Jesus instituted the New Covenant at the Last Supper, fulfilling God's promise in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Learn how Christ's words, "This is My body... This is the new covenant in My blood," revealed the redemptive purpose of His death and forever changed how we understand communion. From the blood of the Old Covenant in Exodus to Jesus's sacrifice on the cross, understand the deep spiritual meaning behind the bread and the cup and how they point to our salvation and eternal hope. If you're a believer, whether you’ve taken communion for years or are learning about it for the first time, I hope this helps you remember and rejoice in Christ’s love for you.

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Table of contentsCovenants Must Be Instituted with BloodJesus Finally Revealed His Death Was RedemptiveCommunion Encourages Us to Look Back to Christ’s Work on the CrossCommunion Encourages Us to Look Inwardly at OurselvesWhen Should Children Partake in Communion?Communion Encourages Us to Look Forward to Christ’s Second ComingCommunion Encourages Us to Four Remember Christ died “For You”

A man asked his wife why she always cut off the ends of her roast. She replied that she had learned this from her mother but didn’t know why her mother did it. So, she asked her grandmother, who said she didn’t know either; that’s just what her mother taught her to do. Then, she went to her great-grandmother, who didn’t know, saying it was also what her mother had taught her. Finally, she visited her great-great-grandmother, who explained that the ends of the roast were cut off so the meat would fit in the pan she had used seventy years ago.

All these women followed a tradition passed down to them. They had always done it without understanding why they were doing it. This illustrates what happened with Passover. The Jews followed a tradition passed down to them. They went through the motions, doing everything they were supposed to do, without understanding it looked forward to Christ. When Jesus celebrated Passover with His disciples, He spelled it out for them.

Covenants Must Be Instituted with Blood

Some important verses in Exodus 24 help us understand Jesus’s words at the Last Supper. This chapter contains the institution of the Old Covenant. The people agreed to the terms of the Old Covenant, and Moses instituted them. Let’s start with verse three for context:

Exodus 24:3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” 4 And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord.

Moses told the people everything the covenant entailed, and they agreed to it, so it looked like it was ratified. But there’s still one more important step. Notice the emphasis on blood:

Exodus 24:6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

The word blood occurs four times in three verses. Now the covenant is ratified. There’s no instituting a covenant without blood:

Hebrews 9:18 Not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.

If you want a covenant, you have to shed blood. God instituted a New Covenant because we couldn’t keep the old one. God could have condemned us to hell for eternity for failing to keep His law perfectly, but instead, He graciously created the New Covenant that doesn’t rely on us but, instead, is about what He would do. Hence, all the “I will statements”:

Jeremiah 31:31a I will make a new covenant…

Jeremiah 31:33a This is the covenant that I will make…

Jeremiah 31:33b I will put my law within them…

Jeremiah 31:33c I will write it on their hearts…

Jeremiah 31:33d I will be their God…

Jeremiah 31:34a I will forgive their iniquity…

Jeremiah 31:34b I will remember their sin no more.

What would be your main question if you lived in the Old Testament? “When do we get to live under this wonderful New Covenant?” Here’s the answer:

Luke 22:19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Do you see the parallelism between Jesus’s words when He instituted the New Covenant and Moses’s words when he instituted the Old Covenant? [Jesus said], “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. Exodus 24:8 says, “Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.’” The Old Covenant was instituted with the blood of animals, but the New Covenant was instituted with the blood of Christ Himself.

Jesus Finally Revealed His Death Was Redemptive

Exodus 24:8 says Moses “took the blood and threw it on the people.” Sounds a little gross. I don’t think anyone wants blood thrown on them. But the people understood the reason behind this occurrence. Under the Old Covenant, they recognized that they needed to be covered by this blood to have the animal’s death atone for or cover their sins. It also anticipated that the blood of Christ would cover believers under the New Covenant:

1 John 1:7—But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

1 Peter 1:18—knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

Passover looked forward to Christ being our Passover lamb, and Moses’s actions instituting the Old Covenant looked forward to Jesus instituting the New Covenant with His blood. But the problem is that the disciples didn’t know there was this connection, or, let me say it like this, the disciples didn’t know Jesus would die for us as our Passover Lamb like the Passover lamb in the Old Testament.

Jesus spelled out the connection between Himself and the Passover lamb. He didn’t give the normal explanation of each food's meaning. Instead, He reinterpreted them in Himself: He associated the bread with His body and the wine with His blood. The focus was no longer on Israel's suffering in Egypt but on Jesus's sin-bearing suffering on their behalf. It’s like Jesus said, “You have been celebrating Passover every year consuming the lamb’s body, but I am the true and greater Passover Lamb that you must consume spiritually.”

D. A Carson wrote, “The words ‘this is my body’ had no place in the Passover ritual; and as an innovation, they must have had a stunning effect [on the disciples], an effect that would grow with the increased understanding gained after [the resurrection].” In other words, this would have been a shocking moment for the disciples and one that wouldn’t make sense until after the Resurrection.

What did the disciples expect at the Last Supper? They expected a Passover like the previous Passovers they celebrated with Christ and their families before Him. They expected to go through the motions like they always had. What did they not expect? They didn’t expect Jesus to compare the bread with His body and the wine with His blood.

We are so familiar with Jesus’s words that we casually read them and assume the disciples understood them. We picture them nodding spiritually in agreement. But I don’t think that was the case. I’m sure they were very confused. They didn’t think Jesus would die. Just using Luke’s gospel, Jesus predicted His death three times, and there’s no indication why Jesus would die:

Luke 9:22 [Jesus said], “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”Luke 9:43b Jesus said, 44 “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.”Luke 18:31 [Jesus] said, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. 33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”

In all these predictions, Jesus stated that He would die, but He didn’t state why He would die. But at the last supper, Jesus finally said why He would die: for others.

This is the first time Jesus helps the disciples understand that His death is redemptive rather than simply a political disaster. In doing so, He makes the Gospel clear to them. Take your mind back to the Garden of Eden. God told Adam and Eve that if they sinned, they would die. They sinned, died spiritually, started dying physically, and would have died eternally separated from God if He didn’t intervene. God saved them from sin and death by killing an animal, probably a lamb, in their place as their substitute. Then He covered them with the sacrificed animal’s skin. It established, once and for all that our sin requires the death of an innocent substitute to cover us so that we can have fellowship with God.