4.02.17~From Passover to the Lord’s Supper

Zechariah 11:12, He would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver [Exodus 21:32, the price of a slave]. (500 BC)

Isaiah 53:1-12, He would bear our sins, receiving God’s wrath in our place; He would be pierced and put to death, and yet He would live. (700 BC)

Psalm 22:16, He would be pierced. (1000 BC) Psalm 16:9-11, He would not stay dead. (1000 BC)

Passover week begins (see Matthew 21:1-11; cf Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:29-38; John 12:1, 12-15).

About 1500 years earlier, God had delivered the Israelites from 400 years of slavery under Pharaoh, using Moses and Aaron and a series of devastating plagues that God brought upon the Egyptians.

God had instructed the Israelites to smear the blood of a sacrificed lamb on the doorposts of their houses, this signified God’s protection. The sacrificed lambs were then roasted and eaten by each family, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, as they waited for God to free them and lead them to the promised land of Canaan.

The final plague was the angel of death passing over the land, killing the firstborn males of both man and animal in all the households of the Egyptians. Pharaoh finally released the Israelites, ordering them to go!

See Exodus 12:1-13, 29-32. Israel celebrated this meal throughout her history as a remembrance of God delivering them out of Egypt.

Jesus now transformed Passover into the Lord’s Supper: Passover celebrated the temporary, physical deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt, under the Old Covenant of Law.

The Lord’s Supper celebrates the permanent, spiritual deliverance of all true Believers from the penalty of sin, under the New Covenant of Grace.
As we read in Exodus 12, the people were to acquire a year-old male lamb without defect, it was to be taken from either sheep or goats. Each family brings one home on Nisan 10; they were to treat it as a “pet” and care for it until Nisan 14, when, at twilight (before sundown), it was to be slaughtered, and its blood spread on the doorpost of the house (this provided God’s protection from the death angel who would soon come and pass over all of Egypt). The lamb was to be cooked and eaten at each home, any leftovers were to be burned.

So, at the beginning of that first Passover, recorded in Exodus 12, on Nisan 10 a lamb was selected and brought home for four days. Guess what? Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Nisan 10 (a Sunday), and for four days Jesus (the Lamb of God, John 1:29) enjoyed the favor of the people, loving them and being praised by them.
On Nisan 14 (a Thursday), just after sunset, God’s Lamb celebrated Passover with His disciples; at the close of the meal, He changed Passover’s meaning and message forever (see Matthew 26:26-29).

Ephesians 1:7 says, ”In [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,” and in Hebrews 9:22 it says, “In fact, the law requires nearly

everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

The cup of wine/juice is called the cup of blessing, it symbolizes the fulfillment of God's covenant requirement through the blood of a sacrifice, which up to this time was the shed blood of a yearling lamb/goat; for it was the blood that sealed or ratified the covenant with God.

In Matthew 26:28, it is not the blood of an animal sacrifice Jesus is talking about which is to be poured out in order to cover the penalty for our sins and grant forgiveness— He says, “My blood,” this is Christ’s blood which will be shed in order to provide forgiveness.

1Peter 1:19 emphasizes that we are redeemed "with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect."

Jesus forever changed the manner, message, and meaning of the Feast of Passover (Luke 22:20), “In the same way, after the supper He [Jesus] took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.’”

On Sunday (Nisan 10) of passion week Jesus rode into town on a donkey’s colt, He was praised and honored by the people; it was a very long day.

On Monday and Tuesday Jesus taught and shared God’s message with all who would listen.

On Wednesday the narrative seems to go silent, nothing is recorded.

On Thursday (Nisan 14) Jesus changes the meaning and message of Passover, personalizing the sacrifice and shedding of blood to Himself.

On Friday (Nisan 15) at the time the sacrificial lambs were to be slaughtered for Passover, the Lamb of God died. But God’s Lamb was not slain by a priest like the rest of the lambs, the Lamb of God willingly gave up His own life, so that we might now be able to approach God.

Jesus Christ, God’s Son, was the perfect sacrifice for sin, therefore this was the last Passover; no longer would sacrifices be offered at the Temple as substitutionary payment for sins, for the One who made total and eternal payment had come (Hebrews 9:24-28; 10:1-10).

Ten years before any Gospel accounts of the Lord’s Supper were written, Paul wrote 1Corinthians 11:23-26, providing divine instruction, to the followers of Christ, concerning the preeminence of the Lord’s Supper.
Read 1Corinthians 11:23-26... Paul makes it clear that what he is teaching is not his own opinion or reasoning, but God’s revealed Word. This is not some new teaching Paul is bringing to them; but instead, he is simply reminding them of what he had already taught them.

The setting for what was passed on to Paul, was Jesus and the Disciples in the upper room, where Jesus instituted the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, in place of the old ordinance of Passover (setting aside the First Covenant under God’s Law; in order to establish the Second Covenant under God’s Grace).

The bread eaten at the first Passover, remembered God’s freeing the Jews from bondage in Egypt, it has now come to represent the body of Jesus Christ, the Messiah (verse 24), “This is my body, which is for you.”

Jesus’ body represented His immaculate conception, divine birth and incarnation, His teaching and ministry, His death and resurrection -- all He was and all He did.

Jesus willfully gave Himself up to be crucified, making full payment for the sins of all those who would believe in Him. The lamb’s blood that had been smeared on the doorposts, was now replaced by the blood of the Lamb of God, shed for the forgiveness of sins (verse 25), “This cup is the new covenant in My blood.”

The old covenant remembered the deliverance of Israel from Egypt to the Promised land in Canaan; the new covenant is a remembrance of our deliverance from sin to salvation, from death to life.

Jesus says (verses 24-25), “do this in remembrance of Me.” We remember His birth, life, suffering, death and resurrection (verse 26), “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.”

We don’t smear the blood of a lamb on our door frames to protect us from the Death angel, for we are under the new covenant, instituted and ordained through the shed blood of Jesus: the Lamb of God.

Hebrews 10:11-12 “Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest (Jesus Christ) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.” 14 “...because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” 17-18 “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.’ And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.”

Passover celebrated the Israelites being freed from their slavery under Pharaoh, but they would again and again be brought into bondage to other kings and rulers, just as they also would remain slaves to sin apart from salvation through Christ.

The Lord’s Supper is a celebration for all believers and followers of Christ, remembering that we have been freed from the penalty of sin forever, by the sacrifice of God’s One and Only Son, who is both Lord and Savior; He was crucified for our sins, buried, and on the third day He came out of the grave alive; 40 days later He ascended back into heaven, where He was seated at the right hand of the Father.

The Bible tells us everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, and He is coming back to get all who belong to Him and take us to live with Him forever.

John 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going. 5 Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ 6 Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”

Jesus alone provides forgiveness for sins, He alone is the way to heaven. Have you repented of your sins, confessing Christ as Lord, believing in Him as Savior?

If not, why not do that right now?

Pastor Mike <‘(((><