Afterwords -- the covenant meal
"And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, 'Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.' Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank." (Exodus 24:8-11)
"And [Jesus] said to them, 'I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.'" (Luke 22:15)
February 18, 2023
Dear friends,
A very great blessing for me in my spiritual upbringing, since my conversion in 1971, has been to attend churches which practiced the weekly observance of the Lord's Table (1 Cor 10:21; also called the Lord's supper, or Communion). In the Plymouth Brethren tradition this usually takes place in a group setting which allows for spontaneous singing, sharing, prayer, Scripture reading, and periods of silence among those gathered. I've been thinking about how important that time has been to me through the years. Here are some thoughts on...
WHY THE LORD'S SUPPER IS IMPORTANT.
1) First and foremost, this observance should be important to us because it is important to our Lord. He began the meal as a Passover observance, and then changed it into a new ordinance, which we call the Lord's supper. He strongly desired the disciples' participation, saying, "I have earnestly desired [ἐπιθυμίᾳ ἐπεθύμησα] to eat this Passover with you." (Luke 22:15) He repeats the same two words, literally, "I desire with eager desire." It was a Hebrew way of emphasis, and it showed his fervent, eager desire to share that meal with his disciples. We also see how important the Supper is to our Lord by the way he views its misuse (1 Cor 11:17-34).
2) The Lord's supper is a covenant meal, and sharing in his table is a very great privilege. Throughout history God makes covenants -- vows, and binding commitments -- to his people. Often this involved a meal. The elders of Israel, once they were sanctified by the blood of the sacrifice, could eat and drink in God's presence without experiencing the terror of judgment (Exodus 24:8-11). In this sense, the Lord's supper is a sign of the covenant (cf. Gen 9:12-15), that God has graciously given us as reminder of his work to bring us to himself through the body and blood of his Son. Instead of wrath and judgment for our sins, we sit at his table as beloved children of God.
3) It brings to our memory in a tangible way the reality of what the Lord Jesus has done for us. "Do this in remembrance of me." It's simple and physical. In the communion service at our church we rarely use any instrument for music. We pray, sing hymns, and meditate on Scripture. Silence too is welcomed as an oasis whereby we may think deeply on what Christ has done. It's not that we as God's people actually forget, it's that we forget how real and true all this is. We need to remember history... his history and our history. “Not to know what happened before one was born is always to be a child." (Cicero)
4) Gathering around the Lord's table represents our fellowship with Christ. It is a communion (sharing in; partaking) with Christ, coming at his invitation, sitting at his table, with him forever in friendship and devotion. It is his table (1 Cor 10:21). It is his circle of friends. Like family gathered at Thanksgiving, or friends at a birthday celebration, this gathering shows that we are in fellowship with the host of the meal, the Master of the banquet. We are his, and he is ours.
5) Partaking of the bread and wine symbolizes our reception of, and our continuing trust upon, what he has accomplished in his death for us. It is to touch, taste, eat, and internalize what he has done. In faith we freely and joyfully take what he has offered. In eating and drinking we are declaring our continued dependence upon him for life, now and forever. This meal points also ahead to the great wedding feast when the Lord returns (1 Cor 11:26; Rev 19:6-9). This means our "remembering" involves the future, too.
6) It affirms the unity of the body of Christ, that each of us is part of, and member of his family, and that we are in harmony with the local church. "It surely binds heart to heart when we learn that others hold the same faith as ourselves, that we belong to One church, and that together we break One bread and drink One cup." (Abraham Kuyper) This is to remember our identity, and also a time for us to search our hearts and confess sins, so that we may not bring division to the body of Christ (1 Cor 11:28).
7) Finally, the observance of the Lord's supper is a commandment we are to observe, being Christ's disciples. In the great commission he instructed us to teach his followers "to observe all that I have commanded you..." (Matt 28:20). That includes the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper. He said very plainly, "Do this in remembrance of me." Do this! (He did not say, "Intend to do this when you get around to it...") We should note that one of the biggest changes to take place in the earliest days of the church, was that the Jewish followers of Christ, along with Gentile believers, began to meet for worship on Sunday (the day Jesus arose), rather than on Saturday (the Jewish Sabbath), and thus, each week to partake of the Lord's supper: "On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread..." (Acts 20:7). And "...they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." (Acts 2:42)
May we join them, and be able to sing with all the saints...
"Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face; here would I touch and handle things unseen, Here grasp with firmer hand the eternal grace, and all my weariness upon thee lean.
"Here would I feed upon the bread of God, here drink with thee the royal wine of heaven; Here would I lay aside each earthly load, here taste afresh the calm of sin forgiven."
--Horatius Bonar, "Here, O my Lord, I See Thee Face to Face."
That's it for this week!
Sandy
Image above is a photo by Morgan Winston on Unsplash. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.