1. Lesson One of the Book of Daniel, Introduction to the Book of Daniel

The Book of  Luke, Preparation for the Passover - Lesson 228

Luke 22:7-23,  Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed. ⁸And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat. ⁹And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? ¹⁰And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in. ¹¹And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? ¹²And he shall show you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. ¹³And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. ¹⁴And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. ¹⁵And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: ¹⁶For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. ¹⁷And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: ¹⁸For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. ¹⁹And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. ²⁰Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.²¹But, behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. ²²And truly the Son of man goeth, as it was determined: but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed! ²³And they began to inquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing.

This account of the last supper given by Luke is quite brief for it does not include many of the events which took place.

It was quite a lengthy supper for if you read the other gospels you will find a number of things Luke does not mention.

John tells us that the supper event was begun by the Lord’s washing of the feet of the disciples (John 13:1-20).

Being the Passover supper we can be sure that the meal included the traditional Passover elements.

In addition, this is the beginning of the Lord’s Supper which we observe in the church.

Jesus Christ expounded upon that with words that the disciples had never heard at a Passover meal (Luke 22:19-20).

John’s gospel includes an extensive message known as the "upper room discourse" (John 14-16), concluded by the Lord’s "high priestly prayer" of intercession for His followers which is thought to have been given at this supper.

Three gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke report the disciples’ argument about who would be the greatest, along with our Lord’s response.

After the supper was concluded the Lord and the disciples sang a hymn and departed to the Garden of Gethsemane, where our Lord prayed, with little help from His disciples (Luke 22:39-46).

The arrest of Jesus then follows, concluding in His being handed over for crucifixion.

Reflecting on all of these event tells us that the meal was a lengthy one.

It was a time which showed the great transaction between the old economy and the new, the old covenant and the new covenant.

The Passover of the old covenant was remembered, and the Lord’s Supper of the new covenant was begun.

The Passover was one of the feasts of memory that God instituted so that His people would not forget from whence they came.

The Passover itself began at the exodus of the Israelite nation from Egypt.

Remember the contests between Moses and the Pharaoh.

Moses challenging words were "Let my people go."

Pharaoh retorted with "Who is this God, that I should obey Him?"

God did not let Pharaoh wait long for an answer, for he sent many plagues upon the people, but it took the final plague, that of the smiting of the eldest son of the Egyptians, to convince Pharaoh to yield to Moses.

The first-born sons of the Israelites who believed, were spared by means of the first Passover.

God’s instructions were to slaughter an animal and place some of the blood on the door posts.

When the death angel saw the blood on the door posts, he "passed over" the house, thus sparing the first born.

This celebration was commanded by God to be an annual feast for the Israelite nation, and its celebration is what is reported by Luke in our passage for today.

You can read the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy and find many stipulations and regulations governing the observance of the Passover.

First, the Passover is to be partaken of only by those who have embraced the faith of Israel.

No "uncircumcised" male could eat of it.

This did not exclude foreigners who had accepted the faith of Israel, as evidenced by circumcision.

Second, the Passover was to be observed on the 14th day of the first month, at the time when the Israelites first partook of the Passover lamb in Egypt.

The animal was to be slain on the evening of the 14th, and the meal to follow shortly thereafter.

Third, no bones of the animal were to be broken, and no leftovers were to be kept until the next day.

Fourth, the Passover celebration also commenced the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

No yeast was to be used, and all leaven was to be removed from the dwellings of the Israelites on the first day of the celebration.

Finally, the Passover animal could only be slaughtered at the place which God would designate (Deuteronomy 16:2, 5-6), which would later in scripture be specified as Jerusalem.

This of course tells us that the blood of Christ had to be spilt in Jerusalem for Jesus is our Passover lamb.

Only by His blood are we passed over.

So Luke writes of this day in Luke 22:7-13,  Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed. ⁸And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat. ⁹And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? ¹⁰And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in. ¹¹And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? ¹²And he shall show you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. ¹³And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.

This passage describes a confluence of events.

The Passover lamb which had first been killed in Egypt, sparing the lives of the first born, was a forerunner of the true Passover lamb.

This lamb, at the time Luke describes, had to be sacrificed and eaten at the appointed time.

Matthew’s Gospel describes it this way:

Matthew 26:18-19,  And he said, Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples.

Note how Jesus equates himself with the Passover lamb, My time is at hand!

He will participate in the celebration of the original Passover however this Passover will witness the true Passover lamb who will allow His blood to flow so that all those who apply the blood will be passed over.

So Jesus sent two of his most trusted disciples to make the necessary preparations, Peter and John.

These were two of the three who were in the "inner circle" of the three disciples (Peter, James, and John), whom Jesus sometimes separated from the others.

The instructions to Peter and John were instructions similar to those given the two unnamed disciples who were sent to obtain the ass on which Christ rode into Jerusalem.

There is a sense of mystery in these instructions for they allow Peter and John to find out where the supper will be held but they do not allow Judas, the betrayer to know the location prior to his arrival.

Judas was looking for a place apart from the multitudes to betray the Master but God’s time was not right and Jesus did not allow him to know where the supper would be held.

So the disciples were sent to find an unspecified place by going into the city and being found by a man who would be identified only by the fact that he was carrying a water pot.

It is not even said that the man would speak to them, but they were to follow him to the house he entered.

There, the good man of the house was to be asked where the guest room was where the Master could eat the Passover with His disciples.

Only Jesus could issue instructions like these for coming from anyone else they would only be met with derision.

But Jesus does all things decently and in order and his time was not yet.

He was in charge at all times.

Had Judas known in advance the place where the Passover was to be eaten, he could have arranged for the arrest of Jesus.

And this would have been an ideal time, for everyone would be off the streets, eating the Passover meal with their own families.

Jesus’ gave instructions which assured that this meal would not be interrupted, and that his arrest would take place in the garden of Gethsemane, later that night.

There is a lesson here for all times.

Obey the word of God even if it seems strange and unreasonable.

God may call on you to do that for which you believe you are unprepared or that others are unprepared for, but as we see in this example the way was prepared by God.

The man with the pot of water on his head knew the way, and the good man of the house had the house prepared.

Peter and John found things to be exactly as Jesus had described them.

While the disciples may not have been confident that things would work out well, things did work our well.

They found out that when God instructs us to do something that He intends to come to pass, He will always have gone before us, preparing the way for us.

All we need to do is to obey, trusting that things will work out as He has planned.

If God is in it you can be confident He will do his part.

It is a wonderful thing to walk in obedience to His will and His word, and to watch Him open the doors before us, preparing our way.

Many times God does not tell us everything for He has so ordained that we are to walk by faith.

And we are to know that what God has not told us, is for our own good.

Luke 22:13,  And they went, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover.

Luke 22:14-23,  And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. ¹⁵And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: ¹⁶For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. ¹⁷And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: ¹⁸For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. ¹⁹And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. ²⁰Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.