TEXT: Matthew 26:17-29
READING: Isaiah 52:13 -- 53:12
SUBJ: Our Lord’s observance of the Passover and the institution of the Lord’s Supper as an ordinance to be observed with reflection and expectation.
AIM: That we might ever be in the way of remembering the sacrifice for our sins and the life that we now live in the flesh by the faith of the Son of God.
INTR: As our Lord approached the appointed time there were many things signaled to His disciples and that are kept for us to this present time that we might be anchored to all that pertained to that which secured our salvation.
1. We remember His unique entrance into Jerusalem, the anointing of Mary, the increased activity of those in opposition to Him. It would seem that there was something being sensed if not understood by the disciples.
2. He had said at the beginning of His ministry that He would fulfill all the Law and He was about to finalize that here.
3. It is of great importance that we note His observance of the Passover and the connection He makes with the New Covenant with due reference to the blood of His sacrifice.
THESIS: All that pertains to the Gospel is built upon the solid foundation of the suffering, death, burial, and resurrection of our Blessed Lord and calls forth the wondrous expectation of that which is and which is to come.
I. Jesus properly observed that which was commanded. (vv. 17-20)
1. He would observe the Passover as the most devout of Jews and would do so without show.
1) In so doing, He would symbolically declare what He would fulfill the next day.
2) He would bring to bear that which had been said of Him from the Garden (Genesis 3:15)
2. There would have been reflections on the original Passover in Egypt
1) There was the proving of the Lamb to be sacrificed as to be without spot or blemish.
2) The whole assembly of the congregation were to “kill it” in the evening.
3) The blood to be applied with hyssop to the door in the proper pattern
4) The sacrifice was to be completely consumed and anything remaining was to be burned
5) The Passover occurred and there was no plague where the blood was applied.
6) There was not a house in Egypt where there was not one dead!
7) Deliverance was accomplished.
3. To Jesus, this was more than a mere Jewish ritual. It was the Gospel in the Old Testament, and this would become evident to His disciples as well.
II. Jesus revealed His betrayal (vv. 21-25)
1. The statement of verse 21 provoked both sorrow and doubt among the disciples and caused them to question themselves.
2. The revelation that there was a betrayer among them revealed several things:
1) They had been in the company of such a person.
2) They were being taught to exercise careful self-examination.
3) They were being delivered from presumption.
3. A powerful statement as to sovereign purpose and personal accountability is made.
1) He was going to go the way that had been determined from eternity but
2) Judas would be held fully accountable for the terrible sin of betraying our Lord.
4. Judas is declared to be the one.
III. Jesus declares a New Covenant (vv. 26-29)
1. First, He took bread, blessed it, and uttered what must have seemed unusual to them all.
1) It was symbolic of His body in the essential portrayal of Himself as both identified with them and as giving it for them (Luke says given for you; Paul says broken for you).
2) It was to be eaten – ingested
3) Surely, they would have remembered the Bread of Life Sermon at these words and remember the offense to the many. This was a symbol; the meaning was essential to spiritual life in Him.
4) By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; (Hebrews 10:20)
5) Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)
2. Consider Isaiah 53 and the ways He is given: The iniquity of us all laid on Him; for our transgression He was stricken; It pleased the Lord to bruise Him, and His soul made an offering for sin; He hath poured out His soul unto death.
3. The cup and the blood of the New Covenant
1) A consideration of all that had gone before and would now be written on hearts and in minds.
2) And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Hebrews 9:22) – God always requires a blood offering.
3) And so we are reminded that, Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:18-19).
