The Prophet-Like-Moses & The Last Supper

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By Dr. Jim Sibley
CMJ USA

The Last Supper is recounted in all four Gospels ( Matt 26:17–30; Mark 14:12–25; Luke 22:7–23; and John 13 ) and is presented as a Passover seder, the ceremonial meal that recounts the events of the Exodus . In fact, although Passover had been celebrated for centuries, the Last Supper was one of only two unique Passover meals. The first was in Egypt, where the blood of lambs was smeared on the doorposts and lintels of Israelite homes. Never again would this be repeated . The Last Supper was the Passover to which the original had pointed. Jesus, the Prophet-like-Moses, was to offer his blood to provide ultimate redemption and deliverance. Never again would this be necessary. When the sacrificial system was established in the wilderness, it provided temporary atonement for sin through the sacrifice of a bull or a female goat (Lev 4–7:10, 17:11), but that original Passover foreshadowed the shedding of blood that would provide ultimate atonement .   

Using words and imagery reminiscent of the Exodus, the overall message of this section is that God would need to raise up the promised Prophet-like-Moses to lead a new Exodus out of sin and iniquity. This New Moses is the Servant of the Lord. The climax is reached in Isaiah 52:13–53:12. Isaiah 53:6 in dicates that al though we have all gone astray like sheep, “the Lord has laid on him [i.e., the Servant ] the iniquity of us all” (53:6). He would be “like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers” (v. 7). The Passover lamb was intended to point forward to the Servant of the Lord , the Prophet-like-Moses .   

Moses commanded the slaying of a lamb; Jesus offered himself as the Lamb. At the beginning of his earthly ministry, he had been introduced as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He ended His mortal life as the Passover Lamb, providing ultimate atonement for sin. With his atoning death, he fulfilled the Passover, and with his resurrection, he fulfilled the Feast of First Fruits .