The Last Supper Series

“THE LAST SUPPER” Luke 22:7-23

FBCF – 3/10/24

Jon Daniels

INTRO – “Never Forget!” – Start seeing these words around 9/11 each year. Many of us will never forget where we were that Tuesday morning. Others will never forget where they were when:

- Pres. JFK was assassinated – Pres. Reagan was shot – Elvis died.

Other significant days we may never forget:

- Wedding day

- Birth of our children

- Graduations

- A vacation of a lifetime

- Winning a championship

- Killing that big buck

- Death of a family member or friend

- Citizens of Rolling Fork – March 24, 2023

Today, as we continue “Those Final Moments” of Jesus’ life during Holy Week, we are looking at Jesus’ Last Supper w/ His disciples. Many of you are familiar w/ Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting from the late 1400’s that depicted this event. Take a look at this picture & let’s read this passage together.

EXPLANATION – Luke 22:7-23 (p. 881)

3 considerations from this passage:

THE POINT OF THE PASSOVER – v. 7 – Let’s talk about this thing called Passover.

- One of most widely celebrated Jewish holidays.

- Celebrates the children of Israel’s exodus out of the bondage of Egyptian slavery under the leadership of Moses.

- Exodus 12 – In obedience to God’s command, Moses has gone before Pharaoh 9 different times asking that he let the people go. Each time, Pharaoh said “No,” even though the plagues got progressively more intense & more painful for the Egyptian people.

- The final plague – God Himself, or the “destroyer” (Exodus 12:23) – most translations – “Angel of Death” (GNT) – “death angel” (NLT) – “So Moses said, ‘Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, & every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, & all the firstborn of the cattle. There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’” (Exodus 11:4-7)

- The way that God’s people would be spared from this horrendous plague was through the blood of the Passover Lamb. God instructed them to take a male lamb w/out blemish, sacrifice it, & take some of its blood & put it on the doorposts & the “lintel” – the top of the doorframe. And Exodus 12:13 gives this amazing, life-saving promise from God: “The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.”

- There’s Jesus! There’s a picture of HIS blood! If it wasn’t for the blood the Passover Lamb, the children of Israel would have been destroyed. And if it wasn’t for the blood of Jesus, the perfect, ultimate, final Passover Lamb, you & I would be destroyed in our sin. This is why the Church sings about the blood so much!

o Lewis Jones’ great hymn (1899): “There’s power in the blood”

o Robert Lowry’s great hymn (1876): “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”

o Charity Gayle’s great hymn (2021):

o Thank you, Jesus, for the blood applied

Thank you, Jesus, it has washed me white

Thank you, Jesus, You have saved my life

Brought me from the darkness into glorious light

o There’s no hope w/out the blood…power w/out the blood…forgiveness w/out the blood…salvation w/out the blood!

THE PREPARATION OF THE PASSOVER – v. 8-13 – Not going to spend much time here – just to say that Peter & John obediently followed Jesus’ instructions & carefully prepared the Passover meal.

- Slaughter & roast the lamb.

- Unleavened bread – represented the need to get sin out of one’s life & household.

- Bowl of Salt water – reminder of the tears shed by their forefathers during 430 yrs of Egyptian bondage.

- A bitter salad – remind them of the bitterness of the years of slavery.

- A dark paste-like mixture of fruit w/ cinnamon sticks – picture of the bricks that were made when they were slaves to the Egyptians

- 4 cups of wine to remind them of the 4 promises God gave them in Exodus 6:6-8 to bring them out of bondage & set them free.

- A lot of careful, meticulous preparation needed. Was an important job!