Daily Good News – The Death that Established a Kingdom

Apr 5, 2015 1285

“After taking the cup Jesus said, ‘I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes” (Luke 22:17-18).

The Passover meal that Jesus ate with his disciples in the upper room of a house in Jerusalem was full of symbols and meaning. The Passover meal, remembered and celebrated the way in which God had rescued his people from slavery in Egypt. This Passover celebration was the last meal Jesus would eat with this disciples before he paid the great price required so God could rescue the entire world from the slavery of sin.

At the original Passover, the Children of Israel had to kill a lamb, and smear its blood on the doorposts of their houses as a sign that they were protected by God. Jesus took this ancient symbol and gave it new meaning. This time, Jesus was the lamb to be slain, and his blood was the sign that he had paid the price for sin. Now everyone who accepted his sacrifice would be saved.

Jesus took the cup of wine and called it “the new covenant made at the price of my blood”. This was a symbol of God’s promise to save the human race from sin, to cancel the guilt of every person who ever lived. But that dark night, Jesus had still to face the awful sacrifice required to make this possible. This was his meaning as he drank the cup and faced the coming ordeal.

The very next time Jesus drank the fruit of the vine was when he drank the bitter cup of our sins, represented by the wine vinegar that he was given just before he took his last breath on the cross. It was his death for our sins that established the kingdom of God on our planet.

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