Symbolism
Four cups are typically consumed at a Passover, a custom that ties back to Exodus 6:5–7. The first is the Cup of Sanctification (“I will bring you out”). The second is the Cup of Deliverance (“I will free you”). After eating, Jesus and His friends drink a third time from the Cup of Redemption (“I will bless you”). This is the cup that we observe today when taking Communion—the one with which Jesus sets up the New Covenant.
The fourth is the Cup of Restoration (“I will protect you”). Jesus does not drink from this cup and tells His followers that He will not drink from it until He drinks it new with us in His Father’s kingdom.
There is also a fifth cup—the Cup of Wrath. Jesus is the only one who can drink from this cup. When He is on the cross and says, “I am thirsty” (John 19:28), He is saying, “Give me the fifth cup that I might drink all of it.”
