When Jesus initiated the Memorial Supper of His death, it was to commemorate His sacrifice to redeem mankind. The cup was filled with wine and the wine represented the sacrifice of His life blood.
However, after the Memorial was established, Jesus said He would drink wine new in the kingdom. What was our Lord teaching? Jesus was resurrected as a divine, spirit being. He certainly did not need to eat, drink, or sleep in heaven.
First, our Lord was not referring to literal wine, but to something new pictured by the wine. In the Kingdom, it will be a cup of joy and celebration. Just as wine is used during earthly celebrations, this wine would symbolize a time of rejoicing. In Mark 14:25, Jesus was talking to His apostles about their future rejoicing together in heaven.
The wine will be a remembrance of the heroism of their faith under the most crucial tests and a rejoicing together in the victory of that faith. Additionally, Jesus and His church together may celebrate the joys, rights, and privileges of the divine nature. (2 Peter 1:4)
May we strive to be faithful so that we may be part of Jesus’s Bride and may drink the wine anew at the heavenly marriage feast. “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready…” Revelation 19:7 (ESV)
