What is the essence of the Lord's Supper?

“The Blood of the Covenant”

(Matthew 26:17-30, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, September 28, 2008)

Matthew 26:17-30 ¹⁷ Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?" ¹⁸ He said, "Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, 'The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.'" ¹⁹ And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. ²⁰ When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. ²¹ And as they were eating, he said, "Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me." ²² And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, "Is it I, Lord?" ²³ He answered, "He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. ²⁴ The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born." ²⁵ Judas, who would betray him, answered, "Is it I, Rabbi?" He said to him, "You have said so." ²⁶ Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." ²⁷ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, ²⁸ for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹ I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." ³⁰ And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Introduction – Endings and beginnings

There is a verse in First Timothy that refers to God as the King of Ages. The final age is coming with the physical return of Christ. That age will be a major dividing line in the story of mankind. There will be some points of continuity between our current age and that new resurrection age, but the big story will be the change; the newness of that resurrection. God, the King of Ages, is King over the coming resurrection age, but He is also King over the current gospel age.

There was another change in ages that was more subtle than the next change will be. That older change took place when the Old Testament period of the Law came to a close and the New Testament period of the gospel officially began. There was much continuity between the period of the Law and the period of the gospel, but there were also many things that were very new with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the New Testament church. It is in a passage like the one before us that we see the story of this amazing transition. The feasts of Unleavened Bread and Passover must come to an end, and give way to the coming of the communion sacrament of the church that we have come to call the Lord’s Supper. Our God, who was King over the Law and all of its ceremonial ordinances, is the King of Ages over this current age of the gospel and of the sacrament of communion with Christ that we enjoy when we gather together for worship.

The first day of Unleavened Bread and Passover (17-20)

In the Old Testament calendar there were a number of festivals that marked the passage of time every year, each of them full of meaning about the Lord’s great plan of salvation. In particular there were three clusters of events, three major feasts, when all Israelite males were commanded by the Law of Moses to travel to the place that God had ordained in order to appear before the Lord God. The first of these was in the month of Abib in the Hebrew calendar, which corresponds to a March or April time frame in our modern calendar. On the fourteenth day of Abib, Passover was celebrated, and this was followed from the fifteenth through the twenty-first of that same month with what was called the feast of Unleavened Bread.

This cluster of eight days was a very special time period in the Jewish calendar. On the Passover, the people of God needed to follow a detailed series of commandments to celebrate in the homes of the city of God the deliverance of the Lord’s people so long ago out of their slavery in Egypt. Central to this day was the killing of all the Passover lambs, signifying a necessary blood offering, by which the households of the Lord’s people were saved from the death of the firstborn that came upon the Egyptians. The days of Unleavened Bread also involved food offerings to the Lord and holy meetings, but central to this week-long celebration was the removal of leaven from the houses of the Lord’s people, with all the symbolism of dedication to purity and holiness necessary for participation in the household of God.

It was on the first day of this eight day period when the real Lamb of God prepared to celebrate the final Passover, and the real Man of complete purity and holiness took the final steps toward the offering of Himself as a blood sacrifice. The cross that He was moving toward was more than a ceremony. It was the real sacrifice that brought about our salvation. Jesus would keep this final Passover with His disciples. Around the table where they reclined in the custom of the day, Jesus would reveal a startling detail concerning His betrayal, and would institute a new sign and seal of His death for the redemption of sinners. The Passover had for centuries served as a sign and a seal of that coming death of the real Lamb of God. After Jesus was gone, the new communion ritual would serve as the sign and seal of the death of the Messiah as an accomplished fact. The fact behind these two ceremonies was the actual death of Christ for sinners; something very complex to understand, something much more than a ceremony.

The coming betrayal (21-25)

I have already mentioned that it was on this occasion that Jesus would reveal an amazing detail concerning His betrayal. With his twelve close associates surrounding Him Jesus said, “One of you will betray Me.” This was a very difficult thing for the disciples to hear. Have you ever considered how well you do if you were carried off by some demonic power? You think of yourself as a faithful follower of the Lord, and I trust that you are. But what would happen to you if you lost the hedge of protection that God has put around you? What could you do in a moment that you might regret for a lifetime? “Surely not I,” they each said, and eleven of them really meant it. They were deeply grieved by this news that one of their own number, one who was right there sharing food among them all, would be the betrayer; the one who would hand Jesus over to those who wanted Him dead.

On the one hand what was taking place was completely in accord with the Scriptures. Psalm 41:9 refers to a “close friend,” one “who ate my bread,” who would then turn away from the Anointed of the Lord. Not only that, every fact of the betrayal and death of Christ was going to take place as it was written in the Scriptures, and thus in accord with the decree and purpose of God. On the other hand, this did not change for a moment the responsibility of the one who would be the betrayer. Jesus warns the one who by God’s decree is called “the son of destruction,” that it would have been good for him if he had not been born.

All of the disciples were asking Jesus saying, “It’s not me, is it?” Judas, who knows that he is the man, and who has already been advanced 30 pieces of silver for his part, adds his voice to the mix. “Is it I, Rabbi?” Yes, he is the one. He would soon be off into the night doing what he came to do, despite the fact that Jesus knew that this friend would betray him, and Judas would have to know that his secret was known by the Lord.

The bread (26)

It is here in the midst of this horrifying display of the ugliness of sin, that our Lord institutes the supper of communion between Himself and His disciples. It is here where we should see again that we need Him, and here that we should know that He provides Himself freely to us.

He says, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Though He is right there with His disciples, He says these words. What could it mean? Somehow He is the sacrificial meal, and He must be taken in if we are to know His life for us, and proclaim that life beyond us. There is something so simple here that it should not be missed. You need Jesus Christ. He is going to walk that entire road of total obedience that ends in misery and victory. His is the wisdom of God and the power of God, and He is the sacrifice. Our frailty is on display rubbing shoulders with His holiness around a common table, and Jesus says it is not nearly close enough. “Take, eat; this is my body.”

The cup (27-29)

Then He took the cup. He gave thanks to God. He gave it to them and told them to drink. Why? “This is my blood.” What kind of blood? The “blood of the covenant.” What covenant? The new covenant we are told in another place. This is the turning of the age, and it has everything to do with the shedding of blood. The old covenant was instituted with symbolic blood. Here is another sacrament, but the blood that will soon be shed is not the blood of an animal. The blood of the covenant will be the blood of a man.

What is the covenant? It is the sovereign arrangement instituted by God through which we can have peace with Him only through the blood of His Son. It is the only way for our sins to be forgiven. It is the only possibility for us to enjoy the promises of God forever in the kingdom of the Father of Jesus Christ. It is a solemn promise, and it is a price that would soon be paid. It is the whole Bible in front of your eyes for you to see, and in front of your senses for you to take in. It is forgiveness through faith, and a promise of the most blessed freedom through a price paid.

They went out (30)

And so they went out from that place. They sang a hymn, probably the series of psalms that Jews sang in connection with the Passover, Psalms 113-118. That group of psalms that ends with these words, “Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar! You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” And we go out with the confidence that the Stone which the builders have rejected has become our chief Cornerstone in the temple of the Holy Spirit. We go out with confidence in the Son of God who died for us. We go out knowing that God is for us, for He gave the real blood of the covenant that we might be forgiven. We give thanks and we believe. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Let us rejoice, and be glad in Him.

Questions for meditation and discussion:

1. What was the feast of Unleavened Bread and how does it point forward to the Messiah?

2. What is the connection between the Passover, the Lord’s Supper, and the phrase “the blood of the covenant?”

3. Why does it make good sense that this communion supper was instituted in the context of betrayal?

4. What is the essence of the Lord’s Supper, and why is it a part of New Testament worship?