Luke 22:14-16
The Lord’s Great Desire
Introduction
The Lord’s Supper is a beautiful commemorative supper where we are drawn together to remember the Lord’s death till He returns. It is a time of solemn reflection upon our individual lives to help us reflect on our relationships with God, and it is a time for us to examine our hearts, our minds, our motives, our ambitions, our thoughts and actions and so forth to see if they are in line with God’s will and His Word.
Not only is the Lord’s Supper a time of reflection and examination, it is also a time when we frequently remind ourselves of our doctrinal positions. We believe the Lord organized His local, visible church during His earthly ministry, not on the day of Pentecost. We believe that He instituted His Supper and gave the sole authority to observe it to the church. We believe that a person must be saved, scripturally baptized and a member of this church body to observe it in this church. For that reason we believe and practice closed communion – closed to those who do not meet those qualifications, but open to all who do. We believe that there are two elements, the unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine, representing the sinless body and the shed blood of Jesus Christ. We do not believe that the Lord’s Supper bestows saving grace upon anyone – but that all who are saved "are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God."
Listen, you could take the Lord’s Supper and begin to teach every doctrinal position that we hold to. They are not isolated teachings that can be compartmentalized, but rather every one of those Scriptural teachings is interrelated and is inseparably linked to all the others. Having said all of that, there is still something else found in the Lord’s Supper that I want to draw your attention to in our text this morning. Read with me Luke 22:14-16.
"And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, with desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer: for I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God."
What I want to share with you is found in verse 15. In the original language of the Bible, the words used by Jesus say this: "With earnest desire, or with fervent desire, or with great desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." Now as I read that statement, I cannot help but ask myself this question: Why? Why such a great desire to eat this meal with the apostles? Why does He have such a longing to participate in this event? As I thought on that, a secondary question came to my mind, and it is this: even if I understand why Jesus had this great desire, what difference will it make to us today? What difference will it make to the individual sitting in the pew? When you leave this place and go back to work or to school, when you take your place in the world on Monday, what difference will any of this have made?
It is these two questions I hope to answer today, and I would like to pray before we continue.
Why did Jesus have such a great desire to eat this Passover meal?
I think as we consider the text and the events taking place before and after it, there are at least two reasons Jesus wanted to eat this meal with His apostles. First…
Because He was the Passover’s fulfillment.
In Exodus 12 we find the institution of the Passover. You remember that the Israelites had been in bondage to the Egyptians, and now the Lord is setting them free. He will pass through the land and will kill the firstborn of every home that is not protected by the blood of a lamb. Let’s begin reading in verse 3.
"Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: and if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire; and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever."
Now the Passover was a picture, a type of Christ. I want you to notice just a few things here.
· In verse 3 they were to choose a lamb on the 10th day and set it apart for the next four days to observe it and determine that it was worthy of being sacrificed. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey on the 10th day of the month for all those who would kill Him to observe Him.
· In verse 5 the lamb had to be without blemish. Jesus was certainly without blemish – He was sinless.
· In verse 6 the lamb was to be killed by the assembly on the fourteenth day – Jesus was killed on the fourteenth day – the day of Passover.
· The blood of the lamb had to be applied to the doors of their homes in order for the Lord to pass over them in judgment. The blood of Christ has to be applied to your heart, your life in order for the Lord to pass over you in judgment. When the Lord passed through the camp in Egypt, he was not looking at whether those people were worthy or not, He was looking for blood, and when we stand before Him one day in the future, He will not be looking at whether you were worthy, whether you were good enough, whether you did all the right things or not – He’s going to be looking for the blood of His Son Christ appropriated to your hearts by faith.
· The Lord gave everyone an opportunity to come under the protection of the blood before He brought judgment, and He’s doing the same thing today. You see, back in Luke 22 we read about the last supper that Jesus observed with His apostles on earth, but it was not the last supper that He’ll observe with them. In verse 16 he said, "I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God." Until what be fulfilled? "Until the Passover be fulfilled."
Now let me share something with you. Until this week I always thought and believed that Jesus fulfilled the Passover in the events surrounding Calvary. John said, "Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." On Calvary He did that. He hung there and said, "It is finished." What was finished? Everything necessary to purchase salvation for man! Jesus Christ did all that was necessary for you or me or any other person to be saved! "We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins…"
But listen, there is coming a day in the future when another meal will be eaten and you and I will be there as His people. Just as the Passover didn’t take place in Egypt until the Lord gave everyone time to respond, Jesus waits for all who will to respond. What’s keeping the Lord from returning? What’s holding Him back? He’s waiting for the last person to be saved! God in His own wisdom and foreknowledge knows that on some day, a day that you and I will cannot predict, all who are going to be saved will be saved and then – and only then will Jesus return. Following that return there is going to be a great feast described for us in Revelation 19. John wrote…
"And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And he saith unto me, Write, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God."
Why was the Passover meal instituted? It was a meal given to remember what the Lord had done. All those years of observing it they were to recall how the blood of the lamb protected them. Jesus showed us in person, fulfilling the type or picture that He was the Lamb, and that day, in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, we will see our Lamb, our perfect, sinless Savior face to face and we will worship Him as we remember the sacrifice He made for us!
Jesus said, "With great desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you, because I won’t be eating another one with you until that day at my marriage supper."
Because He wanted to spend these last moments of intimacy with His friends.
I want you to look beyond the printed words in your Bibles and see with your hearts the thing that is and has been taking place. For three and a half years Jesus has walked with these men. He has taught them, mentored them, protected them, ate with them, laughed with them and has cried with them. He has shared His heart with them, allowed them to see into His world and has seen them grow from common business men and laborers to the men who would turn the world upside down with His story.
In just a few short hours, an angry mob would come to the garden where He would later pray. They would be led by one of His friends Judas Iscariot. He would be arrested, falsly tried, mocked, beaten, spat upon, whipped, abandoned, then hung on a cross to bear the wrath of God as He took upon Himself every sin of every man or woman ever born or ever to be born. He would experience separation from God the Father, then would die.
He knew that even while He shared His heart with these men, and even while He was preparing to die for them, they were arguing over which one of them was the most important. Just hours from the cross, Jesus’ disciples still hadn’t caught on. He comes to them in the midst of all these events and says to them, "Guys, I want to spend my last moments with you before I suffer." Do you see the love He had for these men? He desired to eat this Passover with them, that He and they might have a little time together before He had to suffer.
Ok, Brother Kevin, I see all of that. I know at least two reasons Jesus wanted to be there. So what? I hope you might be asking that question, because it leads to the second question I have for you.
What does any of this have to do with you?
There is no Passover meal today. We’re not sacrificing lambs today. It’s just another Sunday and we’re observing the Lord’s Supper today. So what? What does any of this have to do with me? Or maybe more importantly, how does any of this affect me? Well I think it ought to affect you in a number of ways.
Partaking of the Lord’s Supper should remind you of what Jesus has done for you.
We’re not here for a free meal. We’re not here out of guilt. We’re not here to play religion or church. We’re here to remember that Jesus Christ left the glories of heaven to walk a mile in your shoes and show you that He could force His physical, earthly body into submission to the Father, to live a sinless life, "to be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross…who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Partaking of the Lord’s Supper should remind you of a higher calling in life.
Jesus didn’t come just to show some kind of benevolent love toward everyone. His purpose wasn’t to heal people or to shelter the homeless. He came to seek and to save that which was lost, and He has left us with that same purpose. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you…" Listen, when we come to the table and reflect on the sacrifice Jesus Christ made for our sins, we need to be reminded that He didn’t just die for our sins, but He died for the sins of every man or woman in our community and every other community around the world and if someone doesn’t reach those people with the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ like He told us to then those people are going to go to hell.
The Lord’s Supper ought to remind us that "church" is about more than hearing some sermons and going home "feeling good." We’ve been given a higher calling. We’ve been called out of the mundane to a heavenly, eternal purpose, and coming to the table should remind you of that.
Partaking of the Lord’s Supper should provide reason for great hope and praise.
People everywhere are living in defeat. We have become a complaining, negative, fault-finding people, but the Lord’s Supper ought to lift our thoughts much higher than that. When we remember the Lord’s sacrifice, we ought also remember that it didn’t end on the cross. It didn’t end at the tomb. "Up from the grave He arose – with a mighty triumph o’er His foes!" The Marriage Supper of the Lamb that Jesus referred to and that John wrote about should communicate to us that one day when we see our Savior face to face there’ll be great cause for celebration and praise. You don’t have to wait for that day to celebrate the victorious risen Savior. You don’t have to wait until eternity to praise Him. Let it begin today and watch how it will brighten your life and the lives of those around you!
Partaking of the Lord’s Supper should provide you opportunity to examine your life.
When you come before the Lord and are presented with the unleavened bread, you should be reminded of the sinlessness of your Savior. He is the holy God! If your heart and mind are in the right place today, then you cannot partake of these elements without seeing something of the Lord’s holiness, and you cannot see the Lord’s holiness without also seeing your own sinfulness. The Lord’s perfection only brings out our imperfections. The Lord’s brightness illumines the darkest areas of our lives. He calls to you today to bring those areas of your life where you are struggling with submission to Him into the light of His glory and surrender those things to Him. Your response ought to be one of sorrow and guilt and shame, followed by godly repentance, a genuine turning away from sin to walk in obedience to the Word and will of God. Listen, if Jesus was so willing to be obedient to the Father in light of His coming sufferings, if He delighted to do even this part of the will of God, can we be or do anything less and justify it?
Partaking of the Lord’s Supper should remind you of the Lord’s great desire for intimacy.
When we come to the table, it is as though the Lord Jesus Christ comes walking into the garden of our hearts and He calls, "Kevin, where are you?" The same call goes out to each of you today as the Lord expresses His desire for more than spiritual union with Him. You see, the Lord says to every one who comes to His table, "I want to be with you. I will be your God, I will take up residence right here, and let’s commune for a while." The real tragedy today is that we have Christians who recognize their union in Christ, but have no communion with Christ. Listen, in salvation there was made a union, but the union alone is not the end of God’s plan in your life. Jesus longs for fellowship – "With great desire I have desired to eat with you…" Any deviation from a desire to know and be intimate with Him is to fail to see your purpose for living, and the Lord’s Supper calls us back to a relationship of grand intimacy with the One who not only created it all, who not only sustains it all, but the One who lived and died for us!
Conclusion
The Lord is calling to you today to make of His supper more than a religious practice. It is to be more than a quarterly observance that makes us feel all warm and tingly inside. It is a time of intimate communion with our Savior when He speaks to the needs of our lives and invites us to give our lives to Him in pursuit of a higher calling. How will you respond today? As we partake now, how will you allow your time with Christ to affect you?
