Jesus DIDN'T Drink One of the Passover Cups at the Last Supper
Did you know the Last Supper was a Passover Seder with four cups of wine, and Jesus deliberately DIDN'T drink the fourth cup at the table? He deferred it. Then He drank it from the cross. That is what "It is finished" means.
The Four Cups of the Passover Seder:
The Passover Seder is structured around four cups of wine, each named for one of the "I will" promises God speaks in Exodus 6:6-7:
Cup 1 — Sanctification: "I will bring you out."
Cup 2 — Judgment / Deliverance: "I will deliver you out of their bondage."
Cup 3 — Redemption: "I will redeem you with an outstretched arm."
Cup 4 — Praise / Consummation: "I will take you to me for a people."
Every Jewish celebrant drinks all four cups. The fourth is the consummation — it seals the covenant relationship between God and His people.
The Last Supper — Jesus Takes the Third Cup:
Luke 22:20 and 1 Corinthians 11:25 both specify that Jesus took a cup "after supper." In Seder chronology, the cup taken after the meal is the third cup — the Cup of Redemption. This is the cup over which Jesus says the words of institution: "This cup is the new covenant in my blood."
Then Jesus Deliberately Stops — Matthew 26:29:
"I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."
Mark 14:25 and Luke 22:18 record the same statement. Jesus is announcing that He will NOT drink the fourth cup at this table. The consummation cup — the cup of "I will take you to Me as My people" — is deferred.
Any first-century Jewish disciple sharing this Seder would have registered the anomaly immediately. The Seder is incomplete. Something is missing. Something is being reserved.
The Cross — John 19:28-30:
"After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), 'I thirst.' A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, 'It is finished,' and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."
Notice the sequence. Jesus knows "all was now finished" — but ONE thing remains. He speaks the words of Psalm 69:21 to fulfill the Scripture. A sponge of sour wine is lifted. Jesus DRINKS.
Then and only then does He say: "It is finished."
Tetelestai — Completed, Accomplished, Paid in Full:
The Greek word is tetelestai (τετέλεσται). It is the perfect passive of teleō, meaning "to complete, to accomplish, to fulfill." Perfect tense in Greek denotes a completed action whose effect continues into the present. In commercial usage, tetelestai was written on receipts and legal documents to indicate "paid in full."
Jesus does not merely say His suffering is done. He announces the completion of a much larger reality.
The Fourth Cup Drunk from the Cross:
Every element that had been deferred at the table is now completed at Calvary:
— The Passover Seder He led is completed (the fourth cup is drunk).
— The sacrifice the Seder points to is accomplished (the Lamb of God is slain).
— The covenant promised in Exodus 6:7 is consummated ("I will take you to Me for a people").
— The redemptive-historical trajectory from Exodus to the cross reaches its telos.
Tetelestai. All of it. Done.
The Reformed Reading — Christ Our Passover, Communion as Real Participation:
1 Corinthians 5:7 — "Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." Jesus doesn't merely observe the Passover; He IS the Passover.
Westminster Confession 29: the Reformed tradition confesses a real spiritual presence of Christ in Communion. Not a bare memorial. Communion is participation in the covenant Jesus completed at Calvary.
Sinclair Ferguson, R.C. Sproul, and Alistair Begg have all preached versions of this Fourth Cup reading. It is a Reformed staple.
The Pastoral Implication:
Every time you take Communion, you are participating in the covenant Jesus finished on the cross. The wine is a covenantal seal of the fourth cup Jesus drank at Calvary — "I will take you to Me as My people."
The covenant closes at Calvary. Communion continues it.
📖 Passages: Exodus 6:6-7, 12:1-51, Psalm 69:21, Isaiah 53:7-12, Matthew 26:17-30, Mark 14:12-26, Luke 22:7-23, John 19:28-30, 1 Corinthians 5:7, 10:16-17, 11:23-26, Hebrews 9:11-15, 10:14, 1 Peter 1:18-19, Revelation 5:6-14, 19:6-9