Communion
The Lord’s Supper is a reminder of the leading truths of the gospel: (1) Salvation, like this bread, is the gift of God’s love. (2) We are reminded of the life of Christ—all he was and did and said. (3) We are reminded, as by the passover, of the grievous bondage of sin from which Christ redeems us. (4) It holds up the atonement, the body of Christ broken, his blood shed, for us. (5) In Christ alone is forgiveness and salvation from sin, the first need of the soul. (6) Christ is the food of the soul. (7) We must partake by faith, or it will be of no avail. (8) We are taught to distribute to one another the spiritual blessings God gives us. (9) By this meal our daily bread is sanctified. (10) The most intimate communion with God in Christ. (11) Communion with one another. (12) It is a feast of joy. “Nothing less than the actual joy of heaven is above it.” (13) It is a prophecy of Christ’s second coming, of the perfect triumph of his kingdom. (14) It is holding up before the world the cross of Christ; not a selfish gathering of a few saints, but a proclamation of the Saviour for all. Why did Christ ordain bread to be used in the Lord’s Supper, and not a lamb? Canon Walsham How replies, “Because the types and shadows were to cease when the real Sacrifice was come. There was to be no more shedding of blood when once his all-prevailing blood was shed. There must be nothing which might cast a doubt upon the all-sufficiency of that.” (Then, the Lamb being sacrificed once for all, what is needed is to teach the world that Christ is now the bread of life. Perhaps also it was because bread was more easily provided, and fitted thus more easily to be a part of a universal ordinance.—ED.)
Why did Christ ordain bread to be used in the Lord’s Supper, and not a lamb?
“Because the types and shadows were to cease when the real Sacrifice was come. There