The Lord’s Supper has a Past, Present, and Future Look
Mar 14:12 And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the passover?
If you look at a calendar that has the Passover on it you will notice that it lasts a week. This year Passover starts on the 22nd and ends on the 30th. Attached to the Passover is the days of unleavened bread.
So the day before the first day is when they killed the Passover lamb and this is the day that Jesus ate the Passover. So Jesus ate the Passover meal early and Jesus died at 3:00 before Passover day started at 6:00 pm. Their day according to their religious calendar changed at 6:00 pm and not like our day does at midnight.
So Jesus would eat the Passover after 6:00 PM then go to the garden and then the illegal trial and see Herod and Pilate and be put on the cross by 9:00 AM. Die at 3:00 Pm and in the tomb before the date changed again at 6:00 PM. According to when they changed the day that was all on the same day.
So Jesus died a few hours before Passover started. And that followed the same pattern for the very first Passover in Egypt. They killed the Passover Lamb and were given time to apply the blood to the door posts before they ate the meal that night.
The Passover Lamb was killed right before Passover. Jesus was also killed right before Passover.
Mar 14:13 And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him.
Mar 14:14 And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?
Mar 14:15 And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us.
I think this is great. The disciples knew nothing about this. Jesus worked and pre-arranged a place for them to eat the Passover meal. And it was all prepared. They just had to show up. We know nothing about the person who prepared it all.
Just one of the many servants of our Lord who do what they do not for fame or notice. They serve and work and make ready simply to please Jesus. They do not want or need their name mentioned. Pleasing Jesus is all they want.
The person who set this up went thru a lot of work. It was a Passover meal for 13 men.
And you see the foreknowledge of Jesus here. He sends two of his disciples into the city and when they come up to a man bearing a pitcher of water they are to follow him. Do you know how common that was? No indoor plumbing. Men carried water all the time.
Jesus knew ahead of time exactly when to send the disciples so that they would come upon this specific man at exactly the right time. This is humanly impossible. It is one of the many examples of how Jesus was fully man and fully God at the same time.
The disciples then follow the man. Jesus said whatever house the man with the water goes into then walk up and ask the goodman of the house where they can eat the Passover.
Mar 14:14 And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples?
This all took faith on the part of the disciples and boldness to just come up to a house you do not know and ask for this kind of service.
They exercised their faith and were not disappointed.
Mar 14:16 And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.
Mar 14:17 And in the evening he cometh with the twelve.
Mar 14:18 And as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me.
Mar 14:19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? and another said, Is it I?
Mar 14:20 And he answered and said unto them, It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with me in the dish.
Mar 14:21 The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born.
All 13 are present when Jesus said this. A look at the other accounts of this in the Bible will show that the betrayer Judas says something to Jesus the others cannot hear, Jesus answers and Judas leaves.
The others think that Judas was sent on an errand because he was the holder of the bag, the money.
Only after the betrayer left did Jesus institute the Lord’s Supper. This teaches that the Lord’s Supper is only for believers. The Lord ’s Supper is not for betrayers and those who are against Christ. This is one of the reasons for the position of what is called closed communion.
We don’t have that issue here, but in a large church you can have visitors and you know nothing about them. Are they saved? Are they what is called a tare among the wheat? Are they a wolf in sheep’s clothing?
The Biblical position is the Lord ’s Supper is only for an assembly of Believers. We see confirmation of that in Corinthians.
After Judas leaves Jesus then institutes the Lord ’s Supper. The Passover meal itself is over. This is different. This is separate.
Mar 14:22 And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.
Mar 14:23 And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.
Mar 14:24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.
The disciples would not understand this fully until after Jesus goes to the cross and rises from the dead.
Obviously at this moment His body had not yet been broken and His precious blood has not yet been spilt.
The Bible is clear not a bone of Jesus was broken. But make no mistake His body was. It was beat to a pulp so bad that His face was almost unrecognizable. Bloody from the wounds of the thorny crown, and from having his bead pulled out and from the smiting of His face.
O’ yes His body was broken. Skin ripped off His back, Nailed to a cross, and finally a spear thrust upwards into His side and up thru the water sack that protects the heart and into the heart itself and out ran both water and blood.
O’ yes His body was broken.
Mar 14:22 And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.
The bread was not literally His body it was to be a picture, a symbol of His body. And object lesson of His body and how it was broken. This is why we are to use bread that can be broken.
Jesus wants us to remember that His body was broken on that cross and that it was done for us. The just dying for the unjust.
Mar 14:23 And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.
Mar 14:24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.
The grape juice was also not His blood, but a visual object lesson that represented His blood. Jesus shed His blood for everyone. He died to pay the penalty. The wages of sin is death. Drinking that grape juice was symbolic of receiving that truth into yourself.
Making that truth a part of you. Another reason that the Lord ’s Supper is only for saved people.
Jesus wanted us to remember what He did for us. He wanted us to remember His broken body and His shed blood. When we partake the bread and juice we are showing forth that we believe and that we have made this truth a part of us.
The Lord ’s Supper is a simple and yet there is a lot to it.
It has a look to the past. Remembering His broken body and shed blood.
It has a look to the present. We remember this today and we show forth our belief today.
And it has a look to the future. This aspect is seldom mentioned but it is very important.
Jesus included a look to the future when He instituted the Lord’s Supper. Jesus wanted the Lord’s Supper to be serious. Not taken lightly or causally.
However, He did not want it to be done like a funeral. Many of us have been to a Lord ’s Supper where they did it like a funeral. People were wearing black and crying. Yes Jesus died, but He did not stay dead.
Jesus integrated into the institution of the Lord’s Supper a look to the future.
Mar 14:25 Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.
Mar 14:26 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
Jesus said that He will drink no more of the grape juice that He made a part of the Lord’s Supper until.
Until. That is the look to the future. He will again one day.
One day He will have the Lord’s Supper with all of His own.
When we take the Lord’s Supper Jesus not only wanted us to remember what He did on the cross, but also the great truth that He rose again. That He is ascended into Heaven. And that one day He will be with His redeemed.
They Lord’s Supper has us look at the past and what He did on the cross but it also has us look to the future. He is risen and He is coming back.
The Lord’s Supper has a look to the past, to the present, and a look to the future.
And one great day we will get to have the Lord’s Supper with Him. One day we will see Him face to face and be with Him forever more.
See more lessons on the Lord’s Supper