This post is based on a question and answer regarding this article entitled Drinking the Cup of God’s Wrath. It is guaranteed by the Scriptures that all men will drink of the Lord’s cup. That is indeed the way by which all men shall be saved in the appointed times for each. Drinking of the cup is the trials, the oppression, the persecution we must endure that is necessary to accomplish the Lord’s will in our lives, which is our sanctification and salvation from sin. That is how the real baptism takes place that brings forth the new man from the death of the old man.
Mat 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Mat 20:23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with
Being made alive is to be risen in the Spirit of the Lord. This comes to the house of the Lord in this age but will come to all men in due time. The most essential promise of a faithful God who cannot lie.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Here is the question and the follow-up answer that should edify and expand on this mystery of the kingdom of God.
QUESTION: So all will experience the cup of wrath whether they are seeking or not seeking Him? I am seeking Jesus. Are we not saved until the cup comes? And if it comes, is it at the moment of death or is it during our lifetime?
Thanks for your question. A very long paper could be written as your question get at the heart of the Lord’s process of how salvation comes to us. Your question was getting to the heart of what Jesus was speaking about here in Matthew 20. The sons of Zebedee nor their mother had any clue what they were asking yet Christ elaborated on the drinking of the cup, which represents dying to the flesh.
Mat 20:23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.
The Lord makes it clear there is no free will involved.
Jer 25:28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.
We all will drink of this cup and this for good reason to serve the purposes of the Lord and bringing about His will, which is our sanctification (1 The 4:3). Flesh is not inheriting the kingdom of God PERIOD.
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Nobody seeks after the true God. The real Jesus is not attractive to flesh and the carnal mind, there is natural enmity put there by the Lord on purpose. No the only way anyone gets to the the Lord is to be dragged there.
Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me drag him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father
Drinking of this cup is partaking in the Lord’s supper. This is when we eat His flesh and drink His blood. These are spiritual statements (Joh 6:63) and refer to our following the Lord and enduring persecution, afflictions and suffering in this age in these physical bodies that are used to burn out of us all our carnal and worldly ways.
Joh 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Joh 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 6:55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
Joh 6:56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
Few are given in this age to understand these truths much less walk it out. Almost all leave Christ as they are not made ready to pay the costs of being a disciple.
Joh 6:66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
But back to your specific question input. We are told point blank, nobody seeks after God.
Rom 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Rom 3:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
We are told point blank, nobody finds Jesus Christ. He finds us, we don’t choose Him. We seek the other jesus in the delusion of our carnal mind.
Isa 65:1 I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.
Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Walking in darkness separated from the Lord is all His plan for our lives. His people must first go into Babylon and be deceived before they are dragged to the real Jesus Christ in the appointed time or in what the Scriptures also say “due time”. This is the plan for men’s lives and in the end it all works for good. The only way we call on the Lord is to first be brought to our wits end. This making the storms, putting us in darkness is all the wonderful works of the Lord to the children of men which is code words for His true Body, the Elect of God. The Lord is doing it all as our lives are simply the works of His hands (Isa 64:8).
Psa 107:24 These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
A day will come when we will hear the call to come out of her (Babylon) my people. And we will then come out because we will have been found by the Lord and our heart will be made willing to search for Him with our whole hearts.
Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Jer 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Jer 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Jer 29:14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
So getting back to your question, we all will experience this wrath. All will drink of the cup of the wrath of God, but it will come in the time appointed by the Lord. That cup is the true grace of God. Grace is what chastens, us, it is the scourging of our fleshly way of life, it is how we learn obedience by the things we suffer.
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Grace and the scourging that goes with it comes to those the Lord loves. He loves all men but in this age, in this life, He loves His Elect who are the apple of His eye. That is who is being scourged now. That is the same thing as being judged and that is how we enter into the kingdom of God.
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
Judgment is how we are redeemed from the bondage of the flesh and the ways of this world which is Egypt in type and shadow.
Exo 6:6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:
Isa 1:27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
This wrath, which is the judgments is how we learn the true righteousness of Jesus Christ in our appointed times. Best to be judged now and be learning this now.
Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
This grace of God is, was and will be appear to all men, but only the chosen few, the ELECT of God will understand what the Lord is doing and they will learn the truth and be remade by abiding in the fire of the truth which is the WORD.
Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
This is what grace does when we live thru, i.e. DO THE JUDGMENTS of God.
Eze 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Do you see that? This is what CAUSES us to obey the Lord, that is how the new man is raised up within us and the old man destroyed. By the fire of the Word!. Our God is a consuming fire!
Salvation means be delivered from our sins. It is getting the victory over sin, that is what salvation means. We get that victory over time, through the process of living thru the grace and drinking of the cup of God’s wrath against our carnal lusts. Like all words of Scripture, those words are is, was and will be. They are continuious and that process of being judged and gaining salvation will not end until we are given our new spiritual bodies. We are given the victory little by little. So anyone saying I am saved is wrong. They may can say, they are being saved but only those who endure to the end will be saved as we should never forget.
Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
We must finish our race in this age to be saved and be in that first resurrection. Otherwise we will fall short and be a castaway and be judged in the lake of fire with the rest of mankind. Paul tells us to not take our salvation for granted in this age, we must strive to stay on the narrow road working out our own salvation with fear and trembling.
1Co 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
If one is called, chosen and found faithful and that not of their own doing but of the Lord’s doing, who is working all things for the council of His will, then they will be saved in this age and will be in the first resurrection. But the key word here is faithful. NOBODY HAS ARRIVED.
Rev 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
So in conclusion, salvation is a process of being taught righteousness by living through the judgment of the Lord. All men are judged, but that day of judgment is the day or hour no one knows but only the Father. Far better to be judged now, to be saved now in down payment form and then be in that blessed and holy first resurrection. Then we will be used of the Lord.
1Co 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
In fact this brings out one of the mysterious ways of the Lord that orthodox Christianity and its false doctrines cannot comprehend. The way to void being judged is to be judged now. The only way to save your life is to lose it now. In the same way this verse is often misapplied to claim contrary to hundreds of other verses that the people of God are not going to live thru the wrath of God.
1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
But it is the SUM, not SOME of thy word that is true (Psa 119:160). No prophecy of Scripture is of its own private interpretation (2 Pet 1:20). The Scriptures in total make in perfectly clear the only way we know Jesus Christ and enter into Him is by living thru the wrath that comes by drinking this cup. No Exceptions!
Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
If we are found faithful and do endure to the end. We will make that first resurrection and then will be used of the Lord to judge all mankind and the angels in the lake of fire.
1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
I do not know where you are with your understanding of these issues so I hope you will ask more questions and go read the links I am giving you below.
Only the Elect of God, the Body of Christ, the Church, aka the Israel of God is judged in this age. This is the suffering that has been appointed to all that believe on the real Jesus through the gift of faith. This is the drinking of the cup and how the baptism with fire and water, both of which remake us and conform us into the Lord’s image.
Php 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
Isa 48:10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
Everyone else is judged in the lake of fire which is the way that all men will be saved in the end. But the truth I hope you have received is that all men will be saved just as the Scriptures declare and it is not depending upon the will or any man.
1Co 15:21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
The Lord has made us marred on purpose so He can remake us and conform us into His image by this process. Being made new is how we are saved.
Rev 21:5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
It takes faith to believe these things and that all a gift. We will learn to wait on the Lord to deliver on His promises. He will because the Lord is faithful even when we, these marred vessels of clay are not.
2Ti 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.