Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Cup as Metaphor of Trial
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Psalm 16:5
"Cup" usually implies trial. David is showing God on both sides here, in blessings and in trials. God is our inheritance, but He is also with him in these trials.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Resurrection From the Dead
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Matthew 20:23
If we, as the elect of God, believe in “Christ crucified” and all that it entails (I Corinthians 1:23), then we must recognize the need for suffering and trial—to drink of the cup that God has prepared for each of us just as He did for our Savior. The apostle Peter encourages us that, if we partake in Christ's sufferings, it will be well worth the effort at His return (I Peter 4:12-13). We should also realize that in comparison to what was required of Christ, our cup of burden will pale in magnitude; we will only be drinking from the cup He had to empty (Matthew 11:30; Romans 12:1). While these two verses should not be taken to mean that our burdens will be undemanding, we should always keep our personal sufferings in perspective by remaining aware and appreciative of the staggering effort required for our Creator and Savior to make the sacrifices He made.
Martin G. Collins
The Miracles of Jesus Christ: Healing Malchus' Ear (Part Two)
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Matthew 26:39
Matthew, Mark, and Luke each record Christ praying to the Father on this fateful night, asking if He might “let this cup pass from Me.” He mentions the same “cup” in rebuking Peter's assault on Malchus: “So Jesus said to Peter, 'Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?'” (John 18:11). The image of drinking from a cup is a metaphor for His submission to the Father's will, while the cup itself stands for the enormous burden His submission would require (Luke 22:42-44). Despite desiring that some other way could be found to accomplish the payment for mankind's sins, Jesus bowed to His Father's will in the matter and gave Himself up to the arresting troops.
Martin G. Collins
The Miracles of Jesus Christ: Healing Malchus' Ear (Part Two)
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Hebrews 2:14-15
All men have been subject to the fear of death, and it is something that we have to strive to overcome. When we are called out of the world, we do not immediately shed all of our wrong, human perspectives. It may take years to overcome our fear of death, and most of us never do. However, Christ has freed us from the fear of death, and now we live in the fear of something else, the fear of God (II Corinthians 7:1). Even so, we still fear death a great deal. We often take a loved one's or a friend's death very hard, and personally, we fight death with a vengeance. These are natural, human things to do, and we are not bad people if we do them. Nevertheless, there are situations and reactions that we need to learn to approach from God's perspective. Normal reactions like deep grief or denial are hard to let go because we have all our lifetime been enslaved to the fear of death. Even Jesus, facing the horrific death of crucifixion and the crushing penalty of humanity's sins, reacted with strong, visceral emotion: And He was withdrawn from [His disciples] about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22:41-44) Jesus was God in the flesh (John 1:14), and at this moment, His flesh cried out in anticipation of the suffering and pain He would soon encounter. Not only that, He had never experienced a moment of being forsaken by His Father (Matthew 27:46), when He would be absolutely alone to undergo the cessation of His life in payment for all iniquity. How frightening a prospect that must have been! Yet, even in His desire to avoid these physical and emotional pains, Jesus illustrates perfect submission to His Father's will, realizing its necessity for the success of His plan. Knowing God would raise Him to eternal life after three days, He did not fear death—what He feared most was life without God!
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Death Is Not the End (Part One)
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1 Peter 4:1-2
Peter suggests that, since Christ suffered for us, we should put on this attitude as we would a piece of armor. This attitude or guiding principle has a couple of elements. One is that Jesus was so determined to do the Father's will that, after He drank of the cup, He suffered rather than turn back for the sake of self-preservation. Thus, in our own lives, we must also have the attitude that the Father's will is what matters the most. If doing His will leads to some sort of suffering, then we are sharing the fellowship of Christ's suffering. A second element is the relationship between suffering and sin. In verse 2, Peter points out that suffering is a way for us to cease from sin. Just as our sins caused Jesus to suffer so we could have life, so our sins and those of others will lead to suffering in our lives and in those around us. Yet, if we approach that suffering with faith—that is, with belief, trust in God, and obedience—then our suffering can be used to a good end. The presence of suffering reveals that at some point God's royal law of liberty—His perfect law of love—has been transgressed, thus suffering can serve as a powerful teaching tool to increase our understanding of how God wants us to live. Sometimes our suffering has little to do with what we believe, and it may not even be directly related to an action or failing on our part. It may be what we consider "undeserved." However, if we commit ourselves to Him who judges righteously, and He decides that we must drink from this cup, we can trust that the suffering will accomplish good somewhere, at some time, even as Christ's wholly undeserved suffering has accomplished an overwhelming amount of good. Maybe it will teach us an aspect of God's way that we could not learn from simply reading about it. Perhaps it will allow us to identify more closely with our Savior. It may allow us to sympathize with another member of His Body in his suffering. It could be a means to test our trust in Him or even a way that He has decided to keep us humble and submissive to Him. Whatever the reason—and we may never fully understand it in this life—if we approach it with faith, we can trust that God will strengthen us as we suffer and He will cause the circumstance to bear good fruit. Part of that fruit will be abhorrence of whatever sin caused the suffering, and in this way, part of God's law will be written indelibly on our hearts. Part of the New Covenant, which He signed with His own blood, is that He promises to write His law on our hearts (Hebrews 8:10; 10:16). Therefore, part of our keeping of the covenant is to allow Him to keep those terms and to trust Him as He faithfully carries out His work in us.
David C. Grabbe
A Look at Christian Suffering (Part Three)
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