“But Jesus said to them, you do not know what you ask,. Are you able to drink the cup I drink? or be baptized with the Baptism I am baptized with? ” Mark 10:38

Bible teachers usually run the references to see the emphasis on the “cup” and they come within the two spheres of spiritual destiny, one being covenantal and blessing, the other being judgment and wrath. This really struck me in the light of the above reference, when the “cup” that Jesus was referring to is the sacrifice He would have to undergo.

In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul makes reference to the cup when he speaks of the “judgment one drinks to oneself” if the Communion is taken unworthily. In this crucial covenantal meal, the cup has to be drunk absolutely certain that one can stand in that covenantal exchange without being “unworthy”, of the wrong spirit or motivation. Paul cites death as being a fruit of this position.

The cup has all to do with the fact that John did have to drink, when you consider in Revelation 1:1 the price he paid for walking in the testimony of Jesus. He was boiled in oil and banished to Patmos, where he has a interaction with the Ascended Lord, glorious. The vision, the encounter in heaven is fruit of a great apostleship that John has which reaches us today. The fact is when we drink of the communion/Eucharist we shall be called to drink the ultimate cup of our inner man, the price of what we are called to walk in.

When we are imagining the place of the Cup of Blessing, we must also be aware that our covenant blessing will have a judicial outworking, in that from the Testimony of Jesus, which comes as we drink from that cup each day, will come a judicial placing of each human being. Today we face a pandemic, today we need to evaluate that if God were to place this cup before us, would we be worthy to drink?

The cup symobilizes the coming of Kingdom, where when Jesus comes to drink once again, He will deal with our enemies, and His enemy. The covenant meal “declares His death, until He come” linking His death with His appearing. We are part of that process as we drink also of the same cup.

We may complain that this Passover/Easter we are not enjoying the same comforts, but we are in a certain way drinking of Christ’s cup. As we begin to drink we are constrained to walk out being part of the Testimony of Jesus, the spirit of Prophecy. Revelation 19:10.

In the end days, whilst the target is the COVID19 virus, we know the Church, every believer will be treated like a virus that must be eliminated to keep the stability of a society ruled by fear, ruled by tyranny, by mammon, by all that is anti-God. In that time our cup will need to be drunk and we will need to pay the price of the ultimate Testimony.

When we take that bread and drink of the Cup, we must ask ourselves, are we prepared to go to death with Him? Or like Peter deny Him in that moment, because what speaks more is self preservation? There comes a time when it will not be enough to be enough to know to repent for denying Him in the moment of losing all, because the fulness of everything will be found when we lose all earthly attachments!

Shalom!