The Passover and the Lord’s Supper
In a theological work published, among many other charges against the Holy Scriptures, we are told that Matthew, Mark and Luke made a “mistake” in assuming that “the Lord’s supper was the Passover feast”; that “the two were regarded as identical”; and also that our Lord “had desired to eat the Passover with them, but He did not eat it.” There is nothing new in these charges, though they are very far from the truth.
1. On turning to the gospels, we find that Matthew, Mark, and Luke, each, according to the line of things given him by the Spirit, supplies us with particulars as to the eating of the Passover. John usually takes the divine side, and enters little into Jewish circumstances. His gospel is founded on their rejection of the Messiah, as stated in the beginning, “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.”
With regard to the Passover, Matthew says that our Lord sent some of His disciples into the city to make ready the Passover. They said unto Jesus, “Where wilt Thou that we prepare for Thee to eat the Passover? And He said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, the Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at thy house with My disciples .... and they made ready the Passover. Now when the even was come, He sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat,” (Matt. 26).
Mark’s account is the sending forth of two of His disciples into the city, much in the same way. They were to say to the goodman of the house, “Where is the guest-chamber where I shall eat the Passover with My disciples?.... and they made ready the Passover. And in the evening, He cometh with the twelve. And as they sat and did eat,” (Mark 14).
Luke gives the same account as to the furnished room. He tells us that the two disciples sent were Peter and John. They were to say, “Where is the guest-chamber where I shall eat the Passover with My disciples?... and they made ready the Passover. And when the hour was come He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. And He said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (Luke 22).
Thus far the account of these three Evangelists is entirely about the Passover. Where, then, is the mistake? Where is there the smallest evidence, that up to the actual eating of the Passover the disciples had an idea of its being anything but the Passover feast?
Where, then, are the writers’ mistakes? Where is there the faintest intimation that the Passover and Lord’s Supper were assumed by these inspired writers to be identical? How appalling are such rash charges, and how calculated to promote infidelity, and to bring the Holy Scriptures into contempt!
2. We have just seen that the Lord desired to eat the Passover with His disciples; that He sent Peter and John to procure a room where He might eat the Passover with His disciples; that at the appointed hour He and the twelve sat down, and as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, “I will not eat any more thereof.” Referring to Judas, He also said, “He that eateth bread with Me”. Can there be a doubt, then, that our Lord did eat the Passover? How very serious for any one without a shadow of proof to say, “He did not eat of it”!
The fact is, that the Passover having been eaten by our Lord with His disciples according to Jehovah’s mind, for the last time on earth, before the kingdom comes, in the immediate anticipation of His rejection as Messiah, and His death as a Sacrifice for sin, His resurrection and ascension, He institutes another thing which was not a Jewish feast, but a Christian ordinance, and of very different import. Though they both set forth to faith the Savior’s death and blood-shedding, the Passover was a memorial of the blood of the paschal lamb in Egypt, sheltering from judgment; but in the Lord’s Supper, the wine is to faith the memorial of the blood of Christ which speaks to the believer of remission of sins, and of his being perfected forever by that one offering (Matt. 26:2828For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Matthew 26:28); Heb. 10:2-202For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. 3But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. 4For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 5Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: 6In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 7Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. 8Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; 9Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 16This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 18Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. 19Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; (Hebrews 10:2‑20)). The blood of Christ assures us of redemption accomplished, sins purged, conscience purged, and the worshipper purged, thus having boldness to enter into the holiest. It would, therefore, be impossible for those who received God’s testimony to the eternal efficacy of “the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all,” to regard the Passover and the Lord’s Supper as identical. It is then impossible that Matthew, Mark, and Luke could have assumed that “the Lord’s Supper was the Passover feast.”
As to the Supper being instituted, Matthew says, “As they were eating;” Mark, “As they did eat.” Luke gives a fuller account of the details of the Passover feast, and adds that our Lord said, in reference to eating it, “I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” After this, “He took bread [a loaf], and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is My body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you.” Mark says, “shed for many.” and Matthew, “shed for many for the remission of sins.” We ask, then, was there anything like this in the Passover feast? Is it not clear that it was at the close of the eating of the Passover that our Lord instituted His supper? It is well, however, to remember, that since then our Lord has spoken from heaven about His Supper; and as, by His rejection by the nation, the kingdom is in abeyance, He has taught us that, “As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death TILL HE COME” (1 Cor. 11:23-2623For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. (1 Corinthians 11:23‑26)). We need scarcely add, that His “coming” for His saints will be before His “appearing and His kingdom.”
(Continued).