The Meaning of the Passover
[thaudio href=’https://waukeshacitychurch.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/Sermon%20Audio/The-Meaning-of-the-Passover.mp3′]The Meaning of the Passover | Pastor Chuck Marshall | 7/14/13 | Download[/thaudio]
Sermon Outline
The Meaning of Passover Revealed: Luke 22:1-23
I. The Meaning of the Passover (The Great Salvation)
A. The History of the Passover
At the first Passover God commanded each household in Israel to slaughter an unblemished lamb and put the blood on the doorway of their houses as a sign and seal of the Lord’s protection.
The Passover served as a remembrance and celebration of the great Exodus event where the Lord saved Israel from the bondage of the Egyptians, and from His own judgment.
B. The Significance of the Passover
God told the Israelites to celebrate the Passover each year so that they would remember what God had done to free them from the Egyptians and form them into a people.
The Exodus was the most important event in the life of the nation of Israel.
And now for over one thousand years Jews had celebrated the Passover to remember God’s great salvation for them in the Exodus.
C. Jesus at the last Passover
In saying, “…this is my body, given for you…this cup is the new covenant in my blood…do this in remembrance of me” Jesus is saying that the Exodus and the Passover is about him and the great salvation that God is going to provide through his sacrifice.
In the first Passover it was the sacrifice of a lamb without blemish or the death of the first-born. In this final Passover event God provides the lamb without blemish and offers up his first-born that we might live.
But his death was not only about paying for our sin; it was about restoring fellowship with the living God. The Lord’s Supper shows this: that Jesus brings people into fellowship with God and His people. Just as the first Passover was God creating a people for himself, so the last Passover is God creating a new people through his Son.
II. The People of the Supper (The Forming of a New Community)
A. A New Community or Family
B. A New Covenant
Luke 22:20 & Jer. 31:31-34
In the Old Testament the Israelites entered into a covenant with God; they were God’s people. But they continually broke that covenant. Jeremiah looks prophecies a new covenant, one based on forgiveness of sins and God writing His law on their hearts. Here at the last supper Jesus is saying that it is the shedding of his blood that establishes this new covenant.
III. The Hope of the Supper (The Great Hope)
A. In the Lord’s Supper we don’t just look back, but look forward.
Just as the Passover looked forward to the completion of God’s promises to his people so too the Lord’s Supper looks forward to that day when we will feast with him in his consummated kingdom.
Matthew 26:29 “I tell you will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
The Lord’s Supper looks forward to day when we will celebrate with Jesus in his kingdom at the ultimate feast of God.