THE SUPPER AND THE SONG
TEXT: Matthew 26:26-30
Matthew 26:26-30 (KJV) And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. [27] And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; [28] For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. [29] But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. [30] And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
I. INTRODUCTION—THE ORDER OF THE EVENTS
-Bill O’Reilly’s newest book about Ronald Reagan, Killing Reagan, starts with these ominous words in chapter 1: The man with twenty-four years to live steps onstage. The opening chapter covers the debate on October 28, 1980 at the Convention Center Music Hall in Cleveland, Ohio. It was one week from Election Day that Reagan would go on to convincingly win over Jimmy Carter.
-The text that we have read is but a portion of the larger segment of Scripture that actually starts in Matthew 26:17 with “Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread. . .” Reagan had twenty-four years to live from the date in October 1980 but Jesus had only a few hours to live. Reagan had no idea that his death would be twenty-four years later but Jesus knew exactly the hour that he would face death.
-On Wednesday of the Passion Week and it seems that Jesus would spend that day in seclusion somewhere in the neighborhood in Bethany. But now we come to the place in his life where an overwhelming storm is about to breakout in fury.
-It is now Thursday evening and in the small upper room an event will take place that will become a very important event for the church through the ages. The Lord is eating and drinking with the men that he had shaped for the last three and a half years. They had seen the highs and the lows with him and they loved him deeply and he loved them too. However there was a storm coming that would turn all of their lives upside down. It would be filled with fear, fatigue, worry, anger, deep loss, and pain.
-The events of that night can be understood when we compare the accounts of Matthew with that of John:
• Washing the disciples feet—John 13:1-20
• Identifying Judas as the betrayer—Matthew 26:21-25
• Judas leaves the Passover meal—John 13:30
• The institution of the Lord’s Supper—Matthew 26:26-29
• The messages in the Upper Room—John 14
• On the way to Gethsemane—John 15:16
• The great prayer of the Lord—John 17
• His anguish in Gethsemane—Matthew 26:36-46
• The betrayal and the arrest—Matthew 26:47-56
-But all of the events the Lord would sum up for them in Luke 22:19. . . This do in remembrance of me!
A.B. Bruce—He seems to say, ‘Fix your eyes on Calvary and watch what happens there. That is the great event in my earthly history. Other men have monuments, because they lived lives deemed memorable. I wish you to erect a monument to me because I have died. The memory of other men is cherished by their birthdays, but in my case better is the day of my death than the day of my birth. My birth into the world was momentous, but still more is my death. Of my birth no festive commemoration is needed; but of my death keep alive the memory till I come again. Remembering it you remember all, for of all it is the secret, the consummation and the crown.’
-His death was a sacrificial death. Just as the lamb was slain at the first Passover in Egypt and provided salvation for the firstborn, the death of the Lord leads to the hope of salvation for every one who will believe and follow and be converted.
-The blood of the Lord delivers man from a much deeper slavery than ever was even considered in Egypt. Sin brought such heavy slavery that there is no hope whatsoever outside of the Cross of Jesus Christ.
• Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world—John 1:29
• He was wounded for our transgressions: he was bruised for our iniquities—Isaiah 53:5
• He made him to be sin for us who knew no sin—2 Corinthians 5:21.
This do in remembrance of me!
-There is such a mixture of grace and power mixed in with this last supper of the Lord. The Lord knew exactly what was in front of him and instead he chose to spend the somber quiet of that last evening to give a parting gift to the church!
-That would make it all the more valuable to those disciples after the Lord had left them.
• It sustained them when they were walking out the message to another city.
• It supported them when they had to endure persecution.
• It added to their authority as they told others about the work of Jesus.
• It helped them to believe when they confronted demons.
• It helped them to rest in the Lord when they were weary.
-The value of that single night of remembrance adds to what we will be doing in a little while as we partake in communion.
II. THE SUPPER AND THE SONG
-Judas now leaves the room after the devil has entered him (Luke 22:1-6). He has a meeting with the religious men of the day. He will receive thirty pieces of dirty money that will seal doom for his soul. Judas’ interactions with these men prove to us again and again the great danger of religion that has no real relationship with God in it.
John 13:27-30 (KJV) And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. [28] Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. [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. [30] He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.
-After he leaves, the Lord takes two elements from the Passover feast, the unleavened bread and the cup, and he used them to picture his own death. All through the ages, they have been called the sacraments. A sacrament is something that is simply ordinary but it has acquired a meaning far beyond itself for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear.
-I have an old pocket watch that is attached to a string and on the end of that string is a small piece of wood about the size of a pencil and a fourth of the length. But it has great value to me because it belonged to my pawpaw and I got it in 1982 after he passed away. It has very little monetary value but it means something to me.
When Admiral Nelson was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral a party of his sailors carried his casket to the grave. It was noticeable how these men lowered the body of one of the world’s greatest admirals into the grave. But then as if they were answering a sharp order from the quarterdeck, they seized the Union Jack from the top of the casket and tore it to pieces. Then each of the men took a piece of it and kept it for the rest of their lives. When they looked at the piece of that torn flag it spoke to them of the admiral they had loved. That is a sacrament.
A. The Bread
Matthew 26:26 (KJV) And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
-Before we progress into the feeling of this matter of the last supper, we have to make some doctrinal observations. There are those who would believe that the bread and the fruit of the vine are literally the body and blood of the Lord.
-But this is simply an untrue statement. If the Lord’s body could be sitting at a table and at the same time be eaten by the disciples then this body is obviously not a body that has been made like ours. He was a perfect man and he was perfectly God at the same time.
-There are other observations where the Lord would speak of himself as the “door” or as the “vine” but we know that he was simply using emblems, figures, or analogies to convey a spiritual truth. The same manner of interpretation has to hold true in this context as well.
-Jesus had dealt with this already in the early part of his ministry after the miracle of the loaves and fish (John 6:48-66) when some had mistaken what he had said about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. This was a metaphor similar to the one he used with his disciples at the last supper.
-Again. . . This do in remembrance of me. . . That is the whole matter of this act of communion. When we look at the bread and the juice, we are simply reminded of the Cross.
• It is for the atonement of our sins.
• It is meant to help our weak faith to seek a closer fellowship with the Lord.
• It is meant to help us to walk closer with a crucified Savior.
• It should remind us of the price of redemption.
-All of these matters need to be remembered in our days more than ever before. It will add depth to repentance, it will increase our faith, it will help us battle against besetting sins so that they are weakened, and it will increase the desire for holiness.
-The very remarkable thing about this bread is that it is unleavened. The Passover meal was the “bread of affliction” (Deut. 16:3; Exo. 12:26-27) because it was to remind Israel of the captivity and the escape from Egypt.
-But the Lord will now do something entirely different with it. He will turn it from the bread of affliction to signify something far greater. . . This is my body!
-If there is another mixture of power and grace in this action of the Lord. . . the first was that he knew what was facing him and he still had time for their fellowship. The second great evidence of his grace is in the character of those men at the table that night.
-That little band of brothers that received the very first bread and wine were composed of men who were poor and unlearned. They loved their Lord but they were weak in faith and in knowledge, which is spelled out for us in just a few short hours.
-They knew only a little of what the Lord’s sayings really were about. They had no way of knowing how weak their commitment and resolve was but the Lord knew it perfectly well. The state of their hearts was never hidden from him and yet he did not bar them from communion.
-We know what Paul said to us. . . Let a man examine himself (1 Cor. 10:28). There needs to be every action in the church to keep those who are unworthy, those who are in habitual sin, those who are in rebellion against God and His Word, and those who reject the Lord.
-But to all of us here, we cannot afford to turn away from the remembrance of our Lord if the Lord himself extended the bread and the wine to those who were going to forsake him in just a few hours.
-Before we take communion, there will be a space of time given for repentance and I am urging every one of you to take advantage of it but afterwards we need to turn to the table.
B. The Wine
Matthew 26:27-29 (KJV) And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; [28] For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. [29] But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.
-The next thing the Lord did after he had broken the bread, he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them.
-Tradition holds that there were four cups of wine that were used at the Passover. The one the Lord now holds is the third of the four cups. He tells us that there is a coming fourth cup that he will not drink of until the fulfillment of the Kingdom takes place. That fourth cup will be the one at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
-This third cup is commonly understood to be the cup of blessing. . .
1 Corinthians 10:16 (KJV) The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
-There is something eternally different about this particular action of the Lord. Normally at the Passover everyone would have his or her own individual cup. But on this night, the Lord shared his cup with them. The passing cup is a shared cup of the Lord.
-This shocking departure from the common practice drew all of his disciples even closer to the great purpose he had for them after this final Passover he would spend with them.
-When they drank from that cup there suddenly was a common bond that would unite them in a bind to everything the Lord was moving toward for his kingdom:
• The mission
• The purpose
• The suffering
• The fellowship
• The prayer
• The commitment
-It wasn’t just another meal for them. But there is even more that the Lord moves them toward. This cup is symbolic of his blood that will be shed for the remission of sins. It is the blood of the New Testament. . . the New Covenant. . . The Old Covenant is no longer in existence after the Cross.
-In the Old Testament when blood was mentioned in this manner, to be shed for the remission of sins, it was also associated with a violent death. It is associated with judgment or vengeance and now the Lord is entering into the final step of that journey of dying for the sin of mankind.
-In Exodus 24:8 there is an action that took place that compares to the Cross:
Exodus 24:8 (KJV) And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.
-Moses splashes the blood on the people from half of the blood of the sacrifices in Exodus 24:5. The other half had already been splashed on the altar (v. 6) and the other half had been kept back in a basin.
-That blood that was used was a binding contract that paired God with His people and not only did it cover their sins, it aligned them with the holiness of God. There was a solemn commitment between both.
-If the blood matters. . . Holiness matters as well! People that have constant problems with holiness are those who are in a battle with the Cross!
-The blood of Jesus is effective for our salvation!
Colossians 1:20-21 (KJV) And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. [21] And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
Colossians 2:14-15 (KJV) Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; [15] And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
-Here is another matter to consider in the power of the blood. The blood being used in this way takes place in only two other ways:
• The consecration of the priests—Lev. 8:22-24
• The cleansing of a leper—Lev. 14:14, 25
-All three of these point to a couple of things:
• Cleansing from an earlier defilement
• Consecration to a new life of service
-That is the power of the blood! Jesus told us that we ought to take communion as a remembrance of what he has done for us! Don’t ever allow salvation to become something that you do not treasure. The cost of his death put us into the Kingdom!
C. The Song
Matthew 26:30 (KJV) And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
-And when they had sung a hymn. . . What did they sing? It was common practice at the Passover to sing Psalms 113-118. Whether they sang all of it or as some think they may have sung Psalms 115-118, the “Hallel” was what they sang.
-The trip the Mount of Olives should not be lost on us either. When David was fleeing for his life from Absalom his son (2 Sam. 15:30-31), one of David’s most trusted advisers, Ahithophel, had betrayed him to Absalom. David will find himself weeping and praying on this mountain.
-The Lord finds himself in the very same situation. One of his trusted men, Judas, has betrayed him. He will spend a night in the agony of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. There will not be a return to Bethany to enjoy fellowship in the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, there is a waiting, looming Cross in front of him.
III. CONCLUSION—COME WITH FAITH
-We have to come to the table with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we come empty of faith, we will leave empty. But if we come with faith in our heart toward the one who was crucified for us then there is a great return.
-We have to come to the table with the understanding that we are fulfilling one of the commands of the Lord and of Scripture when we partake in communion. We ought to look at it in that manner that we are fulfilling one of the Lord’s great commandments and there is blessing that comes to those who are obedient.
Philip Harrelson
January 2, 2016
