Lord’s Supper
Okay, I’m a super geek so when I saw this article: “Why Did Jesus Institute the Lord’s Supper on the Passover?”
I had to read it.
“Why Did Jesus Institute the Lord’s Supper on the Passover?” from Ligonier Ministries https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/why-institute-lords-supper
My first thought was “Wow, why didn’t I think of that?” Maybe I should have? In retrospect, it seems so obvious.
Dr. Mathison summarizes in Exodus the story of Israel in bondage and God sending Moses to be God’s mouthpiece to redeem his people from their bondage and establish them as a new nation. What caught my attention was his description of the lamb whose blood was put on the doorpost was a “sacrifice” for sin as described by those harder books to read like Leviticus where God’s law was shared.
Now, I apologize for my barely surfaced understanding of Jewish law and tradition but the Passover was institutionalized for all the people to remember and instruct their children on God’s redemption and exodus from Egypt and meant to be observed in perpetuity.
Now we get to Jesus and the Lord’s Supper. He was the sacrifice. His blood was the new redemption for our sins, our new exodus from bondage. Jesus was the fulfillment of all that was foreshadowed by the Passover lamb.
“The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ‘This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.” - Exodus 12:1-13 ESV
“Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” - 1 Corinthians 5:7 ESV
Patrick and the elders talk about reading your whole Bible and not just the Gospels or New Testament due to the riches of God’s word that are contained. I think after reading the article and thinking through this, I might have a slightly better appreciation for that advice.
But don’t take my word for it. The hyperlink is here. Go read the article for yourself (it says it’s a 5 minute read) and consider for yourself the majesty of God’s word in its entirety.
