Maundy Thursday
Isaiah
25:6-9
On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all
peoples,
a banquet of
aged wine - the best of meats and the finest of wines.
On this
mountain he will destroy the shroud
that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet
that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever.
The
Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces;
he will
remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.
In that day
they will say, “Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the
Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice
and be glad in his salvation.”
The
mountain mentioned is Mt. Zion, also known as the City of David
in Jerusalem, is very close to the Upper Room where the Last Supper took place
with Christ and His disciples.
What happened at the Last Supper (Maundy Thursday)?
Christ celebrated the Jewish feast of the Passover with His disciples
and He instituted the Eucharist (communion) and the New Covenant. God’s promise that we would know Him and love Him,
that His law would be written in our hearts, that our sins would be forgiven
and that we would be His loving children. The bread and wine would represent the
body and blood of Christ which would be sacrificed for all mankind.
“And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them,
saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me. In
the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the
new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
We are no longer separated from Our Father
The
shroud is the veil of sin which covers our understanding of
God. It also separates us from God and prevents us from being in the presence
of God. When Christ died on the cross, the temple curtain which separated God
from man was torn down the middle, allowing us to be in the presence of God
forever. Whoever confesses their sins and agrees to never do them again and
accepts Christ as their Redeemer will be forgiven by the Father and will be allowed
to be in the presence of God for eternity.
What else did Jesus say at the end of
the Last Supper?
“(Father) I do not ask that you take
them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not
of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your
word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the
world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified
in truth. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me
through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me,
and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that
you have sent me.”
“A
new commandment I give to you, that you love one another;
even
as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
By
this all men will know that you are my disciples,
if
you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).