A.Over the course of His ministry, the Lord Jesus ate many meals with His apostles, but none were as significant as the last supper He shared with them before His crucifixion.
1.It was the Passover Feast, which was a sacred celebration devoted to the memory of God’s goodness toward Israel.
2.It was a solemn occasion on which Jesus had many things to say in love to His apostles.Notice John 13:1 – Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
3.It was the time that Jesus ordained the Lord’s Supper, which is a precious memorial that we continuously observe in memory of the Lord to this day.
B.Presently, let us consider importance of the Lord’s last supper.
II.JESUS OBSERVED THE PASSOVER FEAST
A.The Passover Feast was a commemoration of God’s mercy on Israel when their firstborn sons were spared from death during the tenth plague in Egypt.
1.The main texts of the Scriptures concerning the observance of the Passover are Exodus 12:1-13:6, Numbers 9:1-14, and Deuteronomy 16:1-8.
2.At the first Passover, Israel’s firstborn sons were spared from death, and the nation escaped from Egyptian slavery.
a.The tenth plague of God against Israel was the death of all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, including both people and animals (Ex. 11:1-10; 12:29-30).
b.On the night in which God would strike Egypt, Israel was commanded that each household was to slay a lamb at twilight and apply some of its blood on the doorposts and the lintel of their houses’ doors.This blood would be a sign to the Lord to pass over the door and not allow the tenth plague to affect any of the children of Israel.
c.Furthermore, each household was to roast the lamb over fire and eat it in haste with their loins girded, their sandals on, and their staffs in their hands.This was so they could escape quickly.
d.In the night God had struck Egypt, the people of Israel were told by Pharaoh to leave Egypt immediately. When they left, they took their dough in kneading bowls before it was leavened.This dough was later baked as unleavened bread and was their only food as they fled away from Egypt.
3.Before these things even happened, God ordained a feast to commemorate these events throughout the generations of Israel.
a.God declared the Feast of Unleavened Bread to be observed annually for seven days beginning on the fourteenth day of the first month of Israel’s calendar year.
b.The people of Israel would sacrifice and eat a Passover lamb on the first night, and then they would eat unleavened bread for the remainder of the Feast.During the period of the Feast, no leaven was allowed in the houses of Israel.
c.Two purposes were fulfilled by this memorial Passover Feast.
i.One is given in Exodus 12:26-27 – "And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’ you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to the LORD who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.’”
ii.The other is given in Exodus 12:42 – It is a night to be observed for the LORD for having brought them out from the land of Egypt; this night is for the LORD, to be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.
B.Jesus and His apostles observed the Passover together on the night before He was crucified.
1.The passages of Scripture that record this observance are Matthew 26:17-29, Mark 14:12-25, Luke 22:7-30, and John 13:1-30.
2.Jesus told His apostles to go into the city of Jerusalem where they would find a man carrying a pitcher of water.They were to follow him to a house, where they were to inquire about a room for them to eat the Passover.They did this and were given use of an upper room furnished and ready.
3.Many things are written in the Scriptures concerning this night in the upper room, including the way Jesus washed the apostles’ feet, His prophecy of His betrayer, His teachings to prepare the apostles for His departure, His promise to send the Holy Spirit, and the institution of the Lord’s Supper.All of this was done in the setting of the Passover observance.
III.JESUS FULFILLED THE PASSOVER
A.As Jesus and His apostles ate the Passover supper, He declared that He would never eat it again until it was fulfilled.
1.Compare the Lord’s words from Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
a.Matthew 26:29 – "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.”
b.Mark 14:25 – "Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
c.Luke 22:16 – "For I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
2.What did the Lord mean when He said He would not eat or drink the Passover again until it was new and fulfilled in the kingdom of God?
a.He was telling the apostles that He would not be with them at the next Passover.His ascension to heaven would take Him away from them (John 14:1-3; 17:11).
b.He recognized that He was the fulfillment of the Passover.
i.Notice 1Corinthians 5:6-8 – Your boasting is not good.Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
ii.Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (Isa. 53:7; John 1:29; 1Pet. 1:19; Rev. 5:6, 13).It is His blood that saves us and makes us free.
c.Jesus knew that all of the events involving Israel, Egypt, the tenth plague, the Passover, the sacrificial lamb, and the unleavened bread were foreshadows of His own redemptive sacrifice to save man from destruction and deliver him from the slavery of sin.
B.It was on this occasion that Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper.
1.The texts for this event are Matthew 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-25, Luke 22:19-20, and 1Corinthians 11:17-34.
2.Like the Passover Feast, the Lord’s Supper is a memorial of salvation and deliverance from slavery.Notice that Jesus said, "Do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19; 1Cor. 11:25).
3.Like the Passover Feast, the Lord’s Supper employs unleavened bread.The bread is a symbol of the Lord’s body that was given in sacrifice.
4.As the blood of the lamb was applied for salvation at the Passover, the blood of Christ is applied for our salvation.His blood inaugurated a new covenant for the forgiveness of sins (Heb. 8:7-13; 9:11-10:18), and it is represented by fruit of the vine.
5.Just as the Passover Feast was to be observed throughout Israel’s generations, so also the Lord’s Supper is to be an enduring proclamation of the Lord’s death until He comes (1Cor. 11:27).
6.Just as the Passover Feast was to be celebrated in all the congregation of Israel (Ex. 12:47), so also the Lord’s Supper is to be celebrated in the full assembly of the church (1Cor. 11:33).
7.The early church devoted themselves to the observance of the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42), and the church must continue to do so today, for Christ is our Passover.
IV.CONCLUSION
A.On this occasion of the Passover, Jesus knew that His hour had come and that He would soon die for the sins of the world.He made His final meal perhaps the most important that anyone has ever eaten.
B.The Lord would eat with His apostles again (Luke 24:41-43; John 21:12-13), but the last supper before His crucifixion was not about eating and drinking.It was about the meaning of His coming, which was salvation, forgiveness, and eternal life through faith in Him.
