Hosanna Restoration Church

Recently we were singing a chorus that says, “I want to sit at your feet…drink from the cup in your hand.” As we sang it I had such a strong witness that indeed this is the cup that I want to drink from. I want to drink from the one that Jesus held in His hand. It was the cup of the new covenant. Some translations say a new and better covenant.

Let me explain what I was feeling. The cup that Jesus offered was the one that He died to give us. There was the cup that He drank and there was the one that He offered and continues to offer. So much of religion is focused on how Christ suffered and so little is focused on the cup He offers us.

I cannot drink the cup He drank. No matter how much we may try to identify with His suffering; that is all we can do is try. We were not intended to do His suffering. Yes I know that all who would live godly will suffer persecution, but that is still not His suffering. Remember He suffered to free us from it. If we could suffer our way into the kingdom of God, then He would not have needed to!

If we continue to choose the cup of suffering it is like saying He failed at His mission. Don’t get me wrong, I know that there is plenty to hinder us in this life, but we have a cup to deliver us from it. Remember, Jesus told us to rejoice because He had overcome it. James writes telling us to rejoice at various trials and temptations. Why? Because he knew about drinking from the cup Jesus offered.

When James and John came to Jesus asking for special spots in heaven, Jesus asked them if they could drink the cup He was going to drink. They thought they could, but in truth they could not. When Peter raised a sword, Jesus told Him to put it away because He had to drink the cup that His Father had given Him. God did not give us that cup. He gave it to Jesus. Jesus gave us another cup.

I am not certain where we got the idea that we honor Jesus more by focusing on the suffering cup than on the new covenant cup, but I for one want to drink from the cup He offered us. That cup empowers us to reveal the powerful resurrected King of Kings to the world, rather than just a crucified savior. He is alive.

Remember, they crucified thousands of people, but Jesus is the only risen Savior! His resurrection was the first powerful witness of the new covenant in His blood. So, there are two cups; a cup of life and a cup of death. The cup of life will carry you in tribulation and set you free. Shine the light on the cup in His hand.