The context in which Jesus inaugurated the meal was Passover. There is little doubt that he intended his disciples to understand that he was the sacrificial lamb whose blood would cover them from God’s wrath and deliver them from bondage. There is no explicit statement of penal substitution in Israel’s exodus from Egypt, but that does not mean that the idea is not present. The wrath of God was displayed against the Egyptians, but in the case of Israel, the lambs were offered so Israel would be spared (Exod. 11–12).
