The scene was the Garden of Gethsemane. A band of men from the chief priests and Pharisees had arrived to arrest Jesus. Peter, wanting to defend Jesus, drew out his sword and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. Not only did Jesus heal the man’s ear but he took time to make clear to Peter that He, the very Son of God, was soon going to lay down His life willingly.

Then said Jesus to Peter, “Put up your sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18:11).

Bible teacher F. B. Meyer explains,

Consider the ingredients of Christ’s cup—the shame and spitting; the pain and anguish; the physical torture; and, above all, the bitterness of our sins, which were made to meet in Him; the guilt of our curse, which He voluntarily assumed; the equivalent of our punishment, which was imputed to Him. If we may so put it, the human race stood in one long line, each with a cup of hemlock in his hand; and Christ, passing along, took from each his cup, and poured its contents into the vast beaker which He carried: so that, on the cross He “tasted death for every man’ Thus, our lives brim with salvation, because His brimmed with condemnation. Our cup is one of joy, because His was one of sorrow. Our cup is one of blessedness, because His was one of God-forsakenness.[1]

 

Let’s never forget the cost at which our eternal salvation has been made possible. Jesus suffered as we deserved to suffer. Our sins can be forgiven because Jesus paid the price in our place. Hallelujah!

[1] F. B. Meyer, The Shepherd’s Psalm (London and Edinburgh: Marshall, Morgan & Scott Ltd.n.d.), 116.