WE TURN IN OUR THINKING THIS AFTERNOON TO THE SUBJECT OF THE CUP. There is no doubt that historically there is an important and interesting portion of history surrounding the Cup itself. Even a different and deeper one around what the Cup was to symbolize. Something new was experienced by the disciples, but nothing new in the mind of Yahweh, for He had known these things before the foundation of the world. We have described for you some of the conditions in Palestine during the time of Christ’s ministry, and how the powers of darkness and the forces of evil by usurpation had usurped the power of the Priesthood and taken over the power of the Temple. That true Israel, Judah and Benjamin understood that the Temple was not in the hands of a proper Priesthood.
They perceived that the defence of true Judah and Benjamin was not these soldiers under this false Priesthood. Although they knew they were under the Roman Empire and that Rome considered Palestine only a vassal province, still they realized that their greatest danger came from this evil which had penetrated deep into the Temple. This is why the Essene Company had gathered together and were trying to preserve their records, and scrolls, and doctrines, and were planning for the rebirth of Israel in Palestine. This company of the Essene’s met in secret caves and in homes of the peoples of Palestine, and there they continued to maintain the true scrolls of the Scriptures, and where out of this organization came the defensive organization which rallied an army which would have crowned Christ King. Even today all Christendom is talking about the Palm Sunday entrance of Christ into the City of Jerusalem.