Matt 26:26-28 The Last Passover 10/26/2008 ßà
#1. Preparations for NT Feast Days (Rev 3:16)
· Pointing Out Judas (Matt 26:20-25, Gal 3:13, 1Pet 1:23, Rom 3:18, John 13:21-30, 1Thess 5:5)
#2. Institution of the Lord’s Supper (1Cor 2:2, Matt 26:26-29, 1Cor 5:7, Heb 6:6, 7:27, 9:12,25-28, Ex 12:11, Matt 13:37, 1Cor 11:25)
#3. A Memorial Not to Be Defiled (Gal 1:17, 1Cor 11:23-29)
Please open your Bibles to the Epistle to the Colossians, Col 2:16-17 (2X). However, the sermon of today will not be about Colossians. I will preach today from Matt 26, where the Lord Jesus had His last supper with His disciples. But the title of the sermon for today is not “The Last Supper”, like many other preachers would have titled it. The fact that Christ had His last meal before He went to the cross does not touch on any of the elements of the Gospel. Instead I have as the title for this sermon “The Last Passover” (2X), for this was indeed the last Passover feast that could be celebrated, for when the Lord Jesus died on the cross the entire Ceremonial Law ceased to exist. God says in Col 2:16-17, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ”. Verse 16 says that the entire Ceremonial Law does not exist any more in the NT economy of the Gospel, for, verse 17 says that all the details of the Ceremonial Law were shadows of things to come; they were shadows of Christ, and of the cross of Christ, and of the church that Christ bought on the cross; but the body, meaning the body of all these signs and shadows, or the substance of all these signs and shadows, is Christ. And thus, when Christ died on the cross all these signs and shadows of the Ceremonial Law were fulfilled. Now let us see what preparations God made to close out this era of the Passover. Please turn in your Bibles to the Gospel According to Matthew, Matt 26:17 (2X), and please put a sticker here in Matt 26:17, for we will be returning there many times. We read here in the passage that begins with Matt 26:17 about:
When we read the accounts of OT people to celebrate these feasts, let us keep in mind the costs and the dedication and the commitment of these people to keep these feasts as properly as they could. This is what we should have in mind when we read of the disciples celebrating the last Passover in Matt
Mt 26:17-19, Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, 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 the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the Passover.
This is rather brief how the disciples found this upper room where the Lord Jesus and His disciples celebrated the Passover. But it is rather significant that the Lord Jesus said to the goodman of the house “My time is at hand”, as if God the Holy Spirit had before prepared this man’s understanding of the importance of this Last Passover of the Lord Jesus. We find more information when we glean from the other Gospel writers. Please turn in your Bibles a few pages to your right, to the Gospel of Mark, Mark 14:12 (2X). Mark is probably John-Mark, who was a disciple of the apostle Peter. And thus we can expect much contribution from Peter in this Gospel account. The Gospel of Mark is the one that is most accurate in portraying the chronological sequence of events during the earthly life of the Lord Jesus Christ. We read here what took place after 3 O’clock on Thursday afternoon. We read in Mark 14:12-16,
Mr 14:12-16 And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the Passover, his disciples said unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat the Passover? And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the Passover.
Can you see the providence of God in this account? God the Holy Spirit has worked in this goodman of the house in Jerusalem to prepare this upper room for Jesus and His disciples. Is that not amazing? And this goodman of the house knew, from the Holy Spirit, that the Lord’s time for His crucifixion was at hand. And so, he opened up his house for the Lord. And suddenly we are reminded that this goodman of the house does not have a name. Does that sound familiar? God has put this event in the Bible to show us what is going on inside us when we became saved. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes into our soul, He demands admission as if He already owns it, and He cannot be resisted. If He says, “I will keep a feast in this soul”, then He will do it, for He works and none can hinder. Psalm 110:3 says, “Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power”, for He makes them willing. And wherever Christ is welcome, He expects that His disciples are welcome too. When Almighty God is our God, then His people are our people also. And thus, the disciples made preparations for the feast of Passover. They purchased a lamb from the flocks that were on sale at the temple, the priests killed the lamb and the blood was poured by the altar. According to the commandment the lamb had to be killed between Thursday evening and Friday evening. They roasted the lamb and prepared the bitter herbs, the sauce, and the unleavened bread. And they kept the fireplace burning in the upper room, for they could not leave any leftovers. At the time of the exodus they could not leave any leftovers for the Egyptians. God indicated hereby that the Passover meal was precious, and that it must not be defiled by the heathen.
#1. Preparations for NT Feast Days (Rev 3:16)
The OT ceremonial feast of Passover was a great feast. Let us be clear on this: If the OT feast days were already great feasts, should not the NT feast days be even greater feasts? Should we not in the NT dispensation have a greater commitment and joy than they had in the OT dispensation? They had only signs and symbols that were anticipating the coming Messiah. But we have received the knowledge that Christ has come, and has given His life for our life, and has washed away our sins, and has given us a regenerated soul so that we can worship Him with all our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength, and has given us the glory of being His ambassadors, and has given us the glorious promise of eternal life with Him, and in Him, in the NH&NE, and so on. The information that God has given us of the NT glory is at least ten times greater than the OT prophets ever have received. We have the knowledge of the New Covenant. God has given the NT saints far greater glory, for we can know if we are in Christ. Our faith, hope and love for Christ are not tied to our faithfulness in ceremonial exercises, like the OT people were subjected to. We have received far greater knowledge of the Bible than the OT prophets have. We can understand the NT promises in the OT, which contains these Biblical truths, but only concealed. We can understand the OT promises more clearly, as they are in the NT clearly revealed. And we now know that the name “Israel” is not reserved for just a few million descendants of Jacob, but “Israel” consists of all the elect of God throughout the world and throughout the centuries.
BUT now that we know all this, can we look at the Christians throughout the world, and can we see a greater commitment and a greater joy than we have ever seen throughout the OT days? And the answer is: NO! Throughout the world and in various churches, pastors have to remind their congregations to give money, or else the pastors go hungry, because most congregations have no love for their pastor and have no commitment toward their church. Throughout the world church attendance has become an obligation, rather than a feast. Let me ask you people, in this congregation: Are you coming to church every Sunday as if you are coming to a feast, which you are going to enjoy in the presence of the Lord, and where you are going to partake of the Lord’s Supper, and where you are essentially partaking of Him, and where you are going to learn of much greater promises and glories in the life hereafter? Are we delighted to have the Bible in our hands and actually with our eyes hear our Savior speak to us, and comfort us that He will never leave us nor forsake us? Is this the great feast that we are coming to every Sunday? And are we rejoicing that we are in the presence of other saints to whom we might be able to minister, if the opportunity lends itself? If I am not mistaken, this is not the expectation that we are coming to every Sunday. What we are coming to is a much lesser feast than the OT saints were celebrating every Saturday, and every feast day on their calendar. If we are coming together as the NT saints came, as is described in the Acts of the Apostles, why then was it necessary for the Lord to admonish the church of Laodicea that they have become lukewarm? (Rev 3:16) You see, the danger for the NT church is always that the congregation may become lukewarm. A church that always need to be prodded, and that always need to be reminded to love one another, is a church that is already lukewarm. And that is something that we must seriously consider whenever we read about feast days in the Bible.
Let us now go back to our passage in Matt 26:20-25, and let us look at:
· Pointing Out Judas (Matt 26:20-25, Gal 3:13, 1Pet 1:23, Rom 3:18, John 13:21-30, 1Thess 5:5)
Mt 26:20-25 Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.
We read in verse 24, “The Son of man goeth as it is written of him”. Christ is going to die as it was determined in the counsel of God, for the purpose of God concerning the atonement for sinners must prevail. Therefore, Christ must be delivered into the hands of the chief priests and Pharisees, and they will make sure that He will die on a tree; for it was decreed in the counsel of God that Christ must die on a tree, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree” (Gal 3:13). But then, verse 24 goes on to say, “Woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born”. What are the implications of these words by the Lord Jesus? We see four principles that flow from this statement. 1st, that the crime which he was about to commit was exceedingly great; 2nd that the misery or punishment due to it would certainly come upon him; 3rd that he would certainly deserve that punishment, for our God is a righteous judge who will make the punishment fit the crime; and 4th that this punishment would be eternal, for the statement “it had been good for that man if he had not been born” must apply even to eternity, for the “Word of God liveth and abideth for ever” (1Pet 1:23). And if the punishment of Judas would be forever, then it is equally certain and proper that all the wicked will suffer their punishment in Hell forever. But mankind is inherently wicked and unbelieving of the penalty for sin. Therefore, as Rom 3:18 teaches, “There is no fear of God before their eyes”. We can see this clearly here in Matt 26:25 where Judas hypocritically asked, “Master, is it I?” Jesus answered him, “Thou hast said”, which we understand to mean, “Thou hast said the truth; it is so; thou art the man”
Please turn in your Bibles to the Gospel According to John, John 13:21 (2X). We find here some additional information about the Lord pointing out Judas as the betrayer, and how the Lord sent away Judas before he could partake of the wine of the Lord’s Supper. God, in His wisdom, knew how to keep the sanctity of the Lord’s Supper, for the wicked are not invited to partake. We read in John 13:21-30,
Joh 13:21-30, When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus’ breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor. He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.
“And it was night”. Why did God put these words in the Bible? Metaphorically the night belongs to the dominion of Satan, whereas the day belongs to the dominion of Christ. For example, God says in 1Thes 5:5, “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness”. Therefore, the morning symbolizes the timing of the rapture, when we are going to be with Christ forever It is only a symbol, for this earth is round, and when Christ comes some people experience the rapture in the morning, whereas others experience it at night; some experience it on Sunday, whereas others experience it on Saturday. But John 13:30 says, “And it was night”, thereby indicating that Judas went out into the darkness of the kingdom of Satan. And when the Lord Jesus gave Judas the sop, it was the sign for Satan to take a firm hold on Judas who had in his mind already decided to betray the Lord Jesus It was the Lord’s intention to send away Judas for the following reasons:
#2. Institution of the Lord’s Supper (1Cor 2:2, Matt 26:26-29, 1Cor 5:7, Heb 6:6, 7:27, 9:12,25-28, Ex 12:11, Matt 13:37, 1Cor 11:25)
Please turn again to the Gospel of Matthew, Matt 26:26 (2X). There are only three verses in the Gospel of Matthew which deal with the institution of the Lord’s Supper, but the impact of these three verses is felt throughout the Bible. Remember, these three verses direct us to a memorial of the Lord’s death, which we are commanded to keep until He comes again. And so, we see that this chapter is again pointing us to 1Cor 2:2, where we read, “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified”. We read here in Matt 26:26-29,
Mt 26:26-29 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.
Verse 26 begins with “And as they were eating”. Remember the sop that Jesus gave to Judas. This took place while they were eating. In other words, they were not done eating when the Lord broke bread and said unto them, “Take, eat; this is my body”. Then the Lord gave Judas the sop, and he left. It was then, after he left that the Lord Jesus gave the disciples the second part of the Lord’s Supper, the wine. Here is a question: Does the Lord’s Supper replace the Passover feast? We can see that the Lord Jesus instructed His disciples to break the bread and drink the wine near the end of the Passover meal, which was already pointing to the fact that one celebration ended and a new one was beginning. But more so, we read in 1Cor 5:7, “For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us”. In other words, the sacrifice of Christ has become our Passover. We do not any more celebrate the OT Passover, for that memorial has been done away. We now have a NT memorial, which is the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. We delight to celebrate this as Good Friday, for this was the day when our sins were paid in full. And so, the answer is YES: The Lord’s Supper replaces the Passover feast. The next logical question is: Should we believe that the body of the Lord was physically indwelling the bread, and should we believe that the wine was physically changed to the Lord’s blood? Do we realize that if we believe this we would believe in the “Doctrine of Transubstantiation”, meaning that we would take these words of verse 26 and verse 28 literally? Do we realize that this “Doctrine of Transubstantiation” makes it necessary that His body would have to be broken and His blood to be shed every time that we celebrate the Lord’s Supper? And do we realize that such belief is in violation of Heb 6:6, where we read, “Seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame”? And do we realize that such belief also violates Heb 7:27, and Heb 9:12,25-28, where it is repeatedly stated that Christ suffered and died only once? When the Lord Jesus said in Matt 26:26, “Take, eat; this is my body”, it was implied that we would take the Scriptures and harmonize this statement with other parts of the Bible. And then we must conclude that it meant, “This represents my body; this will bring my dying sufferings again to your remembrance”. It could not be that this bread would be literally His body, for literally the Lord’s body was never broken. Not one bone of His body was broken. His body was then before them living. It would be absolutely ridiculous to imagine that His living body at that moment would be changed to a dead body, and then the bread to be changed into that dead body, and that this would occur all the while that the living body of Jesus was before them. And yet this is the impossible doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, which holds that the bread and the wine were literally changed into the body and blood of the Lord. The language that the Lord Jesus used was in accordance with the language used by Moses at the institution of the Passover in Ex 12:11, where we read, “It (that is, the lamb) is the Lord’s Passover”. In other words, the lamb and the feast represent, or are a memorial to, the Lord’s passing over the houses of the Israelites. It certainly cannot be meant that the dead lamb was literally passing over their houses. Moreover, God often uses the word “is” in the Bible as one thing that is represented by another. In Matt 13:37 we read, “He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man”, that is, he represents the Son of man. The Lord says in 1Cor 11:25, “This cup is the new testament in my blood”, that is, the contents of this cup represents “That which is ratified, sealed and sanctioned by my blood”. And thus, when we go back to the passage at hand, Matt 26:26-28, we see that the words, “Take, eat; this is my body” and “this is my blood of the New Testament” must be understood as, “Take, eat; this represents my body”, and “this represents my blood of the New Testament”. The spiritual meaning of these verses is the only way we can harmonize these verses with the rest of the Bible. It means that we received forgiveness of sins and we shall receive eternal life, because God has given us the faith to believe that Christ atoned for all our sins. And although He is in heaven and we are on earth, we are flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone. And we forever live and are governed by the one Spirit of Christ, since we are members of His body. Let us then consider how great the impact is of these things that were symbolized by the body and the blood of the Lord.
In Matt 26:27 the Lord Jesus said, “Drink ye all of it”. He did not mean to say, “Drink ye all the wine”, but “All of you, drink it”. He was referring to “All of you eleven”, for Judas already left. And this is one more reason to believe that Judas left the upper room before the complete Lord’s Supper ceremony was given to the disciples. Therefore, when we read the account of the Lord’s Supper ceremony in the Gospel of Luke, and we seem to find some contradictions, we must conclude that in the Gospel of Luke we must attach a spiritual meaning to “the hand of Judas being on the table”. We are obligated to harmonize the Scriptures, for God cannot lie or contradict Himself. Then when we turn to Matt 26:28 we read there, “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins”. The words “New Testament” should have been translated “New Covenant”. The words “New Testament” imply that Christ was speaking of the New Testament time period. But that was not what He referred to. He referred to the Covenant of Grace, which is also called the New Covenant, which God made with all those whom He chose to be saved from before the foundation of the world. And these are people who lived in the OT dispensation as well as in the NT dispensation. When Christ went to the cross in AD 33 He atoned for the sins of king David, retroactively, as well as for our sins. That is why we read the words “which is shed for many for the remission of sins”. That is, “In order that sins may be remitted or forgiven this is the appointed way by which God will pardon transgressions. Is it then the shedding of His blood that has magical powers to forgive sins? NO! When the Lord Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “It is finished” most of His blood was still in His body, and yet He finished the sufferings for our sins. The blood of Christ is symbolic for His life, for God says in Lev 17:11, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul”. The blood is the outwardly visible evidence of the life. Therefore, if the blood shall ceremonially make atonement, it is really the life that was taken which made atonement for your souls. When therefore the Lord Jesus said that His blood was shed for many, it is more accurate to say that His life was given for many. And His life was given for the remission of sins, or His life was given as a ransom for the sins of many. The Lord says in Matt 20:28, “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many”. In other words, His death on the cross was a vicarious death. He died on behalf of the sins of others, because He bore the sins of many. God imputed the sins of all the elect upon Christ, so that Christ as our sin-bearer was able to atone for those sins in our place. He endured the penalty that we should have endured, for we were unable to endure the penalty for our sins in a finite time. It would take us an infinite time, for the payment for our sins is an eternity in a place called Hell. But because the Lord Jesus Christ was indwelt by God the Son, He was able to make a complete payment, the equivalent of an eternity in Hell, in a period of time that was from Thursday evening until Friday afternoon at about 3 O’clock. And herein we also see that God, by giving His only Son to suffer and die for sinners, has shown His infinite abhorrence of sin. Therefore it is absolutely certain that all the wicked, whose sins have not been atoned for at the cross, must themselves pay for those sins the penalty that will be required. And thus, the Lord’s Supper declares unto us that our sins have been completely forgiven through the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which He Himself finished on the cross once for all. Therefore, the Lord’s Supper also declares unto us that the Holy Spirit grafts us into Christ, who with His glorified body is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father where He wants us to worship Him. However, the Roman Catholic Mass teaches that the living and the dead do not have their sins forgiven through the suffering of Christ, unless Christ is still offered for them daily by the priests. The Roman Catholic Mass also teaches that Christ is bodily present in the form of bread and wine, and Christ is therefore to be worshipped in these visible elements. Thus the Mass is basically nothing but a denial of the one sacrifice and suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ, and is a condemnable idolatry. Let us then hold fast the faith that God has given us, and let us keep high the honor and the glory of the Lord by not allowing the symbols of His suffering to be defiled.
#3. A Memorial Not to Be Defiled (Gal 1:17, 1Cor 11:23-29)
Please turn in your Bibles to the First Epistle to the Corinthians, 1Cor 11:23 (2X). The apostle Paul received personal instruction from the Lord Jesus after he became saved; an instruction he probably received when he was in Arabia (Gal 1:17). We can be sure that the Lord chose to teach Paul those subject matters which were very important to Him and to the church. We read in 1Cor 11:23-29,
1Co 11:23-29, For 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: And 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. After 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. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
Verse 27 warns us “whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord”. Who are unworthy to eat this bread and drink this cup? Those who are unsaved are not worthy to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Those who know that they have been saved can partake of these elements without fear, for all their past, present, and future sins have been erased, and they have the triune God dwelling in their souls. Therefore, to examine ourselves means that we must examine if we have been saved, and if the signs of salvation are present in our life. What is the responsibility of the church in these matters of examining ourselves? The church must teach the correct interpretation of the Word of God. The church cannot see on the outside if an individual is saved or not, but the church can make a distinction between those who have been taught, and those who have not been taught the correct doctrine. How else is an individual going to understand that the Lord’s Supper is only a sign, but is not a seal, as is being taught in many churches? The Lord’s Supper cannot be a seal of salvation, for it is something that WE DO, and salvation cannot be sealed by our works, for it is all by grace that we receive it. The Lord’s Supper is only a sign, or a memorial, which is pointing to the cross of Christ. It is a sign pointing to His full atonement for all our sins, and that means it includes the cross and the resurrection of Christ, for both belong together as one atonement. But we do not try to be wiser than God. We celebrate the Lord’s Supper because He said we should do it, until He comes again. But what is the responsibility of the church to protect the Lord’s Supper from being defiled by unbelievers? The church should not be a co-contributor to the sins of the unsaved who are recklessly partaking of the Lord’s Supper unworthily. The church must set certain safeguards, such as supervised communion or closed communion, so that the Lord’s Supper is only served to those who have been taught the truths of the Gospel. Please return to the Gospel According to Matthew, Matt 26:29 (2X).
We have already seen that Matt 26:26-28 require a spiritual interpretation, for the bread and the wine do not superstitiously transform into the body and blood of Christ. But the next verse, verse 29, also requires a spiritual interpretation, quite in line with the context. We read here in Matt 26:29,
Mt 26:29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.
When are we able to drink in the kingdom of God? Only when we have received our new glorified bodies are we able to drink. As long as we are in our soul’s existence in heaven we are not able to drink. But from Rev 21 and Rev 22 we do not see the need for eating and drinking, for it seems that eating and drinking are characteristics of this universe. But the NH&NE belong to a totally different universe, where God will be giving us all our energy. And so, when we look at the spiritual meaning of the fruit of the vine on this earth, we see that it is a symbol for the blood of Christ, a symbol of His atoning work. And thus, the everlasting communion promised to us in the Lord’s Supper ceremony is given to us visibly in the unleavened bread, and the banquet of wine. And so, when the Lord Jesus said, “I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom”, most likely He referred to the joys and glories of the future state, which the saints shall partake of in everlasting communion with the Lord Jesus, and which is spiritually represented by a banquet of wine. Remember, the Lamb and His Bride are going to have a wedding feast that shall last unto eternity future. And that will take place after the judgment of all the unsaved, after Christ shall deliver all things unto the Father in the NH&NE. We read in Rev 21:6, “And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely”. Here we are going to drink the water of life, but not literally, for this drinking is done spiritually. And then God follows this up with Rev 22:1, where we read, “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb”. Here we see that out of the throne of God and of the Lamb issues a river of water of life, which is certainly more important than wine or grape juice. This water of life is the joy and glory of the future state, which was promised in Matt 26:29. And to this we eagerly look forward. AMEN. Let us turn to the Lord in prayer.