From Glory to Shame and Back Again

Genesis 49:28-50:26 & Habakkuk 1:1-3:19

“Drink from the cup of the LORD’s judgment, and all your glory will be turned into shame.” Habakkuk 2:16

This verse took me by surprise this morning as I was reading. It brought to mind another cup that Jesus mentioned in Luke 22:42 when He was praying on the Mount of Olives just before He went to the cross. He knew what was coming and it was distressing Him greatly so He prayed, “Father, if You are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from Me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not Mine.”

The LORD’s cup of judgment would certainly be a cup of suffering would it not? And as Jesus hung naked from the cross His glory was turned to shame with people passing by and spitting on Him and taunting Him saying, “He saved others, let Him save Himself if He is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers mocked Him as well, calling out, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” Even one of the criminals who hung beside Him on his own cross said, “So You’re the Messiah, are You? Prove it by saving Yourself – and us, too, while You’re at it!” Luke 23:35, 36 &39

And yet, was that not one of His MOST glorious moments of all? Sure He was utterly humiliated in that moment, and yet He remained filled with the Grace that only God can maintain! I mean, seriously, what was His response to all the mockery and shame, “Father forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.” Luke 23:34 Only Jesus in the height of His glory could do something like that. There He was drinking down the Father’s cup of judgment on our behalf and people are mocking Him while He’s doing it. In that moment Jesus was fully human and fully God. He was fully naked and yet still fully clothed in the robe of righteousness that He bestows upon OUR shoulders when we choose Him as our Lord and Savior by accepting the gift He paid for that day on the cross. In that moment every shred of earthy glory was stripped from Him and yet with each lash of the whips His glory shone ever brighter and more glorious! He was utterly humiliated and yet in the process utterly humiliated the Enemy of our souls.

He was so brilliant in that moment, so glorious, that even from a distance of two thousand plus years we have to shade our eyes in order to see it. LORD You are SO BEAUTIFUL! THANK YOU FOR DRINKING THAT CUP!