The Blood of Christ as a Sign of the New Covenant

Matthew records Jesus taking the Passover cup, giving thanks, and speaking words that sound like thunder wrapped in tenderness: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). In a single sentence He reaches backward to Sinai, where a covenant was sealed with blood, and forward to a cross, where His own blood would accomplish what animal blood could only foreshadow (Exodus 24:6–8; Hebrews 9:13–14). The moment is not merely devotional; it is legal, relational, and royal. A covenant is being enacted, forgiveness is being secured, and a future is being promised at a table prepared in the presence of friends and soon-to-be enemies (Matthew 26:20–25; Psalm 23:5).

The chapter’s closing note adds horizon to the sign. Jesus declares that He will not drink from the fruit of the vine “from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29). The cup therefore functions as remembrance of a sacrifice, present sharing in covenant benefits, and pledge of a banquet still to come. The church lives between those poles, receiving what the cup proclaims and waiting for what the cup promises, assured that God’s plan moves from written promise to poured-out blood to a table spread in a renewed creation (Jeremiah 31:31–34; Revelation 19:9).

Words: 2580 / Time to read: 14 minutes

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Historical and Cultural Background

Covenants in Scripture are solemn bonds, often inaugurated with words, signs, and sacrifices. At Sinai, Moses took the blood of young bulls, sprinkled half on the altar and half on the people, and announced, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you” as Israel agreed to obey the voice they had heard at the mountain (Exodus 24:3–8). The act did not magically change hearts, but it did bind a nation to God under a law that revealed His character and their need. The sacrificial system that followed kept the lesson in circulation by teaching that life belongs to God and that atonement requires life given in the place of the guilty, for “the life of a creature is in the blood” and “it is the blood that makes atonement” (Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22).

Passover added a household frame to the same truth. Israel was rescued from judgment when the blood of a lamb marked their doors, and they were instructed to remember that night with a meal that recited the story and proclaimed the Lord’s saving power to their children (Exodus 12:7, 13–14, 24–27). The calendar of feasts kept memory alive, but the prophets lamented that outward observances often outpaced inward loyalty, exposing a need deeper than ritual could reach (Isaiah 1:11–17; Hosea 6:6). Jeremiah announced that the Lord would cut a new covenant, not like the one made when He took Israel by the hand out of Egypt, but one in which He would write His law on hearts, forgive iniquity, and remember sin no more (Jeremiah 31:31–34). The background is therefore a tapestry of blood-sealed covenants, repeated sacrifices, and promises of inner renewal.

The table of Matthew 26 sits squarely in this story. Jesus and His disciples celebrate Passover, the feast of liberation, while He reinterprets its elements around Himself. Bread becomes the sign of His body given; the cup becomes the sign of His covenant blood poured out for many; the meal becomes a rehearsal of the exodus that His cross will accomplish for sinners from every nation (Matthew 26:26–28; Luke 9:31; Revelation 5:9–10). The setting is intimate and solemn, and it reveals a pattern that runs through the Scriptures: God binds Himself to His people with oaths and signs, and He supplies what the signs anticipate in the person and work of His Son (2 Corinthians 1:20; Luke 22:20).

Biblical Narrative

The night unfolds with Jesus as both host and offering. He blesses the bread and says, “Take and eat; this is my body,” then takes the cup and says that it is His covenant blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:26–28). The words echo Sinai in form and surpass it in substance. Where Moses sprinkled blood to ratify a covenant of law, Jesus offers His own blood to inaugurate a covenant of forgiveness that changes hearts and grants access to God (Exodus 24:8; Hebrews 10:19–22). The disciples do not yet grasp it, but the pattern is clear: the meal interprets a death about to happen, and the death will interpret the meal for all future gatherings of the church (1 Corinthians 11:23–26).

After the meal, Jesus goes to Gethsemane and submits His will to the Father, affirming the cup that must be drunk for sinners to be saved (Matthew 26:36–46). Arrest, trial, and crucifixion follow, and the cross becomes the altar where the words spoken over the cup are realized in blood and water that flow from His pierced side (Matthew 26:47–68; John 19:34–37). Isaiah’s song is fulfilled as the Servant is pierced for transgressions and by His wounds many are healed; the ransom promised in His teaching is paid as the Son of Man gives His life as a ransom for many (Isaiah 53:5–6; Matthew 20:28). The covenant sign at the table is thus tethered to a covenant act on the hill.

The resurrection vindicates the sign and secures its benefits. The angel announces, “He is not here; he has risen,” and the risen Christ charges His disciples to teach the nations everything He commanded, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, with the assurance of His presence to the end of the age (Matthew 28:5–6, 18–20). The church will gather around Word and Table in light of this victory, remembering His death, proclaiming it until He comes, and receiving in faith what the cup declares: sins forgiven, hearts made new, and a future feast certain (1 Corinthians 11:25–26; Acts 2:42; Revelation 19:9). The narrative arc moves from promise and sign to sacrifice and proclamation, with the cup as the carrying vessel of the story.

Theological Significance

The cup in Matthew 26 is a covenant sign that centers atonement. Jesus identifies His blood as “poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins,” language that gathers the sacrificial logic of Leviticus and the prophetic hope of Jeremiah into a single, personal act (Matthew 26:28; Leviticus 17:11; Jeremiah 31:34). Forgiveness is not a feeling God has toward sin; it is a verdict He renders on the basis of a life given in the place of the guilty. The New Testament consistently reads the cross this way: God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, to demonstrate His righteousness by punishing sin in the substitute and justifying the one who has faith in Jesus (Romans 3:25–26; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24). The sign at the table proclaims that achievement and invites trust.

The sign also marks the turning from law written on stone to law written on hearts. Jeremiah promised a covenant in which the Lord Himself would inscribe His instruction within His people and remember their sins no more; Jesus pairs bread and cup with that promise and later pours out the Spirit who brings it to life (Jeremiah 31:33–34; John 14:26; Acts 2:33). Paul describes this as the Spirit making believers competent ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit, because the letter kills but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:5–6). The cup therefore signifies not only pardon but power, not only release from debt but renewal of desire, so that the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in people who walk according to the Spirit (Romans 8:3–4).

The covenant sign in Matthew coheres with God’s faithfulness to earlier promises. Sinai’s covenant revealed God’s holiness and Israel’s need; the new covenant supplies the obedience and forgiveness Sinai could only demand and dramatize. Yet the prophets spoke of this new covenant in terms that take Israel seriously, even as nations are blessed through it; Jesus enacts it in the midst of Israel at Passover and extends its benefits to the world, maintaining both the particularity of promise and the wideness of mercy (Jeremiah 31:31; Isaiah 49:6; Matthew 26:17–19). The table thus teaches covenant realism: God keeps His word and brings to completion the purposes for which earlier covenants were given (Luke 1:72–75; Romans 15:8–9).

The cup carries a kingdom pledge. Jesus’ vow not to drink until He drinks new with His own in the Father’s kingdom means the sign points beyond itself to a banquet where the covenant people will share joy with the King (Matthew 26:29; Isaiah 25:6–9). The church tastes this future whenever it receives the cup in faith; it experiences a foretaste now and looks for fullness later, learning to live as people who already belong and who still wait (Hebrews 6:5; Romans 8:23). The sign therefore holds memory, presence, and hope in one act, training the heart to inhabit this stage of God’s plan with endurance and joy.

The sign forms a people whose common life is shaped by grace. Those who drink the cup proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes and discern the body with whom they share it, thereby resisting divisions that contradict the gospel it announces (1 Corinthians 10:16–17; 1 Corinthians 11:26–29). The blood that created a new covenant creates a new community, reconciling enemies by the cross and granting peace to those who were far and those who were near (Ephesians 2:13–18). The Table becomes a weekly catechism in unity, humility, and love, because the only ground of belonging there is mercy purchased at a price.

The priesthood of Christ gives the sign its permanence. Animal blood could never take away sins, but by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy; believers now approach the Holy Place with confidence by the blood of Jesus, through a new and living way opened by His flesh (Hebrews 10:4, 10–14, 19–22). The cup therefore is not a reminder of ongoing payment but of finished work, not a rehearsal of debt still due but a celebration of ransom paid in full. The sign’s power lies in the once-for-allness of the cross and the living intercession of the risen Lord (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25).

The scope of “for many” invites mission. Jesus’ words echo His earlier promise that the Son of Man would give His life as a ransom for many, and they anticipate the charge to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 20:28; Matthew 26:28; Matthew 28:18–20). The cup becomes a call to announce forgiveness in His name to all peoples and to gather them into the fellowship of the new covenant by preaching, baptism, and ongoing instruction (Luke 24:46–49; Acts 2:38–39). The sign therefore leans outward, turning private gratitude into public witness.

Spiritual Lessons and Application

Believers approach the Table as forgiven sinners and welcomed sons and daughters. The cup announces that Christ’s blood was poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins, so repentant people can come without terror and with reverence, confessing their sins and trusting the sufficiency of the sacrifice it proclaims (Matthew 26:28; 1 John 1:9). The practice of self-examination protects from casual presumption, and the assurance of grace protects from despair; both are fitting postures for those who receive a sign that is both solemn and cheerful (1 Corinthians 11:28; Psalm 32:1–2).

The sign trains daily obedience. If the new covenant writes God’s law on hearts, then the people who share the cup should expect the Spirit to reshape desires and actions in ordinary places, making them zealous for good works and patient under pressure (Jeremiah 31:33; Titus 2:11–14). The meal is not only remembrance but nourishment, not only proclamation but formation, and it pushes the church toward lives that align with the grace it celebrates, including forgiveness extended to others and reconciliation pursued where offenses have divided (Ephesians 4:32; Matthew 5:23–24).

The cup steadies hope in suffering. Jesus linked the sign to His own agony and to a future feast, teaching disciples to carry both cross and crown in their hands until He returns (Matthew 26:38–39; Matthew 26:29). Saints who drink amid tears can remember that the covenant has secured their status and future; nothing can separate them from the love displayed there, and every lesser table of sorrow will be answered by the greater table of joy (Romans 8:31–39; Revelation 19:9). The sign teaches endurance by wedding memory to promise.

The sign also fuels mission and unity. Sharing one cup declares that many are made one by the same sacrifice, that dividing walls have been torn down, and that a reconciled community stands as a living witness to the reconciling power of the cross (1 Corinthians 10:16–17; Ephesians 2:14–16). The same act that binds believers together sends them out to proclaim forgiveness in Jesus’ name, inviting neighbors from every background to the grace He purchased (Acts 13:38–39; 2 Corinthians 5:18–20). The church holds a cup that both gathers and goes.

Conclusion

Matthew 26 places a cup in trembling hands and fills it with the meaning of the ages. The words Jesus speaks over it echo Sinai and fulfill Jeremiah, gather Leviticus into a single act, and open a road to a table in the kingdom that cannot be shaken (Exodus 24:8; Jeremiah 31:31–34; Matthew 26:29; Hebrews 12:28). The cup is a covenant sign of atonement accomplished, of hearts being renewed, of a people being formed, and of a banquet ahead. The blood of Christ is not an idea about love but the cost of love; it is not a symbol only, but the basis on which God justly forgives and joyfully adopts (Romans 3:25–26; Galatians 4:4–7).

The church lives by this sign. Week after week it remembers His death and proclaims it until He comes, feeds on grace that is finished yet ever fresh, and learns to forgive as it has been forgiven. The sign holds memory, presence, and hope in one simple act, and it anchors ordinary lives in extraordinary mercy. The One who promised to drink the cup new with His own will keep that promise; until then, His people share the cup in faith, walk by the Spirit whose covenant He sealed, and invite the world to join the song that this blood has made possible (1 Corinthians 11:26; Romans 8:3–4; Revelation 5:9–10).

“Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’” (Matthew 26:27–29)