A Meal to Remember, a Meal to Anticipate

Introduction

Family Meal

Growing up, my parents made it a point to eat most dinners together around the table. Each night we would all wait for my Dad to get home, sit down, pray, and eat. We couldn’t be excused early and no phones were allowed. This was a time of fellowship, of being together with each other and sharing a meal. I am sure that we weren’t the only family who did this. But this was an ordinary tradition that I look back on with great fondness.

Now, there is one extraordinary family dinner that stands out above them all and that was the rehearsal dinner the night before my wedding. That night included all of my family, my closest friends and my soon to be family as well. We had amazing Hawaiian food. My dad gave a touching speech. My groomsmen gifted me with an awesome surfboard...which I sadly haven’t used as much is I’d like. It was a night where we remembered the beginnings and past moments of my relationship with my soon to be wife. But it was also a night filled with anticipation. Each of us there that night were eagerly awaiting the next day. We were all excitedly looking forward to the wedding day and the wedding feast, which I might add, was an even grander family meal.

Main Point

Now today, as we look at the Lord’s Supper, as we study Luke’s account of Communion, I want us to see that this is not only a meal of remembrance. But just as those at my rehearsal dinner were filled with anticipation for the future wedding banquet, we too should celebrate this meal with eagerness and excitement for the wedding feast of the Lamb. When we partake of the Lord’s Supper together, we most certainly must remember how Christ saved us from our sins and how He purchased the New Covenant for us with His blood. But we also must look to the future, to the climax of His Kingdom, to the banquet that He has promised to eat with us. Stated simply, Communion is a meal to remember and a meal to anticipate

Structure

As I previously mentioned, we will be studying Luke’s account of Jesus’ last meal with His disciples. This text, Luke 22:14-20, is divided into two sections. In verses 14-18 we see Jesus Presiding over the Passover and then in verses 19-20 we see Jesus transform this Passover meal into something new - here He commences communion.

Verses 14-18: Jesus Presides over the Passover

Verses 19-20: Jesus Commences Communion

Context

Before we jump in, I want to set the stage for you. This dinner that we will look at today happens on the Thursday night of passion week, which is the week leading up to Jesus’ execution on the cross. That previous Sunday, which is recorded in Luke 19, Jesus sent two of his disciples to Jerusalem, from the Mount of Olives, with very specific instructions about finding a donkey. In chapter 19:32 we see that “they found it just as He had told them.” They bring Jesus the donkey and He enters the city of Jerusalem to the sound of praises. This is what we call the triumphal entry. It was a time of great hope and excitement for the disciples. Finally, Christ has come to claim His throne in His city and establish His Kingdom.

And when we come to Luke 22, in verses 7-13 we see a moment very similar to what happened just before the triumphal entry. We see Jesus send two disciples from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem, to prepare for Passover. He gives them very detailed instructions about finding a room for them to celebrate this meal and verse 13 we read that they, “found everything just as He had told them;”

See here how Luke, is setting up a parallel for us between the triumphal entry and the Last Supper. And what we are seeing here in the drama of Luke is that Jesus did not innaugurated the Kingdom of God by force but by suffering as the ultimate Passover Lamb to save His people from their sin. As they were eating this sacrificial lamb that night, another innocent life was being prepared to be offered and have His blood stain not the wood of doorposts but the wood of a cross.

Transition

Do you feel the weight? Do you feel the emotion? This is a monumental moment. And this is where we find ourselves today. Let’s start in verse 14

Jesus Presides over the Passover - vs 14-18

The Passover Feast vs 14

“14 When the hour had come, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him.” Verse 14 serves as a transition from the preparation for Passover, to the celebration of that meal. The phrase, “the hour” in verse 14 refers to the time of dusk, or 6 PM, which was the standard time when Passover officially began. However this “hour” is not simply a chronological time stamp. As we can see in John’s account in John 13:1, Jesus knew that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world. This was a solemn chiming of the divinely ordained clock signalling the bloody events to come. However, before Jesus is tried and crucified He has one last supper with His disciples, and as we see in verse 15, He longed to eat this meal with them.

The Host’s Heart of Affection vs 15

“15 And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;” The first thing we need to see in this scene is the heart of the Host. The original language uses what is called a hebraism, reading literally “With desire I have desired.” This repetitive wording indicates an intense and almost forceful emotion.

Charles Simeon offers four reasons behind Christ’s strong desire. The first of which was that He desired to demonstrate his love to them. We read in John’s account of how He tenderly served them by washing their feet and that John 13:1, “having loved them, He loved them to the end.”

The second reason that Simeon posits is that He desired to instruct them one last time. He taught them the lessons we will learn today about His Supper. He taught them of the coming Kingdom. He taught them about true greatness and true leadership. And He comforted them telling them that He was going to prepare a place for them in His Father’s House.

Thirdly, He desired to use this meal to fully prepare them for His departure. He told them plainly who He was and what was about to happen. He revealed that He would be betrayed, be denied, by counted amongst the transgressors, and that He would suffer.

But this wasn’t just any meal that He had longed to share with them. Jesus said, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover” The Passover was the very first festival in the History of Israel. It was their version of an Independence day. But instead of celebrating independence won by a patriotic militia, they were celebrating the mighty salvation of God from slavery to Pharoah. In Exodus 11 and 12 you can read of the very first Passover and it is there that you see a sacrifice. You see, God was sending the 10th and final plague, the death of the firstborn on all of Egypt. The Angel of Death was to enter each household and exact God’s just wrath. What is significant here is that the Israelites were deserving of punishment as well. They had sinned against God multiple times by initially rejecting God’s servant Moses and expressing doubt and anger at God. But God, in His rich mercy, provided means for salvation - the Passover Lamb. Each Israelite household was to sacrifice a lamb and paint the wood on the door posts with the blood of the lamb. They were to then cook the lamb and eat it along with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. That night, when the Angel of Death came to the land of Egypt, he passed over each household that was covered by the blood of the lamb and the first born in the house was saved. So for the Israelite, Passover was a feast that celebrated God’s salvation from Egypt through the judgement of an innocent substitute - the Passover Lamb

Jesus was eager to celebrate this meal for it would help them understand what He was about to do for their salvation. In a few hours He would go from eating the passover lamb with His disciples to dying for them on the cross as the true and final Passover Lamb of God. He was anticipating His death on the cross and He intentionally and explicitly told this fact to them “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” For months Jesus had been telling them that He would suffer. He said to them in Luke 9:22, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.” Jesus know what He will face and the time for which He had come to this earth was upon Him. But first, there was something that Jesus wanted to do first, He deeply desired to host this Passover feast, this Last Supper, with His beloved disciples.

Jesus’ Vow - vs 16

However, even though this was the last Passover He would eat with them before He died, Jesus’ next words indicate that this is not the last time they will celebrate a feast together, “16 for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Here Jesus makes a vow to celebrate God’s salvation and deliverence again with His disciples, but this time it will be in the Kingdom of God. As Pastor Shaan wrote to us in his recent devotion this is not reference to the spiritual Kingdom of God that has broken into time and space. Instead, Jesus is looking froward to its ultimate fulfillment when Christ returns. This was a promised banquet for the coming age when the disciples, and all the saints, will be united with Christ again.

This reference to the Kingdom banquet points back to several passages in Luke. In Luke 13:28-29 Jesus was warning those who do not enter the narrow door of salvation through Christ alone will be left outside of a great banquet feast that includes the patriarchs, the prophets and the gentile elect from all around the world, “28 “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out. 29 “And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.” In Luke 14, in the parable of the Master’s Dinner, Jesus taught that the Kingdom Banquet will not include those who rejected the Master’s invitation and the Master will then include the poor, blind, crippled and lame, Luke 14:21 “21 “And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 22 “And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ 23 “And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.” Finally, after the meal Jesus tells His disciples in Luke 22:28-30, that those who remain with Him in His trials, those who persevered, will be granted the privilege of eating and drinking at His Table and sitting on thrones as judges in His Kingdom. “28 “You are those who have stood by Me in My trials; 29 and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you 30 that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Such an expectation for a kingdom banquet finds its origins in Old Testament prophecies like this one from Isaiah 25:6-9, “6 The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, And refined, aged wine. 7 And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, Even the veil which is stretched over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken. 9 And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” I mention all of this to say that Jesus had in mind a future, historical event where He would sit at the table again with His chosen ones. There is great hope to be gleaned by the disciples in this moment is there not? These words should offer us hope too. We serve a God who cannot lie. When Christ makes a vow, He will fulfill it. This message should move us to hope. Dear friends find comfort in these words for your weary souls. Jesus, on the night before He is brutally murdered, set before Himself and His disciples the joy of His coming and the future culmination of the victory He was about to win at the cross.

The Passover Cup vs 17

After making this vow Jesus precedes to preside over the Passover meal that He longed to eat, “17 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves;” It is important to note that this verse is unique to Luke’s account of the Last Supper. He is the only disciple who refers to two distinct cups, this one, and the cup of communion to come in verse 20. The meal traditionally had four cups, 1 cup to begin the meal, 1 cup after an explanation for why Passover was celebrated, 1 cup following the meal of the lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs and 1 cup following the singing of the Hallel Psalms. Most likely this is the first cup of the meal, the cup of blessing. As the host of the meal, Christ would have thanked God for His goodness, mercy and provision of salvation and then they would have all drank from their own cups. But as we see in verse 17, after giving thanks, Jesus instructed His disciples to share the cup. Such an act was unusual and would have been a striking demonstration to the Disciples. Commentator David Garland writes, “Drinking the cup of someone was understood to be a means of entering into a communion relationship with that person to the point that one shares that person’s destiny” This act intensified the oneness that was central to this meal.

The Vow repeated vs 18

After presenting the cup of he passover, Jesus repeats His vow in verse 18, “18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” Twice in this passage Christ refers to the coming of the kingdom of God. In the celebration of the Passover, Jesus not only looks back into history to the works that God had done in bringing Israel out of bondage, but he also looks forward to the future, to the celebration of the banquet feast of the Lamb in Heaven. This repetition places double emphasis on the certainty that, despite the dark hours that lie ahead, the reign of God will indeed come. The suffering that lay ahead of Jesus, and the disciples was not the end. The suffering that may lie ahead of us and the brokenness of this fallen world that we encounter each day is not the end. It will be followed by the climax of Christ’s victory where we will sit at the King’s Table and drink the King’s wine. Dear saints, take hope in Christ’s vow.

Transition

Before we move to our next section, I want to tell you why Luke mentioned the cup again here. He does so to highlight a distinct transition from Passover to Communion. This moment acts a hinge, as a lynchpin as a turning point in the story of Luke. You see, this last supper, this Passover falls right between Jesus’ entering Jerusalem from the mount of olives as a king on Palm Sunday and another movement from the Mount of Olives into the city. Later that night, Jesus and His disciples would go to the mount of Olives, to the garden of gethsemane, to pray. There Jesus would be betrayed, bound and brought back into Jerusalem from the mount of olives, not as a King but as a criminal. Back in Luke 9 we see the foundation for this turning point. Jesus is on the mount of transfiguration with Peter, James and John and it is there that Jesus’ appearance changed, His face became different and His clothing became white and gleaming and then two men appeared to talk to Him, Moses and Elijah. And in verse 31 of Luke 9 we see that they were “31 who, appearing in glory, were speaking of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” Now in the original greek, the word for departure is the word “exodus.” They were speaking to Jesus about the New Exodus that He was about to accomplish. And here, in chapter 22, this dinner becomes transformed. It had once celebrated the eve of the first Exodus from Egypt. From this moment to now and until Christ returns, this meal will celebrate the New Exodus that Christ accomplished not by force, but by suffering on the cross. So then let us move from old to new as we see Jesus Commence Communion. Look with me at verse 19.

Jesus Commences Communion - vs 19-20

The Bread vs 19

“19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them,” saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In this new meal God will be glorified for His salvation through the judgement, not of a sacrificial lamb, but of His own Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus made this change in order to make His salvation work explicit to His disciples then and now.

Now, I want to look at a few details in this familiar text of verse 19. First, notice that before Jesus broke the bread, He gave thanks. The Lord’s Supper is to be received with a spirit of thanksgiving. We are to be filled with gratitude as we marvel at Gd’s gift of grace. We must think of our low station before we first met His grace, enslaved to the Kingdom of darkness. “But God,” as Paul says in Ephesians 2:4-5, “4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),” How deep the Father’s love for us, that He should give His only Son, to make a wretch His treasure. When we partake of the bread today, dear brothers and sisters, do it with a heart filled with thanksgiving.

Next, notice the choice of bread as a symbol of Christ’s body. Bread has been a basic food that sustains human life for thousands of years. We are to pray for our provision of daily bread. Good bread is rich in vitamins, complex carbs, fiber, and even protein. So when Jesus tells us to take and eat of this bread that signifies His body, He is giving us something that we cannot live without, something that our soul needs for life. Specifically, what I am saying here is that His body was offered as a sacrifice for our sins so that in believing in Him we may experience life - eternal life. This bodily sacrifice is exactly why this bread is broken. In a few short hours following this breaking of the bread, Christ’s body would be beaten, scourged, spat on, and hung on a cross with nails in His hands and feet. This fulfilled the famous prophecy of Isaiah 53, “4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” Why was His body broken? He bore our transgressions, for our iniquities, for our unrighteousness. 2 Corinthians 5:21 puts it this way, “21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Look back with me at verse 19, and listen carefully to the sweet words of the Savior, “this is My body which is given for you” His body was given for you. Jesus suffered to the death on your behalf. He stood in your place, and bore the wrath of God, reserved for your sins. His body was broken so that your brokenness, the brokenness of a life enslaved to sin, could be healed. This is the gospel dear friends, God sent His Son to die in your place, to pay for your sin so that you may be forgiven and made clean in the eyes of a holy God. Not only did He die, but He rose from the death to life and the most glorious news is that if you run to the cross with faith and trust in Him alone you can have free forgiveness, new life, and eternal hope this very day. When we see Communion within the context of Passover we see exactly what Jesus was doing for us on the cross. The apostle Paul makes this point in 1 Corinthians 5:7 when He calls Christ our Passover Lamb. Dear friends, do you believe in the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? Dear friend, if not, today is the day of your salvation. Believe upon Him, for He has said, “everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:40)”

Now the last thing I want to touch on is the command at the end of verse 19, “do this in remembrance of me.” When Jesus says remember, He is saying that as a Hebrew. He is not merely commanding us to simply bringing to mind the fact that He died on the cross for you. For the Hebrew, to remember meant to call into the fulness of their conscious mind the prescience of the one they are remembering. Which means we must reach back to that day on Calvary and pull all of it into the here and now so that our mind and soul and heart are filled with the conscious reality of Christ’s suffering, and His death and all that that means for you and me and for us as His church. When we partake of Communion we must remember Him in this way.

The Cup vs 20

Let’s turn to our last verse today, verse 20, “20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.” Here, we have full the transition from the old covenant to the new. But in order to understand what is happening, in order to understand how monumental this moment is, we first must go back to see what look at the Old Covenant and how it was instituted

You can read of the inauguration of the Old Covenant in Exodus 24. It is there that we see a covenant ceremony where Moses read all the stipulations of the Old Covenant, the Commandments and the Law and the people vowed to obey each of these laws . Moses then sacrificed bulls and goats and gathered the blood of these animals, listen to this moment from Exodus 24:6-9, “6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” 8 So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” The action of throwing the blood from the sacrifices on the people was done to demonstrate that if Israel broke this covenant their blood should be spilled just like in this ceremony. But it was also an act of atonement. The blood came from a sacrifice of life and in covering the people, it covered over their sin. This is similar to what happened at Passover, the blood of the lamb covered over their doorposts and their firstborn were saved from being killed by the Angel of the Lord. It was through the spilling of blood that Israel entered into this covenant with God.

But this ceremony, and these sacrifices were merely a copy, and a model of a greater covenant and a greater sacrifice of blood. And that is what Jesus is talking about here in Luke 22:20. His blood, not the blood of bulls and goats, but His blood and His death innaugurated an entirely New Covenant. This is what the cup represents. His blood spilled to accomplish and consecrate a New Covenant between God and His people.

In the Old Covenant, a relationship with God was only maintained by the sacrifice of animals for the atonement of sin. However, as read in Hebrews 10:4, “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” But in the New Covenant, we have forgiveness of sins and eternal redemption by the blood of Christ. Hebrews 9:11-12, “11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”

In the Old Covenant, a relationship with God was mediated by priests with only one of those priests entering into God’s presence, and only once a year. But in the New Covenant each one has fellowship with God. Each of us has access to the Father through Christ who intercedes on our behalf as our High Priest. Moreover, God dwells in each one of us in the person of the Holy Spirit who helps us and who comforts us and guides us.

In the Old Covenant, the Israelites could not fully enjoy all the covenantal blessings and promises because they could not meet the covenantal stipulation of upholding the law of God. But now, since we have been clothed by the righteousness of Christ, all of God’s promises for now and for the future are yes and amen and we have been given every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

The people of the Old Covenant could not obey God for they had hearts of stone, and eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear. But in the new covenant, we have been born again and given hearts of flesh, our eyes have been opened and our ears can hear and know God and His word.

Dear saints, how great is it to have Christ is our mediator of this better covenant? These blessings and realities are ours because of Christ and His blood. And when we partake of the cup, not only do we remember Christ inaugurating this covenant on the cross, but we celebrate the reality that even now, we are in a New Covenant relationship with Him.

Transition

So then, let us finish by looking at two applications from this text for how we should celebrate Communion.

Conclusion

Remember

The first thing I want you to take away is that Communion is a meal of remembrance. Recall that to remember is to call into the fulness of their conscious mind the prescience of the one they are remembering. We must fix our eyes on Him and on the Cross where He made atonement for our sins and purchased the New Covenant with His blood. Such a remembrance will bear much good fruit to our souls. When we fix our minds on Christ and His death our hearts are prompted to worship Him with thanksgiving for who He is and what He has done.

Let me say this differently, when you doubt that your sins our forgiven, look to the cross, hear your savior’s words when He declares it is finished. When you doubt His love for you look to His pierced hands, see thee holes that are like rings in His hands, like wedding rings that bind you to Him till death brings you closer.

When we are constantly remembering Him, we are kept from forgetting Him. Such spiritual amnesia plagued the Israelites. They forgot God... Remember Him so that we will never forget. Communion then is a meal to Remember.

Anticipate

Lastly, when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper we should also anticipate the realization of our blessed hope of fellowship with Christ at His Kingdom table. We must look forward with anticipation for that day, for the wedding feast of the Lamb, when we will be with Christ and eat and drink with Him at His table.

When we are celebrating communion, we are not just celebrating His death, but we are also celebrating the culmination of the Victory He won at the cross. When we anticipate Christ’s coming as we celebrate communion we are filled with comfort. As we long for His return, our confidence in His promise as deepened. As we are eager to eat again with Him, we are relieved of our fears and worry over these light and momentary afflictions that surround us. This is, as Paul writes, the blessed hope of His appearing and we should cling to that blessed hope each time we drink the cup and eat the bread. Communion then, is also a meal where we eat with anticipation for another meal, a wedding feast, a meal with Christ at His table in His Kingdom.

Concluding Statement

Before we close, look with me one last time at verse 20 and listen to the word’s of Christ when He says, “this cup was poured out for you.” Dear saints, don’t look past this amazing truth. You, have a personal relationship with the one true living God because the one true living God offered up His body to be broken and His blood to be spilled for you. Phillip Ryken comments on this amazing truth, “know this as well, and know it for sure: Jesus desires to share his supper with you every bit as eagerly as he wanted to share it with his disciples the night of the First Supper. Jesus died for you as much as he died for them, and he loves you as much as he loves them. It is to you that the bread is given and to you that the cup is poured, because it was for you that his body was broken and for you that his blood was shed.”

Let us Pray

Prayer

Amazing love! How can it be That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? God you are worthy of our worship and our praise. Your love for us reaches to the heavens. Your mercy is unending. Your grace is amazing. You have delivered us from sin and death. You have saved us with your mighty hand. You have brought us into an everlasting covenant with you and you have made us to be your sons and daughters by sending your only begotten Son to die in our place. Help us now to love you with all our heart and strength, may we serve you faithfully and may you be exalted through us more and more each day. Amen

Let us partake of Communion

Communion

Dear friends I want to begin by stating that here at Heritage, members of this church and non-members alike are welcome to partake of this meal. However, if you do not believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, if you do not worship Him as Savior and Lord, or if you are not in right standing with Him, I strongly ask that you would refrain from eating this meal.

Now with hearts prepared to remember Christ and to anticipate His return and our future feast with Him, please take the bread and the cup.

I will be reading from 1 Corinthians 11 starting in verse 23, “23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which 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.” Let us thank God in prayer.

Remember His Sacrifice

Give Thanks for His Salvation

Celebrate the New Covenant

Anticipate His Return

Remembering the body of Christ which was offered as the perfect sacrifice in our place, let us partake of the bread

25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

Remembering the blood of Christ that signifies the New Covenant, let us partake of the cup

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.

Just as we have participated in the Lord’s Supper with one another, let us join together in song, praising the name of Christ.

Benediction

Dear Saints, Brothers and Sisters, go away today remembering Christ and His work for you on the Cross and go away today anticipating His coming, where wee will be with Him, where we will eat at His table and where we will sing songs of praise like that to Him, our King for all eternity.