The MESSAGE for November 12, 2023

The Cup

Mark 10:34-35

Live Broadcast

By: Pastor, Rev. Dr. Cullian W. Hill

Greater Concord Missionary Baptist Church

 

“James and John, sons of Zebedee”, (Mark 10:35) come unto Him, saying, master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And He said unto them, what would ye that I should do for you? Mark 10:35-36 They said unto Him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. Mark10:37

 

They wanted the crown without the cross. They were thinking in terms of the kingdom, the power, and the glory. Luke 4:5-8 But Jesus said unto them, ye know not what ye ask: “can ye drink of the cup that I drink? And be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” Mark 10:38 And they said unto Him, (we can). And Jesus said unto them, ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of, and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: Mark 10:39, but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give: but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared, (Mark 10:40).

 

We make a great mistake if we think God’s business is to be done, like man’s business. They were ignorant of the price of the kingdom. Christ spoke of the high price of position in the kingdom. To sit by Christ was tantamount to experiencing what Christ experienced. Often, high position is coveted without pondering the price of the position. No one but He on earth and His Father in Heaven and the Holy Spirit in His heart could know the full horror of that cup. At that baptism, He began His public ministry by being plunged beneath the chilly waters of the Jordan; identify Himself with Adams ruined race, which He had come to save. Ahead lay a deeper Jordan, the dark river of death.

 

O’, that cup! Gazing into it in Gethsemane would bring the blood sweat to His brow. The cup spoke of His inward sufferings. Baptism spoke of His outward suffering. There He would be identified with the sins of the world. There He who know no sin would be made sin for us. There He, the Lord of life, would taste death for every man. The Lord read the hearts of James and John.

 

He foresaw their future as clearly as He foresaw His own. They could not drink the darkest dregs of the cup that was His or plunge beneath the judgement waters that awaited Him. They would be martyrs for His cause. Acts 12:1-2 But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. Mark10:40

 

If you desire to share my crown, you must expect to be called upon to resist unto blood, striving against sins, to go through fire and water, and to be baptized in the furnace of affliction that the trial of their faith, etc. I Peter 1:7. The Lord does not deny that there are high places in His Kingdom, but He unveils the terms on which only they may be won. They were terms, which the Old Testament connected with suffering; “the cup of trembling,” “the cup of the Lord’s fury,” “I will take the cup of salvation”, “I am ready to undergo even the pains of martyrdom,” “All thy waves and storms are gone over me.”

 

They heard their master speak of that terrible agony which they were called to witness as His cup, “Let this cup pass from me.” When they stood before His cross and saw His life-blood streaming from His head, and hands, and feet, and side, a very baptism of blood. Were they able to face such things as these? To go through those trails, that anguish, coming in various shapes, which were necessary to prepare in them those graces, only as possessing which they could stand high in the Kingdom of the Man of sorrows, of the Lamb slain?

 

In short, in these words our Lord intimates the use of suffering as preparation for glory, for the presence of God. “Ye know not”, it may be said to all who pray for any temporal advantages, “ye know not whether the issue of your prayers, if granted will be for good or evil.” But Christ’s answer to these petitioners seem to insist chiefly on their ignorance of the manner in which the great prizes in distribution of heavenly honors were to be sought and won. “My own exaltation” will be the reward of my previous suffering and humiliation. O’, praise His holy name!

 

The cup! O’, that cup! What then were the contents of that cup which He was willing to drink to the last bitter dregs? In that cup we shall surely find at least His physical suffering. Normally in thinking about the cross there is the temptation to dismiss the physical and hurry on to the deeper sufferings which are surely there. “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.” One has not properly considered the cross until he has pondered the profundities of the soul struggles. The back-breaking, muscle-tearing, lung-crushing, crucifixion experience had been a diabolical invention for the very purpose of producing the maximum of suffering. Then there had to be at least His mental suffering. Also, in the cup was laid on Him, “the iniquity of us all.”

 

The one who had never sinned not only experienced sin now but experienced it so completely and intensely that “He became sin for us.” What is called the “weight of sin”, now falls on Him, smothers Him, staggers Him! The weight of the sin was the whole world’s sin. O’, that cup! He must be lifted up; He will draw all men unto Him. “If I be lifted up”!

 

Pastor, Rev. Dr. Cullian W. Hill