Te Wonder of The Cup of Desire

Did you ever wonder? Did you ever wonder?

I do. Did you ever wonder? Why the sun always rises, but the stars never fall?

Why dry land is never satisfied by water? And why fire never says enough? The wonder of the cup of desire. Now isn't that quite a wonder that runs through your mind, undoubtedly, when you think about that idea? But as we've been talking about these rivers that are in the garden, or flowing out of the garden, which is interesting, and it would relate to the river that is literally rivers that are flowing out of our hearts. And as we've talked about throughout, that these are water, and water is equal to Jesus.

And so it's kind of cool to think that that water is now going to get turned into wine if we think about this cup, so to speak. The four rivers that come out of Eden, and how that relates to both seasons, and it also relates to the idea of the four cups at a Seder meal, or the four languages of redemption, which are mentioned in Exodus 6, which all that is very much related, as is the cups that are mentioned in the dream of the cupbearer for Joseph that he interpreted. While he was in prison, which it's all connected to getting out of prison, all of this has to do with freedom, and so much in living in Christ, and how the word cleanses us in so many ways. But, you know, it's spectacular when you think about this idea of this third river would be the cup that Jesus was holding on to when he offered up this idea of the covenant, you know, that would be in his blood.

So do this in remembrance of me. In other words, very much related to what we do as we take communion with the Lord, which is amazing. And if you see the cup of desire there, then that is exactly the idea. And so that word cup is significant in that it begins with the letter hoof, and the letter hoof has everything to do with desire, and as you may know, most other religions, other than Christianity, want you to push down your desires and pretend they're not there.

Well, Christianity would really rather that you fan that desire into a red-hot flame, and that desire is for God. And so to desire this particular cup, the cup of redemption of Jesus' blood, is a spectacular idea. And so if you go look, and I think it's well worth a look back at Joseph's interpretation of the dream and the idea that it was three days, that these three vines... Oh, just the imagery that's in this little bitty, you know, tier three verses there, it's in, as I recall, Genesis 40, where Joseph interprets this dream, and this idea of these vines that grow these grapes, and then they're crushed into this cup that he puts into Pharaoh's hand. And of course, you know, this is imagery that we see throughout, but that very much is the imagery of this third river, the Hidekhel, right? And when you look at that idea of fall, right, you know, that obviously there's a harvest that comes in fall, and the idea of the cup of redemption and what Jesus did for us.

But undoubtedly, more than anything, he's showing us what this word really means in Hebrew, which is the aspiration. In other words, what is the aspiration of the thorn? And so the thorn is another idea that is coming throughout the Scriptures. Time and again, we see these thorns, right? It was what happened to Adam as a result of his sin, that he would be suffering these thorns, and that's the undoubted curse of God turning his back on us. But then it's interesting that most people, when you study the idea of what was the burning bush, you'll see that most likely it was a thorn bush, and undoubtedly the word Sinai, you know, that idea is that of a thorn bush. And we've talked about in the Song of Solomon, how behold, you daughters of Zion, and with the crown thy mothers crowned thy with, you know, on the day of the rejoicing of your heart. In other words, that's the crown of thorns that his family, you know, the Jews gave Jesus, but he was delighted.

It was the rejoicing of his heart because it proves how much he loves us, right? And so it's interesting that he turns the river here into wine. So it's fascinating, these ideas, these words that come out of your mouth when you're leading somebody to Christ, again, you can't lead them. You know, God is the one that turns the water into wine for them, okay? And wine is an idea the Jews teach, and I think beautifully, of potential, right? That originally you just have a grape, an ordinary grape, but as you crush it and deal with it, and over a period of time it becomes wine. It has this tremendous potential, and it has to do with the kings will drink it, and obviously Abraham drank it with... the king of Salem, right?

And again, it's a royal drink. And so as this river of redemption flows out of you, in other words, as you're talking to people about Jesus, he's the one that turns it into wine. He's the one that has them get that cup of desire, and that desire is for intimacy with him and that marriage, which is all over this idea of the aspiration of the thorn. If you have children, I bet you just long, long, long for them to know how much you love them, right? I bet you long to know that for your spouse to know how much you love them. Well, Jesus did this in this particular river, right?

Through taking the thorns and through taking the nails through his hands. You know, as you hold your hands out there, as we've done many times, you get this idea, how much do you love me? Well, this much, right?

Just extend your hands out and say this much. Well, that's what Jesus is trying to tell us in this particular river that's flowing out of our hearts. We've accepted how much he loves us to some extent, as much as we can embrace that idea and embrace him. But now as we share that with others, we give them a chance to taste this water, and then hopefully Jesus... the river that comes out of your heart, and then Jesus will turn it to wine, you see, as that cup of desire for them sparkles and brings them life and life abundantly. What an amazing thing that God has given us in these four rivers that flow out of our hearts. The Hiddikill, just a spectacular, spectacular concept. I have camped out there all week.

I know I'm punching way out of my weight class. I feel like I've got muddy boots treading around in this particular part of the river. But oh, my goodness, it's so absolutely beautiful to think how Jesus made this imagery throughout this idea of the four seasons, this idea of the four cups. And again, the four rivers. And wow, I mean, and this third one is the point where we get to see how much Jesus loves us. Thank you for listening.