The First Lord’s Supper

Last year we looked at how the Lord’s Supper has a forward look.  We are to do it until He comes back.  The Lord’s Supper is not a funeral.

This year we are going to take a look at the first Lords Supper in Luke chapter 22.

But before we do that I would like to remind us of what has happened up to that point.

Hundreds of years before God thru Isaiah gave a prophecy.

Isa 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 

Isa 9:7  Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. 

So Isaiah’s prophecy says the promised messiah would be born and then there is a colon and then it says the government shall be upon his shoulder.  All of Isaiah’s prophecy is correct.  And it was a longed for promise.

And pretty much all of Israel knew that prophecy.  They looked forward to it.  And especially during the time of Jesus because they were under the heal of Rome.  They longed for this king to come and take care of the Rome problem and set up His kingdom.

They knew of this promise and knew it well.  However, what they did not know was that there would be at least over 2,000 years between the word given and the word and.

“a son is given: and the government”

In effect that colon represents over 2,000 years.

What they did not understand was that Jesus was coming 2 times and not once.  The first time as the Lamb led to the slaughter to pay for our sins, and then thousands of years later to reign and rule.

And then a while after Isaiah passes off the scene God thru Zechariah tells how they will recognize this coming king.  What will the sign be?

Zec 9:9  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. 

And several days before Luke chapter 22 Jesus fulfilled that prophecy.  He rode into Jerusalem upon a colt the foal of an ass.  That means it is a young donkey.

And the people recognized the fulfillment of prophecy and they were excited and they were shouting Hosanna and casting palm leaves before Him as He rode into town.

Mrk_11:9  And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:

Mrk_11:10  Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.

Jhn_12:13  Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

They had connected the dots between Zechariah and Isaiah and now expected Jesus to set up His kingdom now and deal with Rome.

But what happened?

Jesus then leaves town.  He does not stay in Jerusalem He goes out to Mary and Martha’s house in Bethany.  He makes zero moves to setup a kingdom.

The people’s attitude turns against Jesus.  Instead of shouting Hosanna they will now shortly be crying Crucify Him.

The 12 disciples are handling this better than the masses but they are confused also by all of this.

Before it is all over all 12 will turn their back on Jesus.  One will return and see Jesus thru the illegal trial and will stand at the foot of the cross.  That is John.

Out of the other 11, 10 will not return until after Jesus is crucified. And one will let Satan use him to betray Jesus.

They did not understand that there is a large time period between a son is given: and the government of the King.

Jesus had told the disciples several times that He must suffer and die.  Jesus plainly foretold His death to them 3 times.  It never registered.  They will not understand that truth until after Jesus rose from the grave.

To further prepare them Jesus recently taught them about the coming of the Holy Spirit after they see Him no more.

He taught them that He is going to the Father and they will not see Him.  Jesus foretold of the destruction of the Temple, meaning His body.

He taught of the signs of the end of the age, which when you read Revelation you learn those signs happen during the tribulation, and then Jesus taught the abomination of desolation during the tribulation and then He taught the coming of the Son of Man, which happens at the end of the tribulation.

Jesus gave them the parable of the 10 virgins, 5 were wise and had oil in their lamps and 5 were foolish.  He came and it was too late for the foolish ones.

Then Jesus taught the parable of the Talents.  The master gives talents (Money) to the servants and He leaves.  They are to use those talents for the master while he is gone.

And then Jesus teaches them about the final judgment.   All of that teaching in some way has to do with Jesus leaving, being gone, and then returning.

And all of that teaching was after Jesus quit teaching the masses and was only teaching His disciples during the last days before the cross.  He was trying to prepare them and get the light bulb to go on.

And they still cannot put it together.  They can’t get the hope and thought out of their minds about the coming kingdom.  Jesus just taught them the signs that will be before He sets up His kingdom.  And it is clear that those signs do not yet exist.  Like the moon becoming blood.

And still they can’t let go of it.  They are confused.

And after almost a week after He rode the donkey Jesus says let’s go back to Jerusalem.  They get close and there is no donkey this time.  There is no excitement and no waiting crowd.

And Jesus still does not do anything about bringing in the kingdom.  Instead Jesus tells them to prepare the Passover.

A refresher on all of that helps us get a picture of what was going thru the minds of the disciples when they ate the Passover meal with Jesus.

I believe there is some confusion, and some doubt, and a feeling of disappointment over no kingdom.   Let’s start in Luke 22 verse 1.

Luk 22:1  Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. 

Luk 22:2  And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people. 

The feast of unleavened bread and the Passover are connected.  The Passover is first and actually starts the feast of unleavened bread which lasts 7 days.  The Passover meal happens on day 1 of the feast.

The Passover was instituted in Egypt and showed that when God sees the shed blood of the Lamb the death angel passes over you.  It was a picture of someone getting saved and in faith in the work that Jesus did on the cross and applying in your heart.  And when a person gets saved and God sees the shed blood applied to your heart then eternal death passes over you.

It does not ever touch you.

For Jesus to literally fulfill that picture Jesus needed to die for Passover like the Lamb pictured in Exodus.  This can cause some confusion in the timing.

In Exodus they first killed the Lamb and then they applied the blood and then after that they prepared and parkook of the Passover meal.  So the lamb in Exodus had to be killed earlier.  They had to kill the lamb before Passover.

The death of Jesus followed the same pattern.  Just like in Egypt Jesus died before the meal.  Jesus died shortly before the date changed to Passover day.

If you remember they had to hurry to get Jesus’ body in the tomb before the Holy Day of Passover started.  They had a law that anyone who touched a dead body on that day could not partake of the Passover meal.

So Jesus was put in the tomb shortly before the date changed and He was in the tomb on Passover day and the next 2 days.  He was 3 days and 3 nights in the earth.

When the Jewish day changes help clears things up.

They took Genesis literally where it says over and over the morning and the evening were the first day and then the morning and the evening were the second day.  That means the day ends in the evening.

So the next day started for them at about 6:00pm.  So Passover day actually started at 6:01 PM.

So when Jesus told the disciples that they were going to eat the Passover meal they would have been even more confused because they are eating it a day early.

Then comes the garden, the betrayal and the illegal trial, and the scourging with the whip all happened during the night hours.

In the early morning it is still the day before Passover, Jesus sees Herod and Pilate and the people cry Crucify him.  Jesus gets put on the cross about 9:00 AM and dies about 3:00 PM.

That is about 3 hours before the start of Passover day.  Since the Passover time is considered a Holy time the priests feared killing Jesus this close to that feast.

Luk 22:2  And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people. 

Luke chapter 22 is in the opening hours of the day before Passover about 6:00 PM or a little after.

Luk 22:3  Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. 

Luk 22:4  And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them. 

Luk 22:5  And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. 

Luk 22:6  And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude. 

So in the days before this Judas already slipped away and met with the priests and made the deal to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.  And then travels back with the group.  The deal was already made before Jesus returns to Jerusalem.

Luk 22:7  Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed. 

Luk 22:8  And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat. 

Luk 22:9  And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? 

You can tell by their reaction that this was unexpected.  They had no resources ready and no plan and no idea of how to go about it.  You get the feeling that they were really caught off guard with this request.

But Jesus was prepared.   This is just another place where we see God using His Almighty power in the circumstances of life, and how He is always working way ahead.  There are times in life where we are surprised or unprepared or caught off guard.  But that never happens to our Lord.

He knew from eternity past how this would be done and He was completely prepared.

Luk 22:10  And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in. 

Luk 22:11  And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? 

Luk 22:12  And he shall shew you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. 

Luk 22:13  And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.

This really was quite amazing.  The Passover and feast of unleavened bread was a huge deal in Jerusalem.   Jews would travel great distances for it.  The city would be packed every year at this time.  I mean very overcrowded.

Everything was always full.  You would have had to make arrangements far in advance for any place to stay.

Jesus did not have to go on a waiting list or keep calling venues.  He had it arranged a long time before.  The disciples for 3 years have watch Jesus use His power to calm storms and heal the blind and lame and lepers.  They have watched Him feed 5,000 men with two small fishes and a little bread.

And here was another amazing demonstration of How Jesus is all knowing and all powerful.  And yet He would not lift one finger to set up the kingdom they so badly wanted and expected.

Luk 22:14  And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. 

Luk 22:15  And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: 

Here is another principal.  Jesus is more concerned with what you need than He is with what you want.

They all wanted the Kingdom and Rome dealt with.  But what they needed was for Jesus to go to the cross and pay for their sins.

What they needed was more important to Jesus than what they wanted.  They needed their sins paid for, they needed that so they could believe and go to heaven and not hell.

Jesus was going to give them what they needed most.

This principal is also true for us today.  Jesus is more concerned about what we need than He is about what we want.   Yes, Jesus does care about our wants and He does promise to give us our requests as long as they line up with His will.

But He will always put what is best for us and what we need over what we want.  This is one of the reasons why sometimes the answer to our prayer is no.  And when it is no, we can have absolute faith and trust that it is for our best.  A yes answer is sometimes not what we need.  Sometimes what we need is no.

I for one am very thankful for this principal.  Jesus will always put what we need above of what we want.  And for them that day what they needed was the cross and not the kingdom.

There is another principal here.

Did the disciples understand what was going on?   No.

Did Jesus ask and expect them to take the Lord ’s Supper anyway.  Yes.

Did they get to ask 20 questions and have everything answered before they were expected to take the Lord’s Supper?  No.

Did the Lord coddle them and apologize for not waiting until they understood?  No.

The Lord expects and has every right to expect that His disciples obey in faith.  Even when they do not understand.  We are to walk by faith and trust the Lord and His instructions.  When we understand and when we do not understand.

Luk 22:15  And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: 

Jesus brings up suffering, which they don’t understand.  And then He brings up the kingdom and that it will be delayed.

Luk 22:16  For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 

No doubt this made them wonder.  Why the delay?  We are commanded to eat the Passover every year so does this mean that the kingdom will be before next year?  If it is longer than that then how could Jesus justify not eating the Passover.

And again why are we eating the Passover a day early?

They could very well have been having those kinds of thoughts.  They just did not get the fact that Jesus is going back to the throne of God for thousands of years.

Both Matthew and Mark make it very clear that Jesus has already said that one of you will betray me.  And that all of them wondered if it was them.   They all thought that.  Why?  Because they had been thrown by Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a young donkey and then He done nothing to set up the kingdom.

They have confusion and doubt and feel let down because their expectation was not met.  So the way they are feeling in their hearts manifests itself in the thought that it could be me that betrays Him.

Mat 26:21  And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. 

Mat 26:22  And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? 

Mat 26:23  And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. 

Mat 26:24  The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born. 

Mat 26:25  Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said. 

The book of John makes it clear that Judas then was told to leave before the Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper.

Joh 13:25  He then lying on Jesus’ breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? 

Joh 13:26  Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. 

Joh 13:27  And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. 

Joh 13:28  Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. 

Joh 13:29  For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor. 

By the way this is one of the reasons for what is called closed communion.  Judas was not saved.  The betrayer who was not right with God was told to leave.  The Lord’s Supper is for His Children and not for the lost.

After Judas left Jesus has the first Lord’s Supper.

And it is very simple and strait forward.  But full of meaning and purpose and of great importance.

Luk 22:17  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: 

Luk 22:18  For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. 

Luk 22:19  And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. 

Luk 22:20  Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. 

Jesus gives them a visible object lesson.  When He says this is my body, it is obvious that it is an object lesson.  The bread is not in any way His body.  And the grape juice is not His literal blood.

They are symbols only of His body and of His blood.

And they are to take the bread and break it.  An action that pictures how Jesus’ body was broken on the cross for them.  His bones were not broken but His body was.

And the fruit of the vine is a symbol of His precious blood that was shed on the cross for them.

And they are to take them and eat the broken bread and drink the juice.  When you eat and drink something you are receiving them into yourself.  In a way they become a part of you.

And when you eat that bread and drink that juice you are showing forth that you are receiving the truth of what those symbols represent.

When a person takes the Lord’s Supper he is testifying that he believes and has accepted the work that Jesus did on the cross.  He is showing that he has accepted as a part of himself the shed blood.  The broken body and shed blood has been applied to his heart in faith.

Taking the Lord’s Supper is a way to show forth that you believe in the death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus and that you believe the gospel and have received salvation.

You are showing forth that you have made that truth a part of yourself.

The Lord’s Supper is only for saved born again believers.

And Jesus said we are to do this in remembrance of Him.  Jesus wants His children to think about the cross and what He did for us.  And He wants His children to show forth this truth.

And He wants us to do this until He returns to setup His kingdom.

See more lessons on the Lord’s Supper