The Princes' Poison Cup by R.C. Sproul

Anyone who knows myself or my family knows our make up; 6 kids, 2 of which are adopted and we just arrived home with them from China.  Both of whom are deaf.

With reaching the latest status of 6 kids, we have been very intentional trying to ensure we are doing things with all of them as well as specifically spending time with them individually.

All of my kids share in my love of reading.  So when I noticed a new PDF sent to me free of charge by Reformation Trust;  It was a picture book that was published a few years back “The Princes’ Poison Cup” by R.C. Sproul; We opened it up and spent the next 20 min’s having a very memorable time with my older 3 kids.

First off here is what the Publisher had to say about this work:

With The Prince's Poison Cup, Dr. R. C. Sproul continues his series of books designed to present deep biblical truths to children on their own level. In this work, he focuses on the atonement to show that Jesus had to endure the curse of sin in order to redeem His people from their spiritual death. 

When Ella gets sick and has to take yucky medicine, she wonders why something that will help her get well has to taste so bad. When she puts the question to Grandpa, he tells her the story of a great King and His subjects who enjoyed wonderful times together until the people rebelled against the King and drank from a forbidden well. To their horror, they found that the beautiful water in the well made their hearts turn to stone. To reclaim His people, the King asks His Son, the Prince, to drink from a well of horrid poison. The poison will surely kill the Prince but He is willing to drink it to please His Father and help His people.

Richly illustrated, The Prince's Poison Cup will help children appreciate the great love of God for His people and the awful price Jesus had to pay because of sin. A For Parents section provides assistance in unfolding the biblical elements of the story.

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So I began reading and I asked my kids to pay attention as I told them the story and to tell me when they recognized it!

We start out with the King of Life who created a city with a beautiful fountain in the middle.  After telling his people that they could drink from any stream in the kingdom but not out of the fountain, he lived and spent his life with them.   One day his archenemy arrives and convinces the people to drink from the fountain.

When they do their heart’s turn heard and they all leave to create their own city and fountain.  The King, out of his Love for the people, asks that his son visits this city and drink from their fountain with a Golden cup that he was given by his father.  That only then could these people be healed.

The catch is that the new fountain is full of poison.  When the prince drinks it, this bitter poison fills his lungs and kills him.

The prince dies, the enemy rejoices, but then the king returns.  He returns and heals his son and all those who will drink the cup from his son.  

The art work was very well done, I enjoyed being able to turn to an art work that expressed the key points of the story.  It engaged all my kids from my 10 year old to my 6 year old.

But the beauty of this book is not in the art work, the verbiage, or just the analogy it represents.  No the beauty was in the last couple pages of the book.  

At the end of this title, after the story is finished there are a few pages of questions.  These questions enabled my children and I to have a very engaged and informed conversation not just about the story but about Jesus, his death on the cross, sin, Satan and God’s Love.  I was amazed at the questions that arose from this simple Picture book in the mind of my 8 year old boy.  He focused in more on the bitterness of the poison.  Why is it bitter?  This enabled us to talk about the bitterness of sin’s effects on our lives.  It may seem good at first but it makes us bitter towards God, or hardens our hearts…

Those 5 min’s of questions, and seeking and learning with my children are what make this book so amazing to me.  

This book was such a simple retelling of God’s love, his provision, his healing and his redemption that all ages will be able to better comprehend.  This is a title that I will share with all of my family, my friends and my church.  Just as we find sometimes in Jesus’ nature, a simple message but so powerful and profound when we just take a minute to think.