Day 17 –New Covenant Begins
- Readings: Matthew 26:26-30, Mark 13:22-26, Luke 22:14-20
A quick recap, we know the old covenant and sacrificial system are out. It wasn’t the final solution but only pointed to our hope for true salvation which is Jesus. We know that the New Covenant is promised to us and it points to Jesus. We also know, it is by faith that we now have the new covenant.
But at what point does this New Covenant begin?
Answer: The Last Supper
The Last Supper is the inauguration of the New Covenant.
Up until the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Jews celebrated Passover. The Passover goes all the way back to the Exodus from Egypt. They celebrated this week long festival to honor God and remember His provision and deliverance as they fled slavery in Egypt. Everything eaten at the Passover meal was symbolic. For example, Bitter herbs represented the bitterness of slavery. But when Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with His disciples, he gave the celebration a whole new meaning. He no longer focused on the suffering of Israel in Egypt as slaves but on the sin-bearing suffering of himself. His suffering as the fulfilled and promised Messiah.
At the beginning of the passage, Jesus shares and breaks bread with his disciples and commands them to eat in remembrance of him. But they are not just remembering him; they are remembering his body that was literally broken, pierced and beaten for them. Then Jesus takes the cup, refers to the cup as his blood, the very thing that confirms the new covenant for his people. The cup (His blood) that is poured out (aka shed on the cross) as a sacrifice and this sacrifice is what now will forgive our sins.
It is with this meal that the New Covenant begins. We no longer rely on an animal sacrifice but put our faith in Jesus and his death to purify us of our sin. And it’s because he is God that this sacrifice secures our redemption forever.
And that my friends, concludes the New Covenant. Now we just get to live in the promise of the New Covenant.