Now I want you please to turn with me to Luke chapter 22, only three verses, three verses,

14, 15, and 16 of Luke 22. Let me set it in its context. Let me set it up so you can

see what, when we read it, we'll understand it.

Hours before the cross, just mere hours, Jesus was prepared to eat his last Passover with the

disciples. And you know the context, you know the story. He told them to go to a certain

place and prepare for the Passover. But then he said something of uttermost importance. He said

something that is of vital importance, and yet so many people, when they read the scripture,

they skim over it and they miss it. But it's a great source of

blessing. I know it's a great blessing to me. At that meal, our Lord Jesus Christ revealed the eternal

plan of how the cross is going to be the final, the complete, and the finish work of God's plan of salvation

that began in the Garden of Eden. So I'm going to read it here for you, that you follow with me.

When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table, and he said to them, I have eagerly

desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. Here comes, here comes, for I tell you,

I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.

Now, question, what is Jesus doing here? What is he doing?

He wanted his disciples and us, don't miss this, he wanted his disciples and us to know the deep meaning of the cross.

Before the crucifixion takes place, he wanted to understand that beforehand.

He wanted his disciples and us to know the deep roots

of the cross before he hangs on it as an instrument of torture. He wanted his disciples and

us to comprehend the historic roots of the cross. It wasn't just an arbitrary thing.

It was a Persian instrument of torture and was kind of improved by the Romans and perfected

by the Romans. No, no, the cross was in God's mind before all creation.

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