As we meditate on Christ’s prayerful submission in Gethsemane, we should realise that there, as Philip E Hughes puts it, ‘we see Him enduring our hell so that we might be set free to enter His heaven.’ And so at unspeakable cost He drank ‘the cup’ to the very last drop. ‘Shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given Me?’ (John 18:11) What obedience, what love! What mystery!
But none of the ransomed ever knew
How deep were the water’s cross’d;
Nor how dark was the night
That the Lord pass’d through…
How deep were the water’s cross’d;
Nor how dark was the night
That the Lord pass’d through…
Now He gives to His people ‘the cup of salvation’ (Psalm 116:13) these two cups, one so bitter, the other so sweet, stand side by side: the one cup necessitated the other. One cup was emptied that the other might be filled to overflowing. The first cup guaranteed the second. Both cups are precious and bear the hallmark of sovereign grace. ‘what shall I render to the LORD for all His bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD…’ (Psalm 116:12,13)
The Cross He Bore : Meditations on the sufferings of the Redeemer, Fredrick S. Leahy, Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh 1996. pg.10-11
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