The Garden and the Cup (Mt.26; Jn.18) ~ 20250406~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
04/06 The Garden and Cup (Forsaken and Never Alone) (Jn.16; Mt.; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20250406_garden-and-cup.mp3
We are two just under two weeks away from Good Friday, the whole reason Jesus came to the earth. In preparation for Good Friday, I want to look today at the gospel according to Matthew, chapter 26; the account in the garden of the olive-oil press, or Gethsemane.
Last week we looked at the anointing of Jesus by Mary of Bethany, a week earlier. Jesus acknowledged what his disciples considered a waste as a beautiful thing, preparing his body for burial. Throughout his life and ministry, and especially in the final weeks leading up to the cross, our Lord had his eyes fixed on what he came to do. He came ‘to give his life a ransom for many’ (Mt.20:28). But this ‘waste’ of about a year’s wages was the event that settled Judas’ suspicion that Jesus’ priorities were not in line with his own, and he resolved to betray the Lord for money.
Psalm 41:9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
Warning: Left Alone but Never Alone
After Jesus’ last Passover meal with his disciples, after Judas was excused from the meal to do what he intended to do,
Matthew 26:30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. 31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 32 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” 33 Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” 34 Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” 35 Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.
We see the compassionate warning of the Lord, letting them know what would happen before it happened so that when it happened they would know that it was all part of the plan. And we see the ignorant self-confidence of Peter and the rest of the disciples.
John gives us much more of the teaching Jesus gave to his disciples. John records:
John 16:32 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.
For eternity Jesus had always enjoyed an intimate relationship with his Father. Even when people desert him, he is never alone.
Let This Cup Pass From Me
Matthew 26:36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” 37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” 39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” 40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. 45 Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”
Jesus began to be grieved and distressed. He told his disciples his soul was deeply grieved even to the point of death. What was it that brought such turmoil to our Lord? The focus of his prayers was ‘the cup’. He was willing to drink the cup, but asked if there was any way possible for the cup to pass from him without drinking it. What was this cup that troubled the Lord so deeply that he recoiled from it?
Clearly it was nothing that happened in the garden, because John tells us that during his arrest in the garden, when Peter attempted to fight and struck the servant’s ear with his sword,
John 18:11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
As he was being led away, the cup was still something coming that he was resolved to drink. Matthew records:
Matthew 26:52 Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. 53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”
Sovereign Sufferer
It was not as if Jesus was out of options and not in control. Events were unfolding precisely as planned in order to fulfill the Scriptures. In fact we read something startling in John’s gospel.
John 18:3 So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” 5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. 6 When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” 9 This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.”
Jesus said literally ‘I am’. This is one of the many ‘I AM’ statements of Jesus, claiming to be the great I AM, YHWH God of the Old Testament. We are told that one day every knee will bow to Jesus, and even that dark night at his betrayal and arrest, he was in absolute sovereign control of what was unfolding. He revealed his identity as the I AM, and as if his very words were a sovereign wind, all his enemies, the soldiers and officers, along with Judas, found themselves prostrate with their faces on the ground before King Jesus.
If Jesus wanted to avoid what was coming, his Father could have sent more than 12 legions of angels. If Jesus wanted to avoid what was coming, his own word carried sovereign power. But Jesus intended to fulfill the Scriptures. He intended to drink the cup that the Father had given him to drink.
The Cup of Wrath in the Prophets
So what was this cup that troubled him so, yet he was resolved to drink? Jesus tells us that it would fulfill the Scriptures. If we look to the prophets, we begin to see what this metaphor of the cup was pointing to.
Isaiah 51 is promising that YHWH will comfort Zion (v.3); that he will set his justice for a light to the peoples (v.4). He says ‘the heavens will vanish, and the earth will wear out like a garment, but my salvation will be forever’ (v.6); ‘my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations’ (v.8).
Isaiah 51:11 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. 12 “I, I am he who comforts you… 16 And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, ...and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”
In verses 17-23 he looks back over the history of his disobedient people.
Isaiah 51:17 Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering. ... 20 Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of the LORD, the rebuke of your God. 21 Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted, who are drunk, but not with wine: 22 Thus says your Lord, the LORD, your God who pleads the cause of his people: “Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more; 23 and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors, who have said to you, ‘Bow down, that we may pass over’; and you have made your back like the ground and like the street for them to pass over.”
Disobedient Israel got what they deserved. He was rightly angered by their rebellion, so they drank from the hand of YHWH the cup of his just wrath. But the Lord is promising to take from their hand the cup of staggering.
Jeremiah speaks similarly; in Jeremiah 25, the Lord promises 70 years of captivity in Babylon for his wayward and rebellious people, and for those nations who led them astray, but then he will punish Babylon also for their deeds.
Jeremiah 25:15 Thus the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. 16 They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them.” 17 So I took the cup from the LORD's hand, and made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it:
Jeremiah 25:27 “Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of the sword that I am sending among you.’ 28 “And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: You must drink! 29 For behold, I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the LORD of hosts.’
YHWH God has a cup of the wine of his wrath in his hand, and he will make those who have rebelled against him to drink it.
Through the prophet Habakkuk, God says:
Habakkuk 2:16 ...The cup in the LORD's right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory!
Even Job speaks of the wicked ‘drinking of the wrath of the Almighty’ (Job.21:20).
The cup in the Old Testament prophets is the cup of the wine of the wrath of God; it is God’s hot and holy anger toward those who violate his righteous requirements. It is the just punishment we deserve.
Jesus Became Sin
This Old Testament context helps us make sense of what is going on in the soul of Jesus in the garden. Jesus is in extreme anguish. Luke records
Luke 22:43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. 44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Why was Jesus in such agony of soul? Jesus came to drink the cup of Almighty God’s wrath toward the sins of mankind. Jesus had never sinned. But he knew that on the cross he would bear our sins in his body (1Pet.2:24). He bore our griefs, he carried our sorrows, he was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, the LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all (Is.53:4-6). He who knew no sin was made to be sin on our behalf (2Cor.5:21).
Jesus had never been alone. He had never been separated from his Father. But sin makes a separation from God (Is.59:2). On the cross, Jesus’ prayers changed from ‘Father, forgive them’ (Lk.23:34) to ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (Mt.27:46). Somehow Jesus knew that in drinking the cup of God’s wrath he would experience a God-forsaken alienation from his Father, and this was too much for him to bear.
Matthew 27:39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
On multiple occasions through Jesus’ life, the Father spoke from heaven, this time in the garden the heavens were silent. The only answer came in the form of an angel sent to strengthen Jesus to do what he had come down to do. It was not possible to accomplish the mission any other way. There is no other way for our salvation but through the cross of Christ our Lord. It was the will of the Lord to crush him (Is.53:10). In that ‘nevertheless’ is our salvation.
Philippians 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
In spite of his anguish, Jesus was resolute; ‘shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?’ (Jn.18:11).
The Coming Cup of Wrath
There is still a future cup of wrath that the nations will drink; all those who refused to come to Jesus, trust him to drink the cup they deserved. Either Jesus drinks the cup in your place, or you will drink it yourself.
Revelation 14:10 he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”
Revelation 16:19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath.
But for all those who call on Jesus for rescue, we have another cup that we will drink of;
Psalm 116:1 I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. 2 Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. 3 The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. 4 Then I called on the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!” 5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.
Psalm 116:12 What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? 13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,
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2025.04.06 Sermon Notes
The Garden and the Cup (Matt.26; Jn.18)
Jesus came to give his life as a ransom for many
Matthew 20:28
Peter’s self-confidence; but Jesus was never alone
Matthew 26:30-35; John 16:32
Let this cup pass from me
Matthew 26:36-46
Jesus sovereignly chose to suffer
Matthew 26:52-54; John 18:3-9, 11
The cup of the wrath of the Lord
Isaiah 51:17-23; Jeremiah 25:15-17, 27-29
Habakkuk 2:16; Job 21:20
Jesus became sin for me
Luke 22:43-44; 1 Peter 2:24;
Isaiah 53:4-6; 2 Corinthians 5:21
Jesus would be forsaken by his Father
Isaiah 59:2; Luke 23:34; Matthew 27:46;
Isaiah 53:10; Philippians 2:8
The coming cup of wrath or the cup of salvation?
Revelation 14:10-11; 16:19; Psalm 116:1-5, 12-13
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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org