The Passover He Will Eat Again

We usually call it the Last Supper. The name makes it sound like an ending, a final meal before everything changed. Yet the words Yeshua spoke at that table point somewhere else.

Luke 22:15-18 And He said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, "Take this and share it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."

Matthew 26:29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom."

Listen to what He did not say. He did not tell them to savor this Passover as the last one ever. He said He would not eat it again “until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Those are not the words of a farewell. They are the words of someone making a reservation.

What He Promised

His words carry four promises. First, Passover will be eaten in the kingdom of God. Yeshua did not call Passover something finished. He called it something to be fulfilled.

Second, He will share it “with you.” The disciples will be there, which means they will have been raised from the dead. He is planning a reunion meal with His friends.

Third, His table belongs to the government of that kingdom:

Luke 22:29-30 and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table, and you will sit on thrones krino κρίνω kree'-no(judging) the twelve tribes of Israel."

“Thrones krino(judging) the twelve tribes of Israel.” Those words assume a time when Israel stands again as twelve tribes. They fit the end of Ezekiel, where the restored land is divided among the twelve tribes:

Ezekiel 47:13 Thus says the Lord GOD: This is the border by which you shall inherit the land, for the twelve tribes of Israel; Joseph, portions.

It also fits Revelation 20:4, which we read in the last chapter: “I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and krima κρίμα kree'-mah(verdict) was given to them.”

Fourth, until that day, every time we eat the bread and drink the cup, we look toward it:

1 Corinthians 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

“Until He comes.” Each time you take the bread and the cup, you are holding the reservation in your hand.

The New Covenant at the Passover Table

At that same table, Yeshua took the cup and made the new covenant:

Luke 22:19-20 And when He had taken some bread and 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." And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.

Mark 14:25 Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."

What, then, is the new covenant? Some teach that it means a covenant without the Torah. But Yeshua did not invent the phrase. It comes from one place in the Hebrew Scriptures, Jeremiah 31:

Jeremiah 31:31-33 Behold, days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will cut a new covenant (berit בְּרִית ber-eeth') with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant (berit) that I cut with their fathers in the day I took hold of their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt—which My covenant (berit) they broke, though I was a master over them, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant (berit) that I will cut with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put My Torah within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

“I will put My Torah within them, and on their heart I will write it.” The new covenant does not remove the Torah. It puts the Torah within His people and writes it on their heart.

Yeshua made that covenant at the Passover table. Passover did not come to an end when the new covenant began. It became the table of the new covenant, and it will be fulfilled in the kingdom.

The First Meal

The Passover of the kingdom is eaten after Yeshua returns, in the thousand-year kingdom. Its first table seems to be the one John heard about:

Revelation 19:9 And he says to me, "Write: blessed are those invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb," and he says to me, "These are the alethina(true) words of God."

This last point is an inference, drawn by fitting the texts together, and it should be read as an inference. Every text, however, points the same way. The Passover does not lie behind us. It lies ahead of us.

Where the Story Ends

Nor does the story end at that table. It ends with a city shaped exactly like a room you have already read about.