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. We have looked at the purpose of the church, at pastors and deacons, and at baptism, the first of two ordinances Jesus called us to observe. 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. We will look at three aspects of it: the wine, the bread, and the song.
An ordinance is a God-instructed ceremony or ritual that should be observed as He instructed. It serves as a reminder of what Christ did for us and as a testimony of faith. Baptism is an individual ordinance. 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
Let’s start with the wine, and with how Jesus is the new wine, at the wedding in Cana. This is the context of Jesus’s first miracle, and it marks the beginning of His public ministry. A lot of times we look at this miracle and think, wow, that is cool, but we miss what it represents and how it pictures things in the Lord’s Supper.
Weddings in that day were very public community celebrations, often lasting a week. Then they run out of wine, and once the wine runs out, the party is over. 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. He distanced Himself from His family when He started His ministry. Here, “What have I to do with thee?” means, 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. So she tells the servants to do whatever He says, because the signs showing that the Messiah is here are about to begin.
He has them fill six stone waterpots, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, and the water becomes wine, and the governor of the feast is astonished.
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 2:9–10
This first miracle was not chosen by accident. First, it takes place at a wedding banquet. The redemption of man is often paralleled with a wedding. The church is called the bride of Christ. 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.
What does the wine represent? The new covenant made in the blood of Christ. The master of the feast does not know it, but he is preaching. 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 613 rules they had to follow to be righteous were good, and they loved it. But Jesus wanted to show that the law is not what is best. There is new wine coming, a new covenant, and it is better than what came before. The wine of the Lord’s Supper represents this new covenant between God and man.
The Bread of Life
Next, the bread. After the feeding of the five thousand, the crowd tracks Jesus down because they want another free meal. Jesus calls out their insincerity. They have come to Him for physical comfort, but they have not listened to the spiritual things He said. It is like coming to church only for the meal afterward. They even point back to Moses giving manna, hoping He will give them more bread. They get excited because they still think He is talking about manna. He is talking about spiritual food.
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.
John 6:35
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. 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, the Bread, and the Song
The bread and the wine were not something that just appeared out of nowhere. They were lessons Jesus had been teaching through His ministry. Now, right before He dies, He enjoys His last Passover with His disciples. That Passover sacrifice foreshadowed Jesus’s death on the cross. He takes what had been done in Passover for thousands of years and gives it new meaning.
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 22:19–20
It appears there was one cup the disciples shared. We do not 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. Who breaks the bread? Jesus does, and He gives it to you. When I was younger I used to think we should crack the bread ourselves, so we remember it is our fault Jesus died. Years later I realized how foolish that was, because it ruins the picture. He did not hesitate to die for your sins. We did not have to ask. Jesus did it all for us before we asked. This cup is the new testament in His blood, which is shed for you.
What is really interesting about this picture is that it stems from the Jewish betrothal ceremony. 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. Because the marriage began whenever the house was prepared, you never knew when it would be, so they had to be ready.
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 14:2–3
So the cup of the new covenant represents the betrothal ceremony. You are the bride of Christ. He will return for us, and the promises He made will be kept. Paul says that as often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we do shew the Lord’s death till He come. Every time we partake, we remind ourselves of what Jesus has accomplished and of the promises that await us until He returns.
At the Last Supper Jesus also said He would not eat it again until He ate it with them in the kingdom. In Revelation we find that the marriage supper of the Lamb follows the day of wrath. Right before the second coming, Babylon, a global financial system that lets people live in luxury while looking down on righteousness, collapses within one single hour. That event marks the time for the whole church to be gathered as the bride of Christ. And what are the believers doing? They are worshiping in praise. They are singing. We sing now in anticipation of our worship in heaven on the day of the marriage supper of the Lamb.
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.
As we observe the bread, the wine, and the song, we place ourselves in a position to focus on the heart of God’s redemptive story. Through His blood, God offers forgiveness, relationship, and eternal life. So 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 and rejoicing in the promise that one day we will sit with Him at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
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