four cups

I’ve been pondering four cups: the four cups of Passover, held in the hands of Jesus …

In Christian tradition, we’ve been concerned mainly with one: the cup we know from the Last Supper, which some call “holy communion.” For generations, though, Jesus’ Jewish brethren have been drinking four cups holding the fruit of the vine. And on the night in which He was betrayed, when our Lord Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples, He, too, drank four cups.

the cup of salvation

The first of these is the cup of salvation. It calls to mind the hand of God, reaching down to lift from His people the burden of slavery. As Jesus lifted this cup in the Upper Room, He surely recalled Moses, the deliverer God sent to lead the enslaved Hebrews out of Egypt. Jesus knew that He, too, had been sent as a Deliverer: His death would bring people out from the bondage of sin.

the cup of thanksgiving

The second cup is for thanksgiving. What a blessing for the Hebrew children to be released from generations of slavery in Egypt, and find themselves on the very threshold of the Promised Land! How could they respond otherwise but with thanksgiving? 

As Jesus pressed this cup to His lips, what rejoicing must have swelled His breast! For He knew that, very soon, the pan conceived in the heart of the Father before the creation of the world would be accomplished. Death would face its final defeat, and the Way would be cleared for the people of God to enter into Kingdom life, the Promised Land He had prepared for them.

the cup of redemption

And now we come to the third cup, the sacred third cup of redemption. This one His disciples knew well. Every year at Passover, they had drunk this cup in remembrance of God’s mighty act in redeeming His people from Egypt “with an outstretched arm and with great judgments” (Ex. 6:6).

Forever afterward, this cup would be imbued with an even greater significance. For Jesus took this cup in His hands and shared it with His brethren, saying, “Drink from this cup, all of you, for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for the many for the forgiveness of sins. And this bread you eat—My body, broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me” (see Mt. 26:27-28; Luke 22:19).

Jesus shared the cup and the unleavened bread with His disciples; so much was expected. Still, they could not fully appreciate, as Jesus could, how far His own arm would soon be stretched out to redeem the world, nor how heavily God’s judgments would fall upon Him.

Completely unexpected, then, came the rest of Jesus’ words after sharing this third cup: “I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the Kingdom of God comes” (Luke 22:18).

But Jesus—they surely questioned in their hearts—what about the fourth cup?

the cup of praise

The fourth cup: the cup of praise, the cup of joy … In Egypt, God had promised, “I will take you for My people, and I will make you Mine. I will be your God, and I will bring you into your inheritance” (see Ex. 6:7). Jesus, what about the triumph, the victory, the overcoming? Aren’t You going to drink THAT cup?!?

The fourth cup waiting for Jesus was not the one His disciples anticipated: the wine of conquest over human oppression. No, He had a much more agonizing cup to drink. The cup of God’s wrath against sin, spoken of by generations of prophets, would be poured out upon His beloved Son in a few short hours, and Jesus would drink it to the dregs.

In Gethsemane that night, His overwhelmed disciples surrendered to exhausted slumber. Only a stone’s throw away, Jesus lifted an anguished prayer: “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me.” An angel appeared to strengthen Him, for His prayers had wrung sweat from His body like great drops of blood falling on the ground. “Yet not My will, but Yours be done,” He finished (see Luke 22:40-44).

Jesus would drink a fourth cup after all.

As the curtain swings closed on this Passover scene, leaving our hearts trembling within us, remember: we, too, have a fourth cup waiting. Ours is not the cup of God’s wrath—never that!—for Jesus has consumed that one for us.

The cup of joy, the cup of victory … Jesus promised He would one day drink it again; do you remember when? “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” (Mt. 26:29) 

At the Wedding Feast, Beloved! Jesus, our heavenly Bridegroom, will lift the cup of fellowship, the cup of intimacy and union, drink long and deep, and then offer it to His redeemed Bride, that we may do the same. 

Dark days are coming, Beloved, even darker than any we have yet seen. But the romance of the ages has already been written, and we know how it ends: over the fourth cup of wine in Christ’s eternal Kingdom, joyfully ever after!