The Last Bottle

^{It seemed to be a more or less normal evening and normal evening meal. Jewish families sit enjoying eating together as much as it’s possible to enjoy life during the on-going terrorism in today’s Unholy Land. Without warning, rampaging Palestinian thugs, going door-to-door, break into civilian homes, gunning down every Jewish occupant in sight.}

^{After the murders, journalists see a Jewish mother in tears. The house-to-house massacre had claimed her son. They look at her hands and see that she’s clutching a bottle for dear life.}

^{Over and over again, she keeps choking out the tear-drenched words, "This is the last bottle he [her son] ever drank from . . . this is the last bottle he ever drank from." Some keep in their hearts the last words loved ones express. His mother will forever keep "the last bottle he ever drank from." Loved ones and friends gather round to weep with those who weep.}

^{Another time, in a place not far from that Israeli mother’s grief, a solitary figure talks about the last cup from which He’ll ever drink. Jesus of Nazareth kneels on His own Gethsemane battlefield all alone; no loved ones gather round; those closest to Him are unconcerned, sleeping an apathetic sleep. No one to weep that night with the One who weeps.}

^{Had His students cared enough to listen, they would have overheard His talking about a cup. Jesus was talking to God the Father about the coming cross with its inherent agonies both spiritual and physical. As He thought of the coming judgment God was going to pour out on Him, He pictured it as a cup from which He was about to drink, a cup no one, not even He, had ever tasted before.}

^{In the cup was the judgment for our sins, not just some, but all. The cup didn’t hold the judgment for some sins and not for others. The cup held the judgment for not only the "lighter" sins, but also for the worst the human being can commit (Col. 2:13). The cup contained every criminal and sinful noncriminal activity. You name it; it was in the cup. For three hours, Jesus, on the cross, separated from God (Matt. 27:46), drank it all. He didn’t leave a drop.}

^{When He emptied the cup, He shouted, "It’s finished!" Since the cup is dry, there’s nothing left for us to do except believe that His drinking of it brings us forgiveness and eternal life. There’s nothing left for us to drink—every last drop is gone. He drank it. There’s no deal to work out with God for remaining drops. It’s done. He said so: "It stands finished!"}

^{The last cup He ever drank from, He drank for you.}

^{Dr. Mike Halsey, Pastor}