The link
between the Jewish Passover and the Lord's Supper is very
interesting. When God instituted the Passover, He did so with
two objects in mind: That Israel, by acting out this ritual
each year, would remember His deliverance and goodness to
them in the past. The Passover was also designed specifically
to point Israel to the future: to that time when God would
sent His messiah, the long-promised savior.
Passover
Lamb
The lamb
chosen for the Passover was the best in the flock. It had
to be perfect, without blemish. It had to be the nicest to
look at as well as the most energetic. The family was to bring
this lamb away from the rest of the flock fourteen days before
the lambs for Passover had to be killed, and keep it under
close observation to make sure that it was perfect. During
this time, they would feed the lamb, maybe even play with
it and care for it like we would a dog. At the end of the
fourteen days, they had to slaughter the lamb for the Passover
meal. Imagine how it must have been to grow close to a cute
little lamb over that period of time, to be endeared to it,
only to slaughter it! Thus Jesus, God's own Son, was the innocent,
perfect sacrifice for us when He was in the prime of His life.
The lamb had to be roasted with fire, as Jesus endured the
fire of God's wrath for our sins. Not a bone of the Passover
lamb could be broken as it was being prepared. Likewise, Christ
was spared broken bones even though the two thieves crucified
with Him had> their legs broken. The Israelites were redeemed
by the blood of the lamb (from the angel of death in Egypt,
and afterward by the celebration of the Passover their sins
were taken away, and they were then part of the family of
God's chosen people again). So the Lamb of God, as He is even
called in the Scripture, redeemed all people from sin, death
and hell once and for all.
Unleavened
bread
The first
reason for unleavened bread is the quick departure and long
stay in the desert. The Children of Israel were instructed
to take unleavened bread because it would last longer and
could be carried easier on the trip. (This even didn't last,
and they had to eventually be fed by the manna in the wilderness.)
There is another very important reason for unleavened bread.
Leaven, or yeast, has often been used by God as a symbol for
sin. (Jesus: Beware of the leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees.)
The reason God uses leaven this way is that sin behaves in
individual people and nations in a very similar way that yeast
behaves in dough. Just a little yeast will cause yeast to
effect an entire portion of dough. Look at how sin works:
it very often comes in small ways, and as people get into
it more and more, they do more and more. This is the important
reason for church attendance and Bible study, because as we
are being "leavened" by sin, God washes the "leaven"
away from us and it has to start over each time.
Not only
were the Israelites to take unleavened bread, they were first
to purify their homes, so that there would be no yeast found
anywhere. This is still a part of the modern Passover observance
in Judaism. In each Passover following that deliverance from
Egypt, the Israelites were to remember to purge the sin from
their lives as they purged the leaven (the symbol for sin)
from their homes.
Blood
on the doorpost
When
the angel of death was to come to destroy the firstborn of
each Egyptian household, God commanded that each house in
Goshen, where the Israelites were, have the lambs blood painted
on the doorpost. The painting was done to the top beam first,
then to the two sides. We can think of that as almost a "sign
of the cross", with the vertical and horizontal beams
in the arrangement they are in. Also, as Jesus says, "I
am the door" or the door to heaven, these Israelites
were first ransomed from Egypt by bloody doorways, and so
we are also ransomed from a life of sin to heaven by the "bloody
doorway", Jesus Christ.
Without
going into the actual details about the actual ceremony, which
is very interesting indeed, I will relate some highlights.
The Passover meal was not simply like our thanksgiving meal
where everyone dives in after the blessing and eats in the
order that he/she likes. It is a very ordered meal, being
structured almost like our modern worship service. First of
all was the ceremonial washing, then eating of the bread,
the lamb, and sharing various cups of wine throughout the
meal. Each event was preceded by a prayer for that specific
portion. At the end of the meal came the blessing after meals,
which involved taking bread, breaking it, giving thanks, and
distributing it to those around. This is when our Lord Jesus
Christ, took bread, gave thanks and gave it to His disciples
saying, "Take, Eat, this is My Body, which is Given for
you. This do in Remembrance of Me." Since this was the
blessing at the conclusion of the meal, the next step was
the cup of blessing, which would be done "in the same
manner also He took the cup after supper (since it was the
cup immediately following the thanksgiving bread after the
Passover supper itself) and when He had given thanks (again,
the standard prayer to be used in the case of the cup of blessing)
He gave it to them saying, Drink of it all of you, this is
my blood of the New Testament for the forgiveness of sins.
This do as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."
This cup is the third in the meal, called the Cup of Blessing
or Cup of Redemption. How appropriate! Jesus calls it the
NEW TESTAMENT. TESTAMENT is more appropriate translation than
Covenant which some of the translations have. It was a new
Covenant, which replaced the old covenant (thus, we do not
observe Jewish festivals because they are all part of the
OLD covenant God made with Israel through Moses). It is also
more than that, because it is Christ's last will and testament.
This is especially evident in the words "Do this as OFTEN
as you drink it, in Remembrance of Me." The words "as
often" mean literally OFTEN. We can think of them as
the command to partake of the Lord's supper each time it is
offered here at Trinity.
The Passover
meal has changed over the years, primarily because the Lambs
were sacrificed at the Temple, and the Temple no longer exists
in Jerusalem. So there have been some improvisations made
in the Passover. The LAST SUPPER is so called because it was
the last LEGITIMATE observance of Passover according to God's
institution of this celebration. Remember, we said that it
was designed for Israel to remember not only their deliverance
from slavery in Egypt, but to look forward to the Deliverance
by the Messiah from the Slavery to sin. Since after this Passover
Jesus accomplished this salvation, this is no longer part
of the celebration for which to look forward. Therefore, since
the Passover pointed FORWARD to the Lord's Supper, and the
lamb's blood removed the sins of the people because it pointed
them to the blood of THE LAMB, Jesus Christ, Jesus takes this
ceremony and uses it to begin another very special ceremony,
where that blood which was sacrificed on the cross for our
sins would be available to all believers in the Lord's Supper
to forgive sins and strengthen faith. The Passover was a picture
of the reality which was realized in Jesus Christ.
So we
also have a twofold reality in the Lord's Supper. We REMEMBER,
or look backward in time to the sacrifice of Jesus on the
cross for our sins, REMEMBERING that our redemption was complete
by that one sacrifice at that time. We also receive that forgiveness
NOW, and so this Lord's Supper becomes a channel by which
that crucifixion event comes to us here in the present, almost
2000 years later. It forgives sins, NOW. It is not different
blood, it is not another sacrifice, but it connects to the
great Sacrifice Jesus gave on the cross. Its symbolic nature
reminds us of Christ and His Word, and its reality plugs us
into the very power of God as we eat and drink the body and
blood of Christ in and with the bread and wine.
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