It is not an easy matter to understand the doctrinal point Matthew conveys in his Gospel. Many of us were taught that the Gospel of Matthew was simply a storybook. However, Matthew is not a storybook, but a book on the doctrine of the kingdom of the heavens. In order to touch the depths of this book, we need to apply this point to every chapter. In chapters twenty-six through twenty-eight we cannot find the term the kingdom of the heavens. However, everything contained in these chapters is related to the kingdom of the heavens. If we spend time in the Lord’s presence to see the significance of these chapters in relation to the kingdom of the heavens, He will reveal it to us.
Matt. 26:1-2 say, “And it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples, You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is being delivered up to be crucified.” The word “And” at the beginning of verse 1 joins chapter twenty-six with chapters twenty-four and twenty-five, the prophecy concerning the Jews, the believers, and the Gentiles. Immediately after giving this prophecy of the kingdom, the Lord told His disciples that in two days the Passover was coming and that the Son of Man was being delivered up to be crucified. The significance of the Lord’s word here is that His crucifixion is the fulfillment of the Passover. This Passover was to be the last. The Passover had been observed for more than fifteen centuries. But now the Passover was to be terminated and, in a sense, replaced. By putting together the Passover and the crucifixion of the Son of Man, the Lord was implying that His crucifixion was the fulfillment of the Passover and that He Himself was the Passover Lamb.
The Passover was a type of Christ (1 Cor. 5:7). Christ is the Lamb of God that God may pass over us, the sinners, as portrayed in typology by the Passover in Exo. 12. Hence, Christ as the Passover Lamb had to be killed on the day of the Passover for its fulfillment.
According to the type, the Passover Lamb had to be examined for its perfection during the four days preceding the day of the Passover (Exo. 12:3-6). Before His crucifixion, Christ came to Jerusalem the last time, six days before the Passover (John 12:1), and was examined by the Jewish leaders for a few days (Matt. 21:23-46; 22:1-46). There was no blemish found in Him, and He was proved to be perfect and qualified to be the Passover Lamb for us.
As the Passover Lamb, Christ was a test to all the people. Throughout the centuries, Christ has constantly been such a test. We cannot be neutral regarding Him. Rather, whatever we are will be tested by Him. We must do something about Him, and we must react to Him. Our reaction will reveal our attitude toward this Passover Lamb.
Verses 3 through 5 indicate that Christ was hated by the religionists. The chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel together how they might seize Jesus by craftiness and kill Him. Can you believe that religion exercised craftiness in order to kill the Lord Jesus? Verse 5 says, “But they said, Not at the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.” Eventually, under God’s sovereignty, they did kill the Lord Jesus at the feast (27:15) for the fulfillment of the type. This indicates that Christ’s crucifixion was sovereignly under God’s hand to fulfill the Passover. By hating the Lord Jesus, the first class of people, the religionists, were exposed.
Although the religionists hated the Lord Jesus, His disciples loved Him (vv. 6-13). Two of those who loved Him were Simon the leper and Mary, the woman who poured the oil upon His head. A leper signifies a sinner (8:2). Simon, as a leper, must have been healed by the Lord. Being grateful to the Lord and loving Him, he spread a feast (v. 7) in his house for the Lord and His disciples in order to enjoy His presence. A saved sinner would always do this. Simon must have known that the Lord was about to be killed. He probably realized that this was the last opportunity for him to express his love to the Lord. Therefore, he grasped the opportunity for a further intimate, loving contact with the Lord. He opened his home, spread a feast, and invited the Lord and all those who loved Him.
Verses 7 and 8 say, “A woman came to Him, having an alabaster jar of ointment of great value, and she poured it on His head as He reclined at table. But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, Why this waste?” The disciples considered Mary’s love offering to the Lord a waste. Throughout the past twenty centuries, thousands of precious lives, heart treasures, high positions, and golden futures have been wasted upon the Lord Jesus. To such lovers He is altogether lovely and worthy of their offering. What they have poured upon Him is not a waste, but a fragrant testimony of His sweetness.
In verse 11 the Lord said to the indignant disciples, “For the poor you have with you always, but you do not always have Me.” This indicates that we must love the Lord and grasp the opportunity to express our love to Him.
Verse 12 says, “For in pouring out this ointment on My body, she has done it for My burial.” Mary received the revelation of the Lord’s death by the Lord’s words in 16:21; 17:22-23; 20:18-19; and 26:2. Hence, she grasped the opportunity to pour the best she had upon the Lord. To love the Lord with our best requires a revelation concerning Him.
Along with Simon, Mary also probably thought that this was her last chance to do something over the Lord’s body to anoint Him for burial. In a very real sense, Mary buried the Lord Jesus before He was crucified. What a contrast there is between the religionists who hated the Lord and wanted to kill Him and His lovers who took the opportunity to express their love for Him! I believe that the others like Peter, James, and John did not receive the Lord’s prophecy concerning His crucifixion properly. According to the Lord’s testimony, Mary certainly received His word regarding this, for the Lord testified that in pouring out the ointment, she had done it for His burial. This was a sign that Mary understood what the Lord had prophesied concerning His crucifixion.
Verse 13 says, “Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, that also which this woman has done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.” In the foregoing verse, the Lord spoke of His burial, implying His death and resurrection for our redemption. Hence, in this verse He called the gospel “this gospel,” referring to the gospel of His death, burial, and resurrection (1 Cor. 15:1-4). The story of the gospel is that the Lord loved us, and the story of Mary is that she loved the Lord. We must preach both, the Lord loving us and us loving the Lord. One is for our salvation, and the other is for our consecration. The gospel tells us how the Lord loved us, but the loving story of Mary stirs us up to love the Lord. Thus, there needs to be a mutual love. This must accompany the preaching of the gospel.
In verses 14 through 16 we see that the Lord Jesus was betrayed by the false disciple. The word “Then” at the beginning of verse 14 indicates that while one of the Lord’s followers expressed her love to the Lord to the uttermost, another was about to betray Him. One was treasuring the Lord, and at the same time another was delivering Him up. Not even a false believer should have been this evil. The Lord Jesus had never wronged Judas. Judas, however, was filled and possessed with Satan, the Devil. In John 6:70 and 71 the Lord Jesus referred to Judas as a devil. According to John 13:2, the Devil had put it into the heart of Judas to betray Him, and John 13:27 says that Satan entered into him. Thus, Judas became the embodiment of the Devil. The idea of betraying the Lord Jesus did not originate with him, but with the enemy, the Devil.
In these verses we see three categories of people: the religious ones, the loving ones, and the betraying ones. To which category do you belong? Have you opened your home and prepared a feast for the Lord Jesus? Have you broken the alabaster jar and poured ointment upon His body? Surely, we are the lovers of Jesus. Nevertheless, we must learn to love Him to the uttermost.
In verses 17 through 30 we see the keeping of the Passover and the establishing of the table. Verse 17 says, “Now on the first day of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” The Unleavened Bread is a feast of seven days (Lev. 23:5-6). It is also called the Passover (Luke 22:1; Mark 14:1). Actually, the Passover was the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread (Exo. 12:15-20). The table mentioned in verse 20 refers not to the Lord’s table, but to the table of the feast of Passover.
Verses 21 through 25 reveal that the Lord established the table at the time of His betrayal. Verse 21 says, “And as they were eating, He said, Truly I say to you, that one of you shall deliver Me up.” When the disciples heard this, they were grieved, and each one began to say to Him, “I’m not the one, am I, Lord?” When Judas asked this question, the Lord let Judas’ own word condemn him (v. 25). After this, Judas left. He could not bear to stay there any longer. After Judas had gone, the Lord established the table. Thus, Judas participated in the Passover feast, but he did not partake of the Lord’s table. After the betrayer, the false believer, was exposed, the Lord established the table with the eleven real believers.
Verse 26 says, “And as they were eating, Jesus took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is My body.” Beginning at verse 26, the Lord’s table is established. The Lord and the disciples firstly ate the Passover (vv. 20-25; Luke 22:14-18). Then the Lord established His table with the bread and the cup (vv. 26-28; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26) to replace the feast of the Passover, because He was going to fulfill the type and be the real Passover to us (1 Cor. 5:7). Now we are keeping the real feast of Unleavened Bread (v. 17; 1 Cor. 5:8).
In this chapter there are two tables: the table of the Passover and the table of the New Testament. The table of the Passover was the table of the Old Testament economy, but the Lord’s table is the table of the New Testament economy.
In verse 26 the Lord took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take, eat; this is My body.” The bread of the Lord’s table is a symbol signifying the Lord’s physical body broken for us on the cross to release His life that we may participate in it. By participating in this life we become the mystical Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27), which is also signified by the bread of the table (1 Cor. 10:17). Hence, by partaking of this bread, we have the fellowship of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 10:16).
At the Passover the people ate the meat of the Passover lamb. But after the Passover feast, the Lord Jesus did not take the flesh of the lamb, but He took bread and gave it to His disciples to eat. As we have pointed out, this bread signifies the Lord’s body to nourish us. However, we all have some kind of religious background that keeps us from comprehending this. Due to our religious background, we have some doctrinal impression regarding the Lord’s table. When Christians attend holy communion today, they do not have the realization that they are taking the Lord Jesus into them as their nourishment. Did you have this realization when you were in religion? I did not. Rather, we were told to examine ourselves; we were not told that we were taking the Lord’s body as our nourishment. But if someone came to the Lord’s table without any doctrinal concept, he would spontaneously realize that to eat the Lord’s body is to receive the Lord into us as nourishment.
Many pastors and preachers today charge people to remember Christ’s death as they participate in holy communion. Many endeavor to review the Lord’s suffering and death on the cross. However, the Lord did not tell us to remember His death, but to remember Him, for He said, “Do this unto the remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19). He told us to remember Him by eating the bread and drinking the cup. This is not just a remembrance, but also an enjoyment of the Lord. To partake of the Lord’s table in this way is to eat and drink of Him.
Luke 22:19 says, “And having taken a loaf, when He had given thanks, He broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is My body which is given for you; do this unto the remembrance of Me.” According to this verse, we are to eat in remembrance of the Lord. Thus, the genuine remembrance is not to review the story of the Lord’s life, but to eat Him, to take Him in.
For the symbol of His body, the Lord did not use a grain of wheat, but a loaf. A loaf signifies that many grains have passed through a long process to become bread. Firstly, the seed is sown into the field. Then it grows and produces many grains. After the wheat is harvested, the grains are ground into fine flour that is blended into a lump and baked in an oven to make a loaf of bread. Only then do we have a loaf of bread to eat. As a grain of wheat (John 12:24), the Lord Jesus passed through such a process until He eventually became the bread on the table for us to eat. Every time we come to the Lord’s table we should have this realization. We should be able to say, “Lord, today You are our bread because You have been processed for us. Now You are the bread on the table for us to eat.”
The bread on the table firstly signifies the Lord’s physical body that was crucified on the cross. But after His resurrection, this body became mysterious, for it was enlarged into His mystical Body. According to John chapter two, the Jews killed His physical body, but it was resurrected in a mysterious way to become His mystical Body. The Lord’s mystical Body comprises all of us. Therefore, when we see the bread at the Lord’s table, we need to realize that it is a symbol both of the Lord’s physical body and His mystical Body. For this reason, when we break the bread and eat it, we have the fellowship of the Lord’s Body (1 Cor. 10:16). All the members of Christ’s mystical Body are represented in the loaf. Therefore, at His table, we enjoy not only the Lord Jesus, but also the believers. In other words, we enjoy Christ and the church. Both Christ and the church are our enjoyment.
Verse 27 says, “And taking the cup and giving thanks, He gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you.” The bread is mentioned before the cup because God’s eternal purpose is not to have redemption. It is to have the Body of Christ. Therefore, the bread as the symbol of the Body of Christ comes first. Nevertheless, we need to be reminded that as sinners we have the problem of sin and that the Lord Jesus shed His blood to cleanse us. His blood has made a complete redemption for us so that all our sins might be forgiven.
The Lord’s blood redeemed us from our fallen condition back to God and back to God’s full blessing. Concerning the Lord’s table (1 Cor. 10:21), the bread signifies our participation in life, and the cup, our enjoyment of God’s blessing. Hence, it is called the cup of blessing (1 Cor. 10:16). In this cup are all the blessings of God and even God Himself as our portion (Psa. 16:5). In Adam our portion was the cup of God’s wrath (Rev. 14:10). Christ has drunk that cup for us (John 18:11), and His blood has constituted the cup of salvation for us (Psa. 116:13), the cup that runs over (Psa. 23:5). By partaking of this cup we also have the fellowship of the blood of Christ (1 Cor. 10:16).
Verse 28 says, “For this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.” The fruit of the vine (v. 29) within the cup of the Lord’s table is also a symbol, signifying the Lord’s blood shed on the cross for our sins. His blood was required by God’s righteousness for the forgiveness of our sins (Heb. 9:22).
Some manuscripts insert the word “new” before the word “covenant” in verse 28. The Lord’s blood, having satisfied God’s righteousness, enacted the new covenant. In this new covenant, God gives us forgiveness, life, salvation, and all spiritual, heavenly, and divine blessings. When this new covenant is given to us, it is a cup (Luke 22:20), a portion for us. The Lord shed the blood, God established the covenant, and we enjoy the cup, in which God and all that is of Him are our portion. The blood is the price Christ paid for us, the covenant is the title deed God made to us, and the cup is the portion we receive from God.
Verse 29 says, “And I say to you, I will by no means drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of My Father.” By speaking this word, the Lord made it clear that from the time He established the table He would be physically away from the disciples and not drink the fruit of the vine with them until He drinks it new with them in the Father’s kingdom. This is the heavenly part of the millennium, the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens, in which the Lord will drink with us after His coming back.
Verse 30 says, “And having sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” This hymn was a praise to the Father by the Lord with the disciples after the Lord’s table. It is based upon this verse that we sing praises to the Father at the end of the Lord’s table.
