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THE LAST SUPPER
A. Introduction: We’ve just finished a series on reading the Bible relationally, or reading, not just to get
knowledge about God, but to get to know Him. To help us understand what it looks like to read
relationally, we focused on several chapters in the Gospel of John where John gives a detailed
description of the Last Supper (John 13-17). (Review lessons TCC—1348-1355, if desired.)
1. At the Last Supper Jesus assured His twelve apostles that, even though He was soon going to leave
them and return to Heaven, He would not leave them alone, because He and the Father would send
the Holy Spirit to them. Much of what Jesus at the Last Supper had to do with the Holy Spirit.
a, While reading through the account, I noticed that, in addition to teaching about the Holy Spirit,
Jesus did two specific things. He washed His apostles’ feet as a demonstration of the kind of
humility and servanthood they were to show to each other, and He took bread and wine and
offered it to them as His body and His blood and told them to eat and drink.
b. Tonight, we begin a new series. We’re going to examine Jesus’ second action. We’re going to
consider what this would have meant to the twelve men seated at the table with Jesus that night,
and what it means for us.
2. As with most of the topics we discuss, we will consider it in terms of the big picture—why God
created us and what He is working to accomplish in each of our lives. Let’s review the big picture.
a. God created us to become His holy, righteous sons and daughters who live in loving relationship
with Him. He created us with the capacity to receive Him (His Spirit and life) into our being,
and express Him to the world around us by the way we live. Eph 1:4-5; I Pet 3:18; Matt 5:16
1. Sin has cut us off from God and our created purpose. Jesus came into this world to die as a
sacrifice for sin and open the way for us to be restored to our Father and our purpose.
2. When we believe on Jesus, God indwells us by His Spirit and life, and a process of
restoration begins that will ultimately restore us to all that God intended us to be.
b. Possibly, some of you may be thinking that this topic doesn’t seem useful since you have real
problems and need real help from God now. The Bible wasn’t written to tell us how to solve
our problems and improve our lives—although both can be byproducts of studying and learning.
1. The Bible was written to reveal God and His plans for humanity. It is a collection of sixtysix books that altogether reveal God’s plan for a family and the lengths to which He has gone
to obtain His family through Jesus. Jesus said the Scriptures testify of Him. John 5:39
2. God’s plan is much bigger than this life. It will outlast this short, fleeting life. Seeing God
and His plan through His written Word changes our perspective. It’s not what we see, but
how we see it, that makes or breaks us as we face life’s challenges. II Cor 4:17-18; Rom 8:18
3. The Bible gives us an eternal perspective. An eternal perspective recognizes that there is
more to life than just this life, and what is ahead will outshine the best that this life can offer.
A. An eternal perspective helps us realize that everything we see is temporary and subject to
change by God’s power, either in this life or the life to come
B. An eternal perspective helps us keep troubles in perspective, gives us hope and peace in
the midst of them, lessens anxiety and fear, and increases our faith and trust in the Lord.
3. In tonight’s lesson we’re going to give some background for what happened at the Last Supper, and
briefly address points that we’ll cover in greater detail as we work through this series.
a. What we call the Last Supper was actually a Passover meal, an annual tradition among the Jews
(Israel), the people group that Jesus was born into. The meal was meant to remind the Jewish
people how Almighty God mightily delivered them from four hundred years of slavery in Egypt
through a series of spectacular power demonstrations.
b. Ex 13:3; 8-9—The night before (Israel) left Egypt, the Lord instructed them: This is a day to

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remember forever…For the Lord has brought you out by his mighty power…Each year you must
explain to your children why you are celebrating. Say to them, ‘This is a celebration of what the
Lord did for us when we left Egypt’…This annual feast will be a visible reminder to you (NLT).
B. We noted in our last series that Jesus’ apostles didn’t understand many of the things that He said to them
at the Last Supper. But they did understand Passover. And this Last Supper unfolded like all the other
Passover meals that Jesus and His apostles, being good Jews, had celebrated every year of their lives.
1. However, as the supper was ending, the evening took as extraordinary turn when Jesus applied the
two main elements of the meal (bread and wine) to Himself.
a. John’s gospel doesn’t record this particular scene, so we’ll read Matthew’s record: And as they
were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take,
eat; this in My body.” And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “All
of you drink from it. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins” (Matthew 26:26-28, NKJV).
b. The bread used at the Last Supper was unleavened bread (bread made without yeast). To the
Jews, leaven (or yeast) represented sin. By taking unleavened bread as a symbol for Himself,
Jesus was saying that He was sinless—which was a Messianic claim. Isa 53:9
1. This was not shocking to the men at the table because they already believed that Jesus was
the promised Messiah, the Son of God. Matt 16:16
2. Four cups of wine were offered during the course of a Passover meal. They corresponded to
four promises that God made to Israel before He delivered them from Egyptian slavery.
A. Ex 6:6-7—I am the Lord and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
I will free you from being slaves to them and will redeem you with an outstretched arm
and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people (NIV).
B. The third cup, served immediately following the meal, corresponded to the third promise:
I will redeem you. Jesus offered this cup of redemption as the symbol of His blood.
3. This also was not too unsettling. When Jesus came into the world most of the Jewish people
believed that the Messiah was coming to deliver or redeem them from the oppressive Roman
Empire which had controlled the land of Israel since 63 BC.
2. But, when Jesus offered the cup of wine He said: This is My blood of the new covenant, which is
shed for many for the remission of sins (Matt 26:28, NKJV).
a. Jesus’ statement would have been extremely significant to His twelve apostles who, as good
Jewish men, were familiar with the writings of their prophets (found in what we now call the Old
Testament). The Old Testament is primarily the history of the Jewish people.
b. Almost nineteen hundred years before that Last Supper, Almighty God entered into a covenant
with a man named Abraham, initiating what is now called the Old Covenant (many lessons for
another time). Gen 12:1-3; Gen 15:1-21; Gen 17:1-2; etc.
1. A covenant is a solemn agreement between two parties through which they bind themselves
to each other for mutual purposes. Each party promised to fulfill certain conditions, and
each was promised certain benefits. Covenants were serious, but common, agreements.
2. The Lord promised Abraham and his descendants that if they remained faithful to Him, He
would provide for and protect them, and give them the land of Canaan (modern day Israel).
3. Abraham’s descendants grew into the nation of Israel. In the fourth generation, Abraham’s
descendants were enslaved in Egypt. But God delivered them from Egypt, and at that time
He renewed and expanded this covenant with them. Ex 19
3, Israel’s story under this covenant (the Old Covenant) was one of sin and failure. The people
repeatedly broke their part of the covenant by abandoning Almighty God to worship other gods.

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a. According to the prophets, there was always one problem with Israel—their heart was not right
with God: Jer 11:7-8—Ever since I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, I have been telling
your people to obey me. But you and your ancestors have always been stubborn. You have
refused to listen, and instead you have done whatever your sinful hearts have desired (CEV).
b. However, at various times in Israel’s history, the prophets foretold of the coming of a new
covenant that would remedy or fix Israel’s weaknesses. For example:
1. Jer 31:31-33—This is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,
says the Lord…I will write my laws in their minds, and…write them on their hearts (NLT).
2. Ezek 11:19-20—I will…put a new spirit within them…so they will obey my laws…Then
they will truly be my people, and I will be their God (NLT).
c. At the Last Supper, when Jesus offered His apostles the third cup, the cup of redemption as His
blood of the new covenant, it would have had tremendous significance to the apostles. They
would have been wondering: Is Jesus talking about initiating the promised new covenant?
4. Not only are the apostles (and the rest of Israel) expecting a new covenant from God, they knew that
covenants were confirmed or ratified with blood. To ratify means to approve or consent formally.
a. The word covenant, in the Hebrew language, literally means to cut a covenant. In that culture,
when two parties entered into or cut a covenant, blood was shed—either that of the people
making the covenant or their substitutes.
1. The initial covenant that God made with Abraham was ratified with blood (Gen 15:9-10).
And, the expanded covenant that was renewed when God brought Israel of Egypt was also
ratified by blood (Ex 24:1-8).
2. The apostles didn’t realize it at that point, but Jesus was telling them that His blood was
about to be shed to initiates and ratifies the promised New Covenant: Matt 26:28—For this
is my blood, which seals (ratifies) the covenant between God and his people (NLT).
b. Then Jesus made another amazing statement. He said that His blood would be shed for the
remission of sins. Remission means to cause to send away; to release one’s sin form the sinner.
1. The twelve apostles understood that the shedding of blood through a sacrifice was necessary.
When God delivered their ancestors from Egypt, He gave them a system of animal sacrifice
to atone for (make up) for sin. Lev 1-7
2. Under this system, sacrifices “were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were
never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship” (Heb 10:1, NLT).
A. The Old Testament prophets did speak of a coming covenant where Israel’s sins would be
remembered no more (Jer 31:35), a covenant where their sins would be blotted out (Isa
43:25) and removed as far away from them as the east is from the west (Ps 103:12)
B. At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, John the Baptist (a prophet) called Jesus the Lamb of
God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Just a few days before the Last
Supper, Jesus called himself the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep
(John 10:11; 15). At the meal He talked about laying your life for a friend (John 15:13)..
5. Jesus took the bread and blessed it and told them to eat, for this is my body. He took the cup and
gave thanks and told them, all of you drink from it, for this is my blood. Matthew 26:26-28.
a. Jesus has already told these men, that even though He is leaving them, they will still have contact
with Him because He, the Father, and the Holy Spirit will be in them, and that once He is raised
from the dead, they will understand His words. John 14:17: John 14:20-23; etc.
b. Now, at the close of the meal He says to them: Eat my body and drink my blood. Luke’s
gospel gives us another statement Jesus made: Do this in remembrance of me (Luke 22:19).
What could Jesus possibly mean?
1. They were eating a meal of remembrance (the Passover meal), a meal celebrated by Israel for

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generations. Was Jesus going to redeem them from bondage to sin at this Passover?
2. Their heads must have been spinning. Where is He going? Why will we have to remember
Him? Why is He comparing His body and blood to bread and wine? How does this help us
remember Him?
c. Keep in in mind that these men have no idea that within hours, Jesus will be arrested, tried, and
crucified. But He will explain it all to them once He is raised from the dead (Luke 24:44-45).
And, Jesus’ followers will continue to eat this meal of remembrance (what we now call
communion) with understanding. (More on this next week.)
C. Conclusion: This series will enhance your relationship with the Lord and make you more aware of
what He accomplished through His death and resurrection. Consider some thoughts as we close.
1. The men who sat at that Passover table two millennia ago were sitting with God Incarnate—God the
Son, who took on a human nature so that He could die as a sacrifice for sin and open the way for all
who believe on Him to be restored to God their Father and their created purpose. John 1:12-13
a, Keep the big picture in mind: God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to seek
and save those lost in sin and to their destiny—sonship and relationship with God. Luke 19:10
b. Luke’s gospel gives us another detail about what happened at the meal: And He said to them, I
have earnestly and intensely desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to
you, I shall eat it no more until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God Luke 22:15-16, Amp).
1. Despite the intense suffering that is ahead for Jesus (so much so that His flesh recoiled from
it, Matt 26:36-42), Jesus desires to do it because this is why He came, and He knows the end
result. He and the Father will have the family back.
2. Jesus will remit (cleanse or wipe out) sin, defeat death, and break its power over His creation.
He will establish a new covenant (relationship) between God that will remedy the weakness
of fallen humanity. He Himself will indwell men and women by His Spirit, giving us a new
heart, one that is free from sin and corruption.
2. Paul the apostle gives us more information about what Jesus said at this Last Supper. We’ll
examine it in greater detail in an upcoming lesson. For now, note:
a. Paul recounted how that Jesus offered the apostles bread and wine, told them to take, eat, and
drink, and then told them to do this in remembrance of Him. I Cor 11:23-25
b. What is it that are we to remember? We’re to remember what Jesus did for us through the
sacrifice of Himself and what it means for our past, our present, and our future.
c. Then Paul wrote: For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s
death till he comes (I Cor 11:26, NKJV). We are to remember what Jesus has done for us
through His death and resurrection, until He returns to this world at His second coming.
3. At the Last Supper, Jesus told His twelve apostles that He was leaving them. He said: I am going
to prepare a place for you…When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will
always be with me where I am (John 14:2-3, NLT).
a. These first Christians saw the big picture, which gave them an eternal perspective. Jesus will
come again to complete God’s plan for a family. He will restore this world (the family home) to
pre-sin conditions and live with His family forever. Rev 21:1-5
b. Heaven and earth will come together, and life will finally be all that it was meant to be, before
sin damaged the family and the family home—all because of what Jesus did for us through His
death—which we are to remember as we take communion.
4. We have a lot to talk about in upcoming lessons. Much more next week!