TONIGHT…I WILL RECLINE AT HIS TABLE

Luke 22:14 When the HOUR came, Jesus and his apostles RECLINED AT THE TABLE.

RECLINE is defined as: TO REST in a leaning position.

Tonight, the Christian church all over the world will remember…and some will come to RECLINE AT THE TABLE in remembrance of OUR LORD’S LAST SUPPER with His disciples. But let me paint the picture of Jesus’ Passover meal. First, we have to understand what the PASSOVER MEAL represented before that day.

Deuteronomy 16:3 Do not eat it with BREAD made with YEAST, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, THE BREAD OF AFFLICTION, because you left Egypt in hast_ so that all the days of your life you may REMEMBER the time of your departure from Egypt.

The YEAST represents: pain, slavery, UNREST, hard labor and in essence Egypt…that is human works.

Psalm 127:2 It is VAIN for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the BREAD OF SORROWS; for he gives His beloved sleep.

A SIFTING AND A BETRAYAL

Luke 22:3 Then SATAN ENTERED Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve.
Luke 22:31 ‘Simon, Simon, SATAN HAS ASKED to sift you as wheat.

TWO MEN….Judas, the Iscariot and Simon Peter. Three years earlier, before Jesus entered the scene, they were just ordinary men. One was a fisherman at the shores of Galilee and the other, nothing much is said about him before then. But here there are,…three years on sitting with a man called Jesus of Nazareth…whom they have come to love, revere and have deep admiration for. Yes…here at the table of communion. The Lord’s heart is deeply troubled. Yes…because the time has come…THE TIME which His Father had been waiting for. To glorify His Son through a death…DEATH ON THE CROSS.

But while Jesus knows that His death is imminent, His heart is also deeply troubled by the fate of two men…men who had been part of His team. Men…who had shared bread at His dinner table, listened to His sermons and teachings, men who had witnessed great miracles. And yet…these two men, Judas, the Iscariot and Simon Peter has something else in common which the Lord knows about: SATAN’S PLANS WITH THEIR LIVES.