Mark 14:22  And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.
23  And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.
24  And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.
25  Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of so much typology. In our text, Jesus taught the importance of the Lord’s Supper. Jesus Christ is our Passover. We do not need to find a lamb and keep it for four days to make sure it has no blemishes. We need to know the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour and Lord.
Importantly, God established the time of the Passover. It had nothing to do with the position of the moon. It was God Who brought the ten plagues against Egypt. At the right time, He gave the instructions prior to the tenth plague. In the instructions for the first passover, God also commanded that same event was to be kept as a memorial of this first passover. God set the date and the Jews keep that same date now.
The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is our Passover. He fulfilled the Old Testament typology of that lamb that was chosen and kept separate for four days and then killed according to God’s commandment. The Catholics adopted many pagan events and incorporated them into its corrupt religion. One of those corrupt pagan events is what is now known as Easter. Protestant religions which supposedly protested Catholicism, all keep Easter and the date is different every year, not according to God’s order, but according to pagan customs. Independent Baptists are supposed to be “independent” of human rule. We are supposed to be dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ. We are supposed to point people to the truth. Yet most Independent Baptists follow the Catholic and the Protestant system in trying to remind people of the significance of Jesus as our Passover. True Christians are commanded to remember Jesus’ death through keeping the Lord’s Supper. Jesus instituted that supper in our text.
Jesus took bread. That would have been unleavened bread. He took that bread and blessed it, brake it and gave it to the disciples to eat. Jesus declared that this bread was His body. It represented His body. It was unleavened to depict the fact that Jesus Christ is without sin. We need a Saviour Who is without sin. Sin cannot enter heaven. We need to be free from sin to enter heaven. We also need to be free from the bondage of sin now.
Jesus Christ is the Only Saviour. He can be our Saviour because He never sinned. He could lay down His life without any hypocrisy. He could remove our sins, by taking them upon Himself, because He is without sin.
The disciples were told to eat the bread, not in order to be saved but as we will see it was a remembrance of what He would soon do on the cross.
Jesus also took the cup and after giving thanks for that cup, He gave it to the disciples and they all drank of it. The cup was filled with grape juice, not alcoholic wine. It was a picture of Jesus’ sinless blood. Alcoholic drink is fermented. It is spoiled. The Bible forbids the use of alcoholic drink, period. Alcoholic drink is destructive by design. Alcoholic drink can never depict the spotless blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus pointed out that this cup was a type of His blood. He called it the blood of the new testament. Jesus fulfilled the O.T. law. He did not ignore it. He is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Rather than the need for that lamb, Jesus Christ fulfilled that with a new testament. He was not an animal, but the sinless, human Lamb of God. He is the eternal Son of God Who laid down His life for the sheep.
In verse 25 we read that Jesus Christ would not drink of the “fruit of the vine” until we meet Him in the Millennium. The fruit of the vine is not alcoholic wine. It is grape juice. It is red grape juice which depicts the colour of the blood. We are not told to pretend we are drinking blood. Satanists drink blood. God forbids us from eating or drinking the blood. The fruit of the vine is that typology that we, those who are saved, partake of as a reminder of the Lord’s death, until He comes again.
Jesus Christ is alive and He is coming back again. This is an important promise of God. We can look forward to that day when we will meet the Lord in the air. We will be with the Lord forevermore from that time forward.
Jesus addressed the disciples here. The Lord’s supper is only for born again Christians. It has no saving merit in it.
I heard of a religious group that offers the Communion to people at funerals if they want it. Many religions will offer communion to a person in the hospital, that is dying. That is a wrong use of this important ordinance of God. Some people partake of “communion” in their own homes. They think it has healing powers. That is also a corruption of this important ordinance.
The Catholic priest likes to be there as the person is dying to administer their eucharist to the dying person. They teach that partaking of the eucharist is a means of finding forgiveness of sins. The Bible does not teach that.
God directed the apostle Paul to write specific instructions for partaking of the Lord’s Supper in I Corinthians 11. In that instruction, there is also a warning against partaking of that Supper unworthily. It is not a light thing to partake in the Lord’s Supper. It is to be a reminder of His death until He comes again. Thus it is only for those who have been saved through His death. It is to be administered by God’s chosen servant, not just anyone. It is a necessary reminder of Jesus’ death for our sins.
Jesus Christ instituted this new event just prior to His death. It was a sober reminder to the disciples, of what was about to take place. His death was cruel. His sacrifice was necessary for us to be able to be forgiven and saved.
Today is the Lord’s Day. It is another opportunity to go to a good church where you can be encouraged in the Truth. Don’t miss out on this important opportunity to be in God’s house. If you are not saved, today would be the right day to be saved. Any day is the right day to be saved. Don’t put off that important choice. Jesus Christ went to the cross for your sins. He shed His blood there for you. Don’t reject that necessary sacrifice on your behalf. Know His forgiveness and begin to walk with Him.
Pastor Bartel