That is my King – A Brief Good Friday Reflection
As I write this post, the Agnews are in route to Knoxville to spend the day with family. Amanda graciously offered to drive so I could spend some time reflecting on Good Friday and put the final touches on the sermon for Sunday. So here we go…
Friends, Sunday is coming! That means we, as God’s people, will gather with joyful hearts this Sunday knowing that Jesus rose from the dead and conquered sin and death on our behalf. On Sunday, there will be nothing more appropriate to do than to celebrate. The shackles and chains have been loosed and the bondage to the power of darkness has been broken. We look eagerly to Sunday with great expectation!
Yet, the pathway to Sunday is through Good Friday and God has appointed no other way. Therefore, Christians set aside this day each year to reflect upon the cost of our resurrection. If Easter Sunday is a day filled with joy, Good Friday is a day filled with sorrow, contemplation, and longing. So today, let me call you to step back and consider the full weight of this Holy Weekend. Let’s us consider it through the lenses of the cup of wrath that is spoken of through out Scripture.
First, let us consider Isaiah 51:17-23:
Wake yourself, wake yourself,
stand up, O Jerusalem,
you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD
the cup of his wrath,
who have drunk to the dregs
the bowl, the cup of staggering.
There is none to guide her
among all the sons she has borne;
there is none to take her by the hand
among all the sons she has brought up.
These two things have happened to you—
who will console you?—
devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
who will comfort you?
Your sons have fainted;
they lie at the head of every street
like an antelope in a net;
they are full of the wrath of the LORD,
the rebuke of your God.
Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted,
who are drunk, but not with wine:
Thus says your Lord, the LORD,
your God who pleads the cause of his people:
“Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering;
the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;
and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
who have said to you,
‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;
and you have made your back like the ground
and like the street for them to pass over.” (ESV)
Here we find a sobering reality not only for all of mankind, but especially true of those who have been called out to be God’s people. We have drunk the cup of wrath of our God. We, like all mankind, have given ourselves to sin and destruction and we have prostituted ourselves to other gods like money, sex, comfort, and power (just to name a few). Even this morning I couldn’t help but feel the grief and weight of my own sin this week. I am so “prone to wander” like the great hymn states and when I consider the weight of my own depravity, I am laid low from the sheer weight of the matter. I can so easily be drunk on my own sin.
But thanks be to God that this is not the end of the story. Even here in this passage, God sends word through Isaiah that though he has caught his bride in heinous sin, literally staggering from a long night of rebellious exploits, he is gracious to his people. Our God will plead our cause and take the cup of staggering and the bowl of wrath…we shall drink no more. There is so much beautiful imagery loaded in this passage but let us consider “how” God pleads our cause and removes the burden of his wrath from us. On the night before His death, Jesus retreated by Himself into the Garden of Gethsemane.
Matthew 26:36-46
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.” (ESV)
Here we see that Jesus is preparing Himself for the ultimate purpose for which He came. It was appointed to drink the cup of wrath on our behalf. By taking the cup of wrath “from our hands” and drinking it, He can now be our advocate and “plead” on our behalf before God the Father. No longer do we have to bear the just wrath of God, but Jesus stands as both the Just and the Justifier. He is just because He gave his sinless life for the sin debt of guilty sinners. Now, he becomes Justifier for all who receive Him by faith.
As fantastic as this story is, it gets even better. Isaiah 51:22-23 tells us that this bowl that he drinks for His people, He will return to the wicked in the last day. He will not pardon those who do not repent and bow their knee to receive his pardon. Consider Revelation 14:9-11, “And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” (ESV)
As we consider the ramifications of Good Friday, let us feel both the weight and sorrow of our sin yet wait with eager longing for Sunday! Let us grieve the lost state of so many of our friends and family. Let us proclaim boldly the redeeming grace of God who desires to do good for sinners like you and like me.
Sunday is coming!
