The Four Cups

During the Jewish Seder service, four cups of wine are poured, blessed and drunk. These cups represent four promises God made to the children of Israel:

Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:

And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

Exodus 6:6-7

Each cup is associated with a different part of the Seder and corresponds with one of these promises:

• The First Cup: Kiddush (“sanctification,” the beginning of the service) – God removes our burdens
• The Second Cup: Haggadah (the recitation of the story of the Exodus) – God frees us from bondage
• The Third Cup: Grace after the Meal (a prayer of thanksgiving after eating) – God redeems us
• The Fourth Cup: Hallel (recitation of psalms of praise) – God makes us His people

(See “12 Facts About the Four Cups,” on chabad.org.)

At the Last Supper, which was a Passover celebration (see Luke 22:7-15), Jesus blessed and passed a cup of wine, saying, “Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:27-28; see also Mark 14:23-24; Luke 22:20). Luke identifies it as “the cup after supper” (Luke 22:20; see also 1 Corinthians 11:25), which would correspond in a modern Seder with the promise of redemption.

After His death and resurrection, the Savior instituted the same ordinance in the Americas. Commanding His disciples to bring bread and wine and commanding the multitude to sit, He blessed and distributed both the bread and the wine, saying:

Blessed are ye for this thing which ye have done, for this is fulfilling my commandments, and this doth witness unto the Father that ye are willing to do that which I have commanded you.

And this shall ye always do to those who repent and are baptized in my name; and ye shall do it in remembrance of my blood, which I have shed for you, that ye may witness unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you.

3 Nephi 18:10-11

All four of the cups in the Seder service represent blessings we receive through the Atonement of Jesus Christ: removal of burdens, freedom, redemption, and divine acceptance. But the third one is of particular significance, and as we partake of the sacrament each Sunday, we can remember Jehovah’s promise to Israel: “I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments.”

Today, I will be grateful for the promises symbolized by the four cups, particularly the promise of redemption, which we commemorate each Sunday as we partake of the sacrament.