The Two Cups of God

By Ronald Ramsey

May 2007

(Revised January 2026)

Foreword

In Scripture there are two cups that stand out to me. Both cups are seen in the Crucifixion of Jesus and the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus offered one of the cups to us and drank the other so we might not have to. We will look at the two Cups and then see how they are related to Jesus, and how they are related to us.

This study is to help me understand even more how God’s grace flows in my life and in the lives of all who come to Him. When Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane He asked for THIS Cup to pass from Him. A little before this Jesus had offered the Cup of His blood to His disciples and through them to us.

What do these Cups have in common? Which do we drink from? Do we have to drink from one or the other? These questions come to my mind and I will try to answer them.

Which Cup do I drink from? Which Cup is mine? Some of these questions I am almost afraid to find the answers to.

I will seek to find the answers from scripture itself. If God wants us to find the answer it will be there for us. May our Lord lead us into all truth and may the truth indeed set us free.

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32 NKJV)

The Cup of God’s Wrath

Awake, awake! Stand up, O Jerusalem, You who have drunk at the hand of the LORD The cup of His fury; You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, And drained it out. (Isaiah 51:17 NKJV)

Throughout the Old and the New Testament we are told about the Cup of God’s wrath or fury. God cries out to Jerusalem that since they have drunk from the cup of God’s fury they should awake! This terrible cup opens us to fear and despair a and can awaken us. This cup of trembling which we have drained is to call us back to God.

We fear judgment as a child fears punishment because we believe they are the very same thing. But judgment, like a test at school is an attempt by God to show us as a person and a nation what we need to do to not fail at life. When God judges us as a person or a nation it is to show us our need for forgiveness and for His grace.

Many will dispute this by showing the Great White Throne Judgment or the judgment we receive when we die. But there are many smaller judgments in our lives and nations that give us opportunities to repent and push away the Cup of God’s Wrath. Our childish fear of judgment often keeps us from partaking of these opportunities to find mercy and forgiveness.

One thing I learned when in school is that tests are not to show you that you are stupid like I thought, but they tell you what you need to learn!

Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens. (Genesis 19:24 NKJV)

I believe it was Billy Graham who said, “If God doesn’t judge America He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” Notice God rains the brimstone and fire FROM God out of the heavens. This is not a natural event of meteors, but a judgment from God by God.

It is terrible to think of a cluster of small cities destroyed because of their evil. It is terrible to imagine how evil they must be looking at the places God hasn’t destroyed. It must be even more terrible to imagine this could happen to us.

God didn’t want the evil to spread to others and to other places. Sodom and Gomorrah stand as evidence you can go too far and a warning to each of us there are consequences. We can pretend it is a proverb, or a fairy tale. But in our hearts most of us know if it didn’t happen there it has happened somewhere. It is a sign post, a warning from God to come back from the edge of destruction.

Israel did not learn from this warning and spent times dispersed in foreign land. When they refused Jesus and continued the animal sacrifices Jesus came to replace they were dispersed for almost 2,000 years! Maybe that is why James writes his letter to the diaspora.

“James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.” (James 1:1 NKJV)

For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, And the wine is red; It is fully mixed, and He pours it out; Surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth Drain and drink down. (Psalms 75:8 NKJV)

This Cup is filled with a wine as red as blood! The blood of all the lives we have destroyed? Our sin is always against God, but our sin destroys ourselves and others. Our putting others down to look better destroys their spirit, our sexual sins destroy the souls of others, and our economic sins kill bodies and weakens minds.

WE ALL DESERVE TO DRINK THIS CUP OF GOD’S WRATH DOWN! We should drain it and realize the pain and suffering we have caused by our selfishness and our lust.

The cup is mixed with all the varied sins we have lived out and is filled with the bitterness of the end results of those sins. We drink the dregs of the lives we have harmed or destroyed through our sin!

Then it gets worse as the Psalmist tells us that ALL the wicked of the earth will drain the Cup and drink it down! The word all is so comforting when God tells us He loves all and sent His Son for all. But here it is so painful! There is no wiggle room! All who are wicked and sinful will drain this cup!

Raise your hand if you think you are not wicked or sinful! If you raised your hand you just called God a liar so line up for your turn at the Cup.

Here is a sneak peak of the Cup and through Jesus we don’t have to drink!

You are filled with shame instead of glory. You also—drink! And be exposed as uncircumcised! The cup of the LORD’S right hand will be turned against you, And utter shame will be on your glory. (Habakkuk 2:16 NKJV)

We were meant for GLORY! (WOW!) We were meant to walk with God and to share in His love and life. We were created to lift up and to make the world, and each other better, and even bless God through our shared love and our worship of God.

But we settled for our own glory and that led to our own shame. Is there anything more shameful than to see someone taking all the credit for a win or a success? Their self promotion deflates us and in the end themselves.

But one who lifts up others in their celebration lifts us all up and makes us all feel stronger and better about ourselves. That is why we like to wear shirts or hats from winning teams. They make us feel stronger and better as though we are a part of their victory. How much more so when they include the fans as a reason for their victory!

God wanted us to join together with Him in service and in love so that as Jesus would be lifted up all of us would be drawn up with Him! (John 12:32)

You have shown Your people hard things; You have made us drink the wine of confusion. (Psalms 60:3 NKJV)

The ways of God seem so hard to us when they really are very easy. The way is easy; doing them is what is hard. The way of God is so simple but we seek to make it harder just as Eve did in the Garden. God’s call to not eat the Fruit became a call to no eat or to even touch it.

All of us find ways to make the path harder, usually for others. We find something we don’t have trouble with and make that the BIG sin. Jesus summed it up very simply that our sin is our failure to love God and to love each other. (Matthew 22:36-40) If we will just do that Christianity and its terrible troubles melts into a relationship with God.

We confuse ourselves with so many religions we can no longer tell them apart. We even seek to make Christianity a religion when by its meaning, to become like Christ, states its purpose is relationship not religion!

For thus says the LORD God of Israel to me: "Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. "And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them." Then I took the cup from the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the LORD had sent me: (Jeremiah 25:15-17 NKJV)

God’s people should share the warning that other people will drink of the Cup of God’s Wrath if they don’t turn from their sin and seek God’s forgiveness. This is the back side of the Great Commission, to warn the lost that they are in sin and must drink of God’s wrath unless they turn to Him.

Some will enjoy the message in the verse because they want vengeance or at least it isn’t happening to them. I remember a friend in an area I served who said about his pastor, “I don’t mind that my pastor thinks I am going to hell, I just wish he didn’t enjoy it so much.”

We shouldn’t be happy about presenting this cup. For one thing it is dangerous. Many who offered this cup perished for lifting it up. Better to kill the messenger than bear the message.

But we also shouldn’t be happy to see them get theirs. We should realize that if they get theirs we cannot be far behind in getting ours! (Look at the Book of Jonah for a sad tale!)

Upon the wicked He will rain coals; Fire and brimstone and a burning wind Shall be the portion of their cup. (Psalms 11:6 NKJV)

I remember when Ted Bundy was put to death. Many church people gathered outside the prison to celebrate his destruction. I wonder how many will not be in heaven to see the celebration of his redemption?

Between his arrest and death Ted Bundy professed to receive the grace of Jesus Christ. I cannot know in this life but a deep part of me prays it is so. FOR THEN THERE IS HOPE FOR ME!

His physical death paid for the physical suffering he caused so many, but his spiritual suffering was paid for by Jesus. Some are angry about this since they feel it isn’t fair. But I don’t believe Ted Bundy escaped all spiritual suffering. I believe that the burning wind of judgment brought tears of regret that some he killed may have gone to hell because they were cut off from mercy by his crimes.

We all face judgment and our own is terrible enough so we shouldn’t wish worse on others!

Let his eyes see his destruction, And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty. (Job 21:20 NKJV)

Seeing can be a terrible thing. It can also be a wonderful thing! If they see their destruction coming that gives them a few moments to ask forgiveness. Just as the city of Nineveh was warned and turned from their sin. The burning wind of God’s judgment caused them to bow and seek forgiveness. A taste of what was to come was enough to call them to God.

Later Nineveh would fall back into sin and the city would be destroyed. For judgment is only an opportunity to seek God. If we just seek forgiveness and don’t seek the face of God we will turn back to sin as the fear recedes. Then destruction will only be delayed, not ended.

"Therefore you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Drink, be drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you."‘ (Jeremiah 25:27 NKJV)

If we do not turn back the Cup of God’s Wrath will in the end destroy us. It will make us drunk with sin until we become so drunk we fall to rise no more. We will then become prey to each other as well as outside invaders.

We can go so far as to believe evil is good and good is evil. Then we are beyond hope for we cannot know to repent or to even cry out.

Some have tried to call killing unborn children a woman’s right to their own body. Others have stated that homosexuality is okay and just a different life style. But God will not be mocked. Calling evil good and good evil will not make it so!

God despised those who offered their children into the fires for their own success and pleasure. How can he accept our sacrifice? God destroyed Sodom at least partly for its sexual sin so how can God now accept it as an alternate lifestyle?

Let us not get drunk with our own wisdom and fall into destruction!

"For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury." (Revelation 18:3 NKJV)

To me this shows why God must judge. When we accept sin and it becomes part of who we are God must judge us so others don’t fall into the same sin. Sin is like an infectious disease that spreads faster than a cold and is more dangerous than the plague.

We have institutionalized sin to the point that many are making fortunes exploiting people through drugs, pornography, sexual slavery, and many other sins. We export those sins to other nations through our entertainment industry and by our national industries. We also export sin and woe by our purchase of drugs from other lands empowering the evil in those lands.

God must bring judgment or the sin will only grow to the point there is no hope for humanity.

Jesus Drinks the Cup of God’s Wrath

But Jesus answered and said, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They said to Him, "We are able." (Matthew 20:22 NKJV)

We think of God’s Cup as bringing power and authority. Jesus tells us that is not true. The Cup of God’s Wrath carries with it the self-destruction of sin gone mad and set free by our will. Our very thirst for power shows the danger of drinking from the Cup of God’s Wrath.

But God sees power differently. Power carries with it immense responsibility as well as authority. To have the ultimate power means we have the ultimate responsibility. As Jesus washed the feet of His disciples He taught us leadership flows from the bottom up. Maybe that is why Jesus is called the true foundation, the chief cornerstone?

Because of the ultimate responsibility Jesus had to take the ultimate trial upon Him and drink from the Cup of God’s Wrath. He was the only One who could do it. Because of who Jesus was He was the only One who would.

The same is true with Baptism. We have degenerated Baptism into a sort of step into club membership. Get the water and get the eternal life. But to Jesus Baptism carried with it a responsibility to carry the burden for others, and to offer yourself for others.

Our Baptism calls us to serve others that they too will fall under the grace of Jesus Christ and no longer have to drink of the Cup of God’s Wrath themselves!

He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." (Matthew 26:39 NKJV)

Sometimes we miss an important part of the Crucifixion. It was not enough that Jesus died for us, He had to be WILLING to die. No nail could hold God to the cross. No army could have held Him there! Only His love for the Father and for us could have held Jesus to the cross.

Without love there will never be obedience. Without obedience there never would have been a Crucifixion and we would still be in our sin!

Will our love for God call us to sacrifice and to death for God and for others? Will it allow us to take up our Cup which Christ has offered us?

The Cup of Wrath is for Satan

Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. (Revelation 16:19 NKJV)

As Satan grows in power the Cup of God’s Wrath will be drunk by more and more. This Cup is really not meant for us, but for the one who caused so much pain through his fall, Satan. All who drink of the Cup of God’s Wrath are those who follow Satan in his war against God. Jesus made it plain; if we are not with God we are against Him. If we are against God we are for Satan and so must drink of God’s Wrath.

We think God has forgotten our sin. Punishment is delayed to make room for grace, but we assume it means God is forgetful. God remembers! The cries of those who were hurt are ever before His ears so He can’t forget! That is why God calls us to get everything right with those we have wronged before coming to Him. I wonder if God is not be able to hear our prayer because of the cries of others about our sin!

"he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. (Revelation 14:10 NKJV)

Satan is a liar! Many believe his lie that he will defeat God. But God makes it very clear Satan is already defeated. My favorite hymn is Victory in Jesus. The victory has already been won by the God who “sought us, and bought us”!

Evil will always lose in the end because it is evil. Satan lost to Jesus because he sought to destroy Jesus not realizing he actually helped accomplish God’s desire and plan! Evil is by its very nature destructive and self-destructive.

The danger is that in its failure it will pull many down with it. Those who seek evil as a means and an end will also self-destruct. They will pull destruction on their own heads as they seek to destroy others.

The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:10 NKJV)

I have always wondered if the Devil hasn’t deceived himself. If he hasn’t told the lie about defeating God so much that he has come to believe it himself? Will it be a great surprise to him when he falls into the lake of fire? When he drinks from the Cup of God’s Wrath?

What a terrible picture of suffering we see! Every moment of forever will be spent in torment from the judgment of God. But will even that make up for the screams of those who also believed the lie and are dammed because they did? Or will that be part of the burning fire, the screams and cries of those in torment?

Some wonder if hell will be worse for those who are worse. When you talk about that amount of suffering I am not sure you can quantify it. One thing I am sure about hell, I pray I won’t have to find out how bad it is!

"But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (Revelation 21:8 NKJV)

I dare you to not find yourself in that list! We all have done most if not all of those things at one time or another. But it is our faith that will lift us above the Cup of God’s Wrath. It is only because Jesus drank the cup for us that we won’t have to drink it ourselves. Thank God for the grace He has sown!

Maybe the picture here is the Cup of God’s Wrath has grown so large like a lake that there is room for the lost to dwell in it and not just drink it.

The Cup of Communion

(The Cup of God’s Grace)

Thus says your Lord, The LORD and your God, Who pleads the cause of His people: "See, I have taken out of your hand The cup of trembling, The dregs of the cup of My fury; You shall no longer drink it. (Isaiah 51:22 NKJV)

There is no escape by our own efforts to keep from drinking of the Cup of God’s Wrath. It is our due and it must be drunk. But even before the birth of Jesus God knew He would make a way for us by sending Jesus to drink that Cup for us.

Here, years before the hope had been fulfilled, God offers that hope to His people. “I have taken out of your hand The cup of trembling,”. Jesus has taken that Cup from our hands and has drunk it Himself. WE NEED NO LONGER DRINK IT!

From our terrified and trembling hands God has reached out and taken the Cup of His Wrath and drunk it for everyone of us. One can only imagine the terrible and bitter taste of that Cup. One can only imagine all He suffered for us!

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom." (Matthew 26:26-29 NKJV)

Life is consistent. When we stop smoking we usually take up another habit to take its place. When demons are cleaned out the heart must be filled with Jesus or even more come back.

It was not enough to take away the Cup of God’s Wrath, another Cup had to be given to replace it. The Cup of God’s Wrath has been replaced by the Cup of God’s Grace. The Cup of the Blood of the News Covenant is ours to drink instead of the Cup of Wrath.

We really do have a choice!

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, "This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. "Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." (Mark 14:22-25 NKJV)

Scripture tells us life is found in the blood. (Genesis 9:4) In the blood of Jesus there is a blood that brings life to all who partake of it. As Jesus offered them the first Lord’s Supper He tells them, "This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.” God has made a new way for us to come to Him. God has made a new way for us to receive His life.

God has given His body so we can have the new life that can only come from God. Jesus told us He came to give us abundant life. Not just a life of unending longevity, but one of unending blessing and joy.

I have known people who wait for death because their days are empty and without love or hope. Long life can also be an extended suffering and extended emptiness if there is no meaning or hope within it. God came to offer meaning to our existence which is more than just what we can do for others or for God. We have meaning just because God does love us and sees us as being worthy of giving His Son for. We have hope because we know that if we are of such value God will not withhold any good thing from us and will see us through to life with Him!

Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; "for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. (Luke 22:17-20 NKJV)

“Divide it among yourselves;” The Cup of Grace passes from the Hands of God to human hands who must offer it to others. We must continue to receive the Cup of Grace remembering all Jesus has done for us. Only by offering the Cup of Grace to others can we understand the love God has for us! To remember is to live something through again. As we partake and as we offer this Cup we live through the love and grace of God and become part of a gracious love that must extend across the entire world and to every heart to reach its maturity.

We are still in our infancy of love only being able to offer it to those who are like us, or who think like us. The Cup of God’s Grace is to be extended to those who do not understand, for the Apostles didn’t understand what was happening. And it must be extended to even those who would betray us and Jesus for Jesus offered it to Judas.

We must mature in our love and mature in God’s grace. This can only happen as we drink deeply of the Cup of God’s Grace.

I will take up the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the LORD. (Psalms 116:13 NKJV)

When I first read this verse I had just become a Christian and I had been an alcoholic. This verse presented a picture of a group of people offering a toast of celebration and friendship to one another.

I do not believe I am being irreverent or unholy when I say I think this is what is implied. The evil one likes to copy and distort the things of God and what was meant to be a celebratory toast to God has devolved into a celebration of us.

Communion is God’s people joined together to celebrate all God has done for us and all that God is doing in us! It is a celebration of God’s great love that has brought us life and taught us how to love others.

I lift up God’s Cup of Salvation and honor the God who gave Himself that I might have that salvation! I SALUTE THE GOD WHO LOVES ME AND WHOM I LOVE!

Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. "For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. (John 6:53-56 NKJV)

HOLY COMMUNION IS NOT OPTIONAL! We must drink from one cup or the other! If we do not drink from the Cup of Grace we will drink from the cup of God’s Wrath. Holy Communion is not just communion with one another; it is our Communion with God!

If we do not receive the blood of life we will die in our sins and apart from God. There will be no life in us. Those who have died in Christ are more alive than many people walking around today. It makes me think of that movie where the boy says, “I see dead people!” WE DO! We see people dead to God, dead to grace and therefore dead to life walking around every day!

To drink from the Cup of God’s Grace is to receive Jesus Himself and to have Jesus abide with us in this life until we can abide with Jesus in the next life!

I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread. (1 Corinthians 10:15-17 NKJV)

As a pastor I hold up the Communion Cup and I bless it with a prayer. Paul reminds us this simple Cup holds the blood of Jesus Christ and that it holds the blessing. I can no more bless what is in the Cup than I can the Cup itself. The blood of Christ is what makes us one in Jesus and makes us part of His family.

We are of one blood, the Blood of Jesus Christ. That is why Paul could say we are no longer male or female, slave or free. We are new creations of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. We are no longer limited by who our parents are, by where we are from, by what color we are, or by our gender!

We are the children of the Highest God and in that simple loaf and Cup we are made that way.

Now it is time we acted like it! Paul says we are. Not that we will become. It is time we lived like the Children of God and acted with the love and grace God has shown us!

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And the rest I will set in order when I come. (1 Corinthians 11:23-34 NKJV)

Here is the perfect summation. Read this passage carefully. We are weak and sleepy because we do not receive the Cup of God’s Grace or because we receive it incorrectly. Worse than any physical sickness like heart disease or cancer is the spiritual malaise and disease that brings us to ruin.

Because we do not judge ourselves and realize how much we need God’s forgiveness we will have to drink from the Cup of God’s Wrath and be judged! Realize this call is not for the lost, but for the FOUND! This is God’s warning to His Body, His Church!

Receive God’s gracious judgment and chastisement now and we will no longer have to fear the judgment to come! We don’t receive Communion because we are physically hungry, but because spiritually we are starving to death. Do not eat and drink for your stomachs sake, but because of your souls need! We must hunger and thirst for righteousness and then we will be filled with God’s Grace!

“The rest I will set in order when I come” warn us that until we drink from the Cup and receive the life giving Blood of Jesus Christ nothing else can be set right! This is the beginning of all renewal, the beginning of all revival and the start of all mission and ministry!

It is my prayer you will hear God’s call and drink from the Cup of Grace and push aside the Cup of God’s Wrath! May you drink deeply of the Cup of Communion so you can have communion with God and because of that have communion with God’s people.

Benediction

As I end this study I remember something my Mother used to say when I was a child.

“We all have to pay for what we have done wrong either in this life or the next. Pray that you pay in this life for that is much better!”

In essence my Mother realized there are two Cups we must choose from. Which Cup will you choose? The Cup of God’s Wrath with its final and total judgment for all we have done wrong and for the good we left undone? Or the Cup of God’s Grace so we can receive the forgiveness of our sin and our debt is paid through the blood of Jesus Christ?

Which Cup will you drink from? Which Cup will you choose?