The Cup of Blessing: Receiving God's Gift with Thanks!

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expected. Along with the word, which must accompany the observance of the sacrament in order to explain its meaning, the Lord’s Supper serves to strengthen believers and confirm their assurance of a share in the Covenant of Grace.

Cup that means participation - praying for that, in new way each time - tied to sacrafice on the Cross which it comemorates… Lord’s Supper as a transformation and fulfillment of the Passover celebration - in good sense OVERFLOWING! picture it crushed grapes, forced out to overflow for the life of the WORLD -
Tyndale Bible Dictionary Cup of Blessing

cup of blessing is the third of four cups required in the ceremony of the Paschal meal. It derives its name from the prayer offered over the cup: “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, who givest us the fruit of the vine.”

Strengthening: expected. Along with the word, which must accompany the observance of the sacrament in order to explain its meaning, the Lord’s Supper serves to strengthen believers and confirm their assurance of a share in the Covenant of Grace.
TO BLESS = almost carries the meaning to be thankful, but more to the communion prayer than gratitude = worshippers are to ask God to bless thewine so that it might fulfil its puropse ()

. I will pour out the cup of thanksgiving to Jehovah, because of aid vouchsafed. In the prophets, Jehovah is sometimes represented as making the nations drink a cup of intoxicating wine (כּוֹס הַתַּרְעֵלָה), so that they rush reeling into destruction. Isa. 51:17, 22; Jer. 25:15; 49:12; 51:7; Lam. 4:21; Hab. 2:16; Eze. 23:31, 32, 33; compare Apoc. 17:4; and as to the same image as used by the Arabic poets, see my Comment. on Isaiah 51:17.—Elsewhere cup is used metaphorically of lot, the image of a cup however being retained, Psalm 11:6; 16:5; compare Matt. 26:39; 20:22; and see my observations out of Arabic writers, on Isaiah 51:17

Luke 9:16 ESV
And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
which is to convey encouragement through symbolism (11:24-25)
PRATT: In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another— if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come.
Spiritual reality is what participation is, and what is about…
Passover meal isn’t the sacrfcice, but Christ = Robert Reymond is correct to draw attention to the fact that ‘our Lord used elements already normally employed in the Passover celebration’. Indeed, as Roger Beckwith observes, ‘The only new thing which Christ instituted was his interpretation of the elements, i.e. his words of institution; for the thanksgivings, breaking of the bread and distributing of the elements took place at any formal meal, as the rabbinical literature shows.’71
The Passover commemorated the deliverance of the covenant people from God’s judgment on Egypt through the shedding of the blood of the lamb. Thus when Paul states in ‘Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed’, he indicates that it is Christ in His sacrificial, atoning work who ultimately fulfils the Passover symbolism. The Passover directed the attention of God’s people to the Lamb of God who truly takes away sin. Richard Vines, a member of the Westminster Assembly, sums up, after comparing the Passover and Christ’s atonement,
And so much for the Passover as referring to Christ our Sacrifice, for that it does so is plain by this: that which is said of the Paschal lamb in is expressly applied to and fulfilled in Christ in [‘Not one of his bones will be broken.’]. So much for the Passover as a sacrifice, or as the figure of our sacrifice and theirs, Christ Jesus.
Covenant theologians, in opposition to Rome, assert that the sacrament itself cannot be a sacrifice.
THE CUP: . I will pour out the cup of thanksgiving to Jehovah, because of aid vouchsafed. In the prophets, Jehovah is sometimes represented as making the nations drink a cup of intoxicating wine (כּוֹס הַתַּרְעֵלָה), so that they rush reeling into destruction. , ; ; ; ; ; ; , , ; compare ; and as to the same image as used by the Arabic poets, see my Comment. on .—Elsewhere cup is used metaphorically of lot, the image of a cup however being retained, ; ; compare ; ; and see my observations out of Arabic writers, on 15. Wherefore glorify Jehovah in the valleys. God’s benefits ought to excite us to gratitude, and we testify it by singing his praises. “What return shall we make,” as David says, “for all the benefits which he has bestowed on us, but to take the cup of thanksgiving for salvation, and call on the name of the Lord?” The Prophet therefore observes this order; having spoken of the restoration of the Church, he exhorts us to offer the sacrifice of praise.
SYMBOL: - a wine-cup (, ), various forms of which are found on Assyrian and Egyptian monuments. All Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold (). The cups mentioned in the New Testament were made after Roman and Greek models, and were sometimes of gold ().
CUP—a wine-cup (, ), various forms of which are found on Assyrian and Egyptian monuments. All Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold (). The cups mentioned in the New Testament were made after Roman and Greek models, and were sometimes of gold ().
The art of divining by means of a cup was practiced in Egypt (), and in the East generally. ; The “cup of salvation” () is the cup of thanksgiving for the great salvation. The “cup of consolation” () refers to the custom of friends sending viands and wine to console relatives in mourning (). In , the “cup of blessing” is contrasted with the “cup of devils” (). The sacramental cup is the “cup of blessing,” because of blessing pronounced over it (; ). The “portion of the cup” (; ) denotes one’s condition of life, prosperous or adverse. A “cup” is also a type of sensual allurement (; ; ). We read also of the “cup of astonishment,” the “cup of trembling,” and the “cup of God’s wrath” (; ; ; ; ; ; comp. , ; ). The cup is also the symbol of death (; ; ).
The “cup of salvation” () is the cup of thanksgiving for the great salvation. The “cup of consolation” () refers to the custom of friends sending viands and wine to console relatives in mourning (). In , the “cup of blessing” is contrasted with the “cup of devils” (). The sacramental cup is the “cup of blessing,” because of blessing pronounced over it (; ). The “portion of the cup” (; ) denotes one’s condition of life, prosperous or adverse. A “cup” is also a type of sensual allurement (; ; ). We read also of the “cup of astonishment,” the “cup of trembling,” and the “cup of God’s wrath” (; ; ; ; ; ; comp. , ; ). The cup is also the symbol of death (; ; ).
Death is the Passover not the Lord’s Supper: Another form of Passover interpretation is found in 1 Corinthians, where Paul says: “Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” ( NIV). Here, Paul uses the word “unleavened bread” (and not the common term “bread”) and calls Jesus “our Passover lamb.” It is the death of Christ, rather than the Last Supper, that is interpreted together with Passover. Later on, when Paul talks about the eucharistic meal as “fellowship in the blood of Christ,” he refers to the cup as “the cup of thanksgiving”—a term also used for one of the cups of the Passover meal ()
HODGE: 4. By what other terms was it designated in the early church ? 1st. “Eucharist,” from ευχαριστεω, to give thanks. See . This beautifully designates it as a thanksgiving service. It is both the cup of thanksgiving, whereby we celebrate the grace of God and pledge our gratitude to him, and the cup of blessing, or the consecrated cup.
4. By what other terms was it designated in the early church ?
1st. “Eucharist,” from ευχαριστεω, to give thanks. See . This beautifully designates it as a thanksgiving service. It is both the cup of thanksgiving, whereby we celebrate the grace of God and pledge our gratitude to him, and the cup of blessing, or the consecrated cup.

15. Wherefore glorify Jehovah in the valleys. God’s benefits ought to excite us to gratitude, and we testify it by singing his praises. “What return shall we make,” as David says, “for all the benefits which he has bestowed on us, but to take the cup of thanksgiving for salvation, and call on the name of the Lord?” The Prophet therefore observes this order; having spoken of the restoration of the Church, he exhorts us to offer the sacrifice of praise.

Come to receive = not always heightened rapturous, sometimes distrccted, so much, queit waiting before, during… although some say epitome of whoel gospel, - focuson cetnral truths… preented.. Remember , proclaim, assurance -
= not self-atonement ; Christ atonement!; ie Pharisees thought - hatred not like murder, little sins as long as gave to the church sho9wed up for worship put their money in the offering… Jesus says no - What you think, what’s in your heart only diffresin degree, no in kind frorm what you actually do… your thought llife, google history… tells a story about your real relationships with the LORD and other..
Don’t come = thinking goods deeds cancel out bad deeds , as if your repentance, could atone for your won sin. Self-atonement is an utter imopssiblity and is the most potent lie in Satan’s repertoire
= not self-atonement ; Christ atonement!
RECEIVE vs.tomorrow our giving of thaniks, receiving with thanks!
In Supper, new causes for gratitude: come from this table, strengthened and encouraged, - Why cardinal truths of Christianity set before your mind, incorporated into your faith; view of the infite freedom of salvation made more clear, evidences of your acceptance by God brighter; Your will - more disposed than ever before, to yeild youselfas a sacrfice, soul, body and spirit = your reasonable service
= NOW IS THE TIME TO BLESS HIM FOR THIS GRACE, and beg continuance of it; Now time to set a watch, against relapses and carry out the vows renew at the Lord’s Table, - lively expectation of coming again!
All forms of Prayer - c. All forms of prayer which begin with praise of God (בָּרוּךְ == εὐλογητός) are called בְּרָכָה.
These are dealt with in the Mishnah, Tosefta and Talmud tractates Berakoth. Thus the Schemone Esre, the chief prayer of Judaism, which every member of the people must recite three times a day, consists of 18 or 19 benedictions. Each of these contains the formula “Blessed be Thou, O Lord” with a different reason.
d. The Jew makes abundant use of ascriptions of praise (Berachot) in other contexts.
Thus they occur at many points in worship. Eight blessings are pronounced on the day of atonement: on the Torah, the service of the temple, the forgiveness of sins, the temple, Israel, Jerusalem, the priests and other prayers. A beracha is also prescribed before and after the great prayers, at the study of the Torah etc.
In particular the Jew uses a blessing at meals. It is a stringent rule that he should eat nothing before a blessing is pronounced. “It is forbidden to man to enjoy anything belonging to this world without a blessing; he who enjoys anything of this world without a blessing commits a violation.”19
Behind this rule is the lofty view that this whole world belongs to God. Only he who takes with thanksgiving truly receives from God; he who does not robs God. The sayings: “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof” (Ps. 24:1), and: “The earth hath he given to the children of men” (Ps. 115:16), are not a contradiction. The one applies prior to blessing and the other after. Scriptural proof was found by the Rabbis in Lv. 19:24 and Dt. 8:10. All benedictions begin with the words: “Blessed (בָּרוּךְ, εὐλογητός) be Thou, Yahweh our God, King of the world.” The continuation varies. Before bread it runs: “who hast caused bread to come forth out of the earth,” and before wine: “who hast created the fruit of the vine.” If a man eats alone, he says the blessing to himself. In common meals the main part is opened with a blessing usually pronounced by the head of the house with a piece of bread in his hand. The others confirm it with an Amen. After this the head of the house breaks the bread and distributes to those who sit at table with him. He himself eats first. There is no question of blessing the food and transforming it into something different. He rather praises the Creator who controls the fruits of the earth.22 At the conclusion of the meal there is a common thanksgiving or praise for the food. Usually the head of the house asks the chief guest to pronounce this. After saying “Let us pronounce the blessing,” this guest takes the cup of blessing (τὸ ποτήριον τῆς εὐλογίας) and with his eyes on it pronounces a blessing which consists of four benedictions. Thus the whole meal becomes εὐλογία for those who thankfully receive it as a gift from God.
e. The table blessings naturally play an important part in the passover meal.
The preliminaries are opened with festival blessings and blessings of the cup. The main meal is introduced by prayer over the unleavened bread and the accompanying breaking of bread. The cup of wine handed round after the eating of the Paschal lamb, the third in the whole order, is the cup of blessing over which thanksgiving is pronounced.27
The Cup of Thanksgiving: Most blessed of all, however, is the Messiah Himself. The people welcomes Him with jubilant cries on His entry into Sion in .; ; ; (the only εὐλογεῖν in John): εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου, εὐλογημένη ἡ ἐρχομένη βασιλεία τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν Δαυίδ. There is here a twofold sense. He who comes and His kingdom are blessed by God to whom they belong. But they are also greeted by the people which subjects itself to them.
The form of the greeting derives from ψ 117:26, which is related to the Messianic redemption: Midr. § 22 (244a). Jesus referred the same Psalm to the day of His parousia in ; .
4. When the Messiah appears in earthly form, He goes about among His people as a man of piety. He adopts its customs, and especially its religious practices. When He sits at table, e.g., when He feeds the 4,000 or 5,000, He acts like a normal Jewish host or head of the house. He follows faithfully the accepted form (→ 760). He takes the bread in His hands, pronounces the blessing, breaks the bread and distributes it ( and par.; 8:7 and par.).
The only new feature is that in the prayer He does not look downwards as prescribed, but looks up to heaven. Perhaps the point of this is that these are not ordinary meals but miracles, and that He is seeking the help of God. But it is also possible that in virtue of His sense of mission and the inner freedom which this gives He is infusing into the rigid formulae of dealings with God something of what made His own relationship to the Father so vital. Perhaps He also rendered the benedictions (→ 760) in a freer form approximating, e.g., to the Lord’s Prayer. He must certainly have fused something of His own into the simple, everyday process of blessing and breaking bread, since otherwise the two on the way to Emmaus would not have recognised Him by this action (). If → εὐχαριστεῖν is sometimes used for εὐλογεῖν (and the two together at , ), this does not denote any distinction of sense. εὐχαριστέω, too, is used for בֵּרֵךְ. On the other hand, it is a Gk. misunderstanding of the Aram. original that many MSS30 add an acc. object (αὐτά or ταῦτα) at . If this suggests the idea that Jesus blessed the bread and thus made possible its miraculous increase, we have a relapse into a conception long since left behind in Israel. Similarly at only a few MSS have the abs. and the majority add αὐτούς, a few ἐπʼ αὐτούς.
At the Lord’s Supper (→ 761), too, Jesus takes the unleavened bread, pronounces the blessing, breaks it and hands it round (; ), as He does also with the cup of blessing. Here He adds the words of interpretation.33 That the cup of blessing was still maintained in the early Christian Church may be seen from 1 C. 10:16. Paul here uses the common Jewish expression τὸ ποτήριον τῆς εὐλογίας.
The only new element is the addition ὃ εὐλογοῦμεν. “This serves to distinguish the cup of which Paul speaks from every other cup … The thanksgiving applies to the cup because through it the congregation is blessed.” By it, it “participates in the blood of Christ.”
Feasting with Christ: Meditations on the Lord’s Supper Signs for the Senses, Christ for the Soul

Signs for the senses, Christ for the soul

If we consider the Supper as a sign, given us for instruction, it exhibits a remembrance of Christ, and a lively representation of most of the awful mysteries of our religion, as the Greek fathers often speak. The bread signifies the body of Christ. For, as bread strengtheneth man’s heart (Ps. 104:15), so the flesh of Christ, and the spiritual blessings and graces purchased for us by Christ, when He was incarnate, are the food of our soul, supporting and strengthening it in the spiritual life, into the hope of life eternal. ‘I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world’ (John 6:51). Again, as corn, from which bread is prepared, is ground to meal, kneaded to dough, and baked in the oven, before it can be agreeable and wholesome food for man; so in like manner, the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through various sufferings (Heb. 2:10), and scorched both in the fire of the divine wrath kindled against our sins, and in the flames of His own love.

The wine signifies the blood of Christ. For, as wine allays the thirst, revives the spirits, cheers the heart (Ps. 104:15; Prov. 31:6–7) so in like manner, the grace purchased by the blood of Christ allays the thirst of our soul, abundantly satisfying all our holy longings (John 4:14), to a kind of a holy and mystical ebriety [or intoxication] (Ps. 36:8; Song 5:1), it supports and sustains the soul when sick of love (Song 2:5), and puts ‘gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine are increased’ (Ps. 4:7). And we must not omit, that as wine is squeezed with much force from the grapes, when trodden in the wine press; so in like manner the Lord Jesus was straitened [or distressed] (Luke 12:50), and oppressed with much anguish, that the blood might flow to us from His blessed body, and His spiritual grace with His blood.

When the dispenser of the mysteries of God takes the bread and the cup of blessing into his hands, before the eyes of the faithful, that seems to intimate, that Christ was thus constituted and taken to be Mediator, and set forth to believers, ‘to be a propitiation through faith in his blood’ (Rom. 3:25). The blessing and thanksgiving pronounced over the bread and wine teach us that Christ is that blessed seed of Abraham, in whom ‘God … hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places’ (Eph. 1:3), and the greatest gift of divine bounty, for which to all eternity we shall not be able to render suitable thanks. The breaking of the bread represents the breaking of Christ’s body, especially that by death; for, the soul is the band, by which all the parts of the body are preserved united. The pouring out of the wine represents the shedding of Christ’s blood, that especially which was done on the cross, for the confirmation of the New Testament. And thus in the holy Supper there is a commemoration of the death of Christ, not in words only, but also by those mystical rites. The distribution of these sacred pledges is a figure or emblem of that gratuitous offer, by which the Lord Jesus, with all His saving benefits, is presented to the elect, with the most alluring invitations to accept of Him: nor offered only, but actually reached out, and freely given to believers for their eternal salvation.

But when believers receive the bread and wine, they declare by that action, that they receive by a true faith Christ Himself, and all He is, that they may have a right to become the sons of God (John 1:12). But the eating the bread and drinking the wine signify something more. And first, they really set forth the devout and lively employment of the soul, engaged in holy meditations on Christ, who is all its desire, that it may derive from Him everything it knows to be needful for its spiritual life. Again, these actions also signify that intimate union which subsists between Christ and believers: as meat and drink, when put into the mouth, are not only received into the stomach, but also converted into the very substance of the person. This union the Scripture calls an abode (John 14:23), a joining (1 Cor. 6:17), the same body (Eph. 3:6). Lastly, they represent that sweetest delight which the hungry and thirsty soul enjoys from the fruition of Christ and His grace: not only believing, but seeing and tasting, that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:9; 1 Peter 2:3). And as all are partakers of one bread and of one wine, this is a figure of that amicable unity, whereby they who partake of the same sacred feast, are united together, as domestics of the same Lord: ‘For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread’ (1 Cor. 10:17).

Witsius, 459–62

Wtitsius: Signs for the senses, Christ for the soul
If we consider the Supper as a sign, given us for instruction, it exhibits a remembrance of Christ, and a lively representation of most of the awful mysteries of our religion, as the Greek fathers often speak. The bread signifies the body of Christ. For, as bread strengtheneth man’s heart (), so the flesh of Christ, and the spiritual blessings and graces purchased for us by Christ, when He was incarnate, are the food of our soul, supporting and strengthening it in the spiritual life, into the hope of life eternal. ‘I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world’ (). Again, as corn, from which bread is prepared, is ground to meal, kneaded to dough, and baked in the oven, before it can be agreeable and wholesome food for man; so in like manner, the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through various sufferings (), and scorched both in the fire of the divine wrath kindled against our sins, and in the flames of His own love.
The wine signifies the blood of Christ. For, as wine allays the thirst, revives the spirits, cheers the heart (; ) so in like manner, the grace purchased by the blood of Christ allays the thirst of our soul, abundantly satisfying all our holy longings (), to a kind of a holy and mystical ebriety [or intoxication] (; ), it supports and sustains the soul when sick of love (), and puts ‘gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine are increased’ ().
And we must not omit, that as wine is squeezed with much force from the grapes, when trodden in the wine press; so in like manner the Lord Jesus was straitened [or distressed] (), and oppressed with much anguish, that the blood might flow to us from His blessed body, and His spiritual grace with His blood.
When the dispenser of the mysteries of God takes the bread and the cup of blessing into his hands, before the eyes of the faithful, that seems to intimate, that Christ was thus constituted and taken to be Mediator, and set forth to believers, ‘to be a propitiation through faith in his blood’ (). The blessing and thanksgiving pronounced over the bread and wine teach us that Christ is that blessed seed of Abraham, in whom ‘God … hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places’ (), and the greatest gift of divine bounty, for which to all eternity we shall not be able to render suitable thanks. The breaking of the bread represents the breaking of Christ’s body, especially that by death; for, the soul is the band, by which all the parts of the body are preserved united. The pouring out of the wine represents the shedding of Christ’s blood, that especially which was done on the cross, for the confirmation of the New Testament. And thus in the holy Supper there is a commemoration of the death of Christ, not in words only, but also by those mystical rites. The distribution of these sacred pledges is a figure or emblem of that gratuitous offer, by which the Lord Jesus, with all His saving benefits, is presented to the elect, with the most alluring invitations to accept of Him: nor offered only, but actually reached out, and freely given to believers for their eternal salvation.
But when believers receive the bread and wine, they declare by that action, that they receive by a true faith Christ Himself, and all He is, that they may have a right to become the sons of God (). But the eating the bread and drinking the wine signify something more. And first, they really set forth the devout and lively employment of the soul, engaged in holy meditations on Christ, who is all its desire, that it may derive from Him everything it knows to be needful for its spiritual life. Again, these actions also signify that intimate union which subsists between Christ and believers: as meat and drink, when put into the mouth, are not only received into the stomach, but also converted into the very substance of the person. This union the Scripture calls an abode (), a joining (), the same body (). Lastly, they represent that sweetest delight which the hungry and thirsty soul enjoys from the fruition of Christ and His grace: not only believing, but seeing and tasting, that the Lord is good (; ). And as all are partakers of one bread and of one wine, this is a figure of that amicable unity, whereby they who partake of the same sacred feast, are united together, as domestics of the same Lord: ‘For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread’ ().
Witsius, 459–62
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