Matthew 26:29

But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom.

The sacrament of the Old Covenant had just been celebrated by Christ, for He did not come to change the essence of the old faith, which is the same for all times, but to bring the fulfillment of type and prophecy. But as the sacraments of the time before Christ themselves were only typical, it was necessary that they themselves be replaced by those of the New Testament, to point back to, and be based upon, Christ. While they were eating, probably immediately after Jesus had distributed the bread of affliction, He took bread, solemnly returned thanks over it, thus blessing it. The ancient Jewish prayer over the bread was: "Blessed be Thou, our God, King of the universe, who bringest forth bread out of the earth!" Then, after breaking it, He gave it to His disciples and said: "Take, eat; this is My body. " The words of command are plain. From His hand they should take and then eat what He gave them. But it was not mere bread which He gave them; for in referring to the pieces which He distributed, He uses the neuter demonstrative, while bread in the Greek is masculine. Here is a clear reference to the sacramental presence of the body of Christ in, with, and under the bread. This is brought out still more strongly in the parallel passages, especially 1 Corinthians 11:24. In the same way, after the supper proper was ended, when the cup of thanksgiving was about to be passed. He took the cup, returned thanks, thus blessing it and its contents, and gave it to them, letting it go around in the circle with the express command that they all should drink of it. For the wine which the cup contained was His blood of the New Covenant, of the new time of grace and peace with God through the efficacy of this blood, for it is shed for the forgiveness of sins unto all, and actually is given to many that receive it by faith. As for the contents of the cup, all attempts to interpret the expression "fruit of the vine" as though any product of the grapevine might be used, fresh grape-juice, unfermented grape-juice, grape-brandy, and other modern products, they cannot stand without a denial of the text. For if rules of exegesis apply at all, there cannot be the slightest doubt that the expression as it was used by Christ on the evening of the institution referred to the intoxicating wine of the Passover; for the expression "fruit of the vine" was the technical term of the Jews for the wine of the Passover.

"We Christians confess and believe that the Sacrament of the Altar is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine, for us Christians to eat and to drink, instituted by Christ Himself. All explanations of the sects, Reformed as well as Papist, as though the bread merely represents the body, and the wine the blood of Christ, or that bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ, come to naught in view of the clear text of Scriptures. Reason, indeed, must yield here; it cannot understand how Jesus at that time, while standing in visible form before His disciples, could give them His body, His blood to eat and to drink, nor how the exalted Christ, though in heaven, yet is present everywhere on earth with His body and blood, wherever this meal is celebrated according to His institution. But the word of Christ is clear and true, and we also know from Scriptures that the body of Christ, the vessel of His deity, had a higher, suprasensual form of being, even in the days of His humility, in addition to His limited form of existence, John 3:13, also that the exalted Christ now is not locked up in heaven, but as God and man fills all things also according to His body, Ephesians 1:23. Thus we take our reason captive under the obedience of Scripture and do not brood over it, but rather thank God for the great blessing of this His Sacrament. From it we gain ever anew the certainty of the forgiveness of our sins. In guaranteeing to us the grace of God, the Sacrament serves for the strengthening of our faith. As the first paschal meal strengthened the Israelites for the journey which lay before them, through the desert to Canaan, so the Lord's Supper is for the children of the New Covenant food upon the way, for the time of their earthly journey. And it incidentally points forward, just like the Passover meal, to the end of the journey, to the meal of eternity, when the Lord will drink it with us in His Father's kingdom."