Matthew 26:26-30

Scripture Reading: The Hallel Psalms (Psalms 113-118)

Introduction

Every Year During Early Spring…

Jews would Travel to the Holy City of Jerusalem

On the 10th Day of the Month…

Each Family would Select a 1 Year Old Male Lamb Without Blemish/Defect

They would Keep it Until the 14th Day of the Month

Then, that Night at Twilight, They would Sacrifice the Lamb…

And They would Eat it with Unleavened Bread & Bitter Herbs

This Ritual is Called “The Passover”

It was an Annual Reenactment & Memorial Celebration…

Of the Night When God Rescued Israel from Egyptian Slavery

Last Week, We Saw Jesus & His Disciples Prepare for…

And Begin Celebrating the Passover Meal

In Our Text this Morning…

Jesus & His Apostles are Going to Continue Celebrating the Passover

But, During this Last Meal with His Disciples…

Jesus is Going to Bring New/Greater Significance to the Passover

Matthew 26:26-30

In These 5 Verses, We’re Going to See Jesus Establish…

Something that has Been Known By a Few Names Throughout History:

Eucharist

Communion

The Lord’s Supper

This Morning, We’re Going to Focus on…

The Establishment of the Lord’s Supper

Then We’re Going to Celebrate the Lord’s Supper Together

The Annual Celebration of the Passover…

Was One of the Most Important/Significant Events of the Year

It is Our Responsibility…

To Recognize the Importance/Significance…

Of Celebrating the Lord’s Supper Every Sunday

So Let’s Try to Focus Our Minds…

On the Supper of Our Lord

Matthew 26:26 (NASB95)

26 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.”

One of the Rituals of the Passover Meal…

Was When the Father of the Family…

Would Explain the Story of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt…

And the Purpose Behind the Passover Celebration

Here We See Jesus Take the Role of the Father…

As He Begins to Explain Why They’re Doing What They’re Doing

But He Doesn’t Tell the Story of the Exodus

He Takes the Bread & Tells His Disciples to Eat it…

Because it is His Body

He’s Giving New Significance to Bread

Matthew 26:27–28 (NASB95)

27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

He Tells Them the Bread is His Body

Then He Tells Them the Wine is His Blood

He’s Not Speaking Literally, of Course

The Bread isn’t Literally His Body

The Wine isn’t Literally His Blood

There are Some Who Take that Interpretation…

There’s Absolutely No Reason to Take Jesus’ Words Literally Here

The Passover was a Highly Symbolic Memorial

The Lord’s Supper Elements are also Symbolic

Jesus is Not Wanting His Disciples to Practice Cannibalism

To Drink Blood was Against the Law of Moses

Jesus is Telling Them Something Very Special:

He’s Not Telling Them about Their Deliverance from Egypt

He’s Not Telling Them about Their Redemption Through a Sacrificed Lamb

Jesus is Telling Them about a New Deliverance

He’s Telling Them about a New Redemptive Sacrifice

He is the New Sacrifice that will Deliver & Redeem Them

We See that this is the Point Jesus is Making in a Few Different Ways:

1st, He Separates “Body” and “Blood”

Under the Old Covenant…

The Blood was to Be Separated from the Body of the Sacrifice

By Referring to His Body & Blood as Separate Elements…

He’s Hinting to His Disciples…

That He Himself is the New Sacrifice

2nd, He Says His Blood is Poured Out for the Forgiveness of Sins

His Blood is Going to Be “Poured Out” or “Shed”…

Like that of a Sacrificed Animal

And, His Blood is Going to Be for the “Forgiveness of Sins”

Again, this is Pointing to Jesus’ Death as a Sacrifice

Sins can Only Be Atoned for/Forgiven…

Through the Death of a Sacrifice

3rd, He Calls the Wine the “Blood of the Covenant”

These Words are Meant to Bring Our Minds Back to Exodus 24

Exodus 24:4–8 (NASB95)

4 Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Then he arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 He sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord.

6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” 8 So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

After the Israelites Openly & Unanimously Declared…

That They would Obey the Law of God…

Moses Sprinkled the Blood of the Sacrifice:

On the Altar

On the Book of the Covenant

On the People

And He Called it, “The Blood of the Covenant”

This is How the Old Covenant Between God & Israel was Established

Hebrews 9 Tells Us that Blood Must Be Shed (Life Must Be Given):

For a Covenant to Be Established

For Forgiveness to Take Place

What Jesus is Saying is:

His Sacrificial Death & the Shedding of His Blood…

Is Going to Establish a New Covenant…

Between God & Those Who Choose to Be Obedient to Him

And Within this New Covenant that was Established By Blood…

There will Be Forgiveness of Sins

Jeremiah Foretold of a Time…

When God would Make a New Covenant with His People…

Through Which He would Forgive Their Sins…

And Remember Them No More:

Jeremiah 31:31–34 (NASB95)

31 “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, 32 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.

33 “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. 34 “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will 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.”

Through His Death…

Jesus is Going to Establish this New Covenant

He has Become the New Passover Lamb

His Body will Be Broken…

And His Blood will Be Poured Out…

To Establish an Everlasting Covenant Relationship…

Between God & His People

Matthew 26:29 (NASB95)

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.”

Though Jesus was Expecting to Die Within the Next 24 Hours…

He Also Expected a Day…

When He would Once Again Live

But Not Just Live

He Expected/Looked Forward to a Day…

When He would Once Again…

Have Table-Fellowship with His Disciples

Jesus Expected/Looked Forward to a Day…

When He would Drink the Wine “New” with His People

“New Wine” is Often a Symbol in the Scriptures…

For Great Blessings, Well-Being, & Prosperity

Jesus Expected/Looked Forward to a Day…

When He will Experience Great Blessing, Well-Being, & Prosperity…

With His Disciples

Jesus Expected/Looked Forward to a Day…

When His Father’s Kingdom will Be Fully Established…

And God Reigns Over All Things

When “That Day” Comes…

We will Drink New Wine with Jesus Under the Eternal Reign of God

We’ll Experience Great Blessings, Well-Being, & Prosperity…

In the Age to Come

Matthew 26:30 (NASB95)

30 After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Another Ritual Tradition During the Passover…

Was the Singing of the Hallel Psalms

These are the 5 Psalms that We had Read to Us Before the Lesson

It’s Likely that These were the Songs of Praise that They Sang…

Before Going to the Mount of Olives

Application

The Text We Just Studied…

Showed Us the Establishment of the Lord’s Supper

It was Purposely Established on Passover…

Because it’s the New Passover

The Passover was a Time of Memorial & Celebration

Israelites Remembered How They were Redeemed from Slavery

They Celebrated with Feasting & Fellowshipping

Our New Passover is Also a Time of Memorial & Celebration

As Disciples of Jesus, We Remember…

What God has Done to Redeem Us

And We Celebrate with Feasting & Fellowshipping

As We’re about to Celebrate Our Weekly Passover…

Let’s Make Sure We Remember These Things:

Jesus’ Sacrificial Death (The Giving of His Body & Blood)

That His Sacrifice Established Our Covenant Relationship with God

That in this Covenant Relationship We have Forgiveness of Our Sins

That We will One Day Celebrate, Feast, and Fellowship…

With Jesus in the Paradise of New Creation in the Age to Come

The Lord’s Supper is about Remembering & Celebrating…

What God has Done in the Past & What He will Do in the Future

Past: God Sacrificed His Son/Messiah for Our Redemption

Future: Jesus will Return & Share with Us God’s Eternal Reign

Jesus has Become Our New & Greater Passover Lamb…

To Establish a New & Greater Passover…

With a New & Greater Story of Deliverance & Redemption

I Want to End By Sharing with You a Passage from the Mishnah

(Jewish Collection of Oral Tradition)

This Section of the Mishnah is All about the Passover

They are Powerfully & Beautifully Spoken

But These Words Take on Even Greater Power & Beauty…

When They are Spoken with Our New Passover in Mind:

The Mishnah (Pesahim) 10:5

Therefore we are duty-bound to thank, praise, glorify, honor, exalt, extol, and bless him who did for our forefathers and for us all these miracles. He brought us forth from slavery to freedom, anguish to joy, mourning to festival, darkness to great light, subjugation to redemption, so we should say before him, Hallelujah.

Christians, as We Celebrate the LS…

We are Duty-Bound to:

Thank

Praise

Glorify

Honor

Exalt

Extol

Bless…

God for Giving His Son to Save Us

As We Remember What Jesus has Done for Us…

Let’s Remember that He has Delivered Us:

From Slavery to Freedom

From Anguish to Joy

From Mourning to Festival

From Darkness to Great Light

From Subjugation to Redemption

Praise God!