Thursday: The Lord’s Supper
Read Luke 22:13-20. What is the significance of the Lord’s Supper taking place at the Passover?
Jesus founded the Lord’s Supper against the historic context of the Passover feast. The Passover setting underscores human impotence in contrast to God’s great power. It was as impossible for Israel to free itself from Egyptian bondage as it is for us to free ourselves from the consequences of sin.
Image © Graham Braddock from GoodSalt.com
Liberation came from God as a gift of His love and grace, and this is the lesson Israel was to teach its children from generation to generation (Exod. 12:26-27). Just as the liberation of Israel was so rooted in history by the redeeming act of God, so the liberation of humanity from sin is grounded in the historic event of the Cross. Indeed, Jesus is our paschal lamb
(see 1 Cor. 5:7), and His Last Supper is a proclaiming act wherein the community in faith gives expression to the glorious and decisive significance of the death of Christ.
-G. C. Berkouwer, The Sacraments (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1969), p. 193.
The Lord’s Supper is a reminder that on the same night in which He was betrayed
(1 Cor. 11:23, NKJV), on the night before He was crucified, Jesus gave a solemn message to His disciples that they needed to remember: the bread and the wine are symbols of His body, which was about to be broken, and of His blood, which was about to be shed for the remission of sins (see Matt. 26:28). The death of Jesus was God’s sole means for our Redemption from sin. Lest we forget that the death of Jesus is heaven’s provision for our salvation, Jesus ordained the Lord’s Supper and commanded that it be kept until He returns (1 Cor. 11:24-26).
Jesus’ assertion that His blood was to be shed for many for the remission of sins
(Matt. 26:28, NKJV) is to be remembered even to the end of history. To ignore this assertion and choose any other means of salvation is to deny God and His chosen method of salvation.
Two crucial lessons (of many) stand out. Christ died for us
is the first lesson to be remembered at the table of the Lord. The second lesson is that we sit as one body because of that death, which has brought us all into one fellowship. Even as we sit at the table, we sit as Christ’s redeemed community of the end-time, awaiting the Lord’s return. Until then, the table of the Lord is a reminder that history has meaning, and life has hope.
Christ gave His body and blood in order to give you the promise of eternal life. How can you personalize this amazing truth in a way that will constantly give you hope and assurance?
(33)
Some people say this was è first Lord's Supper Jesus had with his disciples. Previously they had just observed é Passover Feast. I think they say this because the disciples showed lack of knowledge about it. What then confuses me is that è bible says Jesus send 2 disciples 2 prepare for Passover Feast. How then did they provide for the Holy Communion (Lord's Supper) which they didnt know about and Jesus had not given instruction?
John, I sense there is more to your question. Do you see a big difference between the way & the reason the Children of Israel celebrated Passover and the way we Spiritual Israel celebrate the Lord's Supper?
To me both these meals with their symbols are just reminders of what God has done for us to save us. There is no mystical properties to the symbols or the act of eating & drinking them.
Why did God tell the Children of Israel to take a lamb into their houses for 4 days, then kill it, put its blood on the door posts & lintel and then eat the roasted flesh? How did that save them? These were just outward symbols which revealed their hearts which trusted and obeyed the LORD. They were also symbols that pointed forward to the fact Jesus would die to save us from our sins. So the Lord's Supper is the fulfilment of the Passover feast.
John, there is a practical reason for a differentiation between the Passover feast and what we term as the (Lords Supper). We know the reason for the Passover feast. Paul says in 1Chorintians 11:26 The Lords Supper is to" proclaim the Lords death till He comes".
The deliverance of the Israelites from the bondage in Egypt was a type of the redemption that we have in Christ Jesus. It reveals to us that as the Israelites had no power to redeem themselves from captivity, likewise us. We cannot atone for our past sins. We cannot redeem ourselves from the penalty of sin. Christ is our Paschal Lamb. He is the lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. He is the lamb that taketh away the sins of this world. His body was broken upon the cross for us. His blood has been shed for the remission of our sins. Ere his death, he instituted the Lord's Supper that as often as we eat this bread (His body) and drink this cup (His blood), we do to show his death till he come. The question then is, why are some members of the church reluctant to participate in this honorable and glorious institution? Why? Because of sin? Why did Christ die? Please let nothing, absolutely nothing prevent us from partaking in the Lord's Supper. If you are baptized the means by which you can show Christ's death till He come is at this occasion not by mouth-word. The occasion also reminds us that we are one people.
First, foremost & forever we need to realize that our existence is solely due to the Almighty! Secondly if & when we see our filthiness and choose to repent, it is because of his goodness. There's nothing good in us that prompts us to do this except of course God's constant working upon our hearts. Why then should we live as though we have no hope? We need not do that because life's insurance and assurance is based on the life giver and not on our actions. Truth is, no matter how we observe the "laws of health" we are ONLY promised and afforded life IF AND ONLY IF the Lord allows it. We are his, ONCE because he MADE us and TWICE because he BOUGHT us. Let us all strive to honour, obey and worship the Lord as he so deserves because he is the only being worthy of our praise!.... so help us Lord, Amen 🙂
Luke records in Luke 22:20 NKJV: "Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you." I believe that Jesus was establishing the new covenant spoken of in Jer 31:31-34. To me that point is significant because the Jews, for the most part, relied on the old covenant which according to Heb 8 was faulty.
Unlike the old covenant this new covenant isn't based on what man does but on what God does. This concept although not new was to be uncovered light under Paul's ministry. It is the same as the everlasting covenant which was announced to Adam and Eve after they sinned.
Tyler, are you saying that the Children of Israel were saved by what they did but that Christians are saved by what God did?
I think that both people living today and the Israelites of old are saved by faith. But in the old testament, that faith meant following certain instructions to ask God for forgiveness (it was purely instructive though, the process didn't save them their faith in God did).
I think that's why Jesus had such an issue with the religious leaders of his day... the were so focused on the religious rites and they forgot who and what the rites were all about.
But whether it was old or new covenant "without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him"
Hebrews 11:6
Myrtha,
It is probably more accurate to say the Israelites were saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8) which is accepted by our faith. And this faith requires expression as the Lord decides. If the Lord determines it should be sacrifice, circumcision, or baptism or some other thing then faith follows through.
Something that should not be missed is that both the Old and New Covenant existed together, but served different purposes. It was God who instituted both. The rituals of the Old Covenant was one expression of faith required of Israel. To ignore it or treat it lightly was to deny oneself the blessing of the New (Everlasting) Covenant by which salvation comes. None were saved by choosing one Covenant over the other as long as God required observance of both.
The 'salvation' of their covenant was that in obedience to the law, which was their righteousness, they would remain and live long in their 'promise land' and their fields would prosper, no barrenness of the womb or the fields etc. Soul salvation has always remained the same. Israel's economy was a figure, shadow ,or type of the True.
Abraham and the later generations of ancient Israelites looked forward in time and faith to the coming Messiah; Abraham was credited by God as righteous due to his faith in the LORD, which was accompanied by his works. (the act of obeying God’s commandment to sacrifice his son, Isaac; being only a test anyway, was a show of his faith, which was evidenced by his works.)
I wonder if we are supposed to celebrate communion once a quarter or if we should do it once a year.
We should remember that communion is a symbolic act to remind us of Jesus death and resurrection. It is not how often we celebrate it that is important. The really important thing is that we remember what Christ did for us and to respond to that love in a way that shares the Gospel with others and brings Glory to His name. It would be a shame if all we thought about was how many times we have celebrated it.
This reading was very straight forward, and i liked the way Shirley placed it into to context. Indeed the Passover or the Lords supper was significant under the theme Redemption and obedience , we are being called by the Lord the cleanse ourselves resist the temptation , make a bond with me, let us become One, so that the world may see that the True and Living God resides in us.
The children of Israel believed that their own acts would work for their salvation according to the Old Covenant but in real case their actions were faulty, this is why the Old Covenant was faulty. On the other hand, in the New Covenant, it is God who works our salvation and not man.
Why is the Lord's supper taken during the day by many Christians today? Why is it taken each and every quarter not once a year?
Both Jesus and Paul did not specify a time or frequency for the Lord's Supper, Jesus said "as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me"
So basically he left it up to us. Some do it every day, some once a week, some once a quarter and others once a year.
Thom, we are not instructed as to how often, but we are instructed why. Even though Passover is once a year, 1Chorintians 11:24,25 says as often as you drink this cup, do this in remembrance of Me. That would be more than once a year hopefully.
just reading the comment section now,and I must confess that more light on the lesson is thrown through these Bible based comments
Let everyone examine themselves when partaking the Lord's supper. That statement only has seen most people not partaking but the truest implication is to make us draw near to the cross by checking our character and subjecting it to Christ for transformation. We tend to yield to the negative voice of the devil which tells us that we are not worthy because of our past whereas Christ is calling us to come as we are with a confessing heart. Salvation of humanity is solely by grace through faith be it old or new covenant.
The other main purpose of the Lord's supper is to maintain the brotherly love among fellow believers. Grudges and hatred are bad traits which are supposed to be ridden completely out of our lives.
In the garden of Eden,Adam was to eat from the tree of life for perpetuity of life and we have Christ as our source of life. Everytime we eat of His body and drink His blood,we are renewing a perpetual covenant of eternal life which was robbed from us by Satan. Let this mind be in you that as much as Christ resurrected and is living forevermore, we shall also share the same glory with Him in the newness of life.
Partake the Lord's supper with that blessed hope