December 27, 2009
Scripture:
John 18:11
This morning we’ve been pondering the cup that the Lord drank. There are three aspects to consider. The first is 1): The Content. It contained the sin of the whole world. Every sin from Adam to the start of eternity was in that cup. This cup was 1000 times worse to drink than anything that we can imagine. Jesus was sinless, yet He took all those sins upon Himself. Everything that God considered vile and offensive was in that cup. Yet, the Lord took it and drank it. He told His Father, “Not my will, but thine be done”. Why did He want to drink this cup? It was because He wanted a Bride. That’s why He was willing to do this vile, vile, act.
Now for the second consideration. 2.) The Consumption. The Lord consumed all that was in that cup. He drained it to the last drop. While He was on the cross, He said, “My sins have taken hold upon Me so that I am not able to look up.” It was a dreadful consumption. In Psalm 22, we learn that His heart melted. What melted His heart? He had to confront the thing that He hated the most: sin. We can’t understand how much He loves man, and how much He hates sin. This was what caused His heart to melt. He consumed that cup down to the last drop. All our sins, past, present, and future, are gone and forgotten. That cup is empty. What is left for us?
Well, there’s not only the Content of the cup, and the Consumption of the cup, but also 3): the Communion of the cup. We can have precious communion with our Saviour, not just on Lord’s Day Morning, but at all times. It’s our joy and our privilege. He sees no stain in us. We can come freely and enjoy the love and joy our Lord offers. We’ve been given so much, and we can take away so much! Thanks be to God for the work of Christ. May we value it more than anything in the world.
Hymn - 338
Prayer
Genesis 24
Lately, we’ve been talking about a father and a son. In our last story, the father almost killed the son, but God allowed a ram to die instead. The father is Abraham and the son is Isaac. Isaac’s mother was Sarah, who we’ve heard about in other stories. Today, we’ll meet two new people. But before we can do that, there’s some bad news. We finished chapter 22 last time, and in chapter 23, Sarah died. Abraham bought a cave, and buried her. This made Isaac very sad.
We’ve been comparing Isaac’s life to the life of Jesus. Isaac’s birth was miraculous, and so was Jesus’. Also, how Isaac almost died is a type of the Lord’s death. Abraham is like God the Father. But what is the death of Sarah a type of? It’s hard to explain, but it represents the setting aside of the nation of Israel. Sarah represents the nation of Israel. Jesus had come to the nation of Israel, and they had rejected Him and killed Him. So, God put them aside so that He could bring in the Church. The Church is all believers. Every believer is a part of the Church. They are also all part of the Bride. This is what Chapter 24 is all about. It’s the story of Abraham’s servant searching for a bride for Isaac.
V1. Abraham was old when He had Isaac. He is even older now, but He is still thinking about His son. V2. Now, notice that we aren’t given the name of this servant. Some people, possibly correctly, assume that this was Eleazar and refer to him as such. However, there is an important reason why we’re not given the servant’s name. He is a type of the Holy Spirit. In John we are told that the Holy Spirit doesn’t speak of Himself, but will speak what He has received. That’s why the servant isn’t named. He represents another, just like the the Holy Ghost; whose work is to lead people to Jesus. Vv.3-4. The servant had to go to a distant land in order to find a wife for Isaac. Vv.5-6. The father tells the servant to go and find his son a wife, but not to bring him to that country. It’s the same way with Jesus. The Holy Spirit is here on earth winning a Bride, but Jesus isn’t going to touch this earth again until He comes as king.
This Chapter is called ‘The Calling of the Bride’. It’s a long chapter, and I trust the start that we made to day can be of blessing.
Although there’s so much history in this chapter, it is really a prayer. Interestingly, the Jews praying switch back and forth between talking about what God did and talking about what their fathers did: “Thou,” v. 7 - 16; “They,” v. 16 & 17; “Thou,” v. 17; “They,” v. 18. God always met them where they were and brought them along. We noticed last week how their prayer covers their whole history: Abraham, Egypt, the wilderness, Canaan, and captivity. So much is covered, and in it all, we see God’s grace to them, though they are under law.
We ended last week seeing how God destroyed Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. Then, v. 12, God led the Children of Israel into the wilderness, leading them by a pillar of cloud or fire. They could have gone into the land immediately, but they didn’t have the faith that God could help them conquer the nations inhabiting Canaan. They thought the people were too strong. But God didn’t give up on them; all the way through, He showed His power.
Then, vv. 13 & 14, they came to Mount Sinai, where God gave them the law. There could be many differences between the terms for the law given here, but here are a few definitions to meditate on:
Hymn 221 - I am thine, O Lord; I have heard Thy voice
Prayer