His Savior's Words, Going to the Cross

Have, have ye no regard, all ye
Who pass this way, to pity me,
Who am a man of misery!

A man both bruised, and broke, an done
Who suffers no here for mine own,
But for my friends transgression!

Ah! Sion's Daughters, do not fear
The Cross, the Cords, the Nails, the Spear,
The Myrrh, the Gall, the Vinegar:

For Christ, your loving Savior, hath
Drunk up the wine of God's fierce wrath;
Only, there's left a little froth,

Less for to taste, than for to show,
What bitter cups had been your due,
Had He not drank them up for you.

-- Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

I like this poem for how it describes Christ drinking the cup of God's wrath on our behalf. However, I am a little bit uncomfortable with giving the reason for the "little froth" that is left as for us to understand what we should have experienced under God's wrath. While I don't disagree, I also think there are sanctifying elements in the midst of our sufferings. I am reminded again of Joni Eareckson Tada's quote that our sufferings remind us that we are eternal creatures. And thank God that because of Christ's death - as he absorbed the fulness of God's wrath against sin - we don't have to eternally suffer for sin, but we can anticipate an eternity that is completely free of all remaining traces of sin in our hearts and in our world.