Jesus’ Last Supper

Transcript

GR 734
1/19/1986
Jesus’ Last Supper
Matthew 26:17-29
Gil Rugh

Matthew has prepared the way for the climax of the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ and the realization of the purpose that Jesus Christ had in coming to this earth. His purpose was that He might die on the cross as the Savior who would bring salvation to all who would believe in Him.
The foundation was set for the betrayal of Jesus Christ. Matthew related that Judas, one of the twelve, made arrangements with the leadership in Israel to betray Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave. Judas never came to understand his need of salvation and believe in Jesus as the Messiah and the Savior. He saw an opportunity for profit in his relationship with Christ, and he seized that opportunity.
In Matthew 26:17-30, Matthew moved to a discussion of events connected with the Last Supper of Christ on earth. Matthew summarized the highlights that he wanted to bring to our attention concerning that last evening, focusing attention particularly on identifying the one who would betray Christ and then instituting the memorial service in remembrance of His coming and dying. The full details of this last evening are found in John’s Gospel. To give you an idea of how abbreviated Matthew was, John devoted chapters 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 to the events connected with this evening meal, including John 17 focused on the high-priestly prayer of Christ. But Matthew just took a few brief matters and brought them to our attention.
The events of the last night of Christ on earth present one of the most difficult passages in the gospels. It is difficult because it is hard to reconcile what Matthew, Mark and Luke say with what John wrote in his gospel. The synoptic gospels--Matthew, Mark and Luke--seem to indicate that Christ had the Passover with His disciples before His betrayal, so that the Last Supper was the observance of Passover by Christ. But in John’s account, it seems clear that John indicated that the Passover was yet future and had not been observed as yet. In Matthew 26:17-19 it reads, “Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?’ And He said, ‘Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, “The Teacher says, ‘My time is near; I am to keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.’”’ The disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.” It seems that it was time for the Passover and the meal was being prepared; so the supper at evening time in Matthew 26:20 would be the Passover meal.

In John’s account, there is a different feeling. But perhaps a reminder of what the Passover is all about will help in understanding this passage. The observance of Passover dates back to Exodus 12. Passover was one of the key holidays in Israel’s religious life. It was one of the major holidays for which the men of Israel were required to come up to Jerusalem for the observance of the Feast. It was established in Egypt, and the setting was the time when God was getting ready to deliver His people out of bondage in Egypt. He hammered the Egyptians with plague after plague; but the Egyptians would not relent. They would not allow the children of Israel to leave Egypt, so God had one more plague for the Egyptians. God would send the angel of death and execute the first born of every one in Egypt. As a result of that judgment, the Egyptians would relent. In fact, they would beg the children of Israel to leave. They even paid the children of Israel to leave, because they said they were all as dead men unless they got out quickly.

Exodus 12 says that in preparation for the coming of the angel of the Lord to smite the first-born, the Jews in Egypt were instructed to take a lamb. Exodus 12:3-5 indicates that a lamb per household was to be selected on the tenth day of the month, an unblemished male lamb, and set apart until the fourteenth day of the month. This already is significant in light of Christ’s last week on earth, because the tenth day of this month would have been when Jesus Christ made His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. That was when the Passover lambs in Jerusalem were being selected and presented to be accepted as fit for sacrifice. And in that day on that occasion, Christ was presented to the nation Israel for He would be God’s Passover Lamb. The lamb was kept until the fourteenth day of the month to give opportunity to demonstrate that the lamb was without blemish, the lamb was not sick and there was nothing else wrong with the lamb. Then, on the fourteenth day at twilight, between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m., the lambs would be slain and then there would be a meal in the evening. But, before the meal, they were to take the blood of the lamb that was slain and put it on the doorposts and on the lintel of the house. Exodus 12:7 says, “Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.”
In Exodus 12:12, 13 God says, “For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments-- I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” That is how the feast got the name, the Passover Feast, because it observed the time when the angel of death passed over those homes that were protected by the blood in anticipation of God’s ultimate Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, who would protect those who believe in Him from God’s wrath. A seven- day Feast of Unleavened Bread follows the Passover Feast. Exodus 12:15 says, “Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses.”
This is really a feast of eight days: the Passover followed by the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Matthew, Mark and Luke seem to indicate that Christ would observe and eat of this Passover with His disciples; but after the Last Supper, the betrayal, and the arrest of Christ in the Garden, and during the trial, John 18:28 says, “Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.” John seems to have clearly indicated that the Jewish leaders would not go into the judgment hall of Pilate because going in and having that contact with Gentiles would defile them and keep them from eating the Passover. If they had eaten the Passover the night before, there would be no problem. According to John, they were anticipating eating the Passover. Some people interpreting this passage say that John may be talking about the Feast of Unleavened Bread that follows Passover, but no one has been able to find any indication that the term “Passover” was ever used just of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Sometimes it is used of the entire Feast, including Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, or Passover alone, but never just of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. So John clearly seems to have meant the Passover. Perhaps John 12:39 indicates the same thing when Pilate says, “But you have a custom that I release someone for you at the Passover; do you wish then that I release for you the King of the Jews?” Pilate said that at Passover he would release someone, meaning that it was yet future. If Passover had already passed, this would have already happened.
John 19:14 says, “Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover.” Mark said in his account that the preparation day was the day before the Sabbath. It seems that the day of preparation for the Passover would be the day before the Passover. That would be the normal way of understanding it, I would think. John 19:31 says, “Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day).” A high day was a feast day or a feast Sabbath. Again, this seems to be an indication that the Jews were anticipating the Passover, where the other gospel writers seem to indicate that it had already been observed.
How do you resolve this conflict? Well, there are a few options. Let me just overview them quickly. The first one is that it can’t be resolved--I think is probably right. I hate to say that. But it is an irreconcilable situation with what we know at this time. No matter what position you take, you cannot clearly resolve all the questions there are about this. Keep in mind that even though we can’t explain this, the disciples didn’t have a conflict. Matthew and Mark attended the Last Supper with Christ, just as did John. They were all in Jerusalem at this time, and none of them had a question. It’s simply a matter that as removed as we are, it is hard for us to put it all together. So it may just be that it is irreconcilable, a hopeless conflict; and to a certain extent, that will be true.

Two other possibilities are to explain the synoptic gospels by what John says or explain John by what the synoptic gospels say. In other words, since the synoptic gospels say it was the Passover, some people understand what John says in light of the fact that Passover has already occurred. Others say that since John indicates that the Passover is yet future, the interpretation of the synoptic gospels should be in light of the fact that they mean something other than Jesus and the disciples ate the Passover.
Another unique position-unique in that it seems to resolve some of the questions although it leaves a lot of others--one that is held by a lot of excellent commentators whose scholarship I respect, is that there were two Passovers going on at that time. Without going into the details, this position was based on the fact that some of the Jews observed one way of measuring days and some Jews observed another way of measuring a day. In other words, some Jews began their day at 6:00 in the evening, so a day was 6:00 in the evening to 6:00 in the evening, and if Passover were going to begin at 6:00 this evening, the lamb would be sacrificed in the afternoon and the meal would be ready to eat after 6:00 that evening. That is what Jesus did, and some believe that is what the Pharisees did and the Jews from the north from Galilee where Christ and the disciples were from. They observed Passover beginning at 6:00 in the evening.
Some Jews began their day with sunrise and went from sunrise to sunrise, particularly the Sadducees and Jews in Judea, including Jerusalem. So to them, Passover would not begin at 6:00 that evening, it would begin the next morning; and they would offer their Passover lamb the next afternoon and then eat the meal that evening. With this interpretation, Matthew, Mark and Luke wrote about Jesus observing the Passover that began that evening, while John wrote from the perspective of the chief priests, the Sadducees, observing it the next day. This would resolve a lot of the conflict. It would explain why it seems that there were two Passovers: one has been observed and one is yet future. The real problem with it is, in my reading, I can’t find any real concrete evidence that that was really so. It seems that most people who are writing about it are doing it because they would like to resolve the conflict and one way to resolve it would be to have two Passovers. So, I find myself a little skeptical at this point yet, although I want to leave the door open in case I want to convert at a future time to that view!!
It seems to me that the best solution at this point is to accept what John wrote about the Passover being yet future and interpreting the synoptic gospels in light of that. In the synoptic gospels, Christ told the disciples to make preparation for the Passover, but they never do observe that Passover. They had a supper together but the Passover lamb was being sacrificed the next day when Jesus Christ would be dying also. It was not the Passover even though they were making preparation and getting things all ready, thinking they would be observing Passover. This doesn’t resolve all the conflicts, and it leaves some things hanging, but to me, at this point, it seems to be the best resolution. This enables the type also to fit. Remember that on the tenth of the month Christ had entered Jerusalem along with the lambs that were being brought to Jerusalem to be presented as acceptable for sacrifice at Passover. John indicated that Christ would be dying as the Passover Lamb.
Matthew 27:45 tells that Christ died at 3:00 in the afternoon. At the very time that the Passover lambs were being sacrificed in Jerusalem, Jesus Christ, the one to whom all the hundreds of thousands of sacrificed lambs had been paving the way, was dying at that exact same hour. In John 19:32 the soldiers came to break the legs of those on the crosses to hasten their deaths.
They broke the legs of the two who were crucified with Christ, but John 19:33 says, “Coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.” John tells why in verse 36, “For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, ‘Not a bone of Him shall be broken.’” According to Exodus 12:46 you were not to break a bone of the Passover lamb. John seemed to be making the connection that Christ was dying as the Passover Lamb so not a bone in His body could be broken.
Then also over in 1 Corinthians 5:7 Paul wrote, “For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.” Since Jesus Christ was the Passover Lamb of God, it would fit that He would die at the appointed time. That seems to be why the gospel accounts point out the time of the death of Jesus Christ, so that we would know that He was dying on the cross at the very time on that occasion when all those perhaps hundreds of thousands of lambs were being slain as the Passover lambs in fulfillment of Exodus 12. This seems to fit the picture the best, and that means that when I read the gospel accounts, I understand it to mean that Christ did not observe the Passover with His disciples. The Last Supper was not a Passover supper, but the disciples were making preparation for the Passover, anticipating they would observe it, but events transpired so that they did not.
Matthew 26:17 says, “Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread,” and this would be the day that the Passover lamb was sacrificed according to Mark 14:12. The Jews marked the beginning of the Feast with that day when the lambs were sacrificed and things were set in motion for the observance of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. If the Last Supper was not a Passover Feast, then it would probably be some time after 6:00 in the evening when Christ gave the instructions to His disciples. After 6:00 in the evening would be when the day began, and that would be the day when the Passover lamb would be sacrificed.
Christ told the disciples to go and make preparation for the Passover since things were getting underway. Matthew 26:18, 19 reads, “And He said, ‘Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, “The Teacher says, ‘My time is near; I am to keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.’”’ The disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.” The other gospels give added details, for example, the disciples encounter a man carrying a water jug. That would stand out because usually the men didn’t do that. The disciples were to approach that man and tell him that he is supposed to show them the place to prepare for the Passover. The disciples did that and preparation was made.
Jesus and His disciples came together on this evening for a meal together. Many events transpired on this evening; it was a precious evening as Christ took time to come apart with His inner circle of disciples, the eleven plus Judas, to express to them His great love for them, and to unfold for them what was going to happen to Him. The disciples did not understand the significance of this evening. They did not realize that this was the last evening they would have with Jesus Christ before His execution. By the next evening He will have died on a cross. Much of the disciples’ discussion on this evening revolved around things that really do not matter; they were insensitive to the moment.
This is a reminder of how we need to be taking advantage of every day and every opportunity. You never know when it will be the last time that we are together as a church family. I never know when it will be the last time that I minister the Word, encourage other believers, or be involved as an instrument who shares the good news of the Gospel with an unbeliever. I need to be living sensitive to the relationship that I have with Jesus Christ and the opportunities that may not come again. Sometimes I think we get so caught up in the busyness of life that our minds are already going somewhere else when we are talking to others. This may be the last time I’m together with believers to worship Jesus Christ, but I am already thinking about what I am going to do this afternoon and I’m missing the value of that time and its significance.
That was the disciples’ frame of mind, but Christ drew their attention to Him and their relationship to Him and the importance of that relationship to prepare them for His departure. “Now when evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples. As they were eating, He said, ‘Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me’” (Matt. 26:20, 21). Can you imagine how that hit those disciples? The disciples were gathered as a group to celebrate the Passover. They were joined together as a united band. They had walked with Him, ministered with Him, and lived with Him for three years. In the midst of this intimate meal, Jesus said that one of them would betray Him.
Jesus had talked about His execution at Jerusalem, but at this time He made it clear that one of them would betray Him. “Being deeply grieved, they each one began to say to Him, ‘Surely not I, Lord?’” (Matt. 26:22). The disciples’ response was encouraging. That is one of the high points of the disciples. They were deeply grieved. They didn’t sit back and laugh, saying, ‘That’s ridiculous; that could never happen. ’ This grieved them; they really believed that what He said was true, and they began to say, “Surely not I, Lord?” He put them in this situation so that they would be grieved to hear this, and it was good for them to be responding in this way. I think this also indicates that they couldn’t even guess who the guilty one could be.
It is amazing that a person could be a part of that small of a group and not know the others. In a large group of people you figure that those who haven’t believed in Christ could sort of get mingled in and it would be easy to miss them. But there were only twelve disciples who had been with Christ, walked with Him, stayed with Him, ministered with Him, and listened to Him teach. They would have gotten to know one another, but they did not guess that Judas was about to betray Jesus. They never realized he had never come to believe.
Christ narrowed it down. Matthew 26:23 says, “And He answered, ‘He who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl is the one who will betray Me.’” As they lay reclining at the table, there would be several bowls around the table, perhaps three men to a bowl. In the bowl would be the pieces of meat and then you would use a piece of bread and you would dip in to the bowl and take out a piece of meat. He narrowed it to the twelve around the table. Then He narrowed it down to those that were sharing the same bowl with Him. And John indicated in John 13:26 that it would be the one to whom Jesus gave a portion after He dipped it out of the bowl. There Christ said that He would dip into the bowl and take out a piece of meat and give it to someone, and that would identify him.
In all of this, Judas still was not recognized, and Christ, before He clearly pointed out that it was Judas, gave a strong word of warning. It is a very significant verse theologically because it very clearly will draw together the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man and the resultant eternal destiny. Note what He said in Matthew 26:24: “The Son of Man is to go, just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” The sovereignty of God is evident in that Christ said that it would happen to Him just as the Scriptures said. He said that He was going to be betrayed and executed. There are several passages that He could be referring to, perhaps Isaiah 53; it is not specified. But the Scriptures clearly portray that the Messiah would be a suffering, dying Savior. Jesus said that it would happen just as it had been written of Him, just as God sovereignly foreordained and foretold.
The responsibility of Judas: “but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!” Woe to him! He would have judgment upon him, because he betrayed the Son of Man. God is sovereign. And man is responsible. Judas could try to argue that he didn’t have any choice because God had said centuries before that Christ would be betrayed and Christ chose him knowing he was a devil and that he wouldn’t believe; that he was the son of perdition. What hope was there for Judas? And who made Judas’ choices? Why did Judas not believe? Do you know why? Sin. That is the explanation: sin. That’s why he didn’t believe. I realize that God did not choose him for salvation; but the responsibility for not believing is his own. He was exposed to Jesus Christ personally for three years. He heard what Christ taught. He saw the miracles He did. He was there in the evening when Jesus and the disciples went out and retired in the garden, and he was there for those personal discussions walking along the road; yet he never believed. Can you believe that? Does that not amaze you that a man could be with the Son of God in the flesh for three years on the earth and yet spend eternity in hell because he refused to believe in Him? That is a shocking reality. It is a reminder of how sinful we really are and of the danger of being exposed to the Word of God. Today we do not live with the Son of God in the flesh, but we have His Word. And there are people who sit and hear the Word of God week after week after week after week and do not respond to it. They have never come to believe in the Savior that is revealed in that Book. They hear again and again and again that Christ died for them and that they must believe in Him, but they don’t respond. So it becomes clearer how Judas could go on the way he did.
Then Christ said, “It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” That sets to rest any idea of annihilation after death. If when Judas committed suicide that was all there was for eternity and he just stopped existing, then he would be no worse than someone who was never born. Neither one exists. But according to Scripture, that is not the way it is. There is eternity, either eternal life or eternal death. Eternal life is eternity in the presence of God; eternal death is eternity separated from God. Judas’ eternal destination was hell, and I believe it would be the worst part of hell because greater light brings greater condemnation and he was exposed to the Son of God in the flesh on the earth in the most intimate of relationships, and he did not believe. It would have been better for him had he never been born. You can say that about any unbeliever who hears the Word of God. It would be better for them if they had never been born than if they heard the Word of God and rejected it; but it was particularly true for Judas, especially in his privileged position.
What do you think was going through Judas’ mind when Jesus started talking about betrayal? Do you think he was squirming a little bit in his tunic? Was he thinking, ‘I wonder if I’m found out? ’ First, Jesus said the one who would betray him was among the twelve; then He said it was someone who was sharing the bowl with Him. Judas finally spoke up: “And Judas, who was betraying Him, said, ‘Surely it is not I, Rabbi?’” (Matt. 26:25).
It is amazing how people can be hypocritical to the end! Have you ever seen someone do that? When kids are little, you sometimes see them doing something wrong and you walk in on them and ask, ‘What were you doing?’ They respond, ‘Nothing.’ You ask, ‘Did you do that after I told you not to? ’ They again deny it. So you let them know, ‘I saw you. ’ They still say, ‘No, I didn’t do it. ’ Those little sinners! That is the way we are in our fallen sinful nature. Sometimes we tell ourselves things so long we begin to believe them. We lose touch with reality because we lie to ourselves.
Judas had the brazen audacity to confront Christ and say to Him, ‘Surely it wouldn’t be me. ’ Even knowing that he had already made the arrangements! He had already been paid for it! Did he really think he could get away with it? Did he really think he would escape? “Jesus said to him, ‘You have said it yourself’” (Matt. 26:25). Does this cause Judas to change his thinking? Does he agree with Jesus and admit it and ask for forgiveness? He had no desire to change his mind. John wrote that Judas left this supper and went out into the night to make the final arrangements; Judas brought them to Gethsemane to arrest Christ. Even after Christ specifically told him he was the one, he was still unmoved. Judas came back after it was all over and tried to give the money back, but it was too late then.
It appears that it was not too late when Jesus said this to Judas. It was only too late because Judas was too hard and too unwilling to turn from his sin to Jesus Christ. At this last evening, during this most intimate time at this last meal, Judas went to betray Jesus Christ.
Christ then instituted a service that would be a constant reminder of His life and His ministry, particularly the point of His life and the point of His ministry, which is death for the forgiveness of sins. The communion service was instituted in Matthew 26:26-28: “While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.’” This is a service around which there is much controversy. It is a service which is meant to draw believers together to focus attention on the one thing that is more important than anything else in all eternity for humanity, and that is the death of Jesus Christ on the cross and each individual’s response to that.
There are three basic views on this service which will just be highlighted here. One view is that the bread actually becomes the body of Christ and the cup of juice or wine actually becomes the blood of Christ, so that there is actually a change in those elements when they are eaten that makes them the literal body and the literal blood of Christ. Another view is that Christ is present with the elements in some special supernatural way, so that when you partake of these elements, the elements do not actually change but Christ is present with them and in partaking of them, you are partaking of Him and His grace in a special way. The third major view is that the elements, the bread and the wine, are simply symbolic, representing His body and His blood.
I think the third view is the most logical view, the most consistent with a literal or normal interpretation of Scripture. I believe there is a theological problem if the elements actually become the body and blood of Christ. This would mean that Christ is sacrificed every time you observe this service. Every partaking of the elements would be the partaking of His body and blood in a literal way and a re-sacrifice of Christ. Hebrews 10 says He was sacrificed once for all. Another theological problem is that at the time of the Last Supper, Jesus Christ was not going to be crucified until the next afternoon. If the bread and wine became His body and blood, that would mean that the sacrifice of Christ really occurred the night before He went to the cross, and that really has some theological problems.
When Christ said, “this is My body. . . this is My blood,” I think He meant that as you partake, you are appropriating Him. You are entering into a relationship with Him spiritually. Although I believe in literal interpretation, I do not believe this means literally, “this is My body.” Jesus also said “I am the door,” and yet I have never read anyone who said that means He became at that time a literal piece of wood swinging on a hinge. We recognize that normal speech allows for figures of speech. Everyone understands that when Jesus said, “I am the door,” nothing changed about Him, but He was picturing the figurative idea that He was a way of access.
I think John 6 is a helpful passage on this matter, even though it’s not about the communion service. John 6 referred to Jesus Christ being the bread of life, and it occurred much earlier in the earthly ministry of Christ in connection with the feeding of the multitudes, but there are similar ideas. John 6:35-36, “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe.’” Note that Christ is the bread of life and the issue is coming to Him or believing in Him which refer to the same thing. Coming to Christ means to believe in Christ. Also in John 6:47-48, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.” Again in John 6:51, “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” Christ said he was the living bread, and that if you eat of this bread, you will live forever.
Then He said it again: “So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats
My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him’” (John 6:53-56). He said this long before He instituted the communion service. This indicates that it was always a requirement that you eat His flesh and drink His blood. It did not just begin at the time of the Last Supper; Jesus said that this was the way to get eternal life as He gave the discourse in John 6.
Note the parallel between John 6:54, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life,” and John 6:47, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.” Do you think you get eternal life by believing or by literally eating the physical body and drinking the physical blood of Christ? Obviously they must mean the same thing, and that is clear in John 6:56: “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” Do I literally move into the body of Christ? Does He literally move into my body? No, not in a physical sense; that would really present problems. It appears that He must have been talking about spiritual realities, right? The point is that you partake of Christ, enter into that intimacy, and abide in Him when you believe in Him.
As you might think, many had a problem with this: “Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, ‘This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?’” (John 6:60). They could not understand this. Notice how Christ clarified it in John 6:63-64 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” The issue is believing Christ. He said that eating His physical flesh and drinking His physical blood does nothing because the flesh does not profit anything. It is the spiritual bond and relationship that really will make a difference. That is the point in John 6. You have to partake of Him by faith and that is pictured with the bread. If you believe in Him, then you enter into that spiritual relationship of oneness with Him; that is how you partake of Him.
This helps with understanding what Christ said in Matthew 26:26-28, “this is My body this
is My blood,” and told them to partake of it. This was to remind His followers, every time they eat the bread and drink the cup, that they share in the life of Christ because He died for them.
The cup pictures His blood, and blood is a synonym for death. For example, someone may comment that there was a lot of bloodshed in a particular situation. That means a lot of people died, for the shedding of blood is a statement of death. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins, no forgiveness of sins. The penalty for sin is death. It has nothing to do with the amount of blood that came out of the nail prints in Jesus’ hands or feet. It has to do with the fact that He died on the cross. The significance of this is pointed out in Matthew 26:28, “for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.” A person’s forgiveness of sins is a result of what Jesus Christ has done on the cross. Jesus wants them to be constantly reminded of the fact that the Son of God became a man with a human body and died on a cross as the God-man for forgiveness of sins. That is the central, theological issue.
Have you recognized, understood and believed that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died to pay the penalty for your sins? That’s the difference between John and Judas. That will be the difference for every person today, coming to believe in Jesus Christ and understand that salvation is found only in the Son of God and the provision that He makes.
In Matthew 26:28 Jesus said, “This is My blood of the covenant.” The other gospel writers and Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 wrote that the cup is the blood of the new covenant. This refers to Jeremiah 31. The Old Testament and the New Testament mean literally the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, although the New Covenant did not begin until the death of Christ. In Jeremiah 31:31-34 it says, “‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,’ declares the Lord. ‘But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’” In Matthew, Jesus said the cup represents the fact that in His death He will establish the new covenant. The new covenant will begin with His death and will be founded with the house of Israel. How do Gentiles fit in this new covenant? According to the end of Jeremiah 31:34, the provision of the new covenant is for forgiveness of sins. Jesus also said in Matthew that the new covenant is for forgiveness of sins.
The full benefit of the new covenant will not be realized until the kingdom is established on earth. For example, we still teach people about Christ, about the Word of God; yet Jeremiah 31:34 says, “They shall not teach again.” When the kingdom is established on earth and Christ rules on the earth, then everybody will know God. You will not need a Bible study to know about Jesus Christ. You will not need personal evangelism for people to hear about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Everyone will know. “The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” But that is not going on yet.
The full realization of the new covenant will happen in the kingdom when Christ reigns on earth. But the provision for forgiveness of sins for Israel and for the unfolding of this new covenant is in the death of Christ. When Christ comes back to establish His kingdom, He will not have to die. That has already been done. How will those Jews get into the kingdom? By the benefit of the death of Christ on the cross. So we are entering into the privilege of the new covenant. The new covenant is operative today but not entirely; the provision of the new covenant in providing forgiveness of sins is operative today, so Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 3 and told them that we are servants of the new covenant. The Book of Hebrews, particularly chapter 8, talks about how the old covenant has been done away with and replaced by the new covenant. In fact, I am presenting to you the truth of the new covenant. Christ died to pay the penalty for sin. The full provision of everything that will be involved under the new covenant awaits the kingdom that Christ will establish on earth; but the basic provision of the new covenant is for forgiveness.
In Matthew 26:29 Jesus gave a reminder that the kingdom is going to come, “But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” Jesus was assuring His disciples that there has been no change in plans. There will be a delay, the kingdom will not be set up now, but the kingdom will be established at a future time. There are people who try to interpret this as a spiritual kingdom, but Jesus told them he would be drinking the fruit of the vine with them in the coming kingdom; that sounds pretty physical to me.
Paul developed this concept when he elaborated on the communion service in 1 Corinthians 11. He said that this was to be a constant reminder to believers of the death of Christ. It is also a reminder that we, as believers, ought not to be living in sin because Christ paid the penalty for sin; we have been forgiven and set free. There is no place for sin in my life as a believer. He also said that by virtue of observing the communion service, we are proclaiming or preaching the death of Christ until He comes. This is a memorial service to constantly remind us that Christ died to take away the penalty for sin and that He is coming again.
What an evening Christ had with His disciples! There was so much packed into it. Matthew just gave a couple of significant points, focusing on Judas. Judas was exposed to the great ministry of the Son of God and to the great love of the Son of God, but his heart was hardened and he rejected that love. Then the Last Supper which provides a reminder of the provision that Jesus Christ made by His own death on the cross for remission of sins. Note that there is no other provision for forgiveness, not works, not baptism, not doing the best you can, but remission of sins is through the death of Jesus Christ. And the communion service is a constant reminder of that fact. Unless you believe in Christ, you cannot share in Him and the forgiveness that He has provided.