. Hallelujah!
“Heavenly Father, we exalt You. We praise You. We thank You for sending Jesus to drink the judgment that was reserved for our sin. Thank You for not giving up on us. We are forever indebted to Your grace and mercy. Jesus, we adore You. We appreciate what You have done for us. Help us to never forget all Your wonderful benefits. Remind us of Your promises of health, prosperity, peace, joy and all good things in store for us. We thank You for directing our lives. We trust You more than our selves. Holy Spirit, we are grateful that You live in us. Move through us in power as we go about our daily living. Help us fulfill the great commission to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and to cast out devils. We enjoy Your presence and expect You to give us opportunities to share Your love with those around us. We honor you, God. In Jesus’ name, we commit this prayer.”
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-With all of Love’s blessings,
Aaron Beach
