Mathew 26:26-29 "The Covenant Memorial"

Introduction:

We have been on a journey through the Old Testament looking at the promises of God in relation to the binding nature of His covenants.

God is demonstrating His covenant faithfulness for the purpose of maximizing His glory before all the nations of the world.

Of course we have talked about how Christ was, and is the fulfillment of the covenant promises that the Lord made to His people through out the O.T.

This should remain connected in our minds and hearts. Christian we are never to forget those Old Testament covenant promises. And that Christ has brought about the fulfillment of those covenant promises to us as the people of God.

This is one of the reasons that Christ instituted a covenant memorial that unmistakably links the Old Testament covenant promises to the physical elements of the Lord’s Supper.

Look at these elements in verses 26-28 as they are being taught to us by the Lord Jesus.

I. The Elements (26-28).

The first of the two elements that we see is Bread (26).

The bread that Jesus is referring to would have been unleavened bread that was made without yeast.

When the Passover feast was institutionalized by the Lord in Exodus 12 the people were told to bake bread without yeast and eat it for that original Passover meal.

The idea was that they wouldn’t have time to let it rise. They were to eat the Passover ready for their deliverance from Egypt, with their travel clothes on and shoes on their feet and their walking staffs in their hands (Exodus 12:11).

Eventually, in the law of Moses yeast would be associated with sin and this would be significant to point us to the sinless sacrifice of the Lord Jesus.

And they were to eat the Passover with faithful anticipation in the Lord for their deliverance from slavery and bondage in Egypt.

For 400 years they had been in Egypt waiting for the promises made to Abraham to come to pass. And on that original Passover the word of the Lord was coming to pass.

This is similar to how after 400 years of basic silence between the Old Testament and the New Testament. For 400 years the people were under political occupation until the word of the Lord was declared by the Angels of the coming of Jesus Christ. The word incarnate as we are told so clearly in John’s gospel.

So when Christ says this is my body, broken for you, He is speaking of His physical body without sin. And by doing this He is linking the bread of the Passover to Himself in fulfillment.

His own body would be broken for the deliverance of His covenant people. A body without sin to die on the cross in their place as a substitute.

The second of the two elements is seen in verses 27-28.

The cup containing wine or the fruit of the vine as some might say.

This wine was to be red because it was the representation of the blood of the Passover lamb that was applied to the doorpost of the covenant people of God.

Remember, the Lord was passing through the land of Egypt and He would strike down all the firstborn of Egypt. But when He would see the blood of the lamb He would pass over those households.

Those were the households of the covenant people of God who acted in faithful obedience to the word of the Lord. And the Lord faithfully kept His people protected from His own wrath because of the provision of the blood of a lamb applied to their house (Exodus 12:13).

This cup that Jesus holds up is referred to as the “cup of redemption” in the Passover Seder that the Lord connects to His own “blood of the covenant” being poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Now when Jesus refers to the blood of the covenant He is talking about the New Covenant (Remember Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36). We know this also from Luke’s gospel in 22:20 and I Corinthians 11:25.

Christ understood that He was the means by which God would not only fulfill the Old Covenant but He knew He was the means by which God would establish the foundation and efficacy of the New Covenant.

The Apostle Paul understood this New Covenant work of Christ to be the actual effectual means by which God adopts us as His covenant children. Look here at Galatians 4:4–5:“4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

You see Christian these physical elements are indicating to us a profound spiritual reality that is ever bit as real as the elements themselves.

Christ is our Passover lamb by which we have our redemption from the slavery and bondage of sin. And He is the means of our purification from sin under the law.

This changes everything for the covenant people of God. As a matter of fact we have a whole new environment that we have been placed in. Look back at verse 29.

II. The Environment (29).

Jesus tells them He won’t drink the fruit of the vine with them until He drinks it new with them in His Father’s Kingdom. What is Jesus talking about?

The Environment of the institution of the Lord’s Supper is in the Upper-room. We are told this in Mark 14:22-25 and in Luke 22:14-18 too. You can read it later and you will see. The Kingdom of God is coming upon them and there is getting ready to be a dramatic change from their current situation to the situation that is coming.

The Apostle Peter testifies in Acts 10:39–41: “39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.”

And again we see the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:16 where he ask two rhetorical questions: “16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”

The word for “participation” in the ESV is “koinonia” in the Greek original. Often it is translated “fellowship” because the term denotes a mutual interest and sharing that is taking place (BAGD).

So there is already now a post resurrection context where we fellowship with Christ in the Lord’s Supper. This is why Christians often call the Lord’s Supper “communion.”

The question that is usually debated is in what sense is Christ present?

The Roman Catholic view is called “transubstantiation.” And this view believes that the substance or the essence of the element change when the Mass is said. The elements maintain their appearance but the substance changes into the literal body and blood of Christ.

The Lutheran view is referred to as “consubstantiation.” It denotes the idea that the appearance and substance of the elements stay bread and wine but Christ is physically present in a mysterious way in, with and under the elements.

The Reformed view is that Christ is Spiritually present in or with the elements but not physically present. It is through faith that believer’s partake or encounter the spiritual presence of Christ.

The typical evangelical view is that Christ is not present in association with the elements. We only memorialize Him when we partake of the Lord’s Supper.

These are huge differences because what you believe the Scriptures are teaching on this will have an affect on what you believe is taking place when you come to the table. It affects how your faith is being informed about Christ and what He has done.

Are we in the Kingdom now or is it coming in the future. If it is now then what is the nature of it.

We want to be biblical about these things not so that we have the theological high ground over other believers but because we want to magnify Christ in all His fullness to the glory of God

And we want our faith informed so that when we are living by faith we are not undermining that faith by believing what is not true.

This area of theology informs us in how we see the work of Christ and our identification to Him. And to how we understand His presence with us.

I believe that Christ is Spiritually present because His Spirit is in us and with us as the body and He is present with us today as we come to this table.

It is more than just a memorial for we fellowship with His as our King. He is the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant now for of His reign there will be no end.

He is also the seed of the woman, born of a virgin, He is Abraham’s seed, He is the one like Moses but greater than Moses, He is the fulfillment of the law in absolute perfection, He is wiser than Solomon, more majestic and victorious than King David or any King in his line and He is here to dine with His people in spiritual union.

Unbeliever do you know Him? He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. And He is set before you today as the provision of God in the place of sinners that you might be saved. Believe the gospel.

Conclusion:

Christian we are to examine ourselves in preparation because we don’t want to come to this table in an unworthy manner. We need to examine our own hearts before the Lord in light of His provision to us in Christ.

We come ready to meet Him in full anticipation in faith of our deliverance. We do this not by putting on our traveling clothes but by being clothed in the righteousness of God in Christ and purified by His blood, washed clean and living in light of the truth of the gospel.

Come to Him and confess your sin and rest in the provision of God’s grace to you. Let’s pray!