Why Did Jesus Ask For The Cup To Pass?

I love meditating on the Lord and Savior of all, Jesus Christ. He is simply AMAZING! One passage that is full of deeply profound truth is Jesus is in His prayer in Gethsemane. Christ is in agony. He is sweating drops as of blood. Jesus asks for the cup to pass. Have you thought much on this passage?

Why did Jesus ask for the cup to pass? There are several important truths that dynamically intersect in the answer to this question. The first being the Trinitarian nature of God. There is one God, yet three divine Persons. The Trinity has existed in perfect harmony for eternity. The Son of God, who is fully God, is the second member of the blessed Trinity. The Word became a man, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus was fully God and fully man: two natures, one Person. The cup that Jesus asked to pass was the full force of the wrath of God the Father toward sin. This cup that Jesus was to drink would cause His human nature to be tortured and die. Even more than this, it would cause His divine nature to be separated from His Father temporarily. The perfect harmony of the Trinity was temporarily disrupted because of the cup of wrath that was drunk to its dregs by Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

With a passage of such depth it is important for us to dive deeper into what the Scriptures teach. Let us learn more of the relationship of the Trinity, the hypostatic union of Jesus Christ, and this cup that Jesus was to drink.

A Mystery

The Bible contains many mysteries. Mystery, in biblical terms, mean revealed truths. Things that humans would not have come up with on our own. A mystery is something that we needed to be revealed to us because we would not have come to it by our own human reasoning or understanding. There are many truths in the Scriptures that are difficult to explain and even harder to understand. There is a tension in mystery. In believing the seemingly unbelievable. As God has revealed it.

The Scriptures are the Word of God. They are inspired, inerrant, infallible, and authoritative. Often, the Bible declares truths that we as created men are not to argue with but marvel at. To stand in awe of what has been revealed. To believe because God has told us.

The response to the mysteries that are presented in the Scriptures should not attempt to be explained away. But to affirm it by faith. And to worship God.

The topics that are about to be addressed below are mysteries. The Word of God teaches them. Yet, we as finite men cannot fully understand or explain these truths. Instead of trying, let us worship God who has revealed these things to us. For they are high and lofty. They are marvelous.

A helpful article regarding an understanding of the Bible is our article, What Do Christians Believe About The Bible?

The Blessed Trinity

“To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him.” (Deuteronomy 6:35)

There is no other God but the one true and living God.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (Deuteronomy 6:4)

The Scriptures teach that there is only one true God. That God exists as a Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The three Members of the Trinity are distinct persons who share the same divine nature. They exist together in perfect harmony and unbroken fellowship.

God the Father is God

Here are just a few passages affirming the deity of God the Father.

Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. (1 Corinthians 8:6, bold added)

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on Him God the Father has set His seal. (John 6:27, bold added)

According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. (1 Peter 1:2, bold added)

God the Son is God

Here are just a few passages affirming the deity of God the Son.

In the beginning was the Word (the Son), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1, bold and parentheses added)

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known. (John 1:18, bold added)

Thomas answered Him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)

But of the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.” (Hebrews 1:8, bold added)

God the Spirit is God

Here are just a few passages affirming the deity of God the Holy Spirit.

But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” (Acts 5:3-4, bold added)

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. (Romans 8:9, bold added)

One God, Three Persons

The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. There is One God. The Father is not the Son and/or the Spirit. The Son is not the Father and/or the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father and/or the Son. There are three divine persons who are co-eternal and co-equal. To this mystery, there is no analogy. Nothing in all of creation imitates this truth about the Creator. He is unique. Different. Holy.

The Trinity is observed in Matthew,

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28:19, bold added)

The blessed Trinity has existed together in perfect unity and harmony for eternity. God is perfect, without sin. Sin had no opportunity to separate or break their trinitarian fellowship. This is a difficult thought to comprehend. We are fallen and sinful men. We are surrounded by sin and we drink it down as if it were water (Job 15:15-16).

There is no relationship that we as humans have that has not been broken by sin. Constantly, we offend one another with our actions and words. This causes constant tension, disunity, and broken fellowship.

This is a tension, disunity, and broken fellowship that the Trinity has not known amongst the divine Persons!

Even when the Son of God became a man the fellowship was not broken. There was only complete unity and harmony.

For more on the Trinity read our article, What Is the Trinity?

The Hypostatic Union

When we speak of the hypostatic union of Jesus we are speaking about the union of Jesus’s two natures: divine and human. That Jesus is both fully God and fully man. Two natures, without mixture. Each nature remains full and pure. This has been the orthodox understanding of Christ’s person and nature since it was articulated in the Chalcedonian Creed. of 451.

These two natures are united in one Person, Jesus! These natures are not two different persons. But one Person. The divine and human joined together, yet distinct from one another, in the one Person, Jesus. They exist together without intermingling with each other. Here is the text of the creed for your convenience (bold added for emphasis):

Following, then, the holy Fathers, we all unanimously teach that our Lord Jesus Christ is to us One and the same Son, the Self-same Perfect in Godhead, the Self-same Perfect in Manhood; truly God and truly Man; the Self-same of a rational soul and body; co-essential with the Father according to the Godhead, the Self-same co-essential with us according to the Manhood; like us in all things, sin apart; before the ages begotten of the Father as to the Godhead, but in the last days, the Self-same, for us and for our salvation (born) of Mary the Virgin Theotokos as to the Manhood; One and the Same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten; acknowledged in Two Natures unconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the difference of the Natures being in no way removed because of the Union, but rather the properties of each Nature being preserved, and (both) concurring into One Person and One Hypostasis; not as though He was parted or divided into Two Persons, but One and the Self-same Son and Only-begotten God, Word, Lord, Jesus Christ; even as from the beginning the prophets have taught concerning Him, and as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself hath taught us, and as the Symbol of the Fathers hath handed down to us.

Jesus is both God and Man

The Scriptures affirm what the Chalcedonian Creed attempts to articulate. The doctrine was not developed in 451. It has been the teaching of Scripture from the beginning.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14, bold added)
For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. (Colossians 2:9)
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:3, bold added)
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (Colossians 1:15)

Jesus, the second member of the Trinity, the eternal Son of God, became a man. He was born in the likeness of sinful flesh, although He Himself knew no sin. In doing so, Jesus emptied Himself of all majesty, splendor, and power, while remaining fully God. Taking on the form of a servant.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8, bold added)

We must not mistake this emptying of Himself as ceasing to be God. The Scriptures declare that He was still God. Yet, He was also fully man. Jesus physically suffered terribly and died in His true humanity. Three days later, Jesus was physically raised from the dead. This affirmed and proved that His sacrifice was sufficient payment for sins.

Now Jesus, as both God and man, is highly exalted. He is seated at the right hand of the Father on high. He has returned to the glory He shared with the Father before the world began.

Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)
And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until His enemies should be made a footstool for His feet. (Hebrews 10:11-13)
And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. (John 17:5)

Jesus’s human nature could die. Did die. And was risen from the dead.

Yet, deity cannot die. Jesus’s God nature could not die. It is eternal. Yet, Jesus as fully God and fully man, two natures in one Person, drank the full cup of the wrath of God. So, what happened to the divine nature?

What was so terrible about drinking down the cup that Jesus would ask for it to pass?

Surely, it wasn’t physical pain or even death. That was a small part of it. That in itself likely isn’t enough for Jesus to ask for the cup to pass. Jesus during His earthly life suffered much. Often going hungry. Thirsty. Having no place to lay His head. Going without sleep. Knowing pain. Also, throughout Christian history many of Christ’s followers died terrible deaths with joy before them. Shall not Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith do the same?

The answer is yes, He did,

Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2, bold added)

So, what was Jesus in anguish about to the point of His sweat becoming like great drops of blood (Luke 22:44)?

The Cup of Wrath

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. They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them.” (Jeremiah 25:15-16)
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. There is none to guide her among all the sons she has borne; there is none to take her by the hand among all the sons she has brought up. These two things have happened to you— who will console you?— devastation and destruction, famine and sword; who will comfort you? 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. (Isaiah 51:17-20)
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)
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. (Revelation 14:10)

These Scriptures make it clear that the cup that is well stirred and foaming over is the cup of God’s wrath against sin. The Scriptures make it equally clear that those who drink it, drink judgment upon their heads.

This was the cup that Jesus asked to pass.

“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here and watch with Me.” And going a little farther in He fell down 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.” (Matthew 26:38-39)

Jesus would go on to ask the Father a second time,

Again, for the second time He went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass until I drink it, Your will be done.” (Matthew 26:42)

The Scriptures declare that Jesus was fully God and fully man. The Bible reveals that He who knew no sin, but was the righteousness of God, was made to be sin for us.

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, bold added)

The sinless Son of God was made sin. And sin must be punished!

The Father punished His Son whom He made sin with the full force of His wrath upon sin. Sin separates. The blessed Trinity that knew no separation or disharmony was BROKEN. Jesus under the wrath of the Father cries out,

“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46)

Jesus was forsaken by the Father as the Father crushed His Son who was made sin on our behalf. Separated Him from the blessed fellowship. Temporarily.

This is a thought that I cannot even fathom. A perfect relationship of love and unity for all of eternity. Now broken as the Son of God was made sin.

How can this be that Christ our King should die for us?

The only response man can have with such a great truth is to repent and believe. To present our bodies as a living sacrifice. To worship Him. To exalt Christ in every thought had, every word spoken, and every deed done.

Praise Him, all the peoples, praise the Lamb who was slain and with His blood purchased a people for Himself! (Revelation 5:9-10)

For more on why it was necessary for Jesus to drink the cup, see our articles,

You may also enjoy these sermons on Jesus being forsaken of the Father in fulfillment of prophecy: