Dear one, Jesus’ Last Supper, the Passover meal He shared with His disciples the night before His death, is a lavish treasure trove – just what you would expect from our King. He knew that the horrors of Gethsemane and Calvary were ahead, but His primary concern was for us – encouraging, teaching, providing for, and loving us.
Have you discovered the treasure? By now, you have probably shared the bread and wine of communion many times. You are familiar with words that shocked the disciples the first time they heard them: …the Lord Jesus on the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me:”… (1 Cor. 11:23-25)
You will have remembered with gratitude God’s bloody sacrificial death on your behalf and, taking the bread and wine, received the restoration His death provides. And the rest? The meal is not over and will not be concluded until the end of the age. Dig deeper, beloved. The journey to glory has begun.
The words spoken at the Last Supper and words of Old Testament prophetic scripture reveal Jesus as the new Moses His fellow 1st Century Jews were waiting for. He is the new deliverer who will inaugurate the new exodus they were eager to begin, and He will lead them to their new promised land. He is the new Israel, the new covenant life in Himself, and the manna they need to sustain them on the journey. And you, Beloved, together with the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the new temple. (1 Cor. 3:16. Rev. 21:22)
Consider this from the disciples’ perspective. When they heard Jesus’s startling words, what did they think He was saying? The Old Testament scriptures, the writings of Josephus, the Mishna, the Babylonian Talmud, the Targums, and the Dead Sea Scrolls provide comments that help us understand what 1st Century Jews were expecting and their probable understanding of the situation. The Old Testament prophets foretold a time when God would bring about a new exodus, describing it in terms of four key events.
- The coming of a new Moses
- The making of a new covenant
- The building of a new temple
- The journey to a new promised land
The disciples were undoubtedly accustomed to being confused and startled by Jesus’s words, but eventually, they understood. Let’s take this slowly so we don’t miss a single step of God’s intricate and beautiful plan for us. Eat and drink your fill of the abundance of His life in you. (John 6:53) The posts that tell the story will follow. They are:
- The Road Home
- The Messiah’s Passover
- The Bread of the Face
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