Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 22.

This Monday, May 31^st, is a holiday we call “Memorial Day”. On Memorial Day we honor the memory of those who died while serving in our nation’s military – people who died to protect our freedoms. It was originally called “Decoration Day”, and only became an official holiday in 1971. Memorial Day also marks the beginning of summer.

Long before there was a United States, a lone Man – not tied to any earthly kingdom, but the Representative that God the Father sent to this earth – that lone Man died to bring freedom to whosoever will. The freedoms that this lone Man brought by His willing death are:

Freedom from the slavery of sin
Freedom from the DESPAIR of death
Freedom from the WEARINESS OF THIS WORLD
Freedom from the LEADERSHIP OF LUCIFER (the Devil)

This lone Man is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Passover Is An Old Covenant Memorial

Before Jesus was betrayed of Judas Iscariot, and unlawfully tried by the Chief Priests, the Pharisees, and by Pilate, Jesus enjoyed the Passover Meal with His disciples. The Passover was a time when Israel commemorated their salvation and exodus from Egypt. It was on the final night that Israel was enslaved to Egypt that God told them to take a lamb without blemish, a male of the first year, and bring it into your home for four days. On the fourth day kill it, and take it’s blood, and “strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts of the house. The lamb is to be roasted, and eaten with bitter herbs that very night (author’s paraphrase of Exodus 12:3-10).

Exodus 12:11-13 … thus shall ye eat {the lamb}; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. 13 And the blood shall be to you for a TOKEN upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

Where the Blood of the Lamb was not, God took life. Death reigned where the Blood was missing. Pharaoh had been reluctant to release Israel until this Passover night. But once the firstborn of even his household died, Pharaoh released Israel. God said, “when I see the blood, I will pass over you”. It was the Blood of the Lamb that averted death. It was the Blood of the Lamb that freed souls.

God gave the Passover to Israel AS A MEMORIAL. God told Israel:

Exodus 12:14 this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

Word Study“memorial” is the Hebrewזִכְרוֹן zikrôwn, {pronounced zik-rone}, which means “a MEMENTO, something to bring to remembrance or memory over and over again, a MEMORIAL”.

God wanted Israel to remember the Lamb of God, and how only by killing it salvation would come.

Every year every Jew had to go to Jerusalem, and enjoy the Passover Meal, the Memorial of the Blood of the Lamb that brought salvation. Jesus is having the Passover – the Memorial – with His disciples. Let’s listen in and imagine ourselves with Jesus on the Passover Table:

Luke 22:10-18 And {Jesus} said unto {His Disciples}, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in. 11 And ye shall say unto the goodman {the owner} of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guest chamber, where I shall eat the Passover. with my disciples? 12 And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. 13 And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the Passover. 14 And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. 15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover. with you before I suffer: 16 For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: 18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.

Jesus has His disciples set up the Passover Meal in “a large upper room furnished”. As the disciples do this, they think it is just like every Passover they had ever had. They did not know that this would be THE LAST PASSOVER they would ever celebrate. Jesus told them:

Luke 22:15 With desire I have desired {literally “I have EAGERLY DESIRED} to eat THIS Passover. with you before I suffer…

Jesus knew that He was about to go to the Cross. Jesus was EAGER to do this last Passover with His disciples. The Old Covenant of sacrificing animals and shedding the blood of lambs and bulls and goats was about to end. Jesus was eager to see the Old Covenant ended. The Old Covenant Lamb of God was an animal, without spot or blemish. Under the New Covenant the True Lamb of God would be sacrificed for sins. The True Lamb of God is Jesus Christ. Jesus is:

John 1:29 … THE Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world..

The Old Covenant Passover could not permanently pay for the sins we commit, because ANIMALS cannot pay for the sins of HUMANS. We are NOT ANIMALS. We are created in the image of God. The Bible says:

Hebrews 10:10 … we are sanctified {consecrated to God the Father} through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

As a good Jew our Lord Jesus kept this Old Covenant Passover with His disciples. Jesus said:

Luke 22:16 I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God

This would be the only time Jesus would celebrate the Old Covenant Passover. The next time Jesus celebrates Passover, it will be the New Covenant Passover.

We are seeing the transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant in this very passage.

Luke 22:17-18 {Jesus} took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: 18 For I say unto you, I will NOT DRINK of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.

Jesus said “I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come”. Before the “kingdom of God shall come”, Jesus must die on Calvary and rise from the grave. The “Kingdom of God” cannot come to this earth and stay while God’s people are under the incomplete animal sacrifices. The Messiah is come. The Messiah MUST go to the Cross. The true Lamb of God MUST

Matthew 16:21 … suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

As Jesus hung on the Cross, the soldiers tried to give Him wine:

Mark 15:23 {the soldiers} gave {Jesus} wine to drink mingled with myrrh: but He received it not ..

Jesus would not drink the fruit of the vine “until the kingdom of God shall come”. Several hours later Jesus would say, “I thirst”. The Bible says:

John 19:28-30 … Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. 29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

Jesus drank VINEGAR, not WINE BUT VINEGAR, for He could drink no wine until the Kingdom of God came. This was a fulfillment of the prophecy in …

Psalm 69:21 … in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Jesus cannot drink this last Old Covenant Passover Cup. The Kingdom of God must come, but it will only come by the King of that Kingdom laying His life down for us all. Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 17:14), must lower Himself to the status of a Lamb.

Jesus must die. He must be buried. He must rise again, else the Kingdom of God will not come.

The Lord’s Table Is The New Covenant Passover

As Israel had an Old Covenant MEMORIAL, a Passover, the Church that Jesus died for will have a NEW MEMORIAL Passover.

Luke 22:19 And {Jesus} took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

When the Old Covenant Jew celebrated the Passover, complete with the animal sacrifice, they did so in remembrance of God freeing them from Egypt.

Hebrews 10:3-4 … in those {Old Covenant} sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

Word Study The word translated “remembrance” in the Book of Hebrews is the Greek ἀνάμνησις anámnēsis, {pronounced an-am’-nay-sis}, which means “a recollection, a remembering, a memorial”. The Old Covenant Passover was a MEMORIAL. Now Jesus gives His Church a New MEMORIAL, saying:

Luke 22:19 … This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me

Our Lord uses the EXACT SAME WORD found in Hebrews for “remembrance”. Under the Old Covenant, every believer had to yearlysacrifice the Passover Lamb. But now Jesus is ONCE AND FOR ALL replacing that Old Covenant Passover with another “remembrance”.

In the OLD Covenant the LORD told His people to kill a Lamb.
In the NEW Covenant, the LAMB tells His people the LORD will be killed.

Jesus is replacing the Passover Meal with what we Christians call either:

“The Lord’s Supper” (1 Corinthians 11:20)
“The Lord’s Table” (1 Corinthians 10:21)
or
“The Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:16)

Jesus said, “This is my body which is given for you”. Jesus willingly BLESSES the bread then BREAKS the bread. Jesus Christ is the Bread of Heaven. He told us:

John 6:47-51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. {48} I am that bread of life. {49} Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. {50} This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. {51} I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

Jesus willingly died for our sins.

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but {being made alive} by the Spirit …

Jesus Christ blessed and then BROKE the bread. He Himself BROKE His own body. Had Jesus not laid His life down, we would yet be dead in our trespasses and sins. But Jesus WILLINGLY went to the Cross for us. He said:

John 10:18 … No man taketh {my life} from me, but I lay it down of myself.

Thank You, dear Jesus, for Your wonderful gift! Christ’s Blood was shed.

Luke 22:20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

Word Study The words translated “new testament” are the Greek καινός διαθήκη kainos diathēkē, which means “New Covenant”. Jesus Christ gave us a “New Covenant, making the First Covenant old” (Hebrews 8:13). “The FIRST COVENANT was dedicated without {the Messiah’s} Blood” (Hebrews 9:18).

Our Lord Jesus came, saying:

Hebrews 10:9 … Lo, I come to do Thy will, O GOD. {Jesus} taketh away the FIRST {COVENANT}, that He may establish the SECOND {COVENANT} …

The animal sacrifices are gone. Jesus Christ has replaced them with His precious Body – blessed be the name of the Lord!

I say to the unbeliever, you must receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, by faith, believing that He died for your sins and rose from the grave for your salvation. The disciples did not seize the Bread. It was not earned, it was not deserved, but it was all of Grace. We are saved not by our works, but by His work. We are saved by receiving the Bread of God, the Lamb of God as our Lord and Savior. You have the right to receive or reject Jesus, but if you reject Him, you have no hope of Heaven.

I say to the believer, insure that you are in a right relationship with God before taking of this wonderful Table. This is a MEMORIAL, a reminder of what Jesus Christ did for us.

This Table is also a reminder that we are under not just a New Covenant, but we are under a New Commandment.

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

As Jesus loved us, so we love one another. Sacrificially, willingly, lovingly we lay our lives down to our Lord and Savior, and to the citizens of the Kingdom of God. To partake of this Table unworthily is to court death (1 Corinthians 11:29). Would you all prepare your hearts, as our servant-leaders prepare this Table. To God be the Glory! May God the Holy Spirit drive this His Word deeply into your souls. Amen and Amen. Let us partake!