The Gospel of Luke 22:14-23 The Passover & The Lords Table

Good morning. As we step into Luke 22, 14 through 23, as Courtney read for us here, we've got some very interesting things to pass along to you. I've been looking forward to these passages presently here with this, but also ones we're going to be studying in the upcoming weeks, things that are rather or possibly surprising. There are things that are contained in in this passage and the ones we're going to be looking at that are eternally significant certainly that but also awesomely dramatic and Jesus is going to hold the Passover with his disciples often called the Last Supper and And he's also going to have that, as we'll explain more fully, be the transition for the first Lord's table. So he's going to end up having, this will be the last supper and the last Passover for these disciples in the normal sense, and now having the Lord's supper, or the Lord's table, for the first time and then continuing on with that in the years and decades and centuries to come.

He's going to tell them that he's about to suffer and of course they have not understood that. He's been telling them that. They have not understood that to this point and even at this night they don't understand what that means. They're going to get freaked out.

So at any rate, one of them and they don't know which one will soon betray jesus only jesus and the betrayer uh... know about this uh... no the rest of them can figure this out and their keep wondering what's talking about and uh... it's not me uh... what what do you mean jesus is also going to tell them uh... many things about the ministry and if you look at john chapters thirteen 14, 15, and 16, those are the places where it's recorded that he explains things about the Holy Spirit coming, and he's got to leave, and the Holy Spirit's going to come, and they did not understand one word of what he was telling them that evening, right? But because of the Holy Spirit's coming, they would understand it later. Many years, and in some cases, Other truths were not learned until decades later, quite a bit later. So, looking ahead, we've got some very exciting passages coming up in this chapter and the next.

Peter's going to pull out one of two swords that the disciples have. So here's twelve disciples, except one of them is already away because he's betraying. So eleven of them. Between them, they've got two swords, as we're going to see. and they're ready to bravely take on 600 men who are fully armed. Right? Yeah. Anyway, so then Peter's going to take a very strategic move and cut off the ear of the high priest's servant, whose name is Malchus. Right? All right.

Peter is also, that very night, going to deny that he even knows Christ. And he's going to say it several times, and he's going to swear as he does it. right? And Jesus is going to tell them ahead of time about these things. Pontius Pilate is going to be desperate to avoid personally sentencing Jesus to crucifixion. He's got problem and his wife sent him a note said don't have anything to do with this Jesus guy so he's trying desperately to hand this thing off before he has to have this Roman marriage counseling you know session right I don't know how you do that right I don't know if the Romans even had marriage counseling but he's going to need it right so anyway that's so that's going to be fascinating he did we're going to see and Luke actually does it best He's desperately trying to hand this thing off or turn Jesus away, and I don't find anything wrong And he finally ends up getting forced into it, so we're going to see this this desperate man Who's got a serious marriage problem, okay? Trying to hand this thing off and he in the end he doesn't succeed so his marriage probably doesn't work out very well, okay? This is really cool.

Jesus' crucifixion and several events surrounding it will greatly disrupt, not the Pharisees, but the Sadducees. The Sadducees on the day of Jesus' crucifixion, starting at noon, are going to have the worst day of their lives. And we're going to find out why when we get there. For the Sadducees, this will be worse than a nightmare.

It'll be horrible. Isn't that great? Isn't that great? It's going to be a horrible, horrible time for the Sadducees. They'll think, oh good, we finally got rid of this guy. Oh no. Oh no. You guys have no idea what you've gotten yourselves into. It's going to be horrible for the Sadducees. And so when we get there, that's when we'll touch on that. We'll give you all the details.

You're going to love it. okay so Luke 22 14 through 16 reads like this when the hour had come he reclined at the table and the apostles with him and he said to them I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer for I say to you I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God and by the way this never again eat it is expressed as a negative in the most powerful possible in the Greek language. Never again. It is impossible that I eat it until the kingdom of God.

So it began here as a Passover. Look at it. The account of the first Passover is given to us in Exodus chapter 12 and then it shows up as we'll soon see in other parts of Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Passover feast was originally a celebration of Israel's delivery from about 400 years of slavery. After 400 years, they said, we're getting tired of this, right?

And so they leave. So anyway, so they eat an unblemished, male, year-old lamb. They were supposed to roast it. It wasn't like, how would you like your lamb cooked? No, you're going to have it roasted. I hope you like roasted lamb, because that's what you're going to eat, right? Okay, so then it was served only with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. That's it. That's all you get. If you don't like lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs, you're out of luck. So you got to have that.

All of it was to be eaten at that first Passover while standing. If you like to eat standing, you better because that's what you got to do the first time. ready for the exodus, because they're supposed to also eat it in haste. I don't know about you, but I don't like eating fast, right? I don't like fast food. I don't like to eat fast, any of that. Okay.

So then the Jews were to rid themselves of all the leaven. In fact, that's what they did the day before is they'd go around the house and they had developed this custom of hiding some leaven somewhere so it would be found and then the father would sweep it up and all that. But they were to rid themselves of all leaven from the very first day, Passover, and then on into the feast of unleavened bread. They were to eat unleavened bread then for seven days during this feast.

And you better like it, because that's what you're going to get. Right? Okay. The next morning the Jews were to depart then from Goshen and the land of Egypt in great haste. Get out of here. Okay? Eat fast, run fast. Okay? Get out of here. Get out of this place. The Jews were then told to observe these things as a memorial. Every year, Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, again and again and again. So here's the way the timeline looks.

You have 1446 BC, that's the exodus of the 12 tribes, number 12, easy to remember that, 12 tribes of Israel from Egypt as recorded in Exodus chapter 12. So if you remember 12, you're good, right? So Exodus of the 12 tribes from Egypt recorded in Exodus chapter 12.

And then they left, they got out of there, right? We're out of here. OK, and then 1,479 years later, Christ is having the Last Supper with his disciples. His 12 disciples, at least originally 12, Judas takes off in the middle of it, as recorded in the four Gospels. So remember the number 12. That's good. That'll help you keep several things in mind here.

Now, so the Old Testament would have required this unblemished male lamb roasted, served with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and they retained that custom into New Testament times. No work, except just like it was a Sabbath, even though it was some other day, and this particular day was Thursday night, as we would call it, except for the Passover meal preparation itself. otherwise not supposed to do any other work. So we have passages in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy here that spell out, here's how you're supposed to carry out this Passover. And the Jews maintained all those practices on into New Testament times.

Now they did vary a few things, and we'll talk about that. So whatever was required, they maintained it, except that were they standing up anymore? No, they didn't do the stand-up thing. As a matter of fact, as opposed to eating it in haste and getting ready to leave, Passover was now something very much slowed down. And you sat down, right?

And they had other traditions that were added to it, as we'll talk about shortly here. So in addition to those items from the Law of Moses, they also had various things that were added to the set of traditions that weren't included in the original law of Moses. The Gospels don't have the details of the Passover.

Why? Because every Jew would have been brought up with those for years, and by this time many years, and particularly the Passover celebration is focused actually on the young people, the way it's carried out. So the young people are the target of the message. when they're about in this case because Jesus is with his disciples things would have been varied slightly because it's not focused on the young people for today they have a Passover Haggadah is what they can call and things have been added to it if you want to come take a look at it you're free to do so so that today the way it's done is not the way it was done in New Testament times they've added three things that you may or may not like.

One, hard-boiled eggs. They've added hard-boiled eggs. Secondly, they've added gefilte fish. I know Nancy wouldn't like that, right? Gefilte fish is basically a white fish of some kind, and they kind of, you know, turn it into a fish hamburger. And so anyway, so you got the gefilte fish, and then they also put a lamb shank on the plate.

So those three things have been added in the modern Passover sequence, but they weren't there, they weren't present in New Testament times. So if you have, for example, Jews for Jesus will go around and they'll do a modern Passover, but that's not the same as what Jesus did because they hadn't added those three items to the plate.

Nonetheless, so they carried on much of the tradition from Moses. They added some things to it, which we'll talk about in a minute. So remember here, it says, when the hour had come, he reclined at the table and the apostles with him. That wouldn't have been done at the first Passover because they were supposed to stand up, right? So this reclining at table, that was one of the changes that was made fairly early on.

And by New Testament times, that was the tradition. This is, according to tradition, the room where it was held. It's not certain that it was held here because a lot of those traditions, there's varying ability to confirm that that was where it actually was. The columns and the roof were added around the year 1200, so those were not original, but it would be the floor and some portions of the walls appear to be original. So this would be another view of that same area. All right.

So by custom, and this was added to the Law of Moses, by custom, four servings of wine would have been offered on Passover. And as they would do it, preparation would oftentimes have four actual cups sitting there and even have them numbered, right? Have those cups numbered. The wine was to be diluted, according to the rabbis, with five parts of water to one part of wine, so it wasn't a matter of consuming four cups of full-strength wine. The wine was consumed with a substantial meal, Passover, lamb, bitter herbs, right? And so a substantial meal, and then The wine was consumed over a period of a few hours was the usual time for a Passover celebration. So slowly would be also there.

And drunkenness was, of course, not encouraged. It wasn't even well thought of. So some folks might get concerned about, oh, they're serving wine, all that. Not really even a possibility. Because by the time you have the four cups of dilute wine, you haven't even had one cup of full-strength wine. And you've had it over several hours, and you've had it with a substantial meal. So not a concern.

And the sequence would be like this, and we'll go through it. You have a full page. I'll go through it just one at a time. Cup one, I will bring you out, and the summary word for that is deliverance. in the opening prayer of the day of Passover. And we'll talk about, you know, what parts connect up here with the sequence. The second one, cup two, I will rid you of your bondage. So the summary word was freedom. Okay. Passover meal would be then explained, and they would sing Psalm 113 to 114.

These were part of what's called the Hallel. The Hallel is 113 through 118, and they would sing that as they're coming up from, say, Jericho. coming up to Jerusalem. They would sing the Hallel and they would just sing it over and over again. They would also have the Levites singing the Hallel while they are slaughtering the Passover lambs, right? The Levites would be there in the temple singing the Hallel while they're slaughtering the Passover lambs, and they would sing it again here on Passover evening.

And they'd start off with the second cup with Psalm 113 and 114, right? And then in cup three, I will redeem you, or the summary word would be redemption, okay? Eating of the bread, lamb, and bitter herbs. And so they would have that sequence. And this is, as we'll see, this is the place where a lot of what is recorded in the Gospels, not all of, but a lot of what's recorded in the Gospels happens with this third cup, as we'll see. Fourth cup, I will take you for my people and I will be your God. So this is consummation, is the summary word.

And then they would sing the rest of the Hallel, Psalm 115 to 118. So between the second cup and the fourth cup, you would have all of the Hallel be sung. And just so we know what Jesus is talking about with kingdom, we talk about the millennial kingdom, that means a thousand years, this kingdom is yet future. This would be the expression the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, or sometimes just the kingdom.

And so now, Luke 22, 17 and 18 reads like this, And when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he said, Take this and share it among yourselves. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes. So he's going to have this last supper, and he won't have a meal together with them again. like this until Christ has come again and the kingdom is established. So here you have with cup one, I will bring you out in deliverance. It appears likely that Luke 22 17 describes Christ saying the blessing before they drank from the first cup. So that's the first match up there.

Again This would have been done so many times, and even the children would be brought up on this, that they would go through this process. So the Bible and the Gospels does not sit there and explain how all these cups go and everything else, because they all would have known it very well. So it only focuses on those things that are specific to what Jesus did, and particularly for instituting the Lord's table, as we will carry out here this next Sunday. Then on the third cup, Christ would have said, this is my blood with the third cup. That would have been the time for that to have taken. So you can imagine, here are these guys, they're thinking, OK, we're going to have a Passover, right?

And you go through all the words, and they would have tradition as to what words would be said at each of the cups, right? With this cup, you know, they'd take it in hand, and then Jesus says something that they don't understand when He says it. This is My blood. What? Why is He saying that?

See, they would see that as just stunning, shocking, puzzling words. They would not understand it until later. In fact, almost everything that he said that was outside of tradition that evening was not understood until later. Almost everything that he said.

All right, so Luke 22, 19, and when he had taken some bread and given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. So he instituted the Lord's table, and next Sunday we're going to do exactly that.

They were baffled. What is he talking about? Wait a minute, that's not a part of the tradition, right? But they would be completely puzzled until essentially much later as to what he was talking about. This would not have made any sense and it's not a part of the tradition.

This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me and so far as we can tell only Peter and John followed there with the crucifixion. They're the only ones that are named. And then in the trial beforehand, the rest of them are running. They're scared. They're puzzled. They have no idea what Jesus is talking about here. It isn't until later that they understand.

So I will redeem you that third cup Christ said of the bread. This is my body there with a third cup. in Luke 22 20 and in the same way he took the cup after they had eaten saying this cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood and that they would not have understood either new covenant they would understand that's out of the Old Testament but why on earth why in heavens Would you say such a thing okay, so let's talk about this the new covenant would be the new covenant with Israel the Jews Understood they had the old covenant and and the Jews were living out The old covenant and the disciples were learning and living out the old covenant. This is all under the law of Moses, okay The new covenant will be enacted in the yet-to-come Millennial Kingdom remember that little diagram that we had. It will be enacted then in that yet-to-come millennial kingdom.

The people of Israel, Jews, ethnic Jews, will all have the Holy Spirit and they'll be empowered to know and live out the law of Moses from the heart without a teacher, no rabbis. And as I saw this, I thought, oh I know a rabbi joke, but I won't tell you. Okay, so anyway, it's way old. Anyway, so anyway, with this here, they will all know the law 613 individual laws are going to know it. They're going to be empowered to live it out.

And they will live it in the land of Israel. We have this diagram here that shows even the tribes. It turns out Genesis 15, 18 through 21 gives the outside boundaries. And Ezekiel chapter 48 gives which tribe gets which piece of land inside of it. But they will be empowered to live it out.

Why is God going to do that? It turns out we in the church and those Jews have a common need. The Jews cannot live out righteousness on their own, even though the law is holy and righteous and good. The law is holy and righteous and good. The Jews do not have the power to live it out, which is why they were breaking the law constantly. They are not empowered to live it out. So they have a common need with us. We also cannot live out righteousness on our own. So God says, okay, I'm going to solve your common problem differently.

For us in the church, he says, you've been crucified with Christ, you've died to the law, Galatians 2.19, you've been crucified with Christ, perfect tense, Galatians 2.20, and how do you live out righteousness? Not by trying to live out the law. Not even ten commandments, not even nine, not eleven, no law. You've been crucified with Christ. You've died to the law.

Righteousness gets lived out by Christ's life in you. It is no longer I who do the living. Christ does the living in me. So righteousness gets lived out by Christ's very life lived within us. No law. We don't need the law. Let's ask this question. Does Christ need the law to know what righteousness is? He does not. So if I try to apply the law, that's ignorance. I don't need nine. I don't need ten. I don't need eleven. I don't need any law. Christ doesn't need it. And I died. I'm out of here. I'm done. It's Christ who does the living.

That's how it happens. so they'll live out the law and they will all be blessed Deuteronomy chapter 28 verses 1-14 okay so here are God's covenants with Israel which will all have some fulfillment in the Millennial Kingdom this is on the top of page 3 in your handout or at least that's where it should be Okay, so we have the Abrahamic Covenant about 2100 BC, and that's given in Genesis 12, 1 through 3. God repeats and expands upon that throughout Abraham's life, and again repeats and expands on it through Isaac's life, and again repeats and expands on it throughout the life of Jacob, also called Israel. Then we have with Moses the Old Covenant is given, all 613 laws.

365 of them are things you don't do. Don't do this, don't do that, right? 365, all the rest of them are things you're supposed to do. So all 613 laws given through Moses initially in Exodus and repeated, deutero means twice, repeated there in Deuteronomy. So then you have the land covenant, this land that you're going into, right, that he tells about in Deuteronomy. Then you have the covenant with David.

David, a descendant of yours, is going to reign forever, right? A descendant of yours is going to reign forever. All these covenants have a fulfillment in the Millennial Kingdom, and this new and better covenant, as Hebrews calls it out, Though it was given in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and almost a dozen passages, it will be fulfilled in the Millennial Kingdom, where all the Jews will be, because they have a need just like ours, they can't live out righteousness on their own, they'll have the Holy Spirit, every single one of them, they will be empowered and enabled and energized by the Holy Spirit to live out the law. in the coming millennial kingdom. So here's a timeline.

The covenant is promised here in these passages given in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. And the covenant is confirmed. That's what we read here in Luke 2220. It's also in Mark 14, 24, and Matthew 26, 28. And as we do it here, we use 1 Corinthians 11. to observe the Lord's table, so the covenant is confirmed in there as well. Remember, with the Jews, when they would have a covenant, there would be a confirming sign or sacrifice.

God made a covenant with Noah. What did he do? He had a confirming sign, which was what? The rainbow, right? But with Abraham, God would make a covenant, and Abraham would do what? He'd prepare sacrifices, right? This is God's sacrifice confirming the new covenant given in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. The covenant will be fulfilled as described in Isaiah 61, 65, and 66.

It'll be enacted and fulfilled and in place during the coming millennial kingdom. So we have these contrasts. Real simple. Under the law, the Passover is a memorial for Israel. Under the law, they look back at the Exodus and forward to God's salvation in Christ, which is going to happen within hours after this Last Supper. Less than a day.

They're going to have the final God's Passover, 1 Corinthians 5.7. God's Passover in Christ.

Under grace, we have the Lord's Table, as we're going to observe here this next Sunday. We have the Lord's Table, which is a memorial for the church. Passover was a memorial for Israel. This is a memorial for the church. We look back at the cross, but there's also an anticipation forward to His coming.

And that's why we have at the end of the passage, until He comes. So the Jews had something to look back on and forward to. We also have something to look back on and forward to. So here's the way we show it. We have Israel from 1446 BC, the first Passover, up until Christ's first coming. And then there is the Passover then, looking back as a remembrance of that night of the first Passover right the exodus and then looking forward to the cross where Christ would be the Passover We in the church look back as we do the Lord's table and we have it as a remembrance Do this in remembrance of me, right? We have it as a remembrance and we also have a looking forward until he comes So that's the significance.

So Israel's was under the law and spelled out in the law of Moses. Ours is not under the law, right? And it's spelled out there at the end of each of the Gospels. So Christ had this intent. The intent was to have believers remember Him for what He has done for us. That's what we're doing with the Lord's table. And for who He is. what he's done and who he is. We remember that. That's what the Lord Table does. His intent was also to have us anticipate his coming. I won't take this again until I do it in the kingdom, right? Until he comes. I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes. That's what Luke 22, 18 says. First Corinthians shortens it up until he comes, right? And the spiritual value of the Lord's table is in the remembrance, and I will add to that also in the anticipation. All right, Luke 22, 21 through 23.

But behold, the hand of the one betraying me is with mine on the table. For indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined. But woe to that man by whom he is betrayed. And they began to discuss among themselves which one of them it might be who was going to do this thing. Really astounding. They really had not a clue. They had no idea. I think there's a very good reason why they had no idea who this guy was.

It was during the eating of the bread, the lamb and the bitter herbs associated with a third cup. that Christ spoke of Jesus' betrayal. So verses 21 through 23 imply Judas as a betrayer, but Jesus does not give away his name or his identity, and the disciples have not a clue from anything that had happened up to that point in time that Judas was the guy.

Oh, one more thing. Judas leaves in the middle of this meal. And they wouldn't have thought anything unusual of that because Judas was the disciple's treasurer. And according to Jewish law, you could still go out in the middle of the meal and buy more supplies. And so his departure would have been thought of as, oh, he's sending him out to go buy some more stuff because he's the treasurer. And so they wouldn't have thought anything of Judah's departure. It would have been, oh, okay, he must be going out to buy more stuff for a meal here.

Here is really what is amazing to me. Jesus expressed love to Judas whom he knew was going to betray him. He expressed love to Judas so much so that the disciples could not tell which of them was going to betray him. He washed, this is John 13, he washed Judas' feet. He was a servant even to Judas. And one more thing, as we read through the Bible, Jesus would die within hours. for Judas' sins.

This is astounding. This is amazing love. Did he have to do that? No. But he did. He expressed love to Judas that night and all the days before, even on the cross the next day, he was going to be expressing love for Judas. He loved Judas immensely, and no differently than all the rest, even though Judas would betray Him. That is an amazing love and amazing grace. I'm not going to leave you with Judas, the betrayer.

I'm going to look at Ephesians 1, 3-8, because within hours, we're going to see the fulfillment of what Jesus is about to do. So, Ephesians 1, 3-8, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. How many? Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Not just a little pinch. Not just some of them. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, and it's in the heavenly places in Christ, it's untouchable.

Nothing is going to mess it up, not even this next election. Not even this next election is going to mess that up. Doesn't matter how people vote or how it turns out, this isn't going to get messed up. Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. Isn't this amazing? God's got an amazing set of priorities. He chose you in Christ before He said, let there be light. You. Specifically. Before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before him and by the way that holy and blameless Set of words shows up again in chapter 5 Talking about the husband and the wife We don't have time to go into that now, but in love he predestined us to adoption of sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will and to the praise of the glory of his grace which he freely bestowed on us and the beloved. He doesn't send an invoice. Isn't that great? No invoice to go along with this. It won't show up on your credit card.

Verse 7, and this is what we're really anticipating. In Him we have the redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. That riches of His grace is going to show up again in Ephesians 2.7. We could translate it, wealths of grace. We talk, and we ought to, about our position here in Christ, but this is actually expressed as a possession. In Him, and that's a position, right? We have as a possession redemption through His blood.

The blood that, according to the timeline here, is going to be shed in just hours from the passage we just looked at. We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. Are we hoping to be forgiven? Are we hoping to be forgiven?

Not at all. We have it. And how do we have it? In Him. In Him we possess the redemption, the forgiveness. We're not hoping to be forgiven. We're not asking to be forgiven. It's already done. We have it. Isn't that great? That's good. Because I can't mess it up. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank You as we look at this passage. We anticipate that within hours of the time that we read about here this morning, within hours, You would go to the cross. You would, instead of struggling and fighting and resisting, You would say, let's do this. And you would die for us, and we would also be with you in that crucifixion and in that death. We thank you for all that we are and all that we have because of what you have done in our position in you and those things. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.