What is the significance of matthew 26:29?

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.

In instituting the New Testament ordinance of the Lord's Supper, Jesus made a proclamation that, sadly, has not only been difficult to understand with casual perusal, but even subject to erroneous teaching. This exclamation is recorded in all three synoptic Gospel accounts; thus, attaching the importance of divine inspiration to this utterance.

In Matthew 26:29, Christ said, "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." This is also recorded in Mark 14:25 and Luke 22:18.

To be "rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15), we must allow "the Spirit of truth" to "guide" us (John 16:13). We must lay "precept upon precept; line upon line" and go "here a little, and there a little" (Isaiah 28:13). If we allow the Spirit to "mate" up the Scriptures, for "his spirit it hath gathered them" (Isaiah 34:16), then every obscure or unclear passage of Scripture text can be clarified by other portions of God's Word.

This expression must first be viewed in the greater context. In each instance, the expression concerning the "fruit of the vine" (Matthew 26:29; Mark 14:25; Luke 22:18) is related to "this is my blood of the new testament" (Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20). The statement concerning "this is my blood" was not intended to be taken literally for as Jesus spoke these words, His blood had not yet been shed. It was still coursing through His veins. He was referring to what it represents. Thus, we must consider what the "blood" (or the "fruit of the vine") represents.

Jesus instructed His disciples, "Drink ye all of it" (Matthew 26:27), and He declared, "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life" (John 6:54). This "blood" represents that which has a "life"-giving quality. What did the Old Testament Scriptures say concerning the "blood"? Deuteronomy 12:23 says, "For the blood is the life." In this New Testament dispensation, Romans 8:10 tells us, "The Spirit is life," and 1 Corinthians 12:13 reveals we "drink into one Spirit."

In the verses under consideration, Jesus spoke of the "fruit of the vine" as "when I drink it new." He was speaking of a new wine that would be available "in the kingdom of God" (Mark 14:25). Joel 3:18 prophesied of "in that day," speaking prophetically of this Gospel Day, "the mountains shall drop down new wine and the hills shall flow with milk." These are prophetic expressions revealing the benefits of the New Testament dispensation. The "milk" alluded to is "the sincere milk of the word" (1 Peter 2:2). The "new wine" is what the disciples were accused of drinking on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:13). 

The Apostle Peter explained this was the fulfillment of the prophecy of when God said, "I will pour out my spirit" (Joel 2:28-29). So the "new wine" represents the Spirit. When "the kingdom of God" came "with power" (Mark 9:1), the Spirit was poured out. God's people drank Him in (1 Corinthians 12:13), and "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:4).

Jesus said He would drink this "fruit of the vine ... with you" (Matthew 26:29). When Saul of Tarsus "persecuted the church of God, and wasted it" (Galatians 1:13), Jesus confronted Saul on the Damascus Road and said, "Why persecutest thou me?" (Acts 9:4). In Matthew 25:40, Jesus taught, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." First Corinthians 12:12 says, "The body [or 'the body, the church'; Colossians 1:18] is one." Though it is comprised of "many," it is "one body: so also is Christ." Understanding the spiritual principle that Christ and His body are "one," when they drank this "new wine," He, in essence, drank it with them!

The reality of our text is a spiritual reality. Christ's drinking of the new wine (representing what His blood produced) speaks of the church His blood purchased and the Spirit that instituted that church on the Day of Pentecost.

Earl R. Borders

From the  March 2024 issue of The Gospel Trumpeter