Two Cups

Posted Wednesday, October 22, 2008, at 2:14 PM

My family and me were having supper last night and as usual my daughters fixed the glasses of tea and as usual one pours it to full and one is real careful and does not pour enough.

I never thought much about it until I was having my daily bible study and something jumped out at me, so I thought I would share it with you. The bible talks about cups, some literal and some metaphorically.

12:2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah [and] against Jerusalem. 12:3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.

Zechariah 12:2-3 KJV

Israel's cup has always trembled for she has no friends around her to rely on, yet she is a burden to the whole world for Israel has the almighty God as her protector.

Israel's cup got to full of sin and God let the surrounding nations destroy her and keep her out of existence until 1948 when prophecy was fulfilled.

Rome's cup got to full of evil and wickedness and the same happened to them, I noticed this storyline in the Batman Begins movie about places being destroyed ,a city or a empire when she reached the fullness of evil.

The bible does say that God's love is poorly understood today

4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

1 John 4:7-8 KJV

When God sends his judgments upon the nations of earth, one of the most difficult things the 144,000 will have to explain is that God is love. God's perfect love is his balance between mercy and justice.

As bad as it may sound most people come to God's saving grace when he pours his cup of wrath out to it's fullest extent.

God allows a nation to have power until it fills its cup of iniquity, and when it does, the bible says he removes that nation from power.

2:21 And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

Daniel 2:21 KJV

America's cup is slowly getting to the full point, the limit right before God's silence is broken and he takes her out of her place of power, I believe God's silence has already been broken,

As quoted earlier God is love[1 john 4:8], the bible also says the following

3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 3:6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:

Colossians 3:5-6 KJV

15:1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

Revelation 15:1 KJV

When Christ uttered the following words in the garden , most thought he was having doubt about his mission, Jesus never had no doubt whatsoever, he knew from the start why he was born and why he had to die the way he did

26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou [wilt].

Matthew 26:39 KJV

Christ knew that his cup would be the last cup to fill before the end of days would be poured out on the world.

A overflowing cup can be a wonderful thing as in the next verse

23:5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Psalms 23:5 KJV

On the other side it can be awful as stated below

25:15 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. 25:16 And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. 25:17 Then took I the cup at the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:

Jeremiah 25:15-17 KJV

14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

Revelation 14:9-10 KJV

For as much grace and mercy that God shows, he shows just as much wrath, he destroyed city, nations and individual people, God's commandment says do not kill but God says do as I say not as I do.

God's wrath is his mercy for if his wrath was not poured out upon sin then his mercy would be of no effect.

6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and [that] every imagination of the thoughts of his heart [was] only evil continually. 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

Genesis 6:5-7 KJV

We are in the same shape now and God's wrath will come again.

2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 2:6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds: 2:7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: 2:8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

Romans 2:5-8 KJV

Colossians 3:5-6 KJV

If this does not prove that God has used wrath and will use wrath again to show his mercy I don't know what will.

As we head into these years ahead make sure your cup is overflowing with God's grace so his cup of wrath will have no effect on you

7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV

This is the prayer that needs to be prayed everyday for ourselves and our nation, remember if you claim to be a believer in the God of the bible, then you are counted as his people.

It sure is funny how God can give you a message from the simplest things.

God has two cups one of mercy and one of grace, which will you drink out of?

Comments
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auntiefaye,

Pastor Mike's cup will always be overflowing. He is hooked up to the pipeline of Saving Grace and understands the beautiful finished work of Christ.

-- Posted by parkerbrothers on Thu, Oct 23, 2008, at 12:48 PM

Good blog Pastor Mike. I agree with you. All the comments were great this time, not a lot of hate words coming from the readers as before. Keep up the good work Mike, no matter how tough the comments get. You are where you are supposed to be, WORKING FOR THE LORD ! Your cup will always be overflowing.

-- Posted by auntiefaye on Thu, Oct 23, 2008, at 10:54 AM

Thanks y'all.

Don't underestimate your own gifts and contributions,rebelroseonly.

You give an eloquent testimony just by being who you are and you are ALWAYS thinking of how to reach out to people,

You live that bumper sticker:

"What on Earth are you doing for Heaven's sake?"

I'd say all of us have made some good posts but the people who preach the Gospel with the way they live are the ones who really deliver God's message.

The enemy would like for us to underestimate just how effective we can be in serving the Lord-or not.

Could folks like us really make a difference?

Remember,Noah's flood was just a bunch of drips working together,

-- Posted by quantumcat on Thu, Oct 23, 2008, at 6:32 AM

Great blog Michael and superb post quantumcat.

Isn't it great to have the everlasting flow of the Living Water. I wish everyone would open the valve of Saving Faith and let it flow.

-- Posted by parkerbrothers on Thu, Oct 23, 2008, at 5:36 AM

quantumcat-I love everything you said.It was wonderful and you said it just right.I never can find the right words and you always do.

-- Posted by heaven8kids7grandrebelrose on Wed, Oct 22, 2008, at 7:26 PM

AMEN!

-- Posted by michaelbell on Wed, Oct 22, 2008, at 6:53 PM

Mike,maybe we're being held to a higher standard because we started off at a better place.

(We ought to know better since we've had the benefit of others' experience.)

I'm still cogitating about the fact that a vessel made of toxic plastic makes the best water unfit to drink,

Thank Heaven that Living Water takes the poison out of whatever you put it in.

-- Posted by quantumcat on Wed, Oct 22, 2008, at 6:07 PM

We just got there faster than Rome.

I am not talking about Chriatianity, but God himself who has been around since...FOREVER!

He done the judgment, that is till it was passed off to his son.

Look at the things that befell Rome, they are all around us today

-- Posted by michaelbell on Wed, Oct 22, 2008, at 5:59 PM

I think I'll be thirsty enough to want one of each.

Sometimes,it seems as if I could never get enough righteousness to satisfy my need.

There's a hole in my soul that empties out any of my goodness as soon as I get it.

But,my source of righteousness just keeps filling my cup as soon as I lose a drop so I need never "run on empty".

Instead,He promises to keep that cup so full that the love is more apt to spill over onto others from the top than it is to get wasted by falling out of that hole onto the dirt.

(He's promised to fix the broken places,too-no matter how bad or how often one of His vessels gets damaged.)

He gives to us unstintingly of what we need.

Sometimes,the beverage is soothing.

Sometimes,it contains a bitter cure.

Sometimes,it energizes and sometimes it is incredibly sweet.

Whether we need to be fed,fortified,healed or refreshed,His cup is always there and never empty.

He gives us enough to meet our own needs and the more we pour out for others,the more we have left for ourselves,

There might even be times when we have so much love that we give it back to Him and let Him send it on to where it's most needed.

(There'll always be more when we're ready for a refill.)

We have to put our hand over the top of the cup or turn it upside down to keep the Lord from providing refills as soon as the level goes below the brim.

Some of us want to take all we can get NOW as if we'll never get another chance to quench our need.

Others don't want to waste a drop so they take less but get "topped off" whenever they need more.

But,that Living Water is always there-enough to cleanse us,take away our thirst and answer any need we might have.

It's been said that if one waits until one feels thirst,the body has already gone without too much too long.

Instead,we are to take regular sips as we go along rather than get parched then half-drown ourselves trying to make up for the deficit,

Perhaps,we should treat our spirits the same way.

Drink of mercy and grace steadily throughout each day.

Wash our souls whether they seem soiled and stinky or not.

Take enough fuel that we are guaranteed to have all the warmth and light and purification we require.

The cup of Judgement that was our due has been taken by Another who has left it empty of all pain.

In its place,He has given us an unending supply of Life,

Are these cups we want to have pass from us?

Do we want to leave them empty and untouched?

Or do we want a steady,unstinting amount of healing,cleansing,nourishing and power?

I know that when a vessel is kept full of one thing,there's no place for anything else to go.

If we pour hate and fear and confusion into our vessel,that takes away that much room for anything else.

If we load up on hope and truth and love,then there's not much room for spite and despair.

The neat thing about God,though,is that as long as a cup is within His reach,He's going to keep pouring.

It could be one dry void or full of corruption and He'll keep pouring until there's nothing within that isn't His.

(We have to block Him to keep Him from giving us all He's got.)

He may not always give us what we want but He never denies us what we need.

-- Posted by quantumcat on Wed, Oct 22, 2008, at 5:51 PM

You know I get a kick out of this.

You say -- 'Rome's cup got to full of evil and wickedness and the same happened to them.'

And -- 'America's cup is slowly getting to the full point, the limit right before God's silence is broken and he takes her out of her place of power, I believe God's silence has already been broken.'

That just doses not strike me as fair.

Rome was a city nation at least a thousand years before converting to Christianity. America was born in the spirit of Christianity, even if she declares no official religion in state business.

By your count, Rome's cup must have been a heck of lot bigger than America's. I'm talking a freaking water tower compared to a thimble difference here.

Because, if your saying, after a mere two hundred years that a state who's main religion's are members of Christianity is facing the same consequences of a state that survived much, much longer than that - with most of Rome's time spent before the invention of Christianity -- then I think we should at least beg for a deserved extension before the hammer is brought down on us.

Come on. Are we preaching here or just taking things we see and forcing them to fit whatever we want them to fit?

I'm glad that revelation came to you watching tea being poured. I'll make sure to let you know if I have any when I peer up into the bottom of my water bottle I'm about to drink.

Yeah...I did. Sam's Choice isn't the same as Dasani, not even close.

-- Posted by Mike_10 on Wed, Oct 22, 2008, at 5:01 PM

your very welcome.

-- Posted by michaelbell on Wed, Oct 22, 2008, at 4:52 PM

I really enjoyed this one.My heart was hurting.But after reading this it does not feel heavy with hurt anymore. Thank you.

-- Posted by heaven8kids7grandrebelrose on Wed, Oct 22, 2008, at 4:34 PM