In a recent blog, Christ's Death - Execution or Sacrifice, I tried to show how the Passover Meal of the Last Supper was not complete until the Lord Jesus drank the final “cup” of wine while He hung on the cruel cross and said “It is finished”. With these words, the Last Supper was completed, and His Precious Body and Blood, which He had given earlier to His disciples under the form of bread and wine, had now been broken and poured out for the sins of the whole world.
A point that I never raised previously, which is easily overlooked because it is so subtle, is that none of the Gospels recount that there was actually a Passover lamb sacrificed for the Lord’s Supper. To understand why this is so important, we need to go back to the first Passover. We often think that in order for the Israelites to be saved, they only had to sacrifice a lamb and dash its blood on the doorposts and lintels of their houses. But this is not all that was required of them. They also had to eat the Passover lamb.
The Gospels do not make mention of a lamb being sacrificed for the Last Supper Passover meal, because there was already a Lamb present – He was the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world and the disciples truly ate this Passover Lamb when Jesus said “This is my Body, take and eat” and “This is my Blood, drink it all of you”.
And just like Israel of old, if we desire God’s salvation, it is necessary that we too eat the Passover Lamb, which is why our Lord said that “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” (Jn 6:53)
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