Seven Reasons Jesus Came Part 4

We are in the midst of a series of seven reasons why Jesus came to Earth. In this post, we are looking at the fourth reason: to Premier the New Promise of God. 

What element of your church’s worship service could go missing without you realizing it? I doubt most people would forget about the sermon. I doubt even fewer would miss the absence of singing. Some might not notice the disappearance of the offering plate (but then tithing is done a lot online these days). But I’ll bet you if the Lord’s Supper didn’t make an appearance for a few months, very few would notice it. This is a phenomenon that Tim Chester poses in His book (Truth We Can Touch) about the Lord’s Supper. Yet the promise that Jesus is making here is in one way the reason that the Church exists at all. The promise made here is what Jesus sealed on the cross and was centuries in the making.  

If we look back in time to Jeremiah 31:31, we see this incredible promise from God that is made in the midst of a book of judgement. Israel has had a covenant with God since father Abraham, and yet they have broken their end of the promise: to worship only God. This is a case of spiritual adultery (v32)! Yet God, forgiving God that He is, is going to make a new covenant, a covenant that is better, one that transforms the heart of the people He makes it with. This announcement is made in the midst of more good news: Israel who has been scattered in exile would be regathered again. By way of illustration, it is like a promise to a cheating spouse that they can come home, and it will be even better than when they left. It is a beautiful promise, an amazing covenant. 

But there is something important to understand about Biblical covenants: they are sealed in blood. You wouldn’t make an ancient covenant without the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:18-22), the slaughter of an animal. They would actually split the animal in two, and the parties of the covenant would walk between them. Why is this important? Well, this was a way of saying, “If I don’t hold up my end of the bargain, what may God make happened to this animal happen to me!” The Old Covenant was like that, and the New Covenant is no different.  
There is key difference between the Old and New Covenant, however. Instead of an animal providing the blood, as is the usual procedure, Jesus does something different. He is going to be the sacrifice, the provider of blood, and the supper that He announces this is going to be the means by which we remember and proclaim Jesus’ work. When we break the bread, we remember how Jesus broke His body for us. When we pour the fruit of the vine, we remember how Jesus poured out His blood completely to death. When we eat the bread and drink the fruit of the vine, we remember that Jesus is the only means of strengthening our souls in the same way that food strengthens our bodies. 

That is what we celebrate on Maundy Thursday. Jesus inaugurates the New Covenant, promised all the way back in Jeremiah, but not by means of the blood of bulls and goats, but by means of his own blood. God bled for you to have salvation, and that is yet another reason why Jesus came. Without Jesus coming with a body, the possibility of bleeding was impossible for God. But when Jesus condescended to take one humanity, this possibility was opened and used just for us. 

And there’s more! In this covenant, just like the Old Covenant with Abraham, God takes on both sides of the responsibility. Abraham didn’t walk between the animals in Genesis 15; God did. In the same way, Jesus has fulfilled both sides of the covenant by taking on the punishment for our unfaithfulness to God. We need only be united to Jesus by faith, and God will bless us with salvation and a changed heart and life! We will no longer desire to continue in our sin, but we will desire to be faithful to our covenant-keeping God. That is what this Last Supper inaugurates, and that is yet another reason why Jesus came.

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