I Corinthians 11.23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
We are not talking about this per se
Transubstantiation
Consubstantiation
Symbols
I have taken the LORD’s Supper in all kind of churches and with all kinds of languages. I recognize it as symbolic of the Body and Blood of our LORD Jesus Christ. It is a sign that we are one Body at one table with the LORD.
We all have sets of standards for taking the LORD’s Supper.
First it is for believers
Second it is for sinners... a place of examining ourselves and confession
Our Asian brothers and sisters require that you be baptized first, Spanish follow this to a degree.
Witnessed this, very sweet
Some churches require you to be a member of that church, although many have moved to “open communion”.
Not really discussing that today.
There are scriptural truths right here. Truths about the LORD’s Supper.
Let’s look at them.
It is to be done with
1. Thanksgiving
eucharisteō Thanksgiving
I Corinthians 11.23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
Our Thanksgiving Day
tied in to our faith
He gave thanks for the bread. Of course He is the Bread of Heaven, the Bread of Life.
God will provide Himself Genesis 22.12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
What was Jesus giving Thanks for in that prayer?
We know He gave thanks for food before.
John 6.10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks,and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
Paul writes to the Church at Ephesus, in Ephesians 5.25, “Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.”
Jesus willingly, lovingly laid down His life for the Church. It could be that in that prayer at the Last Supper He was thanking God the Father that He had provided Himself a sacrifice.
The Passover was a bloody feast. Estimates by Josephus are that in the first century Jerusalem it would take 250,000 lambs to be slaughtered for the pilgrims that would come to celebrate the feast. The Creator could have very well been giving thanks for the fact that in His own words in about 18 hours, “It is finished.”
Back to the words spoken to Abraham on that same spot where Jesus died, the spot where he was willing to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, to the LORD.
14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
Luke calls Adam, “the son of God” Luke 3.38
Genesis 2. 7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,and the man became a living being.
Paul calls Jesus the second Adam Jesus is everything Adam was supposed to be. Adam did not have a mother. Jesus was born of a virgin without a human father.
So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being" the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven (1 Corinthians 15:45-48).
Abraham had Ishmael, the son of the flesh, Isaac, the son of the Spirit, supernaturally born.
Abraham could relate completely to God, your son, your only son
God had Adam, a son He created. Jesus was His only Son. He was one with Him. The LORD is one. He was not created. He has been with God, He is God. He became flesh to become a sacrifice for the sins of the world. To those who believe and follow Him they are the church. He loved the church and gave Himself up for the her.
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only, only begotten Son...
This is a meal of Thanksgiving to Almighty God for His Indescribable Gift.
Jesus Christ, the One and Only, the Holy One of God and the salvation He provided.
It is a very simple meal. Bread and Wine
The LORD’s Supper is also a time of
2. Remembrance
A reminder, an admonition
Think about it thoroughly.
It is a Memorial Feast.
Jesus instructed us to consider deeply His sacrifice on the cross for our sins.
I believe that is why He made it so it would be something we would touch with our Hands and take into our bodies.
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. I John 1.1
John 6.53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
His body broken
His blood shed
When we take the LORD’s Supper we focusing totally on His Body broken for us and His blood shed for us. We ought to be thinking about the scourging and and the crown of thrones and the cross as we take.
The cross shows us the horror of sin, our sin, the sin of the whole world.
Jesus spoke about His Father’s Coming Kingdom
3. His Second Coming
Proclaiming His Death
26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
We hold in our Hands the symbols of His suffering.
Until
This is for this present time.
He comes
Revelation 19 speaks of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
Marriage between the Bride and the Bridegroom.
The church and Christ.
It seems that this will be some transformation of taking the LORD’s Supper as we know it.
Face to face.
I Corinthians 13. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
He will come again.
We do it with Thanksgiving, remembering His Death and looking forward to His coming again.
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