The Old Testament and the feasts of the Israelites point to Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus used the Passover Feast to reveal the New Covenant to His disciples. Below is an adaptation of a meditation that I recently gave. If you would rather watch the YouTube video, follow this link: “Remember Jesus.” Let’s remember Jesus from Passover to the Lord’s Supper.
“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah– … But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jeremiah 31:31; 33-34
Do you remember Jesus throughout your day?
Have you found yourself going through the motions of something familiar but not recognizing the significance of it?
Maybe you recite the Lord’s Prayer without really thinking about the words and their meaning? “Our Father …” Think of it! If you’ve accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, God Almighty is your Father!
Do you fasten the clasp of your cross necklace without meditating on its meaning? Your Lord, your Savior hung from a cross to take your sins away. Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, conquering death.
Maybe you take communion as a ritual. Not remembering its significance.
Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus by Harold Copping. Public Domain.
Remember Martha and Mary
Do you remember the story of Martha and Mary? The dinner that Martha prepared for Jesus and His disciples? Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and soaked in His every word. Martha scurried around making sure that all things were perfectly prepared. She was so wound up—“Jesus! Tell Mary to get up and help me!”
“Martha, Martha, you are distracted by many things. Mary has chosen the good part. It won’t be taken away from her,” Jesus told her.
There’s a time to serve as Martha did. AND there’s a time to be Mary and sit at the feet of Jesus.
“One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.” Psalm 27:4
Let’s all strive to be Mary for these next few minutes. Let’s sit at Jesus’ feet, behold His glory, bask in His love, and let His Words penetrate our very beings.
Let’s be a Mary and sit at the feet of Jesus. Let’s remember His great love for us and behold our Redeemer.
Courtesy of Pexels.com
Remember Passover
We celebrated Resurrection Sunday. Before the empty tomb of Resurrection Sunday was the cross. The cross was before, Jesus and His disciples celebrated the Passover. It was a time to remember all that God had promised and done for the Israelites. An evening to remember who they were in God’s eyes and how God will work in the future.
Remembering Passover takes us back to the Old Testament. For over 400 years, the Israelites lived in Egypt. Pharoah enslaved the Israelites, increasingly making their labor and living conditions intolerable. They cried out to God for deliverance, and God called upon Moses to lead them out of captivity.
God brought nine plagues upon Egypt, but Pharoah refused to release the Israelites. A 10th plague was coming.
God told the Israelites to prepare for this plague. They inspected a lamb without blemish for four days. On the fourth evening, they killed the lamb, painted its blood on the two side posts of the doorway and upper post of the house where they would eat the lamb with bitter herbs and unleavened bread.
That night, God passed over the houses that had the blood on the doorposts, but the firstborn males without the blood on the homes died.
“Go!” said Pharoah.
God, through Moses, led the Israelites out of the bondage of slavery.
At Passover, the Israelites remember God, their deliverance from Egyptian slavery, and God’s promises to them with a feast. They remember Exodus 6:6-7.
Exodus 6:6-7—notice that the emphasis in these verses is on who God is and what He will do.
“Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the LORD [Yᵊhōvâ, the Self-Existent One or Eternal One]; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.” (Exodus 6:6-7, emphasis added)
These promises offered the Israelites freedom from slavery. Freedom to worship God. Freedom to be called God’s chosen people.
Freedom bought with blood. This was what Passover was all about. Remembering God at work.
This is what the Gospel is about. Freedom from sin bought with the blood of Christ.
Are you free from the bondage of sin? Are you called God’s chosen woman?
Jesus celebrated Passover with His disciples in Jerusalem one last time and transformed it into the Lord’s Supper revealing the New Covenant.
Remember Jesus Loves You
“When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” Luke 22:14-15
Jesus sat down with the twelve apostles to have a private meal with them. He wanted to encourage them and tell them that He was about to fulfill the Old Covenant and reveal a New Covenant. The Old Covenant was between God and the Israelites. God gave the law through this Old Covenant. The Israelites were to follow the law perfectly. But they couldn’t—they disobeyed God’s laws—they sinned. God instituted blood sacrifice to cover their sins until their Messiah, Jesus, came to pay for their sins on the cross.
Jesus passionately/fervently desired to share this Passover and the promise of the New Covenant with His disciples. He knew the suffering that would come after the supper. But for the joy of eternity with the Father and all those who called Jesus Lord and Savior, Jesus endured the cross.
“for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it [the Passover] until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves” (Luke 22:16-17)
Jesus will enjoy a great feast in heaven when all His people are gathered in heaven to celebrate the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19:9. Who’s the bride, ladies? Yes, the church! You and you, and you, and you, and me!
This may have been the first cup, the cup of sanctification—this cup reminded Passover participants that they were set apart for God. You are set apart for God.
“for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” (Luke 22:18)
Jesus came to the earth to proclaim the kingdom of God—all because of His love for you. Jesus’ love brings life.
Matzah–Unleavened Bread
Remember Jesus is the Bread of Life.
“And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” (Luke 22:19)
“Then, the head of the Passover lifted the bread high and said, ‘This is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate in the land of Egypt.
(David Guzik)
Let everyone who hungers come and eat; let everyone who is needy come and eat the Passover meal.’”
I imagine the disciples were stunned when Jesus told them that the bread represented His body. There was no leaven in the bread. Throughout the Bible, leaven represents sin. Jesus had no sin.
The bread of affliction–suffering. Passover’s bread is pierced and striped. His body was broken, pierced and beaten for the world.
Jesus said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. …It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. “ (John 6:51; 63)
The words that Jesus speaks—Are you chewing on the Word of God daily? The Bread of Life causes us to remember that Jesus is our Redeemer.
Remember Jesus is Our Redeemer
“Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” (Luke 22:20)
Jesus took the third cup, the Cup of Redemption, which represented the Israelites’ redemption from Egyptian slavery. The Cup of Redemption pointed to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. The New Covenant that would bring eternal life.
Like the Israelites did in Egypt, Jesus painted His blood on the doorposts of our lives bringing freedom from sin and eternal life with Him.
Has Jesus painted His blood on the doorposts of your life?
We’re about to remember Jesus as we partake of communion together.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11:27-29. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
If you have not put your trust in Jesus, you don’t want to take communion. But you can trust in Jesus. You can accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior now and partake of communion.
Those who have accepted Jesus as Lord, pause to examine yourself. Do you have unconfessed sin in your life? Confess it now.
Let’s bow our heads and hearts. Is there anyone who would like to accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior? Raise your hand as everyone’s head is bowed. Is there unconfessed sin in your life? Do you need to return to Jesus whole-heartedly? Confess it now.
Remember and Pray
Father, I confess that I am a sinner. I have strayed far away from You. Please forgive me. I believe that You died on the cross to take away my sins. You were buried for three days and then you rose from the dead and sit at the right hand of God speaking on my behalf. Thank You! I give myself to You. Thank You, Jesus for being my Savior and Lord.
Father, as we come to Your table of grace, we ask that You take us deeper than we’ve ever been before in remembering Jesus, remembering that the bread represented His body that He was giving for us, and remembering that the fruit of the vine represented His blood that He freely gave to take away our sins. Amen.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
Take and eat. Remember Jesus.
Remember Jesus is the Bread of Life.
Father, You gave us the Passover to point us to Jesus. He is the bread of life.
We remember Isaiah 53:5-6 , “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.“
O Lord, we remember our Bread of Life and thank You. Amen.
In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” (1 Corinthians 11:25)
Drink as you remember Jesus, our Redeemer.
Father, we remember that Jesus is our High Priest who entered the perfect Tabernacle in heaven. He entered the Most Holy Place with his own blood as an offering. Christ’s blood purified us from our sins, so that we can worship You and enjoy an eternal relationship with You. Thank You for Jesus, our Redeemer.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:26)
Remember Jesus
Jesus is coming again. Are you ready?
Jesus sang
Matthew and Mark tell us that after the final cup, the cup of thanksgiving, Jesus and the disciples sang a hymn. Knowing what the future held, Jesus sang a hymn of Thanksgiving. Would you be able to sing a Thanksgiving hymn knowing you were going to walk to the Garden of Gethsemane where Judas would betray you? Knowing that you would be unjustly tried, spit upon, beaten, scourged, hang on the cross, take on the world’s sins, and have God’s wrath poured out on you.
Passover celebrations ended with the people singing Psalms 116-118.
Bless the One who comes in the name of the LORD. We bless You from the house of the LORD. The LORD is God, shining upon us.
Psalm 118:26-29
Take the sacrifice and bind it with cords on the altar. You are my God, and I will praise You!
You are my God, and I will exalt you! Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever.
Take Home
Sit at Jesus’ feet and meditate on His love for you.
May you remember Jesus and His love for you. He has rescued you from your slavery to sin. He has redeemed you to be His daughter. He is the LORD your God who has freed you from your bondage to sin. He will bring you into eternity with Him. He is the LORD!
Remember Jesus!
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The featured photo is the Last Supper Altar Painting in St Barbaras Church, Kutna Hora, Czech Republic found on Pexels.com.
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