Luke 22:14 Commentary and Bible Study

(Synoptics: Luke 22:14-16)Luke confirms that it was the Lord Jesus Christ and his twelve apostles alone who were with him in the upper room at the last supper. The Lord says, ‘With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you.’ He had looked forward to this meal with them, knowing that it would take place, and fully understanding its significance. He understood why the Passover had been appointed as a feast for Israel, and what it said about himself and the work he had come to do. The nation was being taught to look forward to the great event in history which would bring salvation to all those who trusted in God’s Messiah. That work was not yet complete, but it was about to carried out. Christ looked forward to this last Passover meal, not for the sake of the meal itself, but because of all that must follow. God gives no types which are not fulfilled.In saying this, he brought the Passover to an end for himself and for his disciples, and he inaugurated a new ordinance, the Lord’s Supper. Not only so, but he brought the entire ceremonial law to an end, because it was about to be fulfilled in his death on Calvary, his resurrection, and his ascension to glory. He too was born under the ceremonial law, and was careful to carry out all its requirements while it was in force, but now it had served its purpose, it was about to come to an end, and he rejoiced at that. As a pledge is of little value without a full payment, so the ceremonial law would be of little value without its fulfilment in the person and work of Christ. The shadow must give way to the reality, and this is chiefly why the Lord Jesus rejoiced. ‘Before I suffer’ – he went forward eagerly to the fulfilment of it, even though it meant unimaginable suffering for him. He did it eagerly because the fulfilment must soon follow.He knew his own timetable. He knew this was the Passover which would soon be followed by the crucifixion. Did he shrink from the work that his Father had sent him to do? It was indeed terrible as his experience in the Garden of Gethsemane shows, but it would be inaccurate to say that he shrunk from it. He was not a reluctant Saviour, but he went eagerly to carry out the work given to him by the Father – ‘Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. ¹⁸ No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father’ (John 10:17-18). ‘I have desired to eat this passover with you.’ He ate it with his disciples, with those who were the foundation of the church, because the Passover feast would find its true fulfilment only in those who believe. The ‘with you’ of this last Passover corresponds to the ‘with you’ of its fulfilment in the kingdom of God. There Christ will not eat alone, but he will eat with all those he has redeemed and brought into heaven to be with him for all eternity. He will participate in the marriage supper of the Lamb but so will his bride, the church. At that point, it will not be eaten as a ceremonial feast, but as Gill says, but in its reality – eternal heavenly fellowship.‘For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’ Verse 18 has the same expression, – ‘I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.’ Although Luke gives these words in connection with the Passover meal, Matthew and Mark out them after the newly inaugurated Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26:29; Mark 14:25). Both the Passover and the Lord’s Supper look forward to the kingdom of God, though they are not the same ordinance. The Passover was given to Israel by Moses and looked forward to the one true sacrifice of the Lamb of God which would take away the sin. It urged all Israelites to come to God for salvation. The Lord’s Supper was newly inaugurated by Christ, and looks back to what he has already accomplished; he says, ‘This do in remembrance of me’ (verse 19). It is an ordinance for believers, not for the typical people of God. The Lord says that he will exercise this self-restraint until all his elect are safely gathered into the kingdom of God. Christ’s desire to eat it was especially connected with the fact that he would not eat it again until it was fulfilled.