The Significance of the Lord’s Supper

Jesus’ last meal with his disciples, the Passover, shows how His coming death, burial, and resurrection fulfilled the Old Covenant, sacrifices, and festivals. He showed His disciples that these all pointed to His final work of redemption.

At the Passover, Jews would kill a lamb without blemish and eat it with unleavened bread to remember when they were slaves in Egypt. They would remember how God spared their firstborn sons from the 10 th plague that resulted in the death of all the Egyptian firstborns (Exodus 12). They would remember God’s providence that gave them a way to escape death – the blood of an innocent lamb for their redemption.

For thousands of years, Jews had observed this festival. And now Jesus, in eating this last supper, would show how He had come to be the perfect Lamb of God who would die to cover the sins of His people.

When Jesus took this unleavened bread and gave it to His disciples to eat in remembrance of Him, He was showing that His body would be the final sacrifice for sin, that He was the ultimate Passover Lamb. In addition, He was also providing a physical symbol for believers in the years to come to remember His sacrifice. Just as eating the Passover meal was a way for Jews to remember God’s goodness and redemption back in Egypt when they were slaves, the Lord’s supper is also a way for us as believers to remember Jesus’ redemption of us from the slavery of our sin.

The cup that Jesus took established a New Covenant that fulfilled and replaced the former one the Jews had kept throughout the Old Testament. The Jews used to sacrifice thousands of animals and sprinkle their blood on the altar of burnt offering. And once a year, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies with blood to atone for the sins of Israel. However, as the book of Hebrews notes (Hebrews 9 and 10), these sacrifices performed year after year were only a shadow of things to come. These animal sacrifices reminded people of the seriousness of sin and the holiness of God. But they could not take away sins forever.

But Jesus, in taking the cup, declared that His blood would be poured out for many for the forgiveness of their sins. His blood would be the ultimate fulfillment of the Old Testament sacrifices. His blood would completely atone for man’s sins and make us whiter than snow (Isaiah 1:18). Through this New Covenant, Jesus’ sacrifice completely atoned for our sins and satisfied God’s wrath against us. So, true believers no longer need to offer sacrifices for sins or fear God’s wrath. As with the bread, the cup is a tangible reminder for the ages to come of Jesus’ blood that was shed to purchase our redemption from sin.

When we take the Lord’s supper together at communion, let us remember the costliness of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross that satisfied God’s wrath against our sin. His blood now allows us to enjoy fellowship with God. No longer do we need to fear God’s wrath, offer sacrifices for sin, or keep festivals and rules. Instead let us accept through faith the finished work of Christ in the offering of His body and blood for our sin. And then let us joyfully proclaim the good news that his death, burial, and resurrection allow us to be reconciled to God (1 Corinthians 10:26).