Jesus took the poison of sin and drank the cup of wrath on our behalf to gain favor and righteousness for us.
In Luke 24, the resurrected Christ appears to two men walking on the road to the town of Emmaus. While walking along the road, Luke mentions that the men had been discussing the weekend events: Jesus' arrest, death, burial, and, from their perspective, a rumor of resurrection. Jesus pushes back and rebukes the men for their lack of faith, and then Luke says, "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27).
Jesus ends up staying with the men for dinner, and it is at the breaking and giving of bread that their eyes are open, and they see Jesus for who he is. So they rise and go to Jerusalem to tell the eleven what has just happened, and Jesus appears again, this time to appear to his disciples. After showing the eleven his hands, feet, and the wound in his side, Luke adds this: "Then he said to them, 'These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.' Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures" (Luke 24:44-45).
Think about what that means for a minute. Jesus, God in the flesh, tells them and us that all the Bible is about Jesus. From Moses to the Prophets and even the Psalms, all Scripture is about Jesus.
When this fact finally hit me, it was mind-blowing for my faith. It transformed my reading of Scripture into a treasure hunt where the gold is always Jesus. Sometimes, the search is obvious, like in John 12:41 when John flat out tells us that it was Jesus who appeared before Isaiah in the temple in Isaiah 6. Other times, the search is a little more subtle, like in Genesis 22. Here, Abraham is told to sacrifice his only son, and right at the last moment before the blade hits the boy's heart, God stops Abraham and points to a substitute ram in the thicket (Gen. 22:13). Yet make no mistake about it: the Bible is one continuous story unfolding our redemptive history that crescendos on a weekend in Jerusalem through a death, burial, and resurrection.
In John 18, we have another treasure hunt set before us. Let me paint the scene: Jesus has just finished what scholars call the High Priestly prayer in the previous chapter. He has now arrived in the Kidron Valley. Kidron translates to "dark" or "unclear." Throughout this valley, tributaries and geysers water the area but also create a lot of sediment. This, in turn, generates thick fog but also a luscious garden in the middle of the valley known as the royal garden, or as the gospel writers note, Gethsemane. See the treasure all over, dear friends? It was in a garden where our first parents were deceived (Genesis 3), and now it will be in a garden where the Lamb of God will be arrested to lay down his life to take away the sins of the world. It is the Psalmist who tells us, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me" (Ps. 23:4). In Psalm 23, David writes to the Good Shepherd who in John 18 knows what it feels like to be in the valley of the shadow of death himself. All of the Bible is about Jesus.
But there's one more piece of buried treasure I want us to see while we're here in the garden valley. The mob arrives in John 18 to arrest Jesus, but Peter won't have any of it. This is where we get the famous moment of the Apostle Peter cutting off the ear of Malchus, the high priest's servant. Jesus, being the healer that he is, puts the man's ear back on his head and rebukes Peter for his impulsive action. Yet, notice how he does it: "So Jesus said to Peter, 'Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?'" (John 18:11)
What cup is he referring to? It is the cup of the wrath of God that is filled up against the sin of man.
While we're on the subject of cups, let's venture back into the Old Testament for just a second. Where else have we heard of a cup? The book of Nehemiah opens with a group of men telling Nehemiah the horrible news of how desolate things have become back home. The beautiful city of Jerusalem that Nehemiah used to live in and love has been demolished. Only a remnant of people survived the exile and remain. The city walls are broken down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire. What does Nehemiah, the prophet, do at this news? He sits down, weeps, and prays for the people. Chapter 1 ends with this simple sentence: "Now I was cupbearer to the king" (Neh. 1:11).
That may not strike you initially unless you know about the role of cupbearer. A cupbearer was responsible for serving and drinking every cup that came before the royal court. He did this partly to ensure that nothing poisonous got to the king. If someone intended harm to the royal family, the cupbearer would take the punishment first on their behalf. See where I'm going? Nehemiah used his position as a cupbearer to gain an audience before his king to gain favor for his people and rebuild their city.
Jesus is our true and better cupbearer. He took the poison of sin and drank the cup of wrath on our behalf to gain favor and righteousness for us. He walked through the shadow of death to grant us an audience with God the Father and, even now, a seat at the table, eating and drinking with him as sons and daughters. Not only that, Jesus, as the true and better Nehemiah, is the builder of an even better and eternal city. The writer of Hebrew writes:
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city (Heb. 11:13–16).
What a treasure hunt! All of the Bible is about Jesus. Dig in.
