Cupbearer In Service To The King

No. 3

From Trumpet & Torch Ministries

“Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink,

and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”

~ Matthew 20:22b

It was Preparation Day, when all the arrangements were made and the food prepared for the observance of the Sabbath. This Sabbath was especially important because it was the Sabbath of the Passover week, making it a high and holy day (John 19:31). This one great and awesome day would change the course of history forever! The meal was served, and our humble, obedient Cupbearer lifted the poisoned cup of the wrath of God to His lips and drank the judgment for our sins fully and completely. The garment of human flesh He had worn during His earthly pilgrimage was now tattered and torn, having been brutally beaten and bloodied beyond recognition; the frayed fragments of the spotless Lamb of God hung shamefully on the cross. A sign was placed above His bruised and bleeding head to identify the indescribable display: “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS” (John 19:19b). The time had come for the completion of all things. Having been entirely emptied, our incomparable Cupbearer uttered the words, “I thirst!” (v. 28). A hyssop branch (just as they had used that first Passover to sprinkle the lamb’s blood on the doorposts and lintel of the houses of the children of Israel, sparing their first born sons from the destructive sword of the Angel of Death) was dipped in sour wine and placed upon the sacred lips of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and with His final breath the King of glory issued the royal decree:

“It is finished!”

(John 19:30a)

The death of our Savior came by absolute surrender. A sword was placed in His side to confirm that our Cupbearer had indeed been emptied, having been completely poured out as a drink offering for the sin of the world (Isaiah 53:5, 6). The sacred work He had been sent to accomplish was indeed finished. The new covenant meal instituted hours earlier was sealed with this main and final course. The unblemished, unbroken, blood-drained body of the Paschal Lamb has become, through the most agonizing process, better wine and better bread. And now we no longer have to look to feasts or days, but solely to the Lamb of God, who has become our continual feast to be consumed every day! “He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love” (Song of Solomon 2:4). May we receive, with grateful and repentant hearts, this heavenly feast, which has been painstakingly prepared for us through the greatest travail and trial. What earthly pleasure or food could satisfy the soul like heaven’s richest fare? “Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me, hear, and your soul shall live” (Isaiah 55:2b, 3a). Lord, forgive us that there is anything that we desire on earth besides You. Draw us daily to Your banqueting table that we may feed continually upon You!

“I am the bread of life.

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead.

This is the bread which comes down from heaven,

that one may eat of it and not die.

I am the living bread, which came down from heaven.

If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever;

and the bread that I shall give is My flesh,

which I shall give for the life of the world.”

(John 6:48-51)

THE CUP THAT SATISFIES – “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm” (Exodus 6:6b)

Scripture Reading: Matthew 26:26-29 (Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:14-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32)

It was the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread when the Passover lamb must be killed. Jesus was eating the meal with His disciples that He had longed to eat with them before He suffered (Luke 22:15). Just as the enslaved children of Israel had partaken of that first Passover meal in Egypt and would not do so again until they entered the Promise Land, Jesus declared that He would not eat of the meal again until His final victory in the kingdom to come (v. 16). Already beginning to taste the poisonous effects of the cup of judgment and plagues that He alone would drink that night, our compassionate Cupbearer spoke with a heavy and sorrowful heart. As He lifted the third cup and broke the bread, He passed them to His disciples and instructed them to eat and drink. They would need their strength for the journey ahead, which mere physical food could not provide. They would need to feed upon the Bread of Life and rely on His power alone, just as the prophet Elijah needed to be strengthened again before his long journey to the mountain of the Lord after that great spiritual showdown on Mount Carmel.

“Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.”

So he [Elijah] arose, and ate and drank;

and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights

as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.”

(1 Kings 19:7b, 8)

During the Passover Seder, a special cup, called the cup of Elijah, is lifted, and the door of the house is opened to welcome Elijah. When Jesus lifted Elijah’s cup, history, past, present, and future mingled together. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, let I come and strike the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:5-6). Our Cupbearer lifted Elijah’s cup and blessed it, and the door was opened to usher in a whole new era.

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them,

saying, “This is My body which is given for you;

do this in remembrance of Me.”

Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying,

“This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”

(Luke 22:19-20)

The third of the four cups of the Passover meal, which describes the redemption story recorded in Exodus 6:6-7, is the Cup of Redemption. At this point in the meal, Jesus turned the tables over on the traditional feast to institute a new meal, inaugurating the new covenant in His blood. Just as the blood applied to the doorposts and lintel on the houses of the children of Israel identified that all within were protected by the blood of the lamb, and was a sign for the Angel of Death to pass over their homes, it is the blood of Christ alone that saves us. “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). There is only one way of salvation – by the blood of the Lamb! We must drink the cup of the new covenant in His blood that He offers us with His outstretched arm to receive His abundant life. Looking upon His sacrifice is not enough. Observing rituals and ordinances will not save us. We must receive what Christ offers us by faith and feast daily upon Him even more than we need the food that feeds and nourishes our physical bodies. “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you:

that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;

and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said,

“Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you;

do this in remembrance of Me.”

In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying,

“This cup is the new covenant in My blood.

This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup,

you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.”

(1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

The Lord’s Supper, the fellowship meal instituted by Jesus, is meant for the edification and unity of every disciple of Jesus Christ. We come to the Lord’s Table as those who have looked upon the crucified and resurrected Lord and trusted Him as Savior and who continue to look upon Him with a heart of love and obedience. The communion meal is a time to remember and to reflect on the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, to be refreshed and nourished as we receive the benefits of our Savior’s death and resurrection, and to look ahead with hope and anticipation of His soon return. This new meal is no longer about cups and courses and annual feasts and festivals, but rather a call to come to the table of the Lord and feed on Him, the living bread which came down from heaven (John 6:51). “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and He with Me” (Revelation 3:20). The life of Jesus is to be a continual and constant feast for the Christian. He is to be our daily bread – to be enjoyed moment by moment, meal by meal, and day by day. “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and He who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). This new meal provides the answer to the Pharisees’ questions about why Jesus’ disciples did not fast. “But the days will come when the Bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast” (Matthew 9:15b). This world no longer offers the true follower of Jesus Christ any satisfaction. Our deepest longing is to experience His presence daily. Our one desire is for an intimate and abiding relationship with our Savior as we wait expectantly for that glorious day when we will join Him at His table to feast and fellowship together at the great Wedding Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9). “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” (Luke 14:15b).

As we sit in the solemnity of this day in history with those first disciples and reflect on those silent hours of disappointed hopes and countless questions and doubts, let us not be carried away by the thoughts of our own challenging circumstances, but rather do as our Savior commanded, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” Today, may Jesus be our first and constant thought throughout the day. Remember Him! Adore Him! Worship Him! Let us remember, as our Redeemer’s body lay in the tomb, He never left us nor forsook us. He was laying His life down for us, and tomorrow, on that glorious Resurrection morning, we celebrate His taking it up again. “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57)! Let us remember the tender cords of kindness and love which first drew us to our Lord, as we offer up a prayer of praise and thanksgiving for the abundance of mercy and grace that has been poured into our cup (Jeremiah 31:3). “You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:7-8). In the stillness of this day, let us pour out a humble, heartfelt prayer of repentance for the dwindling embers of first love’s flame and pray for a rekindling of desire for our Beloved (Revelation 2:4, 5). He is worthy! “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing” (Revelation 5:12)!

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man

and drink His blood, you have no life in you.

Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life,

and I will raise him up in the last day.

For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.

He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.

As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father,

so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.”

(John 6:53-57)

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely;

and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless

at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”

(1 Thessalonians 5:23)