Image by Rey Proenza from Unsplash

I’m often drawn to songs that highlight biblical ideas we don’t usually sing about, or that present common worship topics in fresh ways. That’s what initially drew me to this song. Starting right in the title, “The Cup Was Not Removed,” written by Ben Wolverton, Justin Tweito, and Taylor Agan, focuses on some of the less-sung aspects of Jesus’ redemptive work. Here, we’ll look at some of these unique lyrics and see how they measure up to Scripture.

Focus

“The Cup Was Not Removed” is wholly focused on the atoning work of Jesus. We also emphasize that the appropriate response to his death and resurrection is praise.

This song speaks about God clearly, referring to him as the Father, the Son, the Lamb, and at its most intimate moment, “my Jesus.” (For more on calling God “my Jesus,” see my review of the song by that name.) It uses I/me language throughout, emphasizing personal salvation and each individual believer’s response of praise.

Lyric Analysis

VERSE 1
The key Scripture for this song is Matthew 26:39, in which Jesus says, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” This prayer comes while Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper, awaiting his betrayal. The cup he wishes he could avoid is the cup of God’s wrath (Rev. 16:19, Ps. 75:8), which will be poured out on him the next day on the cross. The cup of wrath⁠—the curse, the punishment that we deserved⁠—lands on Jesus instead of us (Isaiah 53:5, Gal. 3:13).

The authors of the song also draw attention to Jesus’ choice here. He could have gotten out of this. He certainly didn’t deserve death. But the lyrics tell us that the cup isn’t just poured out on him, and he doesn’t just take a sip, instead he drinks all of it.

The authors take just a little bit of poetic license in saying “his tears were as scarlet.” Luke 22:44 says that Christ was in such agony that his sweat fell like drops of blood, not his tears. If Luke is speaking literally here, then Jesus is experiencing hematidrosis, a rare medical condition in which great emotional or physical strain causes blood vessels to burst in one’s skin. This allows blood to leak out through pores and sweat glands. There’s no mention in Scripture of Jesus’ tears being like blood, but hematidrosis is most common in and around the face (see webmd), so it’s not much of a stretch to think that his tears would have mingled with the blood as well.

CHORUS
Jesus is described as the lamb who takes away our sin in John 1:29. At the moment of his death, the curtain in the temple tore from top to bottom (Mark 15:37-38), symbolizing the fact that all humanity now has access to God’s presence through Jesus. Jesus’ great work of atonement deserves all of our souls’ praise now and forever.

The scars from Jesus’ crucifixion are still visible—and touchable—in his hands and side when Jesus appears to Thomas and the Twelve after his resurrection (John 20:24-29), so there is every reason to believe that Jesus still bears those scars today. It’s always worth repeating that the Son of God died and was raised (1 Cor. 15:3-5).

VERSE 2
The Law in verse 2 is the Torah, the Law of Moses. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:17-18 that he didn’t come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. Every Old Testament sacrifice points to Jesus giving his life. We are unable to meet the requirements of God’s Law on our own, so Jesus fulfills them for us and puts his righteousness on us. Furthermore, Jesus ends the role of the Law in setting Israel apart from the Gentiles, uniting the two separate peoples into one and making peace between them and God through the cross (Eph. 2:14-16).

In 1 Peter 1:10-12, we see that the suffering and glory of Christ are the culmination of the message of the Hebrew prophets. God revealed to them that their work was not just for their own time, but for the future. God’s hidden plan for the salvation of the whole world is now revealed through Christ and the Church.

Colossians 1:15 teaches that Jesus is the very image of God the Father, and 2 Corinthians 1:20 shows us that Jesus is the “yes” to every promise of God. He shows us who God us in his character, and his work of salvation and blessing is the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham, David, Adam, and every other saint of the Old Testament.

VERSE 3
In verse one, we already admitted that we belonged up on the cross, not Jesus. Now we take an even more personal look at our own sins using first person pronouns. We praise Jesus specifically for removing each and every one of our sins as far from us as east is from west (Ps. 103:12). The authors also carry the east-to-west metaphor forward into the next line, as if the righteousness of God stretches across the whole sky.

Accessibility

I think this song presumes at least an intermediate level of Bible knowledge. Someone who isn’t a Christian or who hasn’t studied the Bible much is likely to miss many of the references in this song and may not be able to apply the imagery. They might not even realize it’s about Jesus until verse 3 if they don’t already know that he’s called the Lamb. The flipside of that is that this song is very theologically specific and not open to misinterpretation.

I think it’s healthy to have theologically rich songs that challenge us to think deeply and discover new truths about Christ. Even if you don’t understand all the details, you can still grasp the core ideas of the chorus: Jesus takes away our sins, he invites us in, he died and rose again, and he deserves our praise.

Music

This is an easy song for a worship band to pick up and play, especially if you transpose it a half-step down from Ab to G. The only tricky chords are the little pickup notes at the end of each line of the chorus, but if you have beginners on your team then they can just skip those. I really like the two instrumental leads (one at the beginning of the song, one at the end of each half-chorus), both of which work well on piano, electric guitar, or dulcimer. I enjoy it when my drummer leans into the rim clicks on this song, and it is also easy to adapt for cajon.

Conclusions

I’m a little late reviewing this song, because we’ve been singing it for well over a year. So yes, it will worship! It approaches the Gospel in a fresh way, with a special focus on Jesus’ work removing our sins from us. “The Cup Was Not Removed” works well almost anywhere in the worship service. I find that it’s a valuable Communion song, especially on Sundays when I want to make Communion less somber and more celebratory.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.