When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper on the night when he was betrayed, he called for his disciples to remember him and proclaim his death until he returned. When Jesus took the unleavened bread, he said to his disciples to eat the bread, remembering that this was his body given for them. But then he took the cup after eating the bread. In every record of the institution of the Lord’s Supper we are told that Jesus said that the cup is the blood of the covenant. The Matthew and Mark accounts say, “This is my blood of the covenant.” The Luke and 1 Corinthians accounts say, “This is the new covenant in my blood.” What did Jesus mean when he said that this cup represented the blood of the covenant? It should be worth noting that Jesus did not say that the cup represented his blood. The full expression is that the cup represented the blood of the covenant. Considering that Jesus said to remember him as we take the Lord’s Supper and specifically said that we need to remember the cup as the blood of the covenant, then it is very important that we understand what this term means. I believe we can say that there are four dimensions to the blood of the covenant. In the last lesson we looked at the first dimension of the blood of the covenant from Exodus 24. From Exodus 24 we saw that the blood of the covenant was how the people were sealed into a covenant relationship with God. The blood of the covenant meant that they could be in fellowship with God and behold his glory. The blood of the covenant further represented the commitment the people were making to the covenant. They said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” So we are recommitting ourselves to the covenant each week as we partake of the cup. Now we will look at the second dimension of the blood of the covenant. Open your copies of God’s word to Zechariah 9.
The Context of Zechariah 9
Zechariah was a prophet to the people after their exile in Babylon. God sends Haggai and Zechariah as prophets to the people to encourage them to rebuild the temple that they had stopped building. Their prophecies are about 520 years before Christ’s coming. The way Zechariah encourages the people to rebuild the temple by giving them amazing visions of what God would do through Christ in the future. The point was that they needed to build the temple because great things lie ahead. As you look at Zechariah 9 you might notice that we have a messianic context. In fact, when you look at verse 9 you will see that this is a passage quoted in Matthew 21:5. This was a picture of when the Lord would come to Jerusalem to establish his kingship. Jesus rides in on a donkey while the people are shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” Zechariah tells the people to shout for joy because your king is coming to you righteous, victorious, and having salvation. Notice that verse 10 pictures the victory Christ will accomplish. Christ will cut off chariots, war horses, and battle bows and speak peace to the nations. His rule will be from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.
Set Free and Restored (Zechariah 9:11-12)
Now I want us to pay careful attention to Zechariah 9:11-12. Look at what Zechariah says next in this messianic context.
As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. (Zechariah 9:11-12 ESV)
So the Lord is talking to his people and says that he will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit because of the blood of the my covenant. Notice in verse 12 that he calls the people “prisoners of hope” and tells them to return to their stronghold. Now this is a hard idea for us to grasp. We might want to think that the imagery of prison could refer to the people who are in captivity. But God had already set the people free from their Babylonian captivity and these are the people who had been set free and returned to the land to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. So why is God calling them prisoners? God is frequently trying to show us that we are prisoners to our sins. Listen to how Isaiah proclaimed this truth.
I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. (Isaiah 42:6-7 ESV)
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’S favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn. (Isaiah 61:1-2 ESV)
Notice that these pictures of the condition of the people is that they are blind, sitting darkness, and prisoners in a dungeon. They are brokenhearted. They are captives. They are bound in prison. Now you might recognize that these are messianic passages that are quoted in the New Testament as fulfilled in Christ. Jesus came to free people from their slavery to sin. The problem is that we do not see and are in darkness, failing to grasp that we are enslaved to our sins. Listen to how Jesus dealt with trying to convince people of this truth.
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. (John 8:31-34 ESV)
Notice that Jesus proclaimed that if you listen and live in his word, you will truly be his disciples. You will know the truth and the truth will set you free. But think about what the people say in response to Jesus’ offer. They argue that they are not enslaved and they have never been enslaved to anyone. You will notice that Jesus does not point out to the people that they were enslaved in Egypt in their history. He does not point to the Babylonian enslavement or anything more recent like the Greeks, Seleucids, or the Romans. Rather, Jesus just goes to the problem of sin. If you are sinning, you are a slave to sin. The problem is that we do not see the enslaving nature of sin. We just recently talked about this from our lessons in Jeremiah 2. We think we are in control. But sin enslaves you. Sin rules over you. Jesus has come to set people free from their slavery to sin. This is what Isaiah was proclaiming would happen in Christ came. It is also what Zechariah was proclaiming.
How We Are Set Free
Please return to Zechariah 9 and I want us to carefully notice something that God said about this freedom process. The Lord proclaims that he will set his people free “because of the blood of my covenant with you.” The Lord says that the people are set free from their sins because of the blood of my covenant with you. Now think about what Jesus said when he instituted the Lord’s Supper. Think about when he took the cup. Jesus said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood” (1 Corinthians 11:25). Jesus said, “This is my blood of the covenant” (Matthew 26:28).
At the beginning of this lesson and the last lesson I noted that I think we can see four dimensions of meaning and depth regarding the blood of the covenant. I want us to see this second dimension here. The blood of the covenant is how we are set free from our sins. Jesus came to set the prisoners free, releasing them from the darkness of their sins. Our freedom could only be accomplished through a new covenant established with Christ’s own blood.
Now stay in Zechariah 9 and notice what this is supposed to mean for the people. Look again at verses 11-12. God will set the people free because of the blood of the covenant. So now the call is given in verse 12. The call is for the people to return to their stronghold. You have been set free from the prison of sin. Now return to your home, the place of your strength. Return to your stronghold is a call for the people to return to the Lord. Look at the rest of verse 12. Return to him and God will restore you. Return to your stronghold and find restoration. Not only will you find restoration, but you will be restored double what you had before. You are traded the emptiness of sin for the satisfying wealth of Christ. Leave the emptiness and return to your stronghold.
Hope In Our Freedom
Listen to how the apostle Paul describes what this freedom of sin means as he writes to the Christians in Rome.
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. (Romans 6:6-7 ESV)
But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:17-18 ESV)
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:20-23 ESV)
The whole sixth chapter of Romans is the apostle Paul telling us that when we were baptized into Christ, we were set free from sins. So we need to crucify the old self with its way of living and desires because we want to be free. The life of sin is a life of slavery and shame. The life of sin just leads to our death and eternal destruction. But now you have been set free from sin so that you can be holy and have eternal life. The blood of the covenant of Jesus has set us free so that we can be restored.
The Blood of the Covenant
So there are now two dimensions that we have seen regarding the blood of the covenant that we are remembering when we partake from the cup during the Lord’s Supper each Sunday. The first dimension is remembering that Christ’s blood as put us into a covenant relationship with God so that we can draw near to God without fear. We are remembering that we have made a commitment to this covenant and we are proclaiming, “All the Lord has spoken we will do.”
The second dimension that we are remembering when we partake of the cup is that it is because of Christ’s blood of the covenant that we have been set free from our slavery to sin. We are set free to have true life with God and eternal life with him. Each week we are reminding ourselves that Christ has set us free from sins through this covenant. So you are not enslaved to those sins. Put on the armor of God and take your stand against the schemes of the devil. The devil does not need to have victory over your life. You have been set free. Drink from the cup and be reminded that you have been set free. Now live in that freedom for your Lord and Savior.