The events of Passion Week are unfolding in the Gospel of Matthew. On Sunday of that week, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding a donkey, and he rode into the chants of, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, and Hosanna to the son of David. The next day, the second day of the week, Monday, Jesus went toward Jerusalem again, since he stayed the evenings and the nights outside the city, and on his way cursed a fig tree, which had not borne any fruit. And then he went to the temple, which turns out wasn't bearing good fruit either. And he began to overturn chairs and tables and drive out buyers and sellers and money changers. The temple had not borne fruit. And he was bringing to pass woe and curse and judgment with that symbolic act. On the next day, on Tuesday, he returned to Jerusalem, to that temple, and began to teach in the place where he caused such a scene. the day before. On Tuesday of that week, he taught about his authority, because that was in question in the eyes of many religious leaders. He taught in many parables. He taught that he was the vineyard owner's son, who would be rejected by vile and wicked tenants. He was the king in another parable, who had a wedding feast, and who at that feast expelled those who came without the proper wedding garment, and they would be shut out forever. Jesus in the Tuesday of that week called down woes and judgment on scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23. They were the religious leaders of his day, but had developed hard hearts toward him and had increased their opposition against him to the point that they wanted him not merely done away with outside the city, but they wanted him dead and done away with. Jesus lamented for Jerusalem. He lamented for the city of God, the city with that precious and sacred temple, the city that in just days would kill the Messiah. Jesus gave the Olivet Discourse on that same Tuesday, on which on the Mount of Olives He prophesied the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple that would unfold in 70 AD. He promised at the same Olivet Discourse His end-time return at an unexpected hour, so they better be ready. They will not know when the Son of Man comes. He will raise the dead, He will judge the nations as they are gathered before Him, and people will enter either eternal life or eternal judgment. On either Tuesday evening of that week or starting on Wednesday, Judas went to the religious leaders and he agreed to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. One of the 12 disciples would be the agent of the conspirators, scribes and Pharisees. Surely this moment where Judas takes the 30 pieces of silver is one of the most evil and terrible moments in all the world. One of His twelve, who had been with Him for years, all that Judas had seen, all that Judas had heard, He agrees to betray the Son of God. In our passage this morning, we move to Thursday of Passion Week. And in three parts, we'll see the preparation for Passover in verses 17-19. The preparation for Passover. And then the prediction of betrayal while they are sitting at the table in verses 20-25. And then in verses 26 through 30, Jesus will interpret the bread and the cup, focusing on those elements which were on the table. Other things would have been on the table, but most important were the bread and the cup that he would interpret for them as being his body and blood broken and shed unto death. Thursday of Passion Week. It tells us in verse 17 that now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and they have a question for him. Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover? So remember the time of the year here. It's not just any time of the year, it's Passover week. When the Jews remember God's deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt. We need to recall that in that story, the Israelites were in Egyptian captivity, and plague after plague were coming down upon the Egyptians and the land. And God promised Moses, and to say to Pharaoh through him, that the tenth plague would come and the firstborn of the land would be struck down, unless people in the land, the Israelites in particular, took lambs, shed their blood, and with the blood put it on the doorposts and the lentils, when God's judgment came over the land, If a home was covered with such blood, then God's judgment would pass over that home. Hence the name Passover for the feast. It is also known in Jesus' day by another name because Passover was not a one-day event. It began a day followed by a week of celebration, a seven-day feast after the first day of Passover. This whole feast could be known as Passover in Jesus' day, encompassing all the days. It could also be known as unleavened bread. Now why unleavened bread? Why not just call it Passover? Because at Passover, in the book of Exodus, God told Moses the people were to eat unleavened bread. So we still have the same event in mind. Leaven is yeast. So unleavened bread would be bread without the yeast in it. It would be quicker to eat because it doesn't have to rise and work its way through the dough and all the rest. Unleavened bread communicated urgency, it communicated haste. And so in Exodus 12, what you see the instructions to the people being is that they would eat unleavened bread and basically have everything ready to go, prepared for the exodus, the departure, which is what exodus means, outside of Egypt and toward the land God had promised them. Therefore, when you see in verse 17, the first day of unleavened bread, you've got the Passover feast in mind. Unleavened is simply recalling the kind of bread they had to eat in Exodus 12. And every year they were remembering this by emptying their homes for those days of the unleavened bread feast. or Passover feast, they would empty it of yeast, and they would all eat unleavened bread, they would roast lamb, they would have herbs dipped in sauces, they would eat together in a family head of the home, either a grandparent if they were in the home, or the father of the home, would lead in the remembrance through this feast of God's great deliverance. And they would recall God's provision and his deliverance from Egypt for those Israelites. It was important that they remember, Israel's life was built around a calendar of remembering things. Because you only need to read certain sections of their history before very long you get the impression that as soon as they started forgetting things about what God has done and who they were in light of God's redemptive work, they were going to be in a bad way very quickly. And they went after other gods and they went after other ways of disobedience. They were forgetting the Lord time and time again. God had built into the life of the people seasons of remembrance and months where certain things were to be called to mind through these feasts. Passover was crucial. Pilgrims from all over, hundreds of thousands would come into a city that was already full of people. The city would swell sometimes four times its size. Some estimate perhaps a million people or more. It depends on the year, of course. You couldn't expect the exact same number of people every single year, but it would be an enormous amount of population there. It would swell to such a degree that people could not stay inside the city, but would have to eat outside the city. Here was the problem, though. Passover had to be eaten inside Jerusalem. It had to be eaten inside Jerusalem. This is what you need to know for the story. Because in verse 17, they ask Jesus, where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover? They ask where? Now they've been staying at a place in Bethany, and they've been going east out of the city a couple miles every evening, but Passover's coming. And you don't just eat Passover anywhere. The problem though is the city is so full of people, there's not an abundance of empty lodging for them to have. And not only that, things are becoming increasingly dangerous for Jesus in the city. Now one of the twelve has already agreed to betray Jesus. And so they're wanting to know where this is going to take place. It's a genuine question, because it can't just happen anywhere. It needs to happen inside the city. And so Jesus gives them these instructions in verse 18. Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, the teacher says, my time's at hand. I'll keep Passover at your house with my disciples. So notice, while they've not been staying at night in Jerusalem, the Passover meal will be held in Jerusalem. at someone's home. This is, by law, what it was to, what was to happen. Jesus has someone in mind. He calls this person a certain man, and none of the four Gospels name this individual. But he is talking to his disciples here to go find this person, and we do learn in Luke 22, 8, the disciples that are going to find this certain man in Jerusalem are Peter and John. So Luke 22.8 identifies the two disciples. They're going to go into Jerusalem. Luke also tells us this in Luke 22.10. The man is going to be carrying a water jar and will come to meet them. This is a signal. Because in Jesus' day, the women were the ones who were carrying water jars in the city. It's not that a man never did, but if a man was carrying the water jar, he would stand out. It seems that the disciples would recognize this man, and if he sends Peter and John in particular, perhaps that certain man knows them, and they're going to see each other and meet. And Luke tells us, in Luke 22, that when they see each other, follow that man back to his home. So this is the signal. This means it's been prearranged. This is some sort of sympathizer for Jesus' ministry. Maybe even a very committed disciple. But either way, Jesus had a place, and now He's explaining to the disciples what the signal will be and where. Notice Jesus' words though. He says, you're to tell the guy this. The teacher says, and the guy's gonna apparently know exactly who's meant there because he knows Jesus and is a sympathizer for him. Teacher says, my time is at hand. I will keep Passover at your house with my disciples. So the 12 and Jesus are going to go to the home. And the reason is my time is at hand. John's gospel uses the language, my hour. My hour uses that term a lot, which refers to something that's been set and that people are waiting on to finally arrive. Up to this point, Jesus' time has not yet been at hand. Or to use John's gospel and its language, up to this point, his hour had not yet come. But now it has. Now it has. Notice a couple things about this. A time has been set. Nothing is happening randomly in Jesus' ministry. And there doesn't come a point where Jesus says, well, I think now's enough and enough is enough. I've taught all that I can think of, you know, covered all these things with my disciples. I think it's time to bring it into this. All of Jesus's ministry was on a sovereignly appointed timetable. And the hour had not yet come prior to this. But now, Jesus says, my time is at hand. It is at hand. Things had been set in motion from the foundation of the world beyond the control of the disciples and all of the religious leaders. Remember last week we noted that at the beginning of Matthew 26, the chief priests were thinking, we need to arrest Jesus so we can kill him, but we need to do it after the feast. We're not going to do it during the feast, which means they were thinking sometime next week. Jesus told his disciples, after two days the Passover is coming and the Son of Man is going to be delivered and crucified. We find out in that case who's right. It wasn't the chief priests and the elders. They have a change of plans later on in the chapter because Judas comes to them. So they have now a way to take Jesus privately instead of making some grand spectacle among the crowds in front of the temple with it, where Jesus had been teaching day after day. There's a sovereign timetable that is unfolding here. Jesus didn't just die on any week. He died on Passover week. Because that is to communicate something with the Old Testament background. In Passover, we were remembering where God was granting a mighty deliverance from captivity. And that is being surpassed and climaxed now, not from any particular physical political ruler, but from sin and death and hell, like we sang a moment ago. This is our Redeemer. He's come to do this, and His work is framed by the narrator as if He is bringing about a new exodus, and so that whatever this Passover meal is about to represent, we will now be thinking of the cross, far and above any other mighty deliverance. It will be the greatest deliverance God has ever wrought. Well, in verse 19, the disciples do exactly what Jesus says. Peter and John from Luke 22, we know they're the ones. They did as Jesus directed them and they prepared the Passover, which would involve primarily the preparation of food. And in verse 20, we shift in verses 20 to 25 to the prediction at the table. So we fast forward. from Thursday afternoon to Thursday evening. The mention of evening here is important. Now bear with me here. We need to think of the way Jews reckoned time and the way we reckon time. Jews began the day when the evening came, when sunset came. Sunset to sunset was when a day began and ended. When Thursday afternoon is unfolding and the preparation of the Passover is happening, Thursday evening comes, which for us is still Thursday evening, but it's the beginning of Friday for Jesus and his disciples as they reckon time from a Jewish perspective. Does that make sense? So they reckon time beginning in the evening, starting a new day, sunset. Here, which is when the Passover meal would have been eaten and then laid into the night, it was a very special time of feasting that would go on for hours and hours. And as I've mentioned earlier, for days and days with such remembrance. So in verse 20, when it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. Now, how should we imagine this scene here? Leonardo da Vinci's painting is no help here at all, okay? No help here at all. He didn't come and request a table for that many people and say, we're all going to sit on one side. It was not like that at all. That's not how they ate the Passover meal, okay? So pretty painting. That's completely misleading though on how the scene was, all right? Here's how the scene was. They would have a low table in the middle that was square. Food would be on it, drink would be on it. Then on three sides of the square table they would line couches. not individual chairs, couches, okay? And they would be reclining on these couches with their feet sort of splayed out and they would be leaning on their left arm and they would be eating with their right hand. This was the typical way of doing this, okay? So you have three sides of this table, which means that the furniture that they're on, the couches, form a kind of U. Can you picture that in your mind? A kind of U around the table. And Jesus would likely be sitting in the center couch with the other two couches on the other side of the table. And this means you would have approximately four people on each side. Of course, it doesn't tell us here how it was broken down, but clearly it's probably not going to be 9, 2, and 1. You know, it's going to be somewhat even. This means people that are going to be sitting next to Jesus, and depending on how big the square table was, it's very possible that not everybody would hear every single element of conversation that was going on and people near Jesus could say things and ask things to him and could hear him give answers that maybe not all the other disciples would hear depending on how spread out everything was. This is important to keep in mind for what we'll see in just a moment. So here they are reclining at the evening meal and they are with the 12. So I think we should envision just Jesus and his disciples. I don't think we should envision the man of the home and his family and their friends and all the rest. I think we should envision Jesus with his 12 only at the table. So now we've got an aerial view of it in mind, and it's now Friday according to Jesus and the other Jews' reckoning of time. In verse 21, as they were eating, he says, listen to these words, truly I say to you, one of you will betray me. Now it was typical for families to celebrate Passover together with the head, either the father or the grandfather, if he was there, to preside over the table. So Jesus is speaking here representing the head for this little family meal. Okay, so family meal in this sense. They're his brothers and sisters, his disciples, well his brothers of course, but here's the family meal, Jesus is the head. At this point, early in the meal, there would be a dipping of herbs and sauce, a kind of appetizer, so to speak. And while this important event has commenced, what is the topic of conversation Jesus brings up? If you've ever been in a meal where someone brings up a topic that makes it awkward for everyone else, Jesus here is going to say, one of you is going to betray me. I mean, people have food in their mouths at this point, they're in mid-dip, and they're all looking... I mean, Jesus has just said, one of you is going to betray me. This is what He decides to say while everybody is eating around this square table. Can you imagine the response? Everyone is stopping cold, no doubt. What did He just say? One of us is going to betray Him? Now, He's told them prior to this, that He will be handed over He will be delivered to the chief priests. He will be flogged. He will be crucified. He's saying, one of you will betray me. This isn't something they've been processing prior to this Friday meal. Again, Thursday evening in our way of understanding the day, but Friday now beginning for him. In ancient culture, hospitality was the kind of thing where a guest was considered perfectly secure and to be unharmed in somebody's home. People would go to great lengths to ensure that people were protected. And even if there were hostile people present, they would prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies. It was the kind of thing where you would expect that if I'm a guest in somebody's home, I'm safe. It seems to go against every kind of ancient custom in the minds of these disciples for Jesus to say that among them lies a betrayer. Among these twelve. In verse 22, they become immediately sorrowful. You'd expect this. This is a right reaction. They're very sorrowful. And they begin to say, one after another, is it I, Lord? You sort of imagine, let's just go counterclockwise, you know, is it me? Is it me? Is it me? And so they're just, they're totally bewildered that one of them would do it. In fact, they don't discern a tendency in themselves that they would be the betrayer. So they're genuinely saying, is it me? Am I the one? I don't think I am. They're not coming out with it and admitting it. And he says, he who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. Now this could be, A way of simply saying, we're all eating in this intimate scene together, and therefore, a way of repeating, one of you will betray me. It's awfully vague, isn't it? He doesn't mention anybody in verse 23. But if they each had, which they probably did, their own servings of sauces in front of them, and herbs, then someone who, he says here, dips his hand in the dish with me will betray me, may speak to the proximity of the individual to Jesus. It may mean he's near him. John 13 helps us here. In John 13, and we can't go into the details of it, because we're in Matthew 26, but in John 13, there's every reason to say that John, the beloved disciple, was on Jesus's right, and Judas was on Jesus's left. Which means when he says that he who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me, that may eliminate several couches. See what I mean? So in Psalm 41, there's likely an allusion here, and John's gospel brings it out as an actual quotation, but it's probably an allusion here in Matthew as well. In Psalm 41 verse 8, it says, they say a deadly thing is poured out on him. He will not rise again from where he lies. Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me. But you, O Lord, be gracious to me and raise me up. It is very likely that an illusion like that is seen here where this Davidic figure in Psalm is having this a poser who has counted a friend and a trusted one, yet who has lifted up his heel against me. And it's this picture of sharing bread together. It was unthinkable that in close fellowship, you would have this hostile enemy who is plotting your demise. And right there in Psalm 41, someone who's sharing bread is lifting up his heel against him. So probably an allusion to Psalm 41.9 here in this passage. In verse 24, Jesus says, the Son of Man goes as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. Jesus is essentially saying, what is going to happen to the Son of Man? Will be exactly what Scripture has foretold. He says here, the Son of Man will go as it is written. This means He's prophesying betrayal so that when this unfolds and the Son of Man goes with this, it's happening as it was written. But that does not mean it will go well for the betrayer. Jesus uses such an incredible statement here. He says, it would have been better for that man if he had not been born. In fact, Jesus says, woe to that man. Woe to him. Prior to this, Jesus has pronounced woes against unrepentant towns in Matthew 11. He's pronounced related woes in Matthew 18 to those who put stumbling blocks in front of his disciples. In Matthew 23, he pronounces woes against the scribes and the Pharisees. This is a picture of judgment, of something not ending well for this one. He says, woe to the one. Who does this? It would have been better for him if he had not been born. And I think one of the implications is because after this life there is judgment. This life is not the end. And so since this life is not the end and there is judgment, then it would have been better for this one had he not been born because his life would be accountable before God. Judas then speaks. Matt, verse 25. It's almost as if Judas here was the last one to ask this question. I mean, it says they went one after another. Is it I, Lord? Is it I, Lord? Judas, and then Matthew goes ahead and reminds us that he's the one who would betray him. He answered, is it I, Rabbi? Now at this point, we don't know what the state of the meal looks like. In John 13, the beloved disciple leans back against Jesus and asks who it is. And Jesus says, it's the one I give this bread to. He dips it and then gives it to Judas in John 13. Jesus seems to identify Judas, but it doesn't seem that everyone in these couches at this moment are as clear about what is going on. In fact, in John 13, Judas leaves, but the disciples don't assume that he's the betrayer there in John 13. They think he's going to go as the treasurer to give money to the poor, because giving alms was very customary at feast times. especially Passover. So when Judas, who would betray him, says, Is it I, Rabbi? And he said to him, You have said so. If Judas is next to Jesus, it's not likely that everyone who is around would have been on the same page with this answer. It will all become clear in short order. outside the Garden of Gethsemane, that Judas is the betrayer. The disciples will all know it clear as day at that point. But in John 13, Judas is going to leave, and the disciples don't assume that as the betrayer he's obviously going to continue his wicked schemes. They actually attribute probably a good motive for him leaving. One thing to note about verse 25, the title Judas uses. The title. It's important because it's different from the previous use of, or the previous engagement with Jesus by the other disciples. They said in verse 22, is it I, Lord? And I think it's right when New Testament scholars draw attention to the fact that Judas doesn't call Jesus Lord here. He calls him Rabbi. Is it I, Lord? Is it I, Lord? Is it I, Lord? Is it I, Lord? All through them. And then you get to Judas. Is it I, Rabbi? That stands out and it makes you wonder, well does Judas realize Jesus is more than that? Or has Judas come to the place where he is not convinced that Jesus is who he is claimed and taught and symbolically demonstrated through all of his miracles to be. Now Jesus is a teacher. But Judas doesn't seem to believe Jesus is anything more than that. This is what he comes up with. Rabbi, the other disciples are calling him Lord. He's heard them call him Lord. Now in verse 25, we're not told that Judas leaves. Verse 26 picks up that Jesus takes the bread and blesses it and breaks it. John 13 is helpful here. It tells us that in John 13, Jesus had taken a morsel which would impart the appetizer earlier portion of the meal, gave it to Judas, and it tells us that Judas left into the night. And the disciples assumed that he went to go and give alms to the poor. I don't think it is likely that Judas was there for the breaking of the bread and the passing of the cup. I know Matthew doesn't tell us, but I think when you compare it to the other gospel accounts, it's likely that Judas leaves at this point. And then in verse 26, we come now to the climax of the story. It tells us in verses 26 through 30 that Jesus is going to interpret the bread and the cup. At this point in the meal, the family head would recall the events of Passover by interpreting what was on the table. This had happened for so many years. Think about the timeline. Moses conveyed the words about Passover in Exodus 12. It's been happening since Moses. Now Moses, which I think was alive in the 1400s BC, then Jesus is sitting with his disciples at a table almost 1,500 years after Moses. That's a lot of lambs slain by a lot of families every year. For more than a millennium, Passover's been going on. Every year, every year, every year. And now, secretly in Jerusalem, Jesus is with his disciples at the last one. Been going on for over a thousand years. Now, why is it the last one? People kept Passover after that. No, by last, I mean what the festival of Passover was always pointing to. This is the last one. The ones subsequently mean nothing. This is the last Passover because Jesus is the true Lamb of God who will be slain. It's been a lot of years of this festival. And now at this meal, in an unnamed man's house, secretly in the city of Jerusalem, the Lamb of God is sharing this meal with His twelve disciples. Now in preparing to interpret the elements, as would be expected, things are going to take a very important turn. And you need to understand. given the Passover background, the family head was told and had the custom just ironclad in his mind, year after year, century after century, for more than a thousand years, almost 1500 by this point, that you take the elements and you talk about what God did in delivering the Israelites from Egypt. That's what you did when you took the elements, you talked about the past. Everything is different now. Jesus takes bread, he blesses it, he breaks it, he gives it to the disciples, and he says nothing about the Israelites in Egypt. That had never happened before. The family head is not supposed to diverge from the script. Everybody knows what's on the table, and what it represents, and what they're to recall. He says, take and eat, this is my body. Whoa. No one's ever been to a Passover meal like that. This is a meal unlike every other meal for the last 1,500 years since Moses. Take and eat, this is my body. They're expecting him to talk about slain lambs. They're expecting to talk about the death of those lambs and the blood that was shed on that Passover night in Exodus. Jesus says, take and eat. No reference to the Passover in Egypt at all. In fact, instead of talking about history, Jesus talks about himself. Does it seem grotesque to you that he says, take and eat, this is my body? I mean, of course it has nothing to do with cannibalism, but it is a very graphic picture. I think we have to think how graphic the language Jesus is using here. Take and eat, this is my body, this is my body, eat it. What a picture! And if he's sitting with them, and then gives them bread saying, this is my body, obviously the bread is not actually his body. His body is there on the couch. So I think it would have been clear to the disciples that this bread was not actually, literally his body. But instead, he was speaking metaphorically. He was speaking metaphorically. This is a really important point. You know, when we participate in the Lord's Supper, this is not the actual body and blood of Christ. It would be a mistake and a grave error to believe it so. And one of the strengths of this position is to note that no one, for the 1500 years of Passover, took those elements, as the family had interpreted them, to be literally the blood of that slain lamb from the Passover. It was symbolizing. They believed for 1500 years that their practice of Passover was symbolic. It was remembering what was happening. So Jesus is sitting on the couch in his body, right? And then he's saying, this is my body. So he's not trying to do double speak here, he's speaking metaphorically. It represents his body. So we should not interpret his words literally any more than the disciples would have taken the normal practice of the Passover liturgy for all the years that it had been held. Now what's the point of the metaphor? The bread is broken? and it is taken in to the disciples themselves. They are partaking, participating in His death. They are digesting this bread. They're chewing it, swallowing it, and digesting it. In other words, what He's doing is for them. It's for them. What He's doing is a welcoming of participation in His act. In some way, they are being told that this is for you. Take it, eat it. He then, in verse 27, takes a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you. Now, from what we can tell in Jewish tradition from the second century, if we can say with some confidence that these kinds of things were happening even in the days of Jesus, a century earlier, when the Passover was being held, they would have cups for everyone at the meal. But Jesus here is using a common cup for this purpose. So he takes a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, which means he's passing this cup. So he takes a cup, and he's passing it, right? And he says, drink of it, all of you. It's significant that the bread is coming from him, the cup is coming from him, and he's saying, all of you take it. This is me. You all have to have me. Take me into you. You have to have me. And he says, drink of it all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. He's saying that his body and blood, or the bread and the cup, represents his body and blood that's about to be given unto death. Notice the idea of blood of the covenant, which is poured out. We're not talking about paper cuts here, are we? We're talking about the pouring out of blood. We're talking about death. That's what the picture of the poured out blood would mean. There's multiple Old Testament allusions here. First to Exodus 24, 8. In Exodus 24, Moses was sealing the Old Covenant with them. Listen to the language of Exodus 24, 8. Moses took blood, he threw it on the people, and he said, Behold the blood of the covenant. It's the first time that language is used. Now Jesus doesn't say in verse 28 of our passage, blood of the covenant. He says, my blood of the covenant. Because he's not taking someone else's blood and casting it upon them or whatever to inaugurate a new covenant. He himself is shedding his blood, laying down his life. That is what he's bringing about the new covenant. And I think we're to hear covenantal overtones from the Old Testament. Exodus 24 was about the old covenant. Jesus is now talking about new covenant. In Old Covenant language, Exodus 24 was sealing the Old Covenant. Jesus here is saying that what I'm about to do is sealing the New Covenant. In fact, we know the New Covenant is meant because Luke's Gospel doesn't simply say the blood of the Covenant. Luke 22 verse 20 clarifies that this is the cup poured out for you, the New Covenant in my blood. It's without a doubt exactly what Jeremiah 31 prophesied God would one day bring to pass. This was a new covenant, and it would be made with blood, and it would be sealed, and it was what was hoped for and promised, and Jesus wasn't using someone else's blood and sprinkling it on the people. It was His sacrifice, and they had to take it. They had to receive it. It says, the bread is my body, and the cup is my blood, the blood of the covenant. then poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins, full of Isaiah 53 overtones. Isaiah 53 was about a suffering servant who, in verse 12, would have death that was poured out for many. And in Isaiah 53, verses four to six, listen to these three verses. Isaiah 53, four. Surely He has borne our griefs, carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to His own way. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquities of us all. The picture here in Matthew 26-28 is this comprehensive statement about Jesus' work. He is bringing about a new covenant seal. It has to do with His sacrifice. And why? Why is His death being poured out? It tells us there it's for the forgiveness of sins. There was prophesied in Isaiah 53 a figure who would take upon himself the iniquities of us all because we like sheep had gone astray and he was bearing judgment for us. What verse 28 tells us is that here's something crucial about the death of Jesus. It was in our place. It was substitutionary. You see, the Gospel writers aren't just interested in the historical fact that Jesus died. They want to interpret for you what that meant. They want to tell you why is it significant that His life was poured out. Because His death was for the forgiveness of sins. What it's saying there is, He died to achieve the very thing we need, which is forgiveness of sins. Blood is poured out. Substitutionary. Let's think for a moment about His name in chapter 121. The angel said, you will call His name Jesus, for you will save His people from their sins. Jesus lives up to His name. Because it's exactly what He does. Think for a moment about His confidence at this meal, alright? Here they are, just zoom out for a moment. They're in this room, they've got all the food before them. Jesus is interpreting bread, He's interpreting this cup. Think about His confidence. He knows this is what His death is going to mean. He has no doubt. There is no uncertainty at this meal. He isn't characterized by some kind of unfounded optimism. The Old Testament spoke of a suffering servant and Jesus didn't hope that he was the one. He knew he was the one. His death would be poured out for their forgiveness of sins. Jesus used the language from those chapters to describe what he was doing. He believed he was the suffering servant. And behold the point of transition in Israel's history. For more than a millennium's worth, Passovers have been going on year after year. Now Jesus is saying things about the bread and the cup that aren't about a slain lamb anymore. He's not talking about a lamb's death. He's talking about His death. Right? Do you see that? He's not talking about a lamb's death from Exodus 12. He's talking about His death at this Passover meal. In other words, He's talking about His death in a way that puts Himself forward as the Lamb. It's as if He is the Lamb of God. This is what John the Baptist says in John 1. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Verse 29, Jesus says, I tell you, I won't drink again of the fruit of this vine until that day when I drink anew with you in my Father's kingdom. This is the last statement that we get at this meal before they leave in verse 30. And then we'll end. In verse 29, he's prophesying a future day. First of all, think about it this way, it's a hope-giving verse. There's a final feast, a drinking and a coming together of the people of God where he will drink this, he says, new with them. Something lies ahead in the future that takes place, he says, in my Father's kingdom. This, I think, is the end-time feasting of the people of God in view that Revelation 19 calls the marriage supper of the Lamb, of all titles, the marriage supper of the Lamb. But even Matthew's gospel foreshadows it. I think it foreshadows it when the 5,000 are fed and when the 4,000 are fed. Jesus is giving bread and they're taking it in themselves and it forecasts this day when Jesus with the people of God is there in the most final climactic sense. Matthew's gospel has predicted it. In Matthew 8, 11, people will sit and dine with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who have come from east and west and all over from the nations. This is what is coming. So this is a deeply hope-giving verse. Friends, you should trust in this Savior, because He has lived up to His name. He has died and risen for us, that on His victorious cross, He has achieved our perfect, sufficient, full atonement by His single death, never to be repeated. There is forgiveness of sins in Christ, and friends, it is in Christ alone. There's no other Savior. There's no other Lamb. There's no other Sacrifice. There's no other Mediator. His victorious work was prophesied in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament it was accomplished. The question is, do you believe the Bible's testimony that He's Lord, Savior, and Redeemer, and what does it lead you to do? Not merely to agree, historically, that this is how the interpretation of the events was according to these inspired New Testament authors. The question is, what should you do in light of that? We should trust Him. You should follow Him. You should cast aside your sin, and you should repent of your sins, and you should follow Christ, because only at Christ is the mercy for sinners found. And according to the Word of God, Christ will never reject us. He will receive sinners to Himself, sinners poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Christ is ready to meet you. You should go to Him. You should go to Him because Christ will receive sinners, and He will make us new, He will forgive us of our sins. Christ grants pardon. Christ alone can reconcile us to God because of His perfect work. We should look at the verse 30 as we end. It says that when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. They probably didn't sing, there's power in the blood, or at the cross, or... What does it mean, hymn, here? I mean, it's not a hymn of the verses that we imagined. The hymn here in the Passover tradition was a set of Psalms. A set of Psalms. They're called the Hallel Psalms, which means to praise. Praise Psalms. It has the language of praise over and over again. There's a section of them from Psalm 113 through Psalm 118. And yes, they would sing them all from Psalm 113 to 118. It's a huge section of them, right? They would sing Psalms 113 and 114 earlier in the meal, and they would have the remembrance of the deliverance from Egypt, and then they would sing Psalms 115 through 118. And they would have had these memorized. I mean, it's very likely that these Jews would have had Psalm after Psalm, if not the whole book memorized. Jesus was very much in tune with the message of the Psalms. in his ministry, especially in his passion week. And we'll see this as his death approaches. But let's just consider a moment, if they're singing these from memory, what are the kinds of things Jesus would be saying as he's singing with this group of disciples now heading out to the Mount of Olives, singing this hymn? I want to end this way this morning. Here are some of the verses that would have been on the lips of Jesus. Psalm 115, 9-11. O Israel, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. Jesus would have said, Psalm 116, verses 3 and 4. The snares of death encompassed me. The pangs of Sheol laid hold on me. I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord. O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul. Psalm 116, 8 and 9. For you've delivered my soul from death. My eyes from tears. My feet from stumbling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. Jesus would have sung Psalm 118, 5-7. Out of my distress I called on the Lord. The Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side. I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is on my side as my helper. I shall look in triumph on those who hate me. Jesus would have sung the words of Psalm 118, 14. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. Psalm 118.19, Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. Jesus would have said, Psalm 118.22, The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing and is marvelous in their eyes. And on this Thursday night, or what has become Friday for them, on this last supper meal when Jesus will soon be betrayed, He would have sung Psalm 118.24, friends, which says, This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Let's stand together as we pray.