saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.”
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 20. This is the blood of the testament, which God hath enjoined unto you; (Exod. 24) that is, this is to confirm that testament. Christ made use of the like words, when he bequeathed us the divine legacy of his Body and Blood, at his last supper, saying: (Matthew 26:28) This is my blood of the new testament. And as the words of Exodus were understood of the true blood of the victims offered, so the words of Christ signify the true blood of Christ, there really present in the sacrament, in a spiritual manner, and to be shed in a bloody manner upon the cross. Witham.—The correspondence of words, in dedicating both testaments, proveth the real presence of blood in the cup or chalice.