For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again. 1 Corinthians 11:26 NLT
Exodus 12 records the story of the first Passover. The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years. Pharoah did not want to release the free labor, and God sent nine plagues one by one to the nation to convince Pharoah to let His people go. But Pharoah’s heart only hardened, and God sent a final plague guaranteed to get their release. The death angel would come through, taking the life of every first-born male. The only way for the Israelites to escape death was to sacrifice a spotless lamb and put its blood on the doorpost of the home. The angel would see the blood and pass over the homes with the blood. Everyone inside would be saved.
After that first Passover, the Israelites remembered and celebrated it every year. The Thursday of the week that Jesus went to the cross, He told his disciples to prepare the traditional Passover meal in the Upper Room he had arranged for them. They did, and that night they celebrated together. Jesus surprised them by changing it up in a very significant way (Luke 22). Jesus took the first cup of wine and gave thanks. Then He took the bread, gave thanks again and divided it among each of the disciples. He told them this was His body, given for them, and to eat it in remembrance of Him.
Then they ate the Passover meal – matzah (unleavened bread), zeroa (shank bone of the sacrificial lamb), beitzah (egg), maror and chazeret (bitter herbs), charoset (sweet paste), and karpas (green vegetable). “After supper he took another cup of wine and said, "This cup is the new covenant between God and his people – an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you'" (Luke 22:20 NLT). Jesus was telling them one more time that He was the promised Messiah, the perfect Lamb of God that John the Baptist had introduced before His baptism. As Jesus came walking along the Jordan River, John called out, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 NIV). And now he was saying it was time – His blood would be poured out for them and for all the world.
That Passover observance was the start of the weekend that forever changed everything. Later that night He was taken by soldiers from the Garden of Gethsemane, beaten, tortured, and falsely accused all night. By 9 AM on Friday He had been falsely convicted and nailed to the cross, giving up His Spirit to His Father at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. That evening before Passover began, His broken body was taken down and placed in a borrowed tomb. The price had been paid. His body had been broken. His blood had been shed.
- We remember this when we receive communion. When He shed His blood, you were on His mind. He planned before you were born for death to pass over you and for you to have life forever in Him. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!