Jesus implored the Father,If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me.
By asking,If it is possible, Jesus did not wonder if escaping the cross was within the realm of possibility. He knew He could have walked away from death at any time He chose.
The Father sent the Son to the cross, but He did not force Him to go. Jesus was here asking if avoiding the cross waspossible within the Father’s redemptive plan and purpose.
The agony of becoming sin and breaking fellowship with His Father was becoming unbearable for the sinless Son of God, and He wondered aloud before His Father if there could be another way to deliver men from sin.
There was no other way to deliver men from sin. Man had sinned and a man must make atonement. To qualify as an atonement for man’s sin the sin bearer must be without sin himself.
Only the sinless Son of God (the God/man) was qualified to accomplish the Father’s plan of redemption.
Only Jesus could withstand the indignation of the Father against sin; only Jesus could take the wrath we so richly deserved.
The cup that Jesus drank was considerably worse than the physical agony of the cross itself and the beatings that led up to the cross.
The full measure of Christ’s cup was becoming legally guilty of becoming a sinner and having His Father turn away from Him.
More important to Jesus than what He was about to suffer was doing the will of the Father:
The cup that the Father gave Christ to drink meant that He would become our “sin bearer”, that is, He would take our place on the cross becoming legally guilty of our sin and receiving upon Himself the judgment we deserve.
There was no way to transfer sin without transferring penalty. To put it plainly, He was receiving what was due the believer. The wrath of the Father burned toward the Son the moment He legally became a sinner on the cross.
The Father did not lay on the Son an ordeal He was reluctant to bear, nor did the Son extract from the Father a salvation he was reluctant to give. The will of the Father and the will of the Son were in perfect harmony.
When Jesus cried, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”, we should not think that the Father and the Son became separated in their “being” or “essence.” This was a break in fellowship, not a breach of the fundamental unity of the Father and the Son.
The suffering of the Son was horrible enough, but to endure it without the Father’s presence magnified the horror.
Jesus had been the object of the Father’s love from all eternity; the Father’s presence was His only delight. The hiding of His Father’s face was the most bitter sip of the cup He chose to drink.
The cross shatters all pride and undercuts the ultimate value of self-effort. The cross stands as proof of God’s great love but also reveals our own depravity.
The cross properly understood exalts no one whom it first does not humble; it gives life only to those whom it first “puts to death.”
The cross exposes the uselessness of our self-righteousness; it reminds us that we are sinners, incapable of bring about own reconciliation with God. Before the cross we can only stand with bowed heads and a broken spirit.
Only those who have been shielded from God’s wrath by the death of Christ shall be saved. Revelation 7:16-17
Should we ever love sin, we would love the very evil that caused nails to be driven through our Savior’s hands and feet.
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