Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand points to the superabundance of the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist. In the Old Covenant bread and wine were offered as a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Creator who made the earth fruitful to nourish and strengthen all his creatures. Melchizedek is an important Old Testament figure because he was both a priest and a king who offered a sacrifice of bread and wine to God on behalf of Abraham and his future offspring (Genesis 14:18; Hebrews 7:1-4). His offering prefigured the offering made by Jesus, our great high priest and king who gave a new and distinctive meaning to the blessing of the bread and the cup of wine when he instituted the “Lord’s Supper” or “Eucharist” on the eve of his sacrifice on the cross (Hebrews 7:26; 9:11; 10:12). On the eve of  the exodus of the Jewish people from bondage in Egypt, God commanded his people to celebrate the Passover meal, with the blessing of unleavened bread and wine, and the sacrificial offering of an unblemished lamb (Exodus 12:5-8). The blood of the lamb was sprinkled on the doorposts as a sign of God’s protection from the avenging angel of death who passed over the homes sealed with the blood of the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:7,13). Every year in commemoration of the Exodus deliverance the Jewish people celebrate a Passover meal with unleavened bread as a pledge of God’s faithfulness to his promises (Exodus 12:14; see Paul’s description of the Christian Passover in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8). The “cup of blessing” at the end of the Jewish Passover meal points to the messianic expectation when the future Redeemer, the Messiah King will come to rebuild his holy city Jerusalem.