Matt 26:30 The New Testament CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

Just like the Passover was a memorial by which the Jews would remember the Exodus [Ex 12:14], even so the Lord’s Supper is a memorial by which to remember Jesus’ death [1 Cor 11:24-25]. Just as the Passover in Ex 12 was for God’s son [Ex 4:22], even so, the Lord’s Supper is for the New Testament sons of God [Jn 1:12]. There was only one Passover at which blood was applied to the houses to save the firstborn, and subsequently each Passover was simply a memorial to the first Passover. Likewise, there was only one Lord’s Supper connected with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ which would save us and subsequently each Lord’s Supper is only a memorial to the first Lord’s Supper and the death of Christ. Thus, the Lord’s Supper is not a sacrament by which one can be saved

When studying this passage, it is imperative to recognize several things about it:

· The supper took place during the feast of unleavened bread on the night of the same day when the Passover would be killed
· During the supper, Jesus took a cup [containing the “fruit of the vine (verse 29)] and said, “this is my blood of the new testament,” (verse 28). That’s very important because this was the first time the New Testament was ever mentioned and the connection is with blood that he would shed later.
· At this time, the Jews are still living under the covenant [the Old Testament] that God had made with Moses, and still observing the blood sacrifices and so forth
· A testament is not in effect until the death of the testator (Heb 9:16-17). Jesus would be dead before 24 hours had passed, so, at this time, he needed to institute the memorial by which we would remember his death.

It is extremely important that this supper took place on the night of Passover. On that night, Jesus was establishing the memorial of the New Testament. Jesus wanted us to connect what he was doing that night with what happened in Exodus 12, when the Passover was instituted.

He was showing his disciples that they would no longer be sacrificing lambs to commemorate the old covenant and the exodus. Now they were going to be eating bread and drinking the “fruit of the vine” to commemorate this new covenant. The similitudes between the Passover and the memorial of the New Testament teach us some interesting things about the Lord’s Supper.

In Ex 12:6, the Passover lamb was killed [2 Chr 35:1]. On this day, Jesus would be killed. Thus, as each subsequent Passover was a memorial [Ex 12:14], even so the Lord’s Supper is a memorial. “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come,” (1 Cor 11:26).

In Ex 12:8, the Jews ate the flesh of the Passover lamb. So, Jesus had the disciples eat the bread of this memorial. There are those who believe that the bread of the Lord’s Supper is literally the body of Jesus Christ and that the fruit if the vine is literally his blood because of Jn 6:53. However, the bread can’t literally be his flesh because, in Jn 6:63, Jesus said that “the flesh profiteth nothing.” The fruit of the vine can’t literally be his blood because blood is forbidden in Gen 9:4; Lev 17:10 and Acts 15:20. Furthermore, after Jesus blessed the cup he called its contents “this fruit of the vine,” (Matt 26:29) not this blood or this wine.

In Ex 12:8, the Jews ate unleavened bread. They removed all leaven from their houses (Ex 12:15). As far as the New Testament is concerned, this pictures purging out the leaven of sin (1 Cor 5:7) from our houses (1 Cor 3:16) when we take the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11:28, 31).

In Ex 12:17, Passover was the night when God got the Jews out of Egypt [a type of the world]. Likewise, when we were saved, God separated us from the world and now we are not of the world (Jn 17:14).

In 2 Chr 35:14, after Josiah’s Passover, there were singers who sang. And on the night that Jesus became our Passover, Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn (Matt 26:30).

Jesus referred to the day (in the future) when he would drink the fruit of the vine new with his disciples in his Father’s kingdom (Matt 26:29), thus stating that he would return. Hence, in our New Testament memorial, we shew the Lord’s death till he come, (1 Cor 11:26).

In the Lord’s Supper there is one bread and one cup signifying that the Lord’s body is one body and we are members of that body (1 Cor 10:16-17). Likewise, there is only one sacrifice (Heb 10:10-14) and no priest can “sacrifice” him again at what was once instituted as the memorial of the New Testament and not the literal eating of his flesh and blood.