Sharing the Covenantal Meal with Jesus Until He Comes Again
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What is the Lord’s Supper: The celebration by the earliest Christians was in liturgical form very much like the Passover Seder. It was, like the Passover meal, a covenant meal, but it was shared with the risen Christ as a celebration of his passage from death to life and as a prophetic sign of the heavenly banquet in the last day
Dear friends do you see this Cup, this Table, this Super - whose are they? Yours? Are the churches? No, in the NT it is surprising how few things are called the Lord’s - the cup, the table, the supper, and the Lord’s Day. These are called the Lord’s because the Lord Jesus is the host of this meal, and those who share in this meal are gathered to gether to be His people his church. 1 Cor 11:18
For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part,
Goes on to speak of the Lord’s Supper as how the church comes together, and its’ the Lord’s Day because through the Spirit he is with us in a special way again and again meeting with us as church as we partake together!
And when they would get together to celebrate the Supper, listen to what Paul says they would recite: 1 Cor 11:23
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,
Language of the oral tradition that Jesus and the apostles passed down, even to Paul to be said as they ate the Supper together. This was fulfilling what the Jews did on the night of the Passover, they had an oral tradition you probably know - the eldest son asks: Why is this night more holy than all nights - and then what was the response? The Jewish Passover haggadah had explained the meaning of the meal by recounting the story of the exodus from Egypt. The Passover had been a memorial of the redemption of God in freeing the children of Israel from Egypt
And Jesus gave us a new haggadah for this meal that Paul gives to the church for all ages: 1 Cor 11:23-24
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 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.”
Now the act of eating the meal is not just celebrating the Passover event, but the redemption that God worked in Christ on the Cross - its a participation together in that salvation! And that last instruction , Do this in remembrance of me is so important: It’s not just mentally recalling what Jesus did, but this is a covenantal remembering. It’s Jesus interpretation of the 4th Commandment - what is that about the Sabbath day? Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy! The Sabbath was not only a badge of belong into the Covenant God, it was a religious service, - in which God was saying of all peoples on earth - this people belong to me, and they in response say Yes LORD, we not only mentally recall all these things you did in freeing us, but this memorial is us saying to you God - we acknowledge and confess those claims . We pledge allegiance to God and claim the benefits of all this meal represents. As our form puts it we take to ourselves Christ and all His benefits! In this meal by faith you lay hold of the covenant!
And together, in fellowship, with this meal = 1 Cor 11:26 … we proclaim the saving work = to each other and to the world -
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
And so we come to this table to remember, participate, we come to proclaim, but we also come believing in the signs! In this story the Silver Chair, Aslan tells Jill Pole - to rehearse these signs that they will need on their journey, she gets busy, she muffs all of them. But the last, and the most critical moment of the book - the sign says the first person to ask you to do something in my name you must do what he says; But it involves such trust and belief - The Prince they went underground to rescue, is now before them, but is saying, I’m under a terrible evil spell, you’ve hot to untie me while still in right mind… in Aslan’s name - does make sense to Jill and her friend Puddleglum, and Eustace Clarence Scrubb - stand looking at each other in decision - then they do - and most wonderful things results from believing the sign!
It’s like that with this Supper too - it is Jesus sign - I give myself for the life of the world. My flesh is the the manna that comes down out of heaven, give it in my sacrificial death - and you come to this sign believing - most wonderful things happen. Blood is real drink, spiritual - poured out … We are forgiven, Sins are forgotten, paid in full. We joined together in deepest communion in fellowship, a banqueting meal with Living Jesus.
And this sign points to what whole earth is heading towards - the wedding feast of the Lamb, the sign of ultimate shalom, of Sabbath Rest. In the OT the sign of manna was Moses teaching, but it didn’t lead to eternal life … actually as legal arrangement to death but pointing to need of grace of Jesus. But Jesus says, his manna, his body and his blood nourish unto eternal life!
Jesus fills the multitudes who believe in Him with this eternal life. It’s not like the manna only, but like the meal after sacrifice is made, half the blood sprinkled on the altar and the other half on the people and God invites Moses and the OT elders who represent the people - to a meal and they eat with God on the Mountain Top. And in the gospel of John Jesus, goes up the mountain and feeds the multitude. From heaven does the same right now!
When that blood was shed and sprinkled, “Behold the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words” (Exod. 24:8). Then Moses and the 70 elders of Israel went up on the mountain and there “they beheld God, and ate and drank” (Exod. 24:11). In that meal, with God on the top of Mount Sinai, the covenant was sealed. God became their God, and they became his people. John 6:52–59 plays on these themes. And as you and I come - not just a sign, but a seal of our covenant with God too! The cup of blessing which we bless says Paul - its our participation in Christ’s sacrificial death. The meal isn’t a sacrifice, or re-sacrifice, - no the Passover lambs were killed and sacrificed, before the meal at the temple. But they were eaten and celebrated later at the Seder, at the meal in the fellowship of their homes.
And so now Paul says: 1 Cor 5:7-8
Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Once and for all sacrifice on the Cross alone, in one time and one place in history; but the feast is celebrated again and again many times and in many places.