Life of Christ 166
One of the least
appreciated aspects of the Last Supper is just how tremendously important it is
in the transition from Judaism to Christianity. Perhaps I could say that more
biblically by referring to the old covenant and the new covenant. The old
covenant was entered into by the Jewish people in Sinai under Moses. The sum
and substance of it was contained in the Mosaic Law. It was entered into in a
solemnized blood-sprinkled ceremony.
Exodus 24:7–8
7 And he took the book of the covenant,
and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath
said will we do, and be obedient.
8 And Moses took the blood, and
sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which
the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.
If the Old Testament
shows us anything it shows us that the Jewish people singularly failed to live
up to their promise. The history of the Jewish people prior to the time of
Christ is a history of one failure after another. In just a few hours they will
exponentially compound those failures by executing their own Messiah.
Of course, none of this
surprised God. Indeed, the Old Testament prophets themselves spoke of this
(Isaiah 53 for instance). They also spoke of the necessity of a new covenant.
Understanding this is very important for the Christian for it speaks directly
to the transition from Judaism to Christianity.
Jeremiah 31:31–33
31 Behold, the days come, saith the
LORD, That I will make a new covenant With the house of Israel, and with the
house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I
made with their fathers In the day that I took them by the hand To bring them
out of the land of Egypt; Which my covenant they brake, Although I was an
husband unto them, saith the LORD:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put
my law in their inward parts, And write it in their hearts; And will be their
God, And they shall be my people.
The Old Testament prophecy of a new covenant is the
scriptural support that Jesus and the Apostles used to explain their shift from
an ethnically centered religion of ceremony to a world-wide religion of
personal experience from the heart. This new covenant had a new chosen people –
the Church (though Israel's role is not yet finished). This new covenant had a
new Scripture – the New Testament (though the Old Testament is still
Scripture). This new covenant had a new mission – propagation via the Great Commission.
This new covenant also needed a new ceremony. The old
covenant was symbolized best in the Passover observance. This was designed
to point the people forward to the redemptive role of the coming Messiah. They
totally missed this but that was its point nonetheless. With the arrival of
that redemptive sacrificial death tomorrow there would be no more need for the
Passover observance. Instead of looking forward toward the sacrifice of the
Lamb of God the new covenant would look backward on the sacrifice of the Lamb
of God. The purpose of the Lord's Supper as observed in the Church is to focus
us squarely back on the cause and meaning of it all – Jesus Christ. This do in remembrance of me. (Luke 22.19)
Thus it is that the Last
Supper, a Passover seder, became the Lord's Supper and marked forever the
transition from Judaism to Christianity.
1 Corinthians 11:23–27
23 For I have received of the Lord that
which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he
was betrayed took bread:
24 And when he had given thanks, he
brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this
do in remembrance of me.
25 After the same manner also he took
the cup, when he had supped, saying, This
cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in
remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread,
and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
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