Request your free, three-month trial to Tabletalk magazine. You’ll receive the print issue monthly and gain immediate digital access to decades of archives. This trial is risk-free. No credit card required.
Try Tabletalk NowAlready receive Tabletalk magazine every month?
Verify your email address to gain unlimited access.
Luke 22:14–20
“Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20).
Jeremiah 31 promises a Redeemer who will mediate a new covenant, under which God’s people will be forgiven of their sins and will be enabled to live holy lives in conformity with God’s commands. Scripture makes clear that Jesus fulfills this promise.
On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus and His disciples came together to celebrate the Jewish passover. Following their meal, Jesus declared the inauguration of the new covenant prophesied in Jeremiah, saying it was forged “ ‘in My blood.’ ” By the spilling of His blood, the expenditure of His life, He accomplished the redemption God had promised throughout history. As the mediator of the new covenant (1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 12:24), He declared it to be in force. He would go to the cross the following day to do what all the animal sacrifices of the old covenant could not do—pay the penalty for the sins of God’s beloved people. Thus, Scripture says that He was “offered once to bear the sins of many” (Heb. 9:28a) and “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Eph. 1:7a). His blood also opened the door for His people to be regenerated and live holy lives in obedience to God’s law. Just as He was raised from the dead following His crucifixion, His people are made alive by faith in Him (Eph. 2:5). And in this new spiritual life, they can do good works, just as God intended from all eternity (Eph. 2:10; Heb. 9:14). Furthermore, by His blood He opened a way through the veil into the Holy of Holies (Heb. 10:19), so that every child of God may come to Him without the need for a human priest or mediator, just as Jeremiah prophesied (“ ‘they all shall know Me’ ”). And thus is fulfilled the sweetest promise given through Jeremiah, the great promise of all of God’s covenants: God is our God and we are His people, knowing Him and enjoying Him in ways that were impossible under the old covenant.
Just as God promised, Jesus Christ came as the Son of Abraham, of Judah, and of God, and He crushed Satan on the cross. And in the shedding of His blood, He forged a new covenant, “a better covenant, which was established on better promises.” (Heb. 8:6b). Those promises, the same great and mighty promises given through Jeremiah, stand fulfilled in the church, thanks to our promise-making, promise-keeping God.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Each time you participate in the Lord’s Supper, you commemorate His death and celebrate the covenant blessings you enjoy because of it: forgiveness of sin, the ability to obey God, and an intimate relationship with Him. Let this sacrament be for you a joyous reminder of all the blessings that accrue to you through the Redeemer’s blood.
For Further Study
- Isaiah 42:6
- Isaiah 49:8
- 2 Corinthians 3:3, 6–8
- Hebrews 10:15–18
- 1 John 2:27