The Cup of the Covenant
After the term of the Ketubah were accepted, a cup of wine was shared to seal the marriage covenant. The second cup of wine would be shared many months later during the marriage ceremony. The cup that Jesus took at His last Passover on earth was the cup of the new marriage covenant with His bride.
In Luke 22:20, Jesus said, “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.”
In Matthew 26:29, Jesus said, “I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”
In the Matthew passage Jesus is speaking of the second cup that the Bride of Christ will share with Him one glorious day at the second part of our marriage ceremony.
Jesus announced our betrothal and the Bride’s acceptance – through the disciples – when He ate the last Passover with them: Matt 26:27-29 ‘And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.’
According to Jewish betrothals of this time when a man was interested in a woman he announced his intentions by presenting his intended a cup of wine. If she drank the cup dry, including the bitter dregs, she had accepted his proposal and the couple were then betrothed. The disciples of Jesus shared the cup of our betrothal and as directed by Jesus, they drained it dry. In doing so they announced they were willing to follow Him as His bride no matter what the circumstances were – like our modern wedding vows: ‘for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, till death do us part.’ Only as the Bride of Christ, we don’t have to worry about death separating us from Him, as stated in Romans 8:38-39: ‘For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’
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