When Jesus said that the cup we drink was the new covenant in His blood, He was opening up a world of wisdom to us. So many truths are set before us that it is difficult to know where to begin, or what to do with them all.
Because of this we sometimes give up, and simply return time and again to two or three truths related to the Supper. Those truths are true, and so we are edified to meditate on them, but because this meal sets before us the wisdom, kindness and grace of God, we should also remember that we are being invited to know the unknowable, to grasp the ungraspable, and to enter into the height and breadth and depth of God’s purposes for us.
What do we learn about covenants here? One of the things we learn is that a covenant is something you can drink. Jesus said plainly that the cup is the new covenant in His blood. And when Jesus gives it to us, He says, “Drink ye all of it” (Matt. 26:27). A covenant is something we can drink, and it is something we are summoned to drink down. Drink all of it.
This covenant contains all of God’s purposes for us. And all of those promises—through the power and wisdom of God—can fit in that tiny little cup you will hold in your hand. Not only that, but all those promises, when you drink all of it in faith, fit inside you. When the Lord tells us that a covenant is something we can drink, He is telling us that we can be saved. The covenant is objective, and outside us. Nevertheless, when He gives the gift of faith we come in order to receive. And what do we receive? All of it.
So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.