Psalm 116 - The cup of salvation

Psalm 116 - The cup of salvation

Read: Psalm 116 vs 1-19

Not far from our house you can get the bus into Belfast. You can get a slow bus that goes down the Antrim Road stopping at lots of places along the way, or you can get an ‘Express’ that drives down the M2 getting taking you right into the heart of the city.

The whole of the Old Testament takes you to Jesus. Every book, every story, every plotline ultimately leads to Him. But different parts of the Old Testament point to Him, and to the Gospel at different speeds, some ‘hint’ at our need of a Saviour and some take you straight there without you needing any other stops along the way.

Psalm 116 is an ‘Express Psalm’, that takes us very directly to heart of the gospel. This Psalm speaks of someone who is in great need, in distress and sorrow the cords of death have entangled them (vs 3). ‘LORD, save me!’ is the cry of this Psalm (vs 4). These words are not just words of anguish, they are words that celebrate ‘the goodness of God’ (vs 12). That goodness hinges on the imagery of vs 13:

‘I will lift up the cup of salvation

And call on the name of the LORD.’

The image of a cup is central to the good news in the New Testament. In Matthew 26:39 we find Jesus, on His way to the cross, and He is in anguish. The cords of death are entangling Him as He falls to His knees praying:

‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will but as You will.’

In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus wrestles with His destiny to drink from what He describes as a cup. The cup He would drink was not a cup of salvation, but the cup of God’s wrath reserved for the wicked of the earth (Jeremiah 25:15). 

On the cross Jesus drank from this cup (John 19:29-30). Because He did He can offer all who come to Him another cup (Luke 22:20), not a cup of wrath but a cup of salvation (Psalm 116:13). What can we ever return to the LORD for all His goodness to us? Psalm 116 gets us to the cross, and there we have so so much to be thankful for.

Prayer: Lord Jesus thank that at the cross You drank from the cup of God’s wrath so that You can offer us a cup of salvation. Help me to live a life of deep thankfulness for all that You have done. Help us as a church family to hold up this cup to others that they may taste of Your love and salvation too. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.