Mark 14:23-25

‘And he took a cup and when he had given thanks he gave to them and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant which is shed for many. Truly I tell you I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new under the Kingly Rule of God.” '

Again the wine was to be seen as representing His blood. It could not be His blood because that was still in His veins. But they would remember too His words in John 6 where He had spoken of ‘drinking His blood', something which signified response to Him in His death. By drinking the wine they were indicating their oneness with Him in His death and binding themselves to the covenant of mercy.

In Zechariah 9:15 the LXX speaks of the fact that the victorious people of God ‘will drink their blood like wine' (the blood of their enemies) signifying a triumphant victory and the slaughter of their enemies, and David used a similar picture when three of his followers had risked their lives to fetch him water. He poured it out on the ground as an offering to God and said, ‘shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?'.

Isaiah brought both metaphors together when he said of the enemies of Israel that God would ‘make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine' (Isaiah 49:26), signifying that they would destroy themselves. Thus in Hebrew thought drinking a person's blood meant killing someone or benefiting by their death.

This can be paralleled elsewhere in the New Testament for in Matthew's Gospel the people said of their 'fathers' that they were 'partakers in the blood of the prophets' (Matthew 23:30). Thus when Jesus spoke of ‘eating my flesh and drinking my blood' in John 6 He was using easily recognised Jewish metaphors. He was indicating that they would either kill Him or would benefit from His death.

‘My blood of the covenant which is shed for many' would take their minds back to the covenant sealed by the shedding of blood at Sinai. See Exodus 24:8, which also refers to ‘the blood of the covenant'. And that connects with many other similar covenants, sealed by sacrifice (see Genesis 15:9). But the blood of the covenant at Sinai incorporated a whole new people, and here now was a greater covenant for it was Jesus Himself Who was sealing a covenant with His own blood, which would be offered as the sacrifice (‘my blood'), and Whose blood would confirm and guarantee the new covenant and incorporate His whole new people. See Zechariah 9:11 in context with Mark 9:9 which latter passage Jesus had deliberately identified with Himself. See also Jeremiah 31:31. It was a covenant of deliverance and of life-changing power. ‘This is the covenant I will make --- I will put my law in their inward parts and I will write it in their heart, and I will be their God and they will be my people' (Jeremiah 31:31; Hebrews 8:8).

‘Which is poured out for many.' This refers back to Isaiah 53:12 where the ‘many' are described in the context of His life being poured out (in MT). ‘He poured out His soul to death --- He bore the sin of many' (Isaiah 53:12). ‘By His humiliation (an extension of the meaning of yatha‘ found at Ugarit - ‘the humiliation He had known, experienced, undergone') shall my righteous servant make many to be accounted righteous' (Isaiah 53:11). The One bore the sin of the many. So the blood of the Servant was shed in order to establish a new covenant between men and God, and when men drank of that wine they were signifying their desire to have a part in that covenant. ‘Poured out' is also the language of sacrifice (Exodus 24:6).

‘They all drank of it.' This included Judas. He pretended a response to Jesus in the new covenant knowing all the time what he was about to do. This was treachery unlimited. By drinking he was binding himself to the new covenant while aiming to destroy it. He drank to his own condemnation (1 Corinthians 11:29).

Nothing illustrated more Jesus' awareness of His own uniqueness than this taking of an old and revered ceremony and its transformation so that from now on it would point to Him. He had taken over the Passover, for He was the Passover lamb being offered for sin and being participated in by His people. As the Passover lamb was offered, so He was offered. As the Passover lamb was eaten so could they partake of Him through coming in faith and receiving Him. But in future the lamb would be replaced by the bread and the wine, symbolising the need of constantly coming to Him and believing on Him (John 6:35). That was necessary, for the Lamb had been offered once for all.

‘Truly I tell you I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new under the Kingly Rule of God.' Jesus knew that the wine on that Passover night was His last drink of joyous wine on earth before He died (He would drink the sour wine on the cross - Mark 15:36). Now He was either dedicating Himself to long abstinence, or was indicating how soon they would enjoy His presence in the Kingly Rule of God, something which is indicated in Matthew 28:20. Then they would partake of new wine with Him at the Lord's Table. Either way the next time He ‘drank wine' with them in this way would be in the day of triumph, when they would all ‘drank it new' within the Kingly Rule of God. This was thus their guarantee that, in spite of the catastrophe that would soon seem to engulf them, they would finally emerge to enjoy the triumph of the Kingly Rule of God. One day soon they would again meet and celebrate His triumph in God's presence, either in this world or the next. Thus the wine not only symbolised His death and the new covenant, it was a guarantee of the future blessings that would be theirs, and of their future inheritance in Christ.

There is a strong case for suggesting that the wine in Mark 14:23 and the wine in Mark 14:25 should in some way be connected. The wine in Mark 14:23 was the old wine being converted into something new. It had now become a symbol of His death, and of the life that would result. This would suggest that the new wine in Mark 14:25 is a continuation of this as they partake in it after the resurrection under His Father's Kingly Rule. On this basis the new wine can be seen as symbolising the joyous future beyond the cross, when He would ‘eat and drink' with them continually as the Kingly Rule of God advanced throughout all nations to the end of the world (Mark 14:9; Mark 13:10). It would begin when He ate (and drank) with them after His resurrection (Luke 24:43; Acts 10:41), and continue every time that His people engaged in the Lord's Supper. But it will also occur daily for all who continually come and believe on Him (John 6:35). We are not intended to assume that we will drink wine in heaven. There we will have that which is much better than wine. See second note below.