Read: Matthew 26:17-30
This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (v. 28)
A covenant signed in blood is the stuff of ghost stories. But it’s also the substance of Jesus’s life—a sacrifice that would forever change our relations with God.
The Jews remembered their deliverance from Egypt through the Passover, a yearly celebration of God’s salvation, commemorated in the sacrifice of an unblemished lamb, a blood offering for their sins. Yet sin remained, and sacrifice was annually required. But a new covenant had been promised, not written in the letters of the law but upon the heart of the person. The sacrifice for sin would be ended.
Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples with an astounding claim—I am the new covenant—“This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (v. 28). Jesus was the final Passover lamb. His death marked the end of the old and beginning of the new. His life is written on the hearts of his followers. In that claim, he died. In the vindication of that claim, he rose.
Do you believe what Jesus said about himself? Your faith unites you to his work, and in that faith you are one with Jesus in his victory over death.
As you pray, ask Jesus to complete your faith and your certainty that he is indeed the Passover lamb, his blood poured out for the forgiveness of sins, even your own.
Fred Van Dyke is a conservation biologist dedicated to the care for God’s creation. In this role Fred has served government agencies, private consulting firms, and academic institutions doing research, management, and teaching in conservation science. He is also the author of two books on faith and environmental stewardship.
