Protection from the judgment

Is there any protection from the judgment [of God]? The only possible protection could be if there is protection in this judge, who is going to judge the world and nations. Is there any hint in the text, about any of that? Did you notice in Habakkuk 2:16, when he is describing the judgment to come on Babylon, he says, “The cup in the right hand of Yahweh will come around to you,” you Babylonians! What is that cup in the hand of Yahweh? It is a figure of speech for God’s anger, God’s wrath: Just, holy, good, pure anger, and wrath against human sin, against Babylon, for instance, for crushing and rolling over, and shedding innocent blood and so on. So that is a figure of speech for God’s judgment and anger on the nations. So where does that take us? Well, doesn’t the cup of God’s anger, in Habakkuk 2:16, bring to mind another cup? Do you remember Jesus praying, in Mark 14:36, to his Father, Take this cup from me, yet not what I will but what you will. What did Jesus mean by that? He did not just mean any cup of suffering! He meant the cup that is displayed in Habakkuk 2:16 and Jeremiah 51:1–64 etc. The cup was a figure in the Old Testament used for the wrath of God against human sin. And Jesus, when he said take this cup from me, was asking that the cup of God’s judgment would not fall upon him, that he would not have to drink the wrath of God for us. Nevertheless not what I will, but what you will! And you know that he drank it because on the cross he said, My God, My God why have you forsaken me? I cannot enter into the mystery of that statement. But I want you to see that the God, who [pours] out the cup of his anger and wrath and judgment, and does it justly against sinful men and women, has himself [drunk that cup]—the same Yahweh, Yahweh in the flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, has drunk that cup for us. And certainly that ought to put a different light on the holy sacrament. When this cup is extended to you, for that cup that we celebrate in the Lord’s Supper is the third cup of the four, in the Jewish Passover. And that third cup was called the cup of redemption or the cup of blessing. Do you see what is going on? That Jesus, the innocent, pure Son of God has drunk the cup of God’s wrath that ought to fall upon us, in order that he might, in his suffering extend to his people the cup of blessing. Where is there a shelter from the judgment of this holy righteous, rightly judging God? It is only in his Son, who has drunk his wrath for you, that you do not receive it. So, where is the shelter from this judgment? Is there one? Yes! What is its name? Golgotha! What is at Golgotha? At the bottom of the cross there is an empty cup! Why is it empty? Because Yahweh-in-the-flesh drank it.¹

Ralph Davis