STUDY NOTES
IMPORTANT THINGS // A SERIES AT NEW CITY CHURCH
www.newcityphx.com/sermons
The following content is based on the message “Communion: More than Grapes and Grain” spoken on 10/02/16 by Brian Kruckenberg at New City Church in Phoenix, AZ. The following is not meant to be a full synopsis of the message but rather a brief look at the main ideas. To use this Study Guide effectively you must listen to the message found at https://newcityphx.com/sermons/.
Leaders using these Study Notes for group study and reflection should read the Biblical text thoroughly before beginning, using this resource as assistance and not relying solely on this material for insight. We encourage all leaders to pray and ask the Spirit for revelation as they lead their respective communities.
PRAYER
Pray and ask God to lead the discussion as everyone gets to share.
THE SCRIPTURE: MATTHEW 26:17-30
THE FIRST PASSOVER
As a Jewish person, Jesus celebrated the passover every year. This feast was a remembrance of how the Lord passed over the Jewish families during the final plague when he rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Every year the Jewish people traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate this exodus. Read Exodus 12:5-15.
- Every year, the Jewish people made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to remember the exodus. What things do you show similar levels of dedication to?
JESUS BEGINS A NEW EXODUS
Jesus was taking his execution and turning it into an offering—a passover offering in which he was instituting a New Exodus (more information for study in resources section). This means there needed to be a:
- New Moses
- Making of a New Covenant
- Building of a New Temple
- Journey to a New Promised Land
- Talk about what the original exodus looked like, and how a New Exodus by Jesus in the life of a believer is parallel.
A NEW PASSOVER
Now, to this night of the Last Supper or the Final (New) Passover for Jesus. There were some things about that night that were the same as the first passover and some things that were different.
SAME:
- They ate the passover right after the sacrifices. (Matthew 26:17)
- They ate in Jerusalem and not in Bethany where they had been staying.
- It was observed at night (Deuteronomy 16:6) and with wine.
- Jesus explained the bread, just like a Jewish father would explain the bread.
DIFFERENT:
- They normally ate with family, but Jesus ate with his new family this was a new family!
- Instead of speaking about the past exodus, Jesus talked about his future suffering and death.
- Instead of explaining the meaning of the passover lamb, Jesus identified the bread and wine on the upper room as his own body and blood and commanded the disciples to eat and drink. Imagine it—when Jesus started talking about being the passover lamb, he KNEW what it meant!
- Hearing about what the passover lamb meant, why is it significant that Jesus became the new passover lamb?
- Why is taking communion with others so important? What does it signify?
JESUS SETS US FREE
In Matthew 27:51, the veil to the temple was torn in two, giving us full access to the Holy One. Jesus reinstalled us as priests. We are a royal priesthood.
Jesus came to set us free and give us life.
- Why do you think it is important to receive communion when we gather on Sundays?
- How should communion change the way that we worship?
- How can we practically live out these principles when we partake in communion?
SCRIPTURE FOR REFERENCE AND DEEPER STUDY
THE ORIGINAL PASSOVER
1. Choose an unblemished Male Lamb. This lamb was supposed to be male, in its prime, and unblemished. It was supposed to be free of defects. It was supposed to be perfect! (Exodus 12:1-16)
2. Father of each household was supposed to sacrifice the lamb. Exodus 12:6 They were not supposed to break a bone in the body. (Exodus 12:46) This started with the father doing it, but later it had to be done by a priest due to the sin that marred the other tribes of Israel (Exodus 32)
3. They put the blood of the lamb on the entryways of the home as a sign (Exodus 12:7). In 12:21-23, they were supposed to stain the wood using a Hyssop branch by dipping it in the blood and touch the lintel (top) and the two door posts. They were delivered from death through the blood of the lamb.
4. They ate the flesh of the lamb. (Ex 12:8-12) When roasting the lamb, they would put a wooden rod between the shoulders and from neck through the buttock, forming a cross. (From a Jewish commentary on the Scripture—Pesharim 5:9 and 7:1)
5. Every year they were supposed to keep the Passover as a “Day of Remembrance” (Exodus 12:14). Tell them why … every year in the sprint on the 14th day of the month Nisan
THE SIGNS OF A NEW EXODUS
NEW MOSES
Moses – Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the staff of God in his hand. (Exodus 4:20)
Jesus – Rode into Jerusalem on a donkey
Moses – fasted 40 days and 40 nights (Exodus 34) before when He received the law
Jesus – 40 days and 40 nights when the Spirit (new law) fell on Him (Jeremiah 31!!!)
Moses – water to blood (Exodus 7)
Jesus – water to wine (John 2)
Moses – blood covenant (Exodus 24)
Jesus – New Covenant in His Blood (Matthew 26)
NEW COVENANT
Jesus in the upper room Matthew 26:28 “A new covenant I give you … sealed in my blood.”
This covenant was prophesied about in Jeremiah 31:
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. Jeremiah 31:31-33
NEW TEMPLE
The Temple had been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times in Jerusalem. They talked about a coming New Temple to be built in the age of salvation at the time of the new exodus. They believed that God would set his sanctuary (his temple) in the midst of Israel and the Gentile shall convert to worship the Lord. (Ezekiel 37)
So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. John 2:18
Jesus said, “something greater than the temple is here.” – Matthew 12:41
Greater than the TEMPLE! That is where God dwells! How can it be greater than that?!
NEW PROMISED LAND
Isaiah 65:17-25 promises a new kingdom—a new heaven and earth. In John 18:36, Jesus claimed, “my kingdom is not of this world”. In Revelation 21, the fullness of that kingdom is realized in the New Heavens and New Earth.