From our Sunday service on November 30, 2025, John 2, John 6, Luke 22, John 14, 1 Corinthians 11, Revelation 18 and Revelation 19. This is part 4 of our Built for a Purpose series. Watch the full message: The Purpose of the Lord’s Supper – Built for a Purpose #4 on YouTube.
This is the final message in our Built for a Purpose series. The first week we saw that the purpose of the church is to point people to Christ and help God’s people become more like him. Then we looked at the purpose of pastors and deacons, and last week at baptism, the first of two ordinances Jesus called us to observe in memory of what he did for us. Today we conclude with the Lord’s Supper, the second of those ordinances.
God wants you to know that the Lord’s Supper is a reminder of the covenant promises of God and the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, and also a celebration of our future reward.
Today we will look at three aspects of the Lord’s Supper: the wine, the bread and the song.
What Is an Ordinance?
An ordinance is a God-instructed ceremony or ritual that should be observed as he instructed. In the church it serves as a reminder of what Christ did for us and as a testimony of faith in the lives of believers. Baptism is one, and the Lord’s Supper is the other. Baptism is an individual ordinance that each believer takes on. The Lord’s Supper is a corporate ordinance, something we as the church as a whole partake in, in memory of Christ.
The New Wine
Before the new covenant was given, Jesus preached some things about it. Let’s start with the wine and how Jesus is the new wine. John 2:1-5:
And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
John 2:1–5
This is the context of Jesus’s first miracle. The first half of John is structured around the seven signs of Jesus, the first miracles he did to signify that he was the Messiah, and John starts here at the wedding at Cana. This marks the beginning of Jesus’s public ministry. A lot of times we look at this miracle and think, “Wow, that’s cool,” but we miss what it represents and how it pictures things in the Lord’s Supper.
Jesus and his disciples are invited to a wedding. I like that the Bible tells us they were invited, that Jesus didn’t bring all his disciples to a wedding uninvited. Weddings in that day were very public celebrations, a community event. You would save as much money as you could to throw a party for as long as possible. A typical wedding celebration would last a week. If it was less than that, people would consider you a little poor and look down on you. “Oh, those poor people. Their wedding was only six and a half days.” So running out of supplies would bring cultural shame.
Then we are introduced to a problem. They run out of wine. You can’t have a party without drinks. Once the wine runs out, the party is over. The family would think, “They’ll think we’re in poverty. They’ll look down on us because we ran out of supplies to celebrate our wedding.” So Mary goes to Jesus and says, “They have no wine.” And Jesus says, “Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come.”
I think this is interesting. I never noticed it until someone asked me why Jesus says this now. Remember how Jesus was preaching and his mother and brethren were outside wanting to speak to him, and he told the crowd, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers? Those who follow me.” Jesus distanced himself from his family when he started his ministry. He is saying, in effect, “I cannot serve my family the same way now that I’ve started God’s mission of redeeming the world.” Remember also how he told his mother in the temple that he must be about his Father’s business. Here, at the beginning of his ministry, he tells her, “What have I to do with thee?” meaning, “My time to be your son is over. The time for me to preach redemption to the world has begun.” And his mother gets it. The time of the ministry has come, but the time of his sacrifice had not. So she tells the servants to do whatever he says, because the signs showing that the Messiah is here are about to begin. Verses 6 to 10:
And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.
John 2:6–10
Most of us have read this story before, and probably nothing stuck out about the significance of what happened. But this first miracle was not chosen by accident. It has a purpose.
First, this miracle takes place at a wedding banquet. The redemption of man is often paralleled with a wedding. The church is called the bride of Christ. The book of Hosea is about Israel running from God, following idols and lust and adultery, and God uses an illustration of marriage to represent his relationship with his people. Throughout the Bible, marriage is a picture of Christ and his people.
Second, wine is an important image of salvation. Notice what verse 6 says about the water pots: they were “after the manner of the purifying of the Jews.” Last week we talked about baptism and how the Jews would immerse things in pure water to dedicate them for a purpose. When Jesus performs his first miracle, he doesn’t use random water out of any jar. He uses water dedicated to ritual purity, baptism water. He fills the purification jugs, and the water represents purification, which represents salvation. He is laying down the beginning of an illustration he will build on through the rest of his ministry.
So what does the wine represent? The new covenant made in the blood of Christ. What the master of the feast says in verse 10 signifies this. He recognizes and tastes this wine and says, in effect, “This is better than what came before.” He doesn’t know it, but he is preaching. At these weddings the feast would start with expensive wine, but as people indulged over the week, the host would slowly bring out cheaper and cheaper wine so they wouldn’t spend as much and people might leave sooner. As they began to run out, they assumed the worst was coming next. But here the most delicious wine was saved for the end of the feast.
The Jews thought the law was good. They thought the temple worship was wonderful. They thought the 613 rules they had to follow to be righteous were good, and they loved it. But Jesus wanted to show that the law isn’t what is best. The law was decent. It was beneficial for our walk with God and taught us some things about right and wrong. But there is new wine coming, a new covenant, and it is better than what came before. You may have enjoyed the law, but wait until you enjoy righteousness by grace through faith.
Jesus had to make a new covenant, a new promise, contract or agreement with mankind for their salvation. The wine of the Lord’s Supper represents this new covenant between God and man.
The Bread of Life
Next, the bread. Jesus preached about this very topic in John 6. Verses 26 and 27:
Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
John 6:26–27
The context is right after the feeding of the five thousand, the best free meal these people ever got. Jesus goes up into a mountain to pray and meets his disciples on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Meanwhile these happy meal enjoyers decide, “I really enjoyed that free meal. I’m going to track down Jesus and see if I can get another.” So they find him on the other side and ask, “Why did you leave us behind? You got any food today?” Jesus calls out their insincerity. They have come to him for physical comfort, but they haven’t listened to the spiritual things he said. It’s like coming to church only for the meal afterward. Verses 28 to 31:
Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
John 6:28–31
Jesus says, “I want you to do the work of God,” to believe on the one he sent. And the people respond, “I don’t know if I can trust your preaching,” and they get sneaky. They try to get another free meal. “Moses fed his followers in the wilderness for forty years. The Messiah is supposed to be a prophet like Moses. So if Moses gave manna from heaven, you could give us more bread, Jesus.” They have a give, give, give mentality. Jesus replies in verses 32 to 34:
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.
John 6:32–34
Suddenly they are interested, because Jesus is talking about what they want to talk about. They think he is talking about manna, and they get excited: “Finally, free food.” But Jesus is talking about spiritual food. Verse 35, then down to verses 47 to 51:
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. … Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
John 6:35, 47–51
Jesus explains that God provided manna in the wilderness to keep his people alive, but everybody who ate that manna eventually died. What God was sending now was better, a true source of life, not just physical sustenance but spiritual life. You wouldn’t just survive to the next meal. You would thrive in both body and soul. Those who ate manna in the wilderness are dead and gone, but those who eat of the new bread will be given eternal life. Jesus says he is the bread of life and the bread he will give is his flesh, given for the life of the world. His body must be given for all to inherit eternal life.
The application is that Jesus needed to die on the cross for our sins before we could be saved, and the bread of the Lord’s Supper represents this sacrifice.
The Cup and the Bread at the Last Supper
Let’s look at the new covenant sealed at the Last Supper, Luke 22:14-16. The bread and the wine weren’t something that just appeared out of nowhere. They were lessons Jesus had been teaching through his ministry. Now we skip ahead to right before he dies, as he enjoys his last meal with his disciples:
And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
Luke 22:14–16
Jesus is celebrating his last Passover meal with the disciples. Passover is very significant in Jewish life. It remembers the Exodus, the last plague, when the angel of death passed over and only those with the blood on the doorpost kept their firstborn child alive. That Passover sacrifice foreshadowed Jesus’s death on the cross. Before he dies and fulfills the picture of Passover, he celebrates the meal with his disciples, and he won’t eat it again. That is why we call it the Last Supper. The next time Jesus eats with his people is when the kingdom of God is fully realized, and we’ll see that this is pictured in the Lord’s Supper too. Jesus takes what had been done in Passover for thousands of years and gives it new meaning. Verses 17 to 20:
And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
Luke 22:17–20
These are short verses, but this is where we get the Lord’s Supper. There is a lot of picture in these ordinances.
In verse 17, Jesus takes the cup and says to divide it among yourselves. It appears there was one cup the disciples shared. The cup of wine represents his blood, his sacrifice, his death, and each of them drank from the same cup. We don’t do that, because of the cleanliness issue. All wine in those days was slightly alcoholic due to fermentation, so bacteria died in it and it was safe. But they all drank from the same cup for this picture: salvation comes from the same source. It’s the same blood that saves every soul, and we all drink from the same covenant. Just as one death offered salvation for all mankind, the one cup represents that salvation for the believer.
In verse 19 it is one piece of bread that represents the body of Christ, one body given for you. When I was younger I used to think, why don’t we crack the bread ourselves, so we remember it’s our fault Jesus died? Wouldn’t it be cool if you had to snap that cracker yourself? Years later in Bible college I realized how foolish that was, because it ruins the picture. Who breaks the bread? Jesus does, and he gives it to you. Nobody had to force Jesus to die on that cross. He did not hesitate to die for your sins. You shouldn’t feel guilt with the bread, because Jesus willingly gave it for you: “This is my body which is given for you.” Nobody at that supper said, “Hey Jesus, can you split off a piece for me?” We didn’t have to ask. Jesus did it all for us before we asked.
Then Jesus makes the image clear in verse 20: “Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” After the supper, he says the cup is the new covenant sealed through his death.
What is really interesting about this picture is that it stems from the Jewish betrothal ceremony, where marriage is an important picture. In Jewish culture you didn’t propose the way we do today with a ring. In those days the future husband would offer a cup of wine to his love. If she drank it, it was like accepting an engagement ring: “I accept this marriage covenant.” Immediately after the acceptance, the man would go to build a home for himself and his bride, often an extension on the family property. When the home was finished, he would come and pick up his bride, and the wedding ceremony and the week-long party would begin. Because the marriage began whenever the house was prepared, you never knew when it would be. So, like the people in the parables we saw a few weeks ago, they would be waiting at every hour of the day for the groom to come, and they had to be ready.
We see this picture in John 14:1-3:
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
John 14:1–3
So the cup of the new covenant represents the betrothal ceremony. You are the bride of Christ. It represents the promise that although we haven’t received all the promises of God yet, haven’t made it to heaven, haven’t received the glorified body, and sin still rules in this world, Jesus is coming back for his bride. He will return for us, and the promises he made will be kept. Paul talks about the Lord’s Supper in this way in 1 Corinthians 11:26:
For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.
1 Corinthians 11:26
Jesus told us to remember these things. Every time we partake of the Lord’s Supper, we remind ourselves of what Jesus has accomplished for us and of the promises that await us until he returns.
The Song of the Supper
Very quickly, let’s look at what the new covenant fulfilled will look like. At the Last Supper Jesus said he would not eat it again until he ate it with them in the kingdom. Is that talked about anywhere in the Bible? Yes. In Revelation we find that the marriage supper of the Lamb follows the day of wrath. In Revelation 18, we see God’s people called out. Verses 1 to 6:
And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you … Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
Revelation 18:1–6, 8
At the time of the second coming, we’re told there will be a successful global market that allows people to live in luxury while the same society persecutes and looks down on righteousness. Right before the second coming, God will have his revenge as Babylon, this global financial system, collapses within one single hour. Revelation 18 talks about the collapse of the world economy and the merchants who cry over the loss of their riches. But this event marks the time for the whole church to be gathered together as the bride of Christ, for the soon defeat of Satan and his followers. Skipping over the fall of Babylon, here is Revelation 19:1-6:
And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Revelation 19:1–6
Are you noticing what is happening here? What are the believers doing? They’re worshiping in praise. They’re singing. The song of the Lord’s Supper is fulfilled. We sing in worship now in anticipation of our worship in heaven on the day of the marriage supper of the Lamb, when we will sing together and celebrate all he has done for us. Verses 7 to 9 usher in our time:
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
Revelation 19:7–9
When we partake of the Lord’s Supper, we remember the marriage ceremony that is awaiting us. We remember not just what God did for us on the cross, but what he is going to do for us in the future. And when we conclude the supper with a hymn, as Jesus did on the day of Passover, we look forward to singing in heaven in praise of the finished work of the marriage covenant. One day all the promises of our salvation will be fulfilled. As we look forward to the full redemption and glorification of our bodies, we sing in anticipation of that day, out of gratitude for the coming fulfillment of God’s promises to us.
What We Do Now in Remembrance, We Will Do in Celebration
As we observe the bread, the wine and the song of the Lord’s Supper, we place ourselves in a position to focus on the heart of God’s redemptive story. The bread reminds us that Jesus gave his own body for our salvation. The bread of life was broken so that we could live. The cup reminds us of the new and better covenant sealed through the blood of Christ. Like the wine at Cana, what Jesus brings is far better than anything that came before. Through his blood, God offers forgiveness, relationship and eternal life. And the song reminds us that this story is going somewhere and that we can praise the one who will bring us to our eternal home.
The Lord’s Supper looks forward to the day when Jesus returns, when the bride is gathered and the marriage supper of the Lamb begins, and Jesus finally partakes of the cup again with us in glory. What we do now in remembrance, we will one day do in celebration. So today, as we take the bread and drink the cup, we proclaim a simple but world-shattering truth: Jesus died for our sins, Jesus lives again for us, and Jesus is coming again for us.
God wants you to know that the Lord’s Supper is a reminder of the covenant promises of God and the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, and also a celebration of our future reward. So let us come to the table with reverence, with gratitude and with joyful anticipation, remembering his sacrifice, renewing our covenant with him, and rejoicing in the promise that one day we will sit with him at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
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