Luke 22:14-20
14 When the hour came, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him.
15 And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
16 for I say to you, I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
17 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves;
18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.”
19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, which is being given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup, which is poured out for you, is the new covenant in My blood.
The Last Supper
The meaning of the Passover meal
Let us note at least the following three points regarding the Last Supper: (1) Jesus placed His own death within the context of the Feast of Passover. By doing so, He taught that His death would bring deliverance to the people of God. (2) That deliverance is not physical but spiritual. The death of Jesus can be rightly understood only in light of Scriptures such as Isaiah 53:12: “Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the wrongdoers.” (3) The work of deliverance (the Passover) that Jesus accomplished has already been fulfilled, yet one day it will find its perfect fulfillment in the kingdom of God. Therefore, Jesus said, “For I say to you, I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” The Last Supper is also a meal of reconciliation. Do you have the assurance that you have been reconciled with God? “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). Let us receive this verse into our hearts.
The New Covenant through bread and wine
The bread and the wine symbolize the body and blood of Jesus, but they are also signs of the “New Covenant.” The “New Covenant” is a concept prophesied in the Old Testament. Jeremiah declared: “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt… For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days” (Jer. 31:31-33). If you have believed in Jesus, the following has taken place in your life: (1) You have been brought into a New Covenant relationship with God. Salvation is a covenant with God. Therefore, you can be at peace. (2) The Holy Spirit has been given to your heart. The phrase “I will write it on their hearts” refers to this very truth. “Covenant” and “the law written on the heart” are the two key words for the Christian life. Let us live today with these key truths in mind.
Today's prayer
Father God of Jesus Christ, I thank You that I can affirm that salvation is a covenant. You have given the voice of the Holy Spirit within my heart. Please help me never to silence His voice. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.