Sharon Reformed Presbyterian Church · Sermon study sheet

The Cup of God's Wrath

Bryan Schneider · July 8, 2023

Mark 10:35-41

sharonrpc.org/sermons/the-cup-of-god-s-wrath

Summary

James and John ask for honor immediately after Jesus predicts his suffering, showing that they do not yet understand how his kingdom will come.
The cup Jesus must drink is not first a cup of blessing but the biblical cup of God's fury against sin.
Jesus' baptism points to being engulfed under divine wrath and the curse as he suffers in his people's place.
The cross resolves the tension in Exodus 34: God forgives iniquity without clearing guilt because the guilt of his people is laid upon Christ.
Jesus knowingly and willingly drinks this cup for ambitious, sinful disciples and for all his people because he loves them.
Christ alone is qualified to bear this judgment because he is the sinless God-man.
For those who rest in Christ, no wrath remains to be paid; his finished work brings peace, praise, and a deeper hatred of sin.

Why do James and John misunderstand Jesus' question about the cup and baptism?
What do Isaiah 51, Jeremiah 25, Psalm 88, and Gethsemane reveal about the suffering Jesus anticipated?
How can God forgive sinners while remaining just and by no means treating guilt as unimportant?
What specific sins become more hateful when I remember the cup Christ drank?
Do I act as though some divine wrath remains for me to pay after Jesus said his work was finished?
How does Christ's willing love bring peace to a believer troubled by guilt?
Is my confidence before God resting in Christ alone or in my own spiritual performance?

Cup of wrath: A biblical image for the judgment and fury of God against sin, which Jesus receives in his people's place.
Baptism of suffering: Jesus' picture of being overwhelmed and submerged beneath divine wrath and the curse.
Substitution: Christ bears the judgment deserved by his people instead of leaving them to bear it themselves.
Satisfaction: Christ's obedience and sacrifice fully answer the just claims of God's holiness against sin.
God-man: Jesus is truly God and truly man in one person, sinless and uniquely able to mediate between God and sinners.
Justification: God's gracious act of pardoning sinners and accepting them as righteous only because Christ's righteousness is counted to them and received by faith.