No — the disciples did not understand the significance of the Last Supper when Jesus gave them the bread and the cup.
Jesus plainly spoke of His coming death and resurrection, but Luke 18:34 says 'they understood none of these things.' Les Feldick teaches that God hid the meaning from them, and so the bread and cup — which speak of Christ's death — could not yet be fully understood by the Twelve.
Luke 18:34 — This verse states directly that the disciples understood none of Jesus's predictions about His death and resurrection, revealing why they could not yet grasp the significance of the Last Supper.
Matthew 26:26-28 — These verses record Jesus's words over the bread and cup at the Last Supper — the very actions whose significance the disciples did not yet comprehend.
In Luke 18, Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them that He would be delivered to the Gentiles, mocked, scourged, and killed, and that on the third day He would rise again. The very next verse says: 'And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken' (Luke 18:34). At the Last Supper, Matthew records that Jesus took bread, blessed it, brake it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, 'Take, eat; this is my body.' He then took the cup and said, 'For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins' (Matthew 26:26-28). The biblical account records the actions and the words, but does not show the disciples expressing any understanding of what these elements signified.
Les Feldick emphasizes that the disciples did not comprehend Jesus's clear statements about His death and resurrection. He points to Luke 18:31-34, where Jesus spoke plainly about His coming suffering, and the Twelve 'understood none of these things.' Les explains that this was not because Jesus spoke a foreign language or had failed to teach them; rather, the meaning was 'hid from them' — God Himself kept the understanding from them. Had they understood that Jesus would rise, Les argues, they would have been at the tomb Sunday morning, but they were not. Les also clarifies that the Last Supper was not the Passover meal. The Passover lamb would not be killed until the next afternoon, so Jesus could not have eaten it that night. The meal was simply the last supper He shared with His disciples. Regarding the bread and cup, Les notes that while bread was used in tabernacle worship and wine in drink offerings, the two were never combined across the Old Testament economy. For believers in the age of grace, however, bread and wine speak of the Lord's Supper — the communion table. Since the crucifixion and resurrection were hidden from the disciples, the full significance of that bread and cup was not yet opened to them. The opening came only later — for the Emmaus disciples, when Jesus took bread, blessed it, and their eyes were opened.
Les Feldick points to Luke 18:34: 'And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them.' He asks why they did not understand when Jesus had spoken plainly for three years. The answer, he says, is in the verse itself — the saying was hidden from them. Les states that God did not let them understand that Jesus was about to be crucified, and after He died they had no idea He would rise again.
No, according to Les. The Passover lamb would not have been killed until the next afternoon and then eaten later in the afternoon, so there was no way Jesus could have eaten of the Passover lamb at the Last Supper. It was simply the last supper He enjoyed with His disciples before the lambs were killed.
Les explains that bread was certainly used in tabernacle worship — the table of showbread — and the wave offering was a sheaf of grain. Wine was used for drink offerings. But bread and wine were never associated in combination throughout the Old Testament economy. For those in the age of grace, they speak of the Lord's Supper, the communion table.
Les shows that understanding came after the resurrection. On the road to Emmaus, the two disciples did not recognize Jesus, but when He sat at meat and took bread and blessed it, and gave it to them, their eyes were opened and they knew Him. This breaking of bread opened their minds in a way that the Last Supper had not.
Bread and Wine in Old Testament Worship
Les teaches that bread and wine, though used separately in the Old Testament, were never combined in worship; only in the age of grace do they point to the Lord's Supper.
The Last Supper Was Not the Passover Meal
Les clarifies that the Passover lamb was killed the next afternoon, so the meal Jesus shared with His disciples was a last supper, not a Passover meal.
Jesus Gives the Bread and Cup
Les recounts the words of institution: Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and said 'Take, eat; this is my body,' and He gave the cup as His blood of the new testament.
Disciples Comprehended None of the Predictions
Les stresses that even after three years of ministry, the disciples had no idea Jesus would die or rise, which shows how little they understood His mission.
God Hid the Meaning from Them
Les says the Lord's predictions were 'hid from them'; God did not open their eyes, so none of the eleven expected the resurrection.
Luke 18:31-34: They Understood None of These Things
Les reads the key verse that the disciples 'understood none of these things' and that the saying was 'hid from them.'
God Kept It from the Eleven
Les states plainly that God hid the crucifixion and resurrection from the disciples, which is why they returned to Galilee in defeat.
Eyes Opened at the Breaking of Bread
Les shows that understanding came later, when Jesus took bread and blessed it and the Emmaus disciples' eyes were opened.
Luke 18:34: And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.
This is the key verse showing the disciples did not understand Jesus's predictions of His death and resurrection.
Matthew 26:26: And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
Jesus's command at the Last Supper is the act whose true significance was hidden from the disciples at the time.
Matthew 26:27-28: And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
The cup was part of the same memorial whose meaning would not be grasped until after Christ's death and resurrection.
Luke 24:30-31: And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
This later event shows understanding coming only when Jesus broke bread after His resurrection, not at the Last Supper.
No, Les Feldick explains that the Passover lamb would not have been killed until the next afternoon, so Jesus could not have eaten of the Passover lamb at the Last Supper. It was a last supper, not the Passover meal.
Les teaches that Jesus's death and resurrection were hidden from the disciples. Although Jesus spoke plainly, Luke 18:34 says they 'understood none of these things,' so the very event the bread and cup pointed to was not yet understood by them.
It began after the resurrection. On the road to Emmaus, when Jesus took bread, blessed it, and brake it, their eyes were opened and they recognized Him (Luke 24:30-31).
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