1 Corinthians 11:23-26
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Luke 22:14-20
When the hour had come, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. 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 from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” 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.
On the night in which Jesus was betrayed He brought into view the New Covenant and instituted a New remembrance of the true Passover Lamb that He is and has eternally been.
Remembering that the first Passover’s key component was the eating of the lamb by families which brought deliverance from slavery and death unto all who ate, this became a commanded yearly celebration for the peoples. They were to remember yearly the Passover by a seven day celebration. Remember also that the Passover, the Lamb, was brought into view before the giving of the Law. Thus, the Law delivered no one but instead was a tutor to lead the people unto the Lamb. The Lamb is always and in all ways superior and before the covenant of the Law that simply spoke of the Lamb’s life, light, and way through types and shadows. The Lamb was the good things promised, the good things to come, the One who has now appeared or been manifested as the Life!
It is this Lamb that is calling us to remember and who called His disciples then to remember Him and His blood, His body, as the true Passover that is celebrated not yearly, but as often as we will. This covenant of Christ, the Lamb, is not the remembering of an act of deliverance, the coming out of natural slavery or the threat of death. The Lamb is the deliverance from an inward Adamic nature which no outward act or event could accomplish. Mankind’s issue is a spiritual issue, our problem is a spiritual problem, and only a spiritual work will answer the need. The Lamb was and is the work of God that frees us from within by giving us His own nature and life through new birth.
We all realize that though the Israelites were brought out of Egypt, they were not brought out of the nature of the first man Adam, our first father. They needed an inward transforming, but that work, that true Lamb, had yet to appear or be manifested unto inward life, fullness, and fulfillment. Their struggle with sin was due to both their nature and their unredeemed soul. Simply said, they could never rise above their own inward nature, for this nature was controlling their very desires and understanding. The Lord spoke to them, He removed them from natural or earthly circumstances, He provided for them supernaturally, He protected them, He blessed them, but He did not live in them as their life.
The Lamb we are to remember is the Lamb that is eternal. He is before all things He is superior to all things. He is the One Son uncreated but the creator of all. He is the Lamb that Abraham told Isaac would be provided and has now been provided. But to us who believe, He is the Lamb within us. He is the very government of our spirit, soul, and body, and He is to be that Now!
So we are celebrating the Lamb that has come within His house, His body. He has not simply come among us, He has come within us. The Lamb is not an event, an act that has only delivered us from natural, outward circumstances. He has brought us out of the Egypt of our old man. Yes, He is the exodus out of the entire world or cosmos of Adam, the nature, the life of the first man, the sinner, and the father of the old creation or first humanity.
This is what the one true Lamb has finished, and He is therefore able to save to the uttermost those who come to Him. Thus we are celebrating Christ our true Passover, God’s true Passover, this eternal Lamb who takes away by putting to death or being the death of the first that He might become the way and life of the second.
So let us remember, let us celebrate, and let us partake, spiritually speaking, of the Lamb whose blood is the blood of the New! Let us often, even daily, commune with the Lamb in this newly instituted celebration of the Lamb who has finished His work, but needs to be revealed in each of us.