Luke 22:15-16

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.

 

Jesus double-desired to eat the Passover with the twelve.

He desired with desire.

The Lord, the God of the universe, strongly desires to eat the Passover meal with his apostles. Jesus goes on to eat that last Passover meal with his brethren and to institute the Lord’s supper which we continue to observe today.

Jesus wants to have close fellowship with the men he had just spent 3 years teaching, mentoring, and serving. And he wants to, he desires with desire, to have fellowship with YOU, too!

The symbolism of the Passover and the Lord’s supper is rich with the truth of the good news that Jesus came to die and save sinners from their sins.

Let’s go back in time. Back to the Exodus. More than 1200 years before Jesus was born.

The children of Israel had been slaves in Egypt for over 400 years at the time of the Exodus. Originally fleeing a famine, they had gone to live in Egypt as a small family tribe of less than 100 people. The Pharaoh who had welcomed them to Egypt died, and they became slaves to the Egyptians. For four hundred years they had been enslaved, and at that time they numbered six hundred thousand men, probably well over 1 million total Israelites.

The children of Israel cried out to God to be freed from their bonds.

So God sent 10 plagues to punish Egypt, and Moses to try to convince the Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go. Pharaoh was stubborn and would not let the people go.

Egypt is symbolic of the sinful world. Sin must be punished by a just and holy God.

The last plague of the 10 plagues was the death of the first born. Every first born human and animal in Egypt would be killed by God in one night.

But God provided an escape for His chosen people, the Israelites. Israel is symbolic of the elect children of God, those for whom Jesus died, and God saved by his grace.

In Exodus chapter 12, God gave the children of Israel instructions to choose an innocent lamb without blemish, a male of the first year. This Passover lamb was symbolic of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, an innocent man who never sinned even one time.

God told the children of Israel to kill the lamb and paint its blood on the doorposts, the 2 side posts and the upper door post. This symbolizes the cross where Jesus shed His blood for His children.

That night, when death came to the firstborn in every house in Egypt, God saw the blood on the door posts of the houses of the children of Israel and He “passed over” those houses. Death did not come to them that night. This Passover is symbolic of God “passing over” his elect children for whom Jesus died, when His judgement comes against sin and sinners. That night the Israelites ate the roasted lamb they had killed, and God would command them the eat the Passover every year to remember He had freed them. That’s why Jesus desired with desire to eat the Passover with His apostles that night before he died. Jesus always followed the commandments of God. That night in Egypt, the Israelites ate the whole lamb with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. Bitter herbs symbolized their bitter years in slavery in Egypt, and the unleavened bread symbolized that they would leave Egypt in a hurry that night without time for the bread to rise. That night of the first Passover, Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt in the Exodus, through the parting of the Red Sea and into the beginning of their journey to the Promised Land.

God is just and holy to “pass over” His elect children, because Jesus has paid the price for their sins. He gave his life for our sins. And in exchange for our sins, He gave us His righteousness, so that we can be seen as innocent by a holy and righteous God.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

So, you see, the Passover is for YOU! Not only has God “passed over” you when He judged sin, but Jesus desires with desire to eat the Passover with you!

Of course, we no longer celebrate the Passover as was done in the Old Testament and by Jesus and his disciples, who were still under the Jewish law. But that Passover is a metaphor for God “passing over” us when He spared not His only son, the Lamb of God, so that He could spare us from the eternal death we deserve as sinners.

After He ate the Passover with His apostles, Jesus instituted a new supper, the Lord’s supper. He took wine and unleavened bread from the Passover meal and blessed it. And He told us to eat the Lord’s supper until He comes again.

Just like Jesus desired with desire to eat the Passover with His apostles, He desires with desire to commune with you not only when you partake of the Lord’s supper, but every day of your life.

When I say that the Passover is for you, and Jesus desires to eat the Passover with you, I mean it metaphorically. Jesus desires to commune with you, He desires for you to eat the Lord’s supper in remembrance of Him, just like He desired to commune with His apostles and eat the Passover with them.

Matthew 26:26-28 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.

The unleavened bread is symbolic of the sinless body of Jesus that was given for our sins. And the wine is symbolic of the innocent blood of Jesus that was shed for many.

Both unleavened bread and wine are without yeast or leaven, which is a symbol for sin in God’s word. Jesus, of course, was without sin.

Jesus was one of us. A man who was tempted in every way that we are but without sin. And he is not one of us. He is God.  A man may die for another man, but only the divine son of God is sinless and can pay the debt for our sin.

Jesus is our Passover lamb. All of the lambs and animals that were killed in sacrifice to God through the years did not save one person from their sins. Jesus is the Lamb of God.

Hebrews 10:3-4 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

Hebrews 10:8-10 Above 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; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Jesus gave it all for us. He desires with desire to eat the Passover with his brethren, to have us commune with him by eating the bread and drinking the wine, and fellowship with Him every time that we do so.

Jesus, the perfect lamb of God, died for us, to free us from the slavery of sin, and so that we could enter into the promised land of milk and honey, that wonderful land where there is fellowship and communion with the Lord.

“Jesus has a table spread, Where the saints of God are fed, He invites His chosen people, ‘Come and dine’ … ‘Come and dine,’ the Master calleth, ‘Come and dine; You may feast at Jesus’s table all the time …”

— from the hymn “Come and Dine” by Charles B. Widmeyer

May the Lord richly bless you and may you feel the warmth and the comfort of His fellowship.