26/08/2026
THE MESSAGE OF THE PASSOVER
LUKE 22:19-20
And he took bread, 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. (KJV)
We said that Moses by faith kept the Passover feast. This means that the Passover feast was a shadow communicating the reality of the fulfilment of the promise of God in Christ. The Passover feast was a shadow like the manna, the bronze serpent hung on the tree, the water from the rock and other means by which Moses communicated Christ in shadows to the Israelites.
The Passover was an annual feast Jesus came to meet. Jesus and his parents yearly participated in it,
Luke 2:41-42,
“Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast”.
The disciples also participated in it since they were Jews. It was an annual feast for the Jews, communicating the salvation plan of God over the judgment of sin.
This feast was more than just the remembrance of the deliverance of their fathers from death in Egypt; it had a message that the disciples didn’t know about. To them, it was a normal festival to commemorate a past event their fathers experienced in Egypt.
It was during the last Passover feast Jesus had with his disciples that he explained to them the message of the Passover feast. That was not the first time they had the Passover but this was recorded because of the explanation Jesus gave them about the message of the Passover.
Our opening text is the explanation or the message of the Passover feast. Jesus explained the cup and the bread as symbolic communication of him. He was the message of the feast.
Apostle Paul also affirmed that Jesus is our Passover. The phrase “this do in remembrance of me” was to the people Jesus was at the table with and not all believers. Jesus was saying that they should take the Passover with him as the message or the explanation of the wine and the bread.
They had the Passover as a normal feast but at this time Jesus was redirecting their focus to himself. They were therefore to do it with Jesus as the focus.
Jesus was not instituting a feast or a practice for all believers. He was not saying that all believers should practice the Passover to remember him.
Jesus also made another significant statement,
Luke 22:16,
“For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God”.
This means the Passover was something to be fulfilled. He also said,
Luke 22:18,
“For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come”.
The kingdom of God came at the resurrection of Christ. The resurrection of Christ, therefore, fulfilled the shadows or symbols of the Passover. The Passover feast celebration is therefore not needed. We have its fulfilment in Christ.
We have the reality. It would be ignorance to use shadows to communicate something yet to be fulfilled when you already have the fulfilment.
CONFESSION: Jesus is the fulfilment of the Passover feast. I don’t need the shadows anymore.
Additional Studies:
Luke 22:1-20,
Mark 14:22-25,
1Corinthians 5:7-8,
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