For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. –  1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Jesus used the cup at the Last Supper to teach us about the spiritual reality of His blood, which would bring us salvation.  Overall, asking the disciples to drink from the cup symbolized partaking in the benefits of Jesus’ death for us. (See Matthew 26:27, John 6:53-56, 1 Corinthians 10:16).  Just as the grapes were crushed to make the liquid they would drink, Jesus was crushed through his death on the cross, and the blood he shed brings us life today.

Also, drinking together (like eating together) illustrates a common bond, because all share in the same activity.  When everyone drinks from the same cup, as they did at that meal, they all taste and feel the same thing, and have one experience together.  It meant that they all had fellowship with the Lord and with each other.  Today, as we all have the Holy Spirit inside us, we have a shared spiritual experience, and the Bible says we “drink of the same Spirit” (1 Cornithians 12:13). In Psalm 23:5 it says, “My cup overflows,” referring to the blessings of the Holy Spirit.  (See also Psalm 16:5 & Psalm 116:3).  Of course, this fellowship in the Body, tasting the spiritual blessings of the Holy Spirit (through Jesus’ blood), is incompatible with idolatry of any kind (1 Corinthians 10:21).  We can come back to this point later.

Previously, Jesus’ disciples had approached him to ask about their rank or prominence in his coming Kingdom. “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.” (Matthew 20:21-23) Drinking from someone’s cup meant that you identified with that person’s future, with their destiny.  He was asking if they would go through the same experiences and suffering (and glory) that he went through.  At the Last Supper he offered them his cup, symbolizing the “cup” of their future together.  Today, when we plead the blood of Jesus in our hearts, we become integrated into his Project, his Work, which is still unfolding.  His destiny becomes our destiny.  The destiny is Eternity. When we partake of his blood, pleading in our hearts, we drink from his cup and point our lives toward Eternity.

Drinking from a cup is a voluntary action.  When the Old Testament uses “the cup of wrath” as a symbol of God’s judgment coming on sin and the flesh, as in Jeremiah 25:27 or 49:12, it is really striking because drinking is something a person does deliberately – and indeed, all our sins are our own choices.  The cup of God’s wrath is something we drink by our own choice (to disobey), and the cup of salvation we drink by our own choice.  When Jesus talked about “the cup” in other places, also referring to his suffering on the cross, he was making the point that it was voluntary, his own choice. (See Mark 14:36; John 18:11).   Today, we also must make a decision about pleading the blood of Jesus.  Too many Christians think they can receive the benefits of Jesus’ blood by being passive.  We must partake of the cup deliberately.

Background – The Grapes: Back then, they made wine by collecting grapes in a large vat, called a winepress, on rock.  (See, for example, Proverbs 3:10).  They would tread the grapes with their feet to crush them, and a small opening allowed the juice to escape.  The wine was called “the blood of the grapes,” partly because the grape juice was dark red, like blood.  They kept it in leather containers that they took home, to share and have fellowship as a family.  Jesus said, “I am the true vine” – he was crushed on Calvary, shedding his Blood, so we can keep the wine in our containers, our lives.  Jesus said we need “new wineskins,” lives ready to change with the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus was crushed to give us new life in his Holy Spirit: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him.” (Isaiah 53:5)

The grape would die there in the winepress.  When they would drink the juice or wine later, they did not smell the dead grapes, though.  Nowadays people abuse wine to escape their misery and feel happy.  The Holy Spirit is the one who brings true joy, eternal joy in the Lamb.  We can start to understand the ways of God and the revelation.

The Wine: The Bible speaks of two kinds of wine, the world’s wine and the wine of the Spirit, the blood of the Jesus.  The wine of the world reduces the ability of man to make his own decisions – instead he becomes open to the suggestions of the world, the flesh, and the Enemy.  In contrast, the Bible also speaks of a different kind of wine, the Holy Spirit that is in the Blood of Jesus.  This wine of Jesus’ blood brings healing, true happiness, and fellowship with the Lord.  This is a wine that the world could never offer, and this is not a physical wine that we drink with our lips, but rather a wine that we take into our very souls.  The wine of the blood of Jesus opens our hearts to the Holy Spirit and leads us into the presence of God, where we are washed from our sin and made holy.  We no longer resist the Lord, but we are filled with his Spirit and completely under his control.  As Paul exhorts us in Ephesians 5:18, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit, poured out for us through Jesus’ blood, is the “wine” that we want to partake, that it may change our thoughts, our hearts and our souls. Praise the Lord for the precious blood shed for us!

God is merciful and will give you the blessing you need.  Life and death is a continuous process. Paul said that he “died every day.”  (1 Corinthians 15:31)  He was talking about spiritual things.  I die to the world all day.  The more I die to the world, the more I resurrect to God.  This is process is called death and resurrection.  We all face temptations, things that attract us but would displease the Lord – it can be an object, a relationship, an activity, or even words we say.  Perhaps we even feel a weakness for that thing, like we are unable to resist.  What can I do?  The Spirit testifies that this is not good for my spiritual life.  I have a choice: I could surrender to temptation, or use the resource of the cup: pleading the blood of Jesus.  God honors this when we use the resources that He provides for us.  If you plead, asking for deliverance, and if you are sincere, God will listen to you and hear your prayer.  Does this make the object of our temptation die or go away? No. Rather, YOU died to the item of temptation.  The flesh was crushed and you resurrected to new life.  That is what Paul would say – “I die every day.”  The Bible says to “pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).  This is not talking about a memorized, recited prayer.  It is pleading for the blood of Jesus, something we do internally, wherever we are, whatever we are doing.

The Supper: Jesus ended his earthly ministry by having a Passover meal with his disciples.  This was not just a special farewell party.  It was a holy religious observance for the ancient Jews (see Exodus 12 and Deuteronomy 16).  They celebrated the Passover as a way of remembering what God did centuries earlier in the Exodus, bringing them out of Egypt into the Promised Land.  The people did not understand that the Passover also had prophetic significance – it pointed forward to Jesus’ death and resurrection, and to the Project of Salvation that culminates in the Rapture.  In fact, the Exodus itself was prophetic, pointing forward to the Blessed Hope of all ages, when the faithful church goes to Eternity, our Promised Land.  The disciples thought they prepared a meal that day to look back at the past, but Jesus explained that it all points forward to the future.  We pass through the Red Sea of Jesus’ Blood, because he opened the way for us to pass through safely to Eternity.

After Supper, He took the cup.  Today, we do not celebrate the Jewish Passover ceremony, because Jesus replaced the elements with bread and the cup – pointing to the doctrines of the Body and his Blood.  There was no Passover lamb that night, because Jesus was there as the Lamb of God.  Everything about the Old Testament was fulfilled by Jesus – His Body became the Temple (the veil in the old temple was torn in two when he died).  He became our Sabbath rest, so we no longer treat one day as more spiritual than another (the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath, and he healed regularly on the Sabbath).  He became the Lamb of God, so we no longer offer sacrifices – we plead for the blood of Jesus instead.  He became our great High Priest, so we no longer have special men designated as priests, as they did in the Old Testament.  All of these things were prophetic, just like the Passover, pointing forward to the coming of Christ and the great work of salvation he would accomplish for us.

Identification: Paul explains further, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.” (1 Corinthians 10:21).  “Sharing the cup” brings spiritual identification, whether with Jesus (the cup of His Holy Spirit) or with the Enemy.  Idolatry of any sort causes us to share in the cup of demons.  Yet many religious groups use images, statues, and artifacts for their religious ceremonies. Those who have the Holy Spirit do not need these things or associate with them.  Note that in this passage, Paul makes no mention of what entity the idol represents – he does not care what false god, spirit, or saint it depicts.  It is all the same, because idolatry confuses the material and the spiritual – it spiritualizes material objects.  We must identify ourselves instead with the Holy Spirit, who works invisibly in our midst.

“Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.” (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)  On his final night with the disciples, Jesus emphasized two points: pleading the Blood (to get the Holy Spirit), and the Body, participating in the faithful church. The cup identifies us with all the spiritual blessings Jesus brought us through his death and resurrection.  The bread speaks of participation in a real, living Body (the faithful church).

In Isaiah 25:6-8 there is an interesting prophecy about God’s unfolding project of Salvation:

“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 “mountain” is Calvary, where Jesus died so that we could have access to the Heavenly Banquet, the Wedding of the Lamb.  The “aged wine” speaks of the fact that the Blood of Jesus was part of God’s plan from ages past, from eternity.  This is where he removed the “shroud” (the veil) that separated all people from the Holy of Holies. He swallowed up death forever.  The “finest of wines” speaks of the Holy Spirit poured out, and points us “to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”

This is the cup he offers to us now.