“For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine well-mixed. And he pours out from it. And all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs.”
– Psalms 75:8
Psalms 75:8 is a sobering verse, and it really goes in line with what we’ve prayed through in the Psalms. In Psalms Chapter 73 and 74 before this, seeing the prosperity of the wicked in Psalm 73, and of those who oppose God and His word in 74, even those who mock God and the Psalm is praying that God would rise up and show His justice. And He would silence those who mock His name.
Jesus is the one who drank this cup of holy wrath on behalf of sinners.
God Will Pour Out His Judgement
And in Psalm Chapter 75:8, we read that God will indeed show His justice. That God will pour out His wrath on sinners who deserve His judgment. “In the hand of the Lord, there is a cup with foaming wine.” So, this imagery of a cup filled with the wine of God’s wrath that He will pour out and the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs. It’s a picture we see at different points throughout scripture. Even when you think about Revelation, and you think about the coming ultimate judgment of God, it’s described as a day when the wine press of God’s wrath, of God’s holy fury towards sin will be poured out.
This Verse Reminds Us of the Significance of the Cross
And it is verses like this that help us understand what Jesus did on the cross all the more. Think about it. Do you remember when Jesus prepared to go to the cross and He was in the Garden of Gethsemane and He was praying. He was sweating blood, agonizing before the Father. What words was He praying? He was saying to the father, if it is possible, let this what? Pass from me. “Let this cup pass from me.” Jesus knew that He was about to endure the wrath of God, the cup filled with foaming wine for the wicked of the earth. He was about to drink it on behalf of anyone who would trust in Him.
Assuming you have put your trust in Jesus, He was about to drink the cup of God’s holy wrath, due you and to me. He was about to drink it in our place and it was overwhelming Him. It’s not that Jesus was scared about what was about to happen to Him at the hands of Roman soldiers. He was not a coward about to face Roman soldiers. He was a savior about to endure divine wrath. And He did so. He took that cup and he drank it, every last drop out of a love for you and me, so that you and I will never have to drink it.
Psalms 75:8: Praising Jesus For Taking on God’s Wrath For Us
Jesus, we praise Your name. We give You glory in a fresh way today. We sing Your praises. And we give You thanks. It seems so inadequate in words for what You have done for us. We praise You that for all the trust in You, we don’t ever have to drink the cup that we deserve to drink for our sin. That we don’t have to experience the ultimate consequence of our sin. What we deserve.
Jesus, all glory be to Your name for rising from that garden, going to that cross, being nailed to it and drinking down the cup that we deserved to drink. For enduring the wrath that we deserve in our lives in our place. That we might be, right now, reconciled to God. Knowing God, walking with God, enjoying eternal life with You today, enjoining eternal life with you forever with the hope and the confidence that even when we die we’ll be gain that we won’t drink this cup forever, which is what we deserve. We will enjoy Your grace and Your glory forever in a way we can never deserve. All glory be to your name, Jesus.
Asking God to Give Us the Courage to Share the Gospel
We praise You for the cross. We praise You for the gospel. And God, we pray for people around us, who don’t know this grace and this mercy. Please, please, please give us courage, and compassion, and boldness to share this gospel, this good news with them today. God, we pray that You would help us to lead somebody to know You, Jesus, today as the savior of their sins, as the one who drank this cup on behalf of sinners. God, we pray for the spread of this good news around us. We pray for the spread of this good news around the world among the Yerwa Kanuri in Cameroon. Oh, God in its fighting in conflict in Cameroon. God, we pray for the spread of the peace, and love, and mercy of Jesus. Specifically, among the Yerwa Kanuri people today.
God, we pray for the spread of this good news among the nations that Jesus says has drank the cup we deserve that we might experience eternal life, and joy, and peace, love and relationship with You. All glory be to Your name, Jesus, as we read this sober verse in Psalm 75:8, our hearts are filled with awe at Your love for us. We praise You and we pray in Your name, the name of the One who drank the cup of God’s holy judgment on our behalf. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Psalm 75:8. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
