Why did Jesus ask God to "let this cup pass from me"?

But, it may be said, "Was it not the will of God that Christ should offer Himself as an atonement for sin? And, if so, how could there be ought of shrinking from the accomplishment of that will?" Assuredly, it was "the determinate counsel" of God that Christ should suffer; and, moreover, it was Christ's joy to do the will of God. But how are we to understand the expression, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me?" Is it not the utterance of Christ? And is there no express type of the Utterer thereof? Unquestionably. There would be a serious blank among the types of the Mosaic economy, were there not one to reflect the Lord Jesus in the exact attitude in which the above expression presents Him. But the burnt offering does not thus reflect Him. There is not a single circumstance connected with that offering which would correspond with such language. The sin offering alone furnishes the fitting type of the Lord Jesus as the One who poured forth those accents of intense agony, for in it alone do we find the circumstances which evoked such accents from the depths of His spotless soul. The awful shadow of the cross, with its shame, its curse, and its exclusion from the light of God's countenance, was passing across His spirit, and He could not even contemplate it without an "If it be possible let this cup pass from me." But, no sooner had He uttered these words, than His profound subjection manifests itself in, "thy Will be done." What a bitter "cup" it must have been to elicit, from a perfectly subject heart, the words, "let it pass from me!" What perfect subjection there must have been when, in the presence of so bitter a cup, the heart could breathe forth, "thy will be done!"

He went on to be alone there with His Father about that which He could only enter into with Him, and which must be altogether with Him. He was perfect in referring it to His Father, and referring it to Him alone. There the solemn question must have its solution. There alone it could, and there alone His perfectness could bring it. He fell on His face and prayed, saying, "O my Father," in supplicating earnestness, "if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." He should feel it fully, and He did; submission would not have been perfect else, but then His obedience and submission were perfect - "Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt." In the perfect sense of the cup to be drunk, and the holy desire to avoid it, the piety of soul which desired it (for it was all the repulsion of sin from God, and what our wretched souls had fallen into - what man was as departed from God, which He must take upon His soul if indeed He had to drink it, if He undertook our cause, and it was a holy desire to shrink from such a judgment and being made sin, even as bearing it before God), yet with perfect submission and obedience to His Father, whatever His will was; and to His Father He brings it there where it ought to be brought, alike perfect in desiring not to drink it and in obediently submitting to drink it, if it was His Father's will; and this was His second utterance, "If this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, Thy will be done." The no reply to His demand leaves His soul in the unclouded perfectness of the second and third, for He was with His Father in the full and solemn sense of what it was, but with Him - He is occupied with it. How could it be otherwise? It ought to have been so. The disciples sleep, leaving Him alone with God. Where else could He have been with such a work, such a cup, before Him?

As to the scene in Gethsemane, Matthew and Mark describe it in much the same terms. Leaving His disciples, the Lord, prostrate on the ground, prays that "this cup" might pass from Him. The horror of the Cross, the bearing of sin, is in view. But it was not possible, and He says — accepting it from His Father's hand — "Not what I will, but what Thou wilt" (ver. 36). Then He comes forth ready to be led away to the Jewish Sanhedrim that was thirsting for His life.

Matthew says nothing of the words of the Lord Jesus spoken at this time, recorded in John 15 and 16, nor of His prayer of John 17, but describes the scene in Gethsemane, as John does not. Leaving the other disciples, He takes with Him Peter and James and John, previously witnesses of His glory (Ch.17:1-3), now to be witnesses of His profound sorrow. Separated from t hem only a short distance, having told them to watch with Him, He is prostrate with exceeding sorrow. Knowing well that He would be subjected to the agony of being forsaken of God in bearing the judgment of the cross, He pleads with His Father, "if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." As a true Man He had a will of His own, a will that was in every respect perfectly right. It was right that He should desire to avoid the dreadful suffering of the cross. Yet He asks for the Father's will to be done, rather than His own. How this adds to the blessedness of His great sacrifice!

Ans. Undoubtedly, while on the cross it was not competent for Christ to ask that the stroke might be averted. But was it not that this stroke might be averted, that this cup might pass, — that he besought his Father, (yet in perfect, unqualified submission,) while in the garden? And are we told of any other cup, from which he prayed that he might be delivered? It has been one's deep joy to think of Jesus, as the One who never thought of himself, or asked to be spared a single pang, — but went, and that voluntarily, into all the depths of our sorrows, in holy sympathy; until he came, indeed, to the closing scene; and then, because He was the Holy One, he could not but shrink (yet without the least exercise of his own will,) from that forsaking of God, and hiding of his face, and enduring of his wrath, — which he had to endure. Yes, had to endure! The cup could not pass; and, oh! to see him as he meekly asks, "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" Blessed Jesus! It was the cup charged with what was due to our sins. May our souls know more of that love of thine, which truly passeth knowledge!

Doubtless Satan then suggested to Him to pause and not drink that cup, for it would cost Him His life, and the forsaking of God. He looked into the cup and measured its contents. It was all God's judgment against sin. If He drank it He must be forsaken of God, and be cast off, upon the cross. Not merely was it the physical suffering and sorrow that man could give Him, as they nailed Him to the tree, but the inevitable sense that God and He must part company. Hence as He looked at that cup, He said, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done." He knew that if He did not drink that cup of judgment upon the cross, you and I would have to drink it in eternity. If He did not drink the cup in our room and stead, there was no deliverance, no salvation, no pardon, no cleansing, possible for you and me. As He looked at that cup He shrank from it in all the perfect holiness of His being, and deprecated it with the utmost intensity. Then He took it, and drank it to the very dregs in the perfection of His love. Blessed Saviour! Well may each redeemed one cry, Hallelujah, I am saved; I am saved by His death. We are saved because He drank God's cup of wrath, to the very dregs, so that He, in tender love and divine righteousness, might put the cup of God's salvation into our hands, and press it to our lips. May we not joyfully say, "What has God wrought?"

But further, the Lord Jesus looked forward, and knew what wrath awaited Him. Beloved, this is a solemn part of the subject. In the Garden of Gethsemane, under the very shadow of the cross, if I may so speak, the Lord Jesus, on that night, knew all that awaited Him; for although perfect man, He was also perfect God — wonderful mystery! There, in the shadow of the cross, He says, — "My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death." And, indeed, so great was His agony, that His sweat became as great drops of blood falling to the ground. You or I may put on a distressed expression of face, and appear to be in sorrow, although it be unreal; but when we read of the Lord Jesus being in an agony, we read what is true. He said what He meant; He meant what He said! He, indeed, was in an agony. "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me!" What cup was that? The cup of the wrath of God — the cup which you and I filled to the very brim — which He, the innocent One, was to take for us the guilty ones, and drain to the dregs. He was perfectly innocent — He was without sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. (I cannot lay too much stress upon these things, because there are persons, who take their filthy hands, and attempt to tarnish the Person of the spotless Lamb of God.) He it was who took the cup of the wrath of God, and drank it to the dregs. He knew all that He was to do and suffer. He knew that God was to hide His face from Him. He knew that before God could ever look with complacency upon His children, He must hide His face from Christ; that in order that we might be blessed, He must take the curse due unto us; that in order that we might be made righteous in Him, He must take the place of the sinner. In view of all this then the Lord Jesus called the disciples aside, and instituted the Supper.

88 In His career of obedience Jesus suffered the contradiction of sinners. Never did He turn away from them, and never did He demand that such a cup should be taken away from Him. Why this then? Because this was not merely the cup of the iniquity of men or of Satan's malice, but that of the wrath of God. In what He had had to suffer before from men, He had the joy of accomplishing the will of His Father; but in this cup, which was that of wrath, there was not one drop of sweetness. Jesus prays that, if it be possible, this cup might be far removed from Him. And why impossible? Here is the reason. It is impossible that God should endure sin, and (since Jesus Himself was made sin for us) that the wrath of God should not be accomplished against sin.

But now, when this cup (not reproaches for God, not contradiction from sinners, but wrath from God because man was at a distance, was proved to be so, proved incapable of being won back by anything such as He was) was to be drunk — now, He prays it may pass — that from this hour He may be saved. But no, it could not be. We well know why: our hearts know it well. That cup could not pass; not that one. It was drunk for us; and He drinks it in love to His Father, in obedience, and in accomplishment of His blessed and precious love to us. And our souls adore Him, and Him who gave Him for us — Him who came to do the will which sanctifies and perfects us by one offering. Associated with us in wrath, from which He extricates Himself, and escapes, in part, by prayer, faith, and obedience! — does not the soul revolt from such a thought, and leave it with disgust to the friends or dupes of Satan to entertain or adopt it? But let us turn rather to the Lord.

Various Hebrew words are so translated, having regard to the different uses to which the cup was put. It is frequently used for that which the cup contains, causing either joy or sorrow, as "I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord." Ps. 116:13. "In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red . . . . the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them." Ps. 75:8: cf. Rev. 14:10; Rev. 16:19, etc. And so in many other instances; and especially in that of the cup of which the Lord Jesus drank when bearing sin. Matt. 26:27, 39, 42; John 18:11. In the Lord's Supper the 'cup' is put for the wine which was an emblem of the blood of Christ. 1 Cor. 10:16, 21; 1 Cor. 11:25-28.