What exactly was in this cup from the Father to the Son? Clearly, it’s the identical cup that is mentioned in the Synoptic gospels, as Jesus prays in this same garden immediately prior to these events taking place—Mark 14:36 Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.
One author vividly described what was in the cup: “In the cup was the entire curse of the holy law, all the horrors of subsequent guilt, all the terrors of Satan’s fiercest temptations, and all the sufferings which can befall both body and soul. It contained likewise the dreadful ingredients of abandonment by the Father, infernal agony, and a bloody death, to which the curse was attached—all to be endured while surrounded by the powers of darkness.”[1]
How glorious is the salvation which Christ provides and how deep is the security of that salvation knowing that if Christ drank the cup, there is nothing more to drink!
[1] F.W. Krummacher, The Suffering Savior, pp.134-135.