In verse 16 the Lord goes on to say, “For I tell you that I shall by no means eat it anymore until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” The pronoun “it” refers to the Passover in verse 15, which will be fully fulfilled in the coming kingdom of God, when the Savior will feast with the overcoming saints (v. 30; 13:28-29).
God has a complete plan to redeem His people into His jubilee. The feast of the Passover is a sign of God’s full redemption, and this full redemption is the bringing of God’s chosen people into the full enjoyment of Himself. This enjoyment is a matter of the jubilee covered in the Gospel of Luke as the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah and the type in Leviticus 25. The jubilee is actually the enjoyment of God through His redemption. The feast signifying the jubilee was first the feast of the Passover in the Old Testament and then the Lord’s table in the New Testament.
The feast of the Passover was not completely fulfilled in the Old Testament. The Lord’s table, which also is a feast, replaces and continues the feast of the Passover. But not even this New Testament feast has been completely fulfilled; it will be fulfilled completely in the coming kingdom.
If we read the Bible carefully, we shall see that a feast is spoken of both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. This feast began in Exodus 12, and it continued for more than fifteen centuries until the night in which the Lord Jesus replaced it with His table. Today in the church life God’s people are attending this New Testament feast. However, this feast will not be fulfilled completely until the feast in the coming kingdom. This means that the feast in the kingdom will be the fulfillment of both the feast of the Passover and the feast of the Lord’s table.
Seemingly there are three feasts: the feast of the Passover, the feast of the Lord’s table, and the feast in the kingdom. Actually, these are not three feasts. On the contrary, this is one feast in three stages. God has established one feast through His redemption for our full enjoyment of the jubilee in three stages, and these stages are the Old Testament stage, the New Testament stage, and the kingdom stage.
We may say that the Passover was the Old Testament jubilee. When the Passover was established, the oppressed Israelites were released from bondage in Egypt, released from the tyranny of Pharaoh. The Israelites had been captives in a condition of slavery. On the negative side, the Passover set them free from that bondage. On the positive side, the Passover brought them into a feast to enjoy the lamb, which is a symbol of Christ as the embodiment of God. On that day the children of Israel were brought into the enjoyment of God; they enjoyed the lamb and the Passover. Later, in the wilderness, they enjoyed manna. After they entered into the good land, they enjoyed the riches of the land, which is a type of Christ in His all-inclusiveness. Now we can see that the Passover set the Israelites free from bondage and brought them into the enjoyment of God. However, they eventually lost this enjoyment and were carried away again into captivity.
In Luke 4 the Man-Savior proclaimed a further stage of the jubilee—the New Testament jubilee. The New Testament jubilee also has a symbol or sign, and this symbol is the Lord’s table. The Lord’s table is a sign of the jubilee that sets us free from bondage and brings us into the full enjoyment of the Triune God. The Lord’s table is not only a replacement of the Old Testament feast of Passover; it is also a continuation of that feast.
The New Testament feast of the Lord’s table will be replaced and continued by the feast in the coming kingdom. The feast in the kingdom will be the feast in the third stage. This coming feast, which will be a replacement and continuation of the Lord’s table, will also be a symbol of the jubilee. At that time God’s chosen and redeemed people will be freed from all occupations, bondages, and slaveries and will be brought into the enjoyment of the Triune God in the kingdom age.
Luke 22:17 and 18 say, “And having received a cup, when He had given thanks, He said, Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you, I shall by no means drink from now on of the produce of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Certain readers of this chapter may think that this is the cup of the Lord’s table. However, this is the cup of the feast of the Passover, not the cup of the Lord’s table. In verse 16 the Lord and His disciples ate the Passover feast, and in verse 17 they drank the cup of that feast. Verses 19 and 20 speak of the Lord’s table. We need to make a clear distinction between the two feasts in 22:7-23. It may be helpful to mark our Bibles to indicate that the feast of Passover ends with verse 18 and the Lord’s supper begins with verse 19.