With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you
The last passover--Christ’s desire for it
“This passover before I suffer! “It tells us, surely, that there was some connection between the passover and the suffering of Christ, and a special connection in this passover at which He and His disciples were now sitting down.
Let us think of some of the reasons why the Saviour desired so earnestly to join in this last passover before He suffered.
1. One reason was, that the passover had now reached its end, and found its full meaning. The ancient covenant, which changed the slaves of Egypt into God’s servants, gives place to the new, which changes his servants into His sons, and commences that golden chain, “If children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,” etc. And here, too, are the means of the redemption. The passover, which sprinkled with the blood of the covenant the door-posts in the land of Egypt, descends until its last victim dies beneath the shadow of the cross of Christ. Its efficacy is gone, for He has appeared who is to finish transgression, to make an end of sin, and to bring in an everlasting righteousness. At best it was a shadow, but now the great reality has come, “Christ our passover, sacrificed for us.” It is no unconscious victim, but one who freely gives Himself, the just for the unjust, that He may bring us to God.
2. Another reason why Christ desired to be present at this passover was, for the support of His own soul in the approaching struggle. “Before I suffer!” He had a terrible conflict to meet, for which He longed, and at which He trembled. We may feel startled at the thought that the Son of God should be dependent on such aid at such a moment. And yet it is in keeping with all His history--with the whole plan of redemption. The Divine and human are inseparably interwoven in the life and work of Christ.
3. We are led naturally to this further reason--that Christ desired to be present at the last passover because His friends needed special comfort. “To eat this passover with you before I suffer.” He desired to make His converse with them at this passover in the upper chamber a strength and consolation to them against the sore temptations they were to encounter. And may we not believe that Christ still prepares His people for what may be lying before them, and that He employs His comforts “to prevent” them--to go before them--in the day of their calamity. When darkness isabout to fall, God has lamps to put into the hand by anticipation. He who made His ark go before His ancient people in all their wanderings, causes the consolations of His Word to smooth the way of them that look to Him. He knows what painful steps are before us in the journey of life, what privations, what bereavements--it may be that the most solemn step of all must ere long be taken--and He desires to eat this passover with us “before we suffer.”
4. The last reason we give for Christ’s desire to be present at this passover is, that it looked forward to all the future of His Church and people. At the close of the last passover, Christ instituted that communion of the Supper which has come down through many generations--which goes forth into all the world as the remembrance of His death and the pledge of the blessings it has purchased for us. How frail this little ark which His hand has sent out on those stormy waters, but how safely it has carried its precious freight! And this presence of His, at the first communion, looks still further--on to the period when, instead of His Spirit, we shall have Himself. He desired to take His place in person at the first communion in our world, and when the great communion opens in heaven, He shall be seen in His place once more. (J. Ker, D. D.)
The Lord’s Supper
We need not look for great things in order to discover great truths. To those who reach after God he will reveal his deepest secrets through things insignificant in themselves, within the routine of common lives. No event occurs more regularly than the daily meal. None, perhaps, gathers around it so many pleasant associations. Its simplest possible form, in Christ’s time, consisted in eating bread and drinking a cup of wine. Into this act, one evening, He gathered all the meaning of the ancient sacrifices; all sacred and tender relations between Himself and His followers, and all the prophecies of His perfected kingdom.
I. THE PREPARATION. “They made ready the passover.” Note concerning the making ready that--
1. It was deliberate. The room was selected and secured. The hour was appointed. Two of the disciples were chosen to prepare the lamb and to spread the table. The Lord’s Supper is not less, but far more, rich in meaning than was the ancient passover. It requires the preparation of mind and heart made by private meditation, and by the gathering together beforehand of disciples for prayer, conference, and instruction.
2. It was exclusive, “I shall eat the passover,” Christ said, “with My disciples.” No others were invited, because no others were fitted to share in the ceremony which He was to inaugurate.
3. It was familiar. He drew closer to His disciples as the time approached in which He was to teach them how to celebrate His great act for the redemption of the world. Such times must be cherished as the warm, spring hours of spiritual growth.
4. It was solemn. The shadow of the greatest tragedy in the world’s history, close at hand, hung over them, as they went through the silent streets to the prepared guest chamber. His manner, His words, His actions, were filled with the consciousness of it.
II. THE BETRAYER POINTED OUT.
1. It leads each true disciple to self-examination.
2. It helps to reveal to Himself She false disciple. Judas knew that he was out of place in that upper chamber. The Lord’s table, which symbolizes the most intimate fellowship with Him, is a means of leading selfish men to begin to realize the awful and utter loneliness of sin.
3. It helps us to realize the baseness of a false confession of Christ.
III. THE SUPPER INSTITUTED.
1. A new sacrifice. Oxen, sheep, and doves had for centuries been slain as a sign that through life offered in sacrifice, human life that had been forfeited by sin might be restored. But from that night the broken bread takes the place of all these, and represents to us the body of Christ given as a sacrifice for sinners.
2. A new covenant.
3. A new kingdom, which was begun when first Christ through the Holy Spirit began to rule in one human heart. (A. E. Dunning.)
The happiness of attending The Communion
During the sunshine of his prosperity, Napoleon I. thought little of God and religious duties. But when his power had been broken, and he was an exile at St. Helena, he began to see the vanity of earthly things, and became earnest and attentive to religion. Then it was that he returned a very remarkable answer to one who asked him what was the happiest day in his life. “Sire,” said his questioner, “allow me to ask you what was the happiest day in all your life? Was it the day of your victory at Lodi? at Jena? at Austerlitz? or was it when you were crowned emperor?” No, my good friend, replied the fallen emperor, “it was none of these. It was the day of my first communion! That was the happiest day in all my life!” Sacramental service--
I. HOW INTENSE THE SAVIOUR’S LOVE FOR US MUST HAVE BEEN, in that His desire was not extinguished by the knowledge that it was to be His death-feast.
II. HOW CLOSE HIS FELLOWSHIP WITH MEN, as shown in that He desired to spend such an hour in their company.
III. HOW EAGER THE MASTER WAS TO MAKE THE DISCIPLES REALIZE THE NEARNESS OF THE HEAVENLY BLESSING HE WOULD PURCHASE FOR THEM, and to give them a pledge of it for their assurance. “I will not eat any more thereof, until it be fulfilled,” etc. The Lord’s Supper, then instituted, is thus designed to be--
1. An evidence of Christ’s undying love.
2. An assurance of His intimate fellowship.
3. A confirmation of His promise of the everlasting blessedness.
(Anon.)
The Last Supper
I. THE PASSOVER PREPARED. This preparation is suggestive of three things.
1. The dispensation in which Christ and His apostles still were.
2. The all-comprehensive knowledge possessed by Christ.
3. That in the midst of enemies Christ still had friends in Jerusalem.
II. The passover eaten.
1. Our Lord’s punctuality (Luke 22:14).
2. Our Lord’s intense desire in respect to this passover.
(1) Because the last He would celebrate with them.
(2) Because He would impress them with the connection between Himself as God’s Lamb, and the paschal lamb.
(3) Because He would awaken in them an intense desire for His second coming, when He would sit down with them in the Kingdom of God.
III. THE PASSOVER SUPERSEDED.
1. By the establishment of an ordinance which commemorates the true passover (see 1 Corinthians 5:7).
2. By the assurance of the better hope which this ordinance affirms Hebrews 7:19-22).
3. By the emblematic re-crucifixion of our Lord, which should inspire them to a constant remembrance of His personal love for them (1 Corinthians 11:24).
Lessons:
1. Retrospection essential.
(1) Bread broken.
(2) Wine poured out.
2. Introspection essential (1 Corinthians 11:28).
3. Prospection essential (1 Corinthians 11:26). (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
The cup of sneering and of Communion
I. THAT COMMUNION BETWEEN CHRIST AND BELIEVERS WILL BE RENEWED IN HEAVEN. Even on this side heaven, seasons of pure spiritual communion are not denied us. This exhausts the Saviour’s idea. His words are to be taken not literally, but spiritually. The wine is put for the thing represented--the joys and the felicities of the final state, and to drink the wine newwith Him is to partake the inmost pleasure of His soul.
II. THIS COMMUNION WILL BE PERFECT AND UNMIXED. We receive only in part; and this necessarily renders every act of communion imperfect. But in heaven it will be otherwise. Our nature will be so purified and transformed, as that every power and every property will be an avenue to convey the stream of life and glory into the soul. The fellowship will be that of perfected spirits. There will be no darkness in the understanding, no error in the judgment, no guilt in the conscience, no sin in the heart.
III. THIS COMMUNION WILL RE UNINTERRUPTED AND ETERNAL. Sublime and refreshing as are the seasons of spiritual joy which we experience on earth, they are, generally speaking, but of short duration. Here perpetuity of enjoyment is impossible, but there it is certain. The union between the Saviour and the soul will never be dissolved, and therefore the fellowship will never end. Here we are overtaken by fatigue and exhaustion, but there we shall be endowed with immortal vigour; here sickness and infirmity often intervene, but there the inhabitants shall never say they are sick; here we enjoy communion at intervals, there it will be eternal.
IV. THIS COMMUNION WILL BE HEIGHTENED BY THE PRESENCE AND THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE WHOLE REDEEMED CHURCH. It is no common joy which we experience even in the most private communion; but this joy is heightened when we can blend with other souls in harmony with our own. What, then, must be the communion of the coming world, where we shall hold immediate fellowship not only with God and the Redeemer, but at the same moment, and in the same act, with angels and the whole Church of the redeemed? Delightful is the union and fellowship of minds on earth! When heart communes with heart it is like the mingling dew-drops on the flower. But this union will be heightened in heaven. There we shall find none but kindred minds, with which it will be impossible not to unite. The blessedness of the future world is in reserve for those only who belong to the kingdom of God on earth. Into the heavenly communion none will be received, but those who have here held fellowship with a risen and glorified Saviour. (R. Ferguson, LL. D.)
He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it
The Holy Communion
I. HOLY COMMUNION--WHAT IS IT?
1. It is Christ’s own ordinance. Being a communicant is the test of the reality of your Christian profession.
2. It is the command of the Great Master. Emphatic, plain, straightforward, definite. A test of our faithfulness RS the servants of Christ.
3. It is the dying wish of the best of Friends. You cannot disregard it, and be true to Him.
4. Its great importance is taught plainly by the teaching and practice of the early Church. It was at first the only act of united worship. And it was celebrated at least every Lord’s Day.
II. WHAT IS ITS NATURE?
1. It is a memorial. A picture for all time of Christ’s body broken and blood shed for the sins of man.
(1) A memorial to God the Father. In our prayers we say, “through Jesus Christ our Lord”; or some such words; i.e., we plead before the Father what He has done for us. In the Holy Communion we say, “for Jesus’ sake” not in words, but in the very acts which He Himself has taught us. Thus it is our highest act of prayer.
(2) A memorial to ourselves. How easily we forget. This refreshes our memory, and rekindles our love.
(3) A memorial to an unthinking or unbelieving world. A witness to men that we believe in Jesus, who lived and died and still lives for us.
2. It is a means of grace. Jesus Himself is pleased in this ordinance of his own appointment to give us Himself.
3. It is a bond of union between ourselves and others. In partaking together one sacred food we, made one with Jesus, are brought nearer to one another.
(1) A bond of union between those who belong to the same earthly family.
(2) A bond of union between those who belong to the same congregation.
(3) A bond of union between all Christians who love the Lord Jesus.
(4) A bond of union between those who are resting in paradise.
III. WHO OUGHT TO COME?
1. Those who know how poor their love is, and want to love God more.
2. Those who are trying to serve God, and fail because they are weak, and need strength.
3. Those who are sinful, but desire to become holy.
4. Those who are careful and troubled about many things, and long for rest.
IV. WHO OUGHT NOT TO COME?
1. Those who are sinning, and do not want to give up their sin.
2. Those who think themselves good enough. The selfsatisfied obtain no blessing, for they seek none.
V. HOW TO COME.
1. Humbly. Why? Because we are not worthy to come.
2. Trustingly and simply. Taking God at His word, and not asking questions.
3. Earnestly. Meaning what we are doing. Not because others come, but because we realize that in our sinfulness and our unworthiness we find the strongest reason why we ought to come.
4. Reverently. Humbly realizing the presence of Jesus, and earnestly desiring His blessing.
5. Regularly. Have a fixed rule about it. Do not leave it to be done at any time when it is convenient or suits you.
6. More and more frequently. As you grow older you ought to be more earnest, and in order to serve God better you must seek more help. The grown-up man is not content with the same amount of food as the child; and the man who is desirous to grow up into the full measure of the stature of Christ, needs more spiritual nourishment than the man who is only a babe in Christ.
7. Early. When your thoughts are fresh, your heart free from cares and worries, your mind undisturbed by worldly things. Give to God the best you can. Let Him have the first of the day. (C. J. Ridgeway, M. A.)
The Holy Communion
I. THE ORDINANCE ITSELF.
II. ITS CHARACTERISTICS.
1. A Divine ordinance.
2. A perpetual ordinance.
3. A binding and obligatory ordinance.
4. It should be a frequent ordinance. No Lord’s Day without the Lord’s Supper.
III. THE SPIRIT IN WHICH IT SHOULD BE OBSERVED.
1. Deep humility of mind.
2. Grateful love to Jesus.
3. Faith.
4. Love to all mankind.
5. Joyous hope.
IV. THE ADVANTAGES ARISING FROM OBEDIENCE TO THIS COMMAND OF CHRIST’S.
1. The soul will be strengthened.
2. Christ will be increasingly precious.
3. Holiness will be increased.
4. Heaven will be desired.
Application:
1. Address regular communicants. Come in a right spirit. Be watchful, humble, prayerful, etc.
2. Address irregular communicants. Why so? It is disobedience, inconsistency, injurious to yourselves, Church, world.
3. Those who never commune at all.
(1) The conscientiously doubtful. Do you hate sin? Believe in Christ, etc. Are you willing to obey him? Then draw near, etc.
(2) Those who are really unfit for the Lord’s table, are also unfit for death, judgment, eternity. (J. Burns, D. D.)
The Sacrament of Holy Communion
In preserving this festival, we are urged alike by affection and duty.
I. THE ACT.
1. To stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, we may point out the simplicity of this act.
2. But though simple it is significant. The material forms and visible things, represent spiritual and invisible realities.
3. The participation of this Sacrament is a manifestation of
Christian unity (1 Corinthians 10:16-17).
4. This act is commemorative.
5. This ordinance is also sealing. A pledge of Divine mercy. A covenant act.
6. This Sacrament is also prospective. “Till He come.”
II. THE COMMAND. “This do.”
1. Unanimously.
2. Frequently.
3. Gratefully.
4. Reverently.
5. Worthily. “Discerning the Lord’s Body.” (R. M. Willcox.)
The Lord’s Supper
The Lord’s Supper--what a title! How full of memories, how it carries us back into the very heart of the past! What a solemn night it tells of--what a meeting--what a parting! The Lord’s Supper, however often it is celebrated, always ought to carry us back to the institution. For the little company of the disciples it was a night of gloom. The week had opened amid Hosannas; for a moment it had seemed as if the Saviour was to be the hero and the idol of the multitude. But the acclaims died away. The bitter hostility of the rulers reasserted itself in a series of angry or crafty assaults; and now we are on the very eve of that other and most opposite cry--“Away with Him; crucify Him. His blood be on us, and on our children.” The fortunes of the new gospel, as man must judge, were that night at the very lowest ebb. As the event advances it is made quite evident that this is a parting meeting, and that the Lord and Master knows it. He speaks of Himself as departing, not on a temporary journey, but by a violent death. People who are bent upon explaining away everything that is remarkable, still more everything that is superhuman in the Gospels, have denied that the words “Take, eat, this is My Body; Drink ye all of this, for this is My Blood,” were words of institution at all. They say that they were merely a pathetic way of typifying to the disciples His approaching death, and had nothing to do with any future commemoration of it when He should be gone. It is not necessary to argue this point, because we have the clearest testimony from the earliest date rationally possible; the testimony of friends and foes; of Christians and Pagans; of St. Paul and St. Luke; of Pliny no less than Justin Martyr, that those who heard the words did understand them as words of institution, and did act upon them as such. The breaking of the bread, the coming together to eat the Lord’s Supper were phrases of perpetual recurrence as soon as there was any Church founded, and wherever that Church spread itself over Asia and Europe; and that custom, always, and everywhere, explained itself by going back to the scene in the guest-chamber the night before the Crucifixion. But now, if the words had this meaning, the thought comes upon us with great force, how wonderful is it that our Lord, knowing that tiffs was His last night upon earth as a man in flesh and blood, instead of regarding it as an end, looks upon it as a beginning, speaks of it as a preliminary, a necessary preliminary to results foreseen and foreknown, in particular to what He calls the remission or dismissal of sins, and gives directions for the perpetual remembrance of His approaching baptism of blood, in an ordinance which is to have for its marked feature the symbolic eating and drinking of His own Body and Blood. Brethren, this is a great thought. Our Lord in the same night in which He was betrayed, the very night before tie suffered, did not look upon that betrayal or upon that passion as a disaster, as a blow struck at His work, or His enterprise, but rather as its necessary condition. It is the fore-ordained consummation. The same night in which He was betrayed, and in the clearest foresight of His Crucifixion, He founds an ordinance, He institutes a sacrament in express recognition, and for the everlasting remembrance, of His death of violence and torture, of ignominy and agony. “Well, now let us pass on to the very words of the institution, so much more surprising and startling than if they had merely spoken of commemorating His death--“Take, eat, this is My Body”; “Drink ye all of this, for this is My blood.” It would not have been at all startling, and not at all surprising, if our Lord had hidden His disciples to come together from time to time to meditate upon His cruel and suffering death. A mere man might have thought of this, might even have made it a religious service to go over the particulars of His passion, partly as a memorial to a lost friend, and partly for the encouragement of serious, devout, and humble living. But this cannot be said of the expressions before us--“Take, eat, this is My Body.” “Drink this, for it is My Blood.” So far from this being the common language of a dying friend, it would be language of which all would shrink from the hearing or the uttering. Brethren, it speaks for itself, that they must have regarded Him who said, “Take, eat, this is My Body,” as one altogether different from any common, or any merely human person. It would be cruelty, it would be impiety, it would be insanity in any friend, living or dying, to use such expressions concerning himself. They say this, if they say anything, “My death shall be your life;” “My body is given, My blood is outpoured for you.” In that death is involved the life of the world. In that separation of flesh and blood which is the act of dying, the sins of the world are taken away; yet this is not as a single isolated fact just to be accepted, just to be relied upon, without corollary or consequence--not so. “I, the dying, the once dead, shall be alive again after death, and be your life, not as a dead man, but as one alive after death; so must you deal with Me. You must receive Me into your hearts, you must, as it were, eat Me and drink Me, so that I may enter into your very being, and become a part of you; not as a man in human form treading upon the earth, companying with you as a man with his friends, but in a totally different manner, as one that died and was dead, but who now liveth to die no more; as one that has died and risen again; as one that is now in heaven; as one that has the Holy Spirit, and sends Him forth for perpetual indwelling in the hearts of His people. “So eat, so drink, for refreshing, and for sustentation.” The flesh profiteth nothing”; no, not though you could hold in the hand and press with the teeth the very body of the Crucified. The flesh, even the sacred flesh, profiteth nothing; “it is the Spirit that quickeneth.” One moment of spiritual contact with the risen and glorified is worth whole centuries, whole millenniums, of the corporeal co-existence. (Dean Vaughan.)
The advantages of remembering Christ
I. We are to inquire, first, WHAT IS IMPLIED IN REMEMBERING CHRIST.
1. There is evidently implied in this remembrance a knowledge of Him, a previous acquaintance with Him. He must have occupied much of our thoughts, have entered into our hearts, and been lodged in the deepest recesses of our minds.
2. Hence to remember Christ implies a heart-felt love for Him.
3. Hence to remember Christ implies also a frequent and affectionate recalling of Him to our minds.
II. Let us proceed to inquire why CHRIST HAS LEFT US THIS COMMAND TO REMEMBER HIM.
1. He has done this for a reason which ought greatly to humble us tie has said, “Remember Me,” because He knows that we are prone to forget Him.
2. But our proneness to forget Christ is not the only reason why He has commanded us to remember Him. He has given us this command, because He desires to be remembered by us.
3. The great reason, however, why Christ has commanded us to remember Him, is this--He knows that we cannot think of Him without deriving much benefit to ourselves.
III. WHAT, THEN, ARE THE ADVANTAGES RESULTING FROM AN HABITUAL REMEMBRANCE OF JESUS? This is our third subject of inquiry; let us proceed to consider it.
1. The first of these benefits is comfort to the soul, when wounded by a sense of sin.
2. An habitual remembrance of Christ has a tendency also to elevate our affections.
3. This heavenly-mindedness would lead us to a third benefit resulting from this remembrance of Christ--patience and comfort in our afflictions.
4. The remembrance of Christ tends also to keep alive within us a holy hatred of sin. Nothing makes sin appear half so hateful, as the cross of Christ; nothing so effectually checks it when rising in the soul, as the thought of a dying Saviour. O let me never crucify the Son of God afresh!
IV. BUT IF WE WOULD HABITUALLY REMEMBER CHRIST, LET US NOT FORGET THE COMMAND GIVEN US IN THE TEXT. “This do in remembrance of Me.” We soon forget objects which are removed from our sight; and our Lord, who knows and pities this weakness of our nature, has given us an abiding memorial of Himself. He has appointed an ordinance for this very purpose, to remind us of His love. (C. Bradley, M. A.)
Christ wanting to be remembered
The Holy Communion is the memorial of our Redeemer’s sacrifice.
I. CHRIST WANTS TO BE REMEMBERED FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR US. We never must forget the past, or lose sight of Calvary. Great Prophet, we must ever think of what He has done to teach; Great Priest, what He has done to atone; and Great King, what He has done to win the allegiance and devotion of our hearts.
II. OUR LORD WANTS TO BE REMEMBERED IN WHAT HE IS DOING FOR US. He lives to carry on and to carry out His work of grace in our hearts and lives.
III. CHRIST WANTS TO BE REMEMBERED FOR WHAT HE IS UNDER PLEDGE TO DO. We anticipate the coronation of our King, and the marriage-supper of the Lamb. Veils hide Him now; we long for the vision of His face. (R. Tuck, B. A.)
The Holy feast
1. A feast of charity.
2. A feast of commemoration.
3. A feast of sanctified communion.
4. A feast of hope. (J. B. Owen, M. A.)
The Sacrament of Holy Communion
I. A DIRECTION FROM CHRIST--“Do this.”
1. Addressed by our Lord
(1) to the apostles, and
(2) through them to the whole catholic Church.
2. Spoken as a Friend to His friends.
3. Spoken instructively. As our Prophet.
4. Spoken authoritatively. As our King, Christ expects us to keep this our military oath with Him. If an earthly commander had but to say to his servant, “go,” and he went; and “come,” and he came; how much more “ought we to be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?” “See then, oh believer, that ye refuse not Him who speaketh.” Do not come to the Holy Table--
(a) formally;
(b) grudgingly, or of necessity.
But come--
(a) humbly;
(b) reverently;
(c) faithfully.
II. AN EXPLANATORY MOTIVE--“In remembrance of Me.” (R. S. Brooke, M. A.)
The cup of reconciliation
Warburton and Tucker were contemporary bishop and dean in the same cathedral. For many years they were not even on speaking terms. It was on a Good Friday, not long before Warburton’s death; they were at the Holy Table together. Before he gave the cup to the dean, he stooped down, and said in tremulous emotion, “Dear Tucker, let this be the cup of reconciliation between us.” It had the intended effect; they were friends again to their mutual satisfaction. (Christian Age.)
The Lord’s Supper
I. THE INSTITUTION OF THIS HOLY RITE. “This do”--that is, do what I am doing. To do what Jesus did we are to take bread and wine. And we are to take this bread and wine, not for an ordinary meal--for they “had supped’; and St. Paul says, “If any hunger, let him eat at home,”--but for a sacramental feast, a means of feeding in our souls upon the Body and Blood of Christ our Saviour. Again, if we would do what Jesus did, we must, before we eat that bread and drink that wine, have them consecrated: “Jesus blessed”; and, as St. Paul says, “the cup of blessing which we bless.” Next, we are to have a minister to consecrate them. We do not find that any disciples meeting together could consecrate the elements, for in Matthew we are told, that “Jesus blessed it and brake it, and then gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat, this is My Body.” Again we find, that in doing this, our Lord accompanied it with prayer.
II. THE PURPOSE OF THE LORD’S SUPPER--“do this in remembrance of Me.” The remembrance of Jesus may be considered actively or passively--“this do in remembrance of Me”--that is, to remind Jesus of us, or to remind us of Jesus. The expression may be applied both ways, and may be profitably considered in either view. We have need of reminding Christ of us, of our necessities, our wants, our joys, and our sorrows, as in Is
43:26. In Numbers 10:9, we have the same truth of reminding God of us set before the Jews, and so s gain in Malachi 3:16-17. In this view of these words, we have then this truth set before us that, in that holy ordinance, we remind Jesus of His covenanted mercy, of His dying love, the price it cost Christ to purchase our souls, the greatness of His promises, the reality and truth of our faith in Him, the necessity we have to bring before Him our weakness and our woes. We remind Him that we do indeed believe in Him, and that, believing in Him, we cling to His precious covenant. In taking of the memorials of His dying love, we remind Him that we are those of whom He has said, “He that believeth on Me, though He were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth on Me shall never die.” But again, the remembrance of Jesus, taken passively, implies that we remember Jesus; our remembrance of Jesus implies, not merely a remembrance of one act of the Saviour, of one truth, or one fact connected with His gospel or His life, but a remembrance of Himself. He does not say, do it in remembrance of the cross-do it in remembrance of the garden, but, do it in remembrance of Me--My person--My offices--My qualities--My whole being--Christ Jesus our Redeemer--ourFriend. Remembrance of Jesus must vary in intensity, and affection, and character, in proportion to our knowledge of His love, His grace, His kindness, and His truth, and of our habitual abiding in Him in our own souls.
III. WHO ARE THE PERSONS THAT OUGHT TO PARTAKE OF IT?
IV. THE DUTY OF OBSERVING IT. It was given for disciples. (J. Baylee, D. D.)
The Lord’s Supper an emblem and memorial
I. It is AN EMBLEM. The question is, then, what unseen things do these simple objects represent?
1. The human nature of Christ; His incarnation.
2. The death of Christ, too, is shadowed forth in this ordinance. We have more than bread before us in it, it is bread which has been broken; and more than wine, it is wine which has been poured forth.
3. The consecrated elements are emblematical also of the great end and design of our Lord’s incarnation and death.
II. Let us now go on to another view of this ordinance. IT IS A MEMORY. “This do,” He says, “in remembrance of Me.” But it is not Himself simply considered, that our Lord calls on us here to remember; it is Himself as these emblems set Him forth, given and bleeding for us; it is Himself in His humiliation, sufferings, and death. Why the institution of an ordinance to bring things like these to our remembrance?
1. Partly, perhaps, on account of the joy Christ Himself feels in the recollection of them. His heart overflows with joy at the thought of His cross and passion, and He would have us think of them and sympathize with Him in His joy.
2. The remembrance of Christ’s incarnation and death is of the utmost importance to us; therefore also He may have established this memorial of them among us. “All our fresh springs” are in our crucified Lord, and therefore He brings Himself frequently before us as our crucified Lord that we may go to Him as the great source of our mercies, and take of His blessings.
3. There is another reason to be given for the setting up of this memorial of our Lord’s sufferings--it is our liability to forget them. (C. Bradley, M. A.)
Christ’s vicarious death
A single verse, written on paper, now yellow with age, hangs on the wall of a nobleman’s study in London. It has a remarkable history, and has, in two notable instances, at least, been blessed of God to conversion. The verse was originally composed by Dr. Valpy, the eminent Greek scholar and author of some standard school books. He was converted late in life, and wrote this verse as a confession of faith:--
“In peace let me resign my breath,
And Thy salvation see;
My sins deserve eternal death,
But Jesus died for me.”
On one occasion Dr. Marsh was visiting the house of Lord Roden, where he held a Bible reading with the family. He mentioned Dr. Valpy’s conversion by way of illustration in the course of his remarks, and recited the verse. Lord Roden was particularly struck with the lines, wrote them out, and affixed them to the wall of his study, where they still are. Lord Roden’s hospitable mansion was often full of visitors, among whom were many old army officers. One of these was General Taylor, who served with distinction under Wellington at Waterloo. He had not, at that time, thought much on the subject of religion, and preferred to avoid all discussion of it. But soon after the paper was hung up he went into the study to talk with his friend alone, and his eyes rested for a few moments upon the verse. Later in the day Lord Roden upon entering his study came upon the general standing before the paper and reading it with earnest face. At another visit the host noticed that whenever General Taylor was in the study his eyes rested on the verse. At length Lord Roden broke the ice by saying, “Why, General, you will soon know that verse by heart.” “I know it now by heart,” replied the general, with emphasis and feeling. A change came over the general’s spirit and life. No one who was intimately acquainted with him could doubt its reality. During the following two years he corresponded readily with Lord Roden about the things which concerned his peace, always concluding his letters by quoting Dr. Valpy’s verse. At the end of that time the physician who attended General Taylor wrote to Lord Roden to say that his friend had departed in peace, and that the last words which fell from his dying lips were those which he had learned to love in his lifetime. A young relative of the family, an officer who served in the Crimea, also saw it, but turned carelessly away. Some months later Lord Roden received the intelligence that his young acquaintance was suffering from pulmonary disease, and was desirous of seeing him without delay. As he entered the sick-room the dying man stretched out both hands to welcome him; at the same time repeating Dr. Valpy’s simple lines. “They have been God’s message,” he said, “of peace and comfort to my heart in this illness, when brought to my memory, after days of darkness and distress, by the Holy Ghost the Comforter.”
The ordained memorial
I. THE MAIN OBJECT OF THE SUPPER IS A PERSONAL MEMORIAL. “In remembrance of Me.” We are to remember not so much His doctrines, or precepts, as His person. Remember the Lord Jesus at this Supper--
1. As the trust of your hearts.
2. As the object of your gratitude.
3. As the Lord of your conduct.
4. As the joy of your lives.
5. As the Representative of your persons.
6. As the Rewarder of your hopes. Remember what He was, what He is, what He will be. Remember Him with heartiness, concentration of thought, realizing vividness, and deep emotion.
II. THE MEMORIAL ITSELF IS STRIKING.
1. Simple, and therefore like Himself, who is transparent and unpretentious truth. Only bread broken, and wine poured out.
2. Frequent--“as oft as ye drink it,” and so pointing to our constant need. He intended the Supper to be often enjoyed.
3. Universal, and so showing the need of all. “Drink ye all of it.” In every land, all His people are to eat and drink at this table.
4. His death is the best memory of Himself, and it is by showing forth His death that we remember Him.
5. His covenant relation is a great aid to memory; hence He speaks of--“The new covenant in My Blood.” We do not forget Adam, our first covenant-head; nor can we forget our second Adam.
6. Our receiving Him is the best method of keeping Him in memory; therefore we eat and drink in this ordinance. No better memorial could have been ordained.
III. THE OBJECT AIMED AT IS ITSELF INVITING. Since we are invited to come to the holy Supper that we may remember our Lord, we may safely infer that--
1. We may come to it, though we have forgotten Him often and sadly. In fact, this will be a reason for coming.
2. We may come, though others may be forgetful of Him. We come not to judge them, but to remember Him ourselves.
3. We may come, though weak for aught else but the memory of His goodness.
4. It will be sweet, cheering, sanctifying, quickening, to remember Him; therefore let us not fail to come. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Sacrament better than a sermon
Frequently to me the Supper has been much better than a sermon. It has the same teaching-power, but it is more vivid. The Lord is known to us in the breaking of bread, though our eyes have been holden during His discourse. I can see a good meaning in the saying of Henry III., of France, when he preferred the Sacrament to a sermon: “I had rather see my Friend than hear Him talked about.” I love to hear my Lord talked about, for so I often see Him, and I see Him in no other way in the Supper than in a sermon; but sometimes, when my eye is weak with weeping, or dim with dust, that double glass of the bread and wine suits me best. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The ends for which the Holy Communion is appointed
1. It is appointed to be a memorial of Christ.
2. It is a standing evidence of the truth of Christianity.
3. It furnishes an opportunity of the open profession of the Christian religion in general, and, especially, of our trusting in the sacrifice of Christ for forgiveness and acceptance with God.
4. Another end of the Lord’s Supper is to be an act of Church fellowship, or communion.
5. The Lord’s Supper gives an opportunity of covenanting with God, and engaging to be the Lord’s. He who partakes of the Communion is, by that very act, as completely and voluntarily bound to serve the Lord, as if he had engaged aloud to do so in the plainest terms of speech, or subscribed, with his own hand, a written deed to that effect. It follows, too, by necessary consequence, that, though he is not bound to anything to which he was not in duty bound before, yet, if he abandon himself to sin, he is justly chargeable with breach of engagement. This argument does not rest on anything peculiar to the Supper; but it applies to it with particular force.
6. Another very comprehensive end of this ordinance is to be a means of cherishing all the graces of the Divine life. We say of cherishing them, not of implanting them; for, though the grace of God is not to be limited, and may reach the heart, for the first time, in any circumstances, those who partake of the Lord’s Supper ought already to be possessed of the Christian character in some degree.
7. Once more, this ordinance is intended to lead our thoughts forward to our Lord’s second coming. It is not only retrospective, but prospective. It is not only a remembrance of something past, but an anticipation of something future. (James Foote, M. A.)
Remembering Jesus
In remembrance of Him! What a flood of recollections comes back to us as we think on these words. To every class, age, and character amongst us those words are spoken. To you babes and children He says, “Do this in remembrance of Me, the Child Jesus, who for you once lay as a babe in the manger at Bethlehem, who for your sakes grew as a child in favour with God and man, who was obedient to His parents, a gentle, holy Child; do this, be obedient, be gentle, be loving, keep your baptismal vow in remembrance of Me.” It speaks to you, young men, and says, “Do this, keep yourselves pure, flee fleshly lusts which war against the soul, be helpful, be earnest, not slothful in business, labour honestly in your appointed task, do this in remembrance of Me, who as a young man was pure and earnest and helpful, who laboured patiently and obscurely in lowly Nazareth.” He speaks to all Who have money or time or influence at their disposal, He says, “Do this, go about doing good, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the fatherless and the widow; never turn your face from any poor man; if thou hast much, give plenteously, if thou hast little do thy diligence to give gladly of that little, do this in remembrance of Me, the Man Christ Jesus, who went about doing good, who gave up all time, glory, honour, wealth, life itself, for others, who sought out the ignorant and those who were out of the way, who dried the widow’s tears, who ministered to the sick, who was not ashamed to help and comfort even the publican and the fallen woman, who suffered hunger and thirst, and want, and insult for His people; O you, who are called by My name, do this in remembrance of Me, for in that ye do such things unto the least of My people, ye do it unto Me, and verily ye have your reward.” To you who are anyways afflicted and distressed lie speaks and says, “Do this in remembrance of Me, bear this cross meekly in remembrance of that bitter cross of Mine, for what sorrow is like unto My sorrow, what night of agony can equal that night in Gethsemane, what grave can now be without hope since that one grave in the Garden which was unsealed on Easter morning?” (H. J. Wilmot Buxton, M. A.)
The memorial of Jesus
I. THE INJUNCTION OF A DEEPLY DEVOTED FRIEND.
II. THE INJUNCTION OF A DEPARTED FRIEND.
III. WHAT DO WE SPECIALLY COMMEMORATE BY OUR COMPLIANCE WITH THIS COMMAND? His death, as a sacrificial atonement for our sins, and as the most remarkable display of His love for us, though sinners.
IV. In commemorating Christ’s death by this ordinance, WE RECALL THE IGNOMINY, REPROACH, AND SHAME HE ENDURED ON OUR BEHALF.
V. Reflect that THESE THINGS, MORE THAN ALL OTHERS, ARE WORTHY OF BEING HELD IN EVERLASTING REMEMBRANCE.
VI. HERE, TOO, WE KEEP IN REMEMBRANCE TRANSACTIONS IN WHICH EVERY GENERATION HAS THE SAME INTEREST, AND WHICH PRESENT TO ALL THE SAME MOST INVITING AND SOLEMN ASPECTS.
VII. Once more, in the same direction of thought, we observe that, IN THE CELEBRATION OF DEEDS OF PROWESS AND PATRIOTISM, THE REMOTER THE PERIOD OF THEIR PERFORMANCE, THE LESS IS THE INTEREST AWAKENED BY THEM, while in relation to the great event which we this day commemorate, THE REMOTER THE AGE AND GENERATION, THE DEEPER WILL BE THE INTEREST FELT IN IT, AND MORE NUMEROUS WILL THEY BE WHO CELEBRATE IT.
VIII. IN THIS ORDINANCE CHRISTIANS ARE CALLED UPON TO REMEMBER AN UNSEEN FRIEND, UNTIL THE APPOINTED PERIOD OF HIS REAPPEARANCE.
IX. FROM THE SIMPLE NATURE OF THE SYMBOLS EMPLOYED, WE INFER THAT THIS COMMEMORATION IS TO BE UNIVERSAL AS THE CHURCH, AND EXTENSIVE AS THE WORLD.
X. Notice the PECULIAR CHARACTER OF THIS COMMAND AS DISTINGUISHED FROM ALL OTHERS ENJOINED BY DIVINE AUTHORITY. This commemorative command is not issued to us so much in the manner of a Lord and lawgiver, as in the character of a claim of gratitude and affection. The Creator commands thus, “Do this and live; or, fail to do, and die.” So does the Lawgiver command--“Thou shalt do this in fear of Me, and of the penalties of disobedience.” But our Lord’s command in the text speaks to us in a very different manner. He does not say, “Do this in fear of Me as God,” but “Do this in remembrance of Me, as Redeemer”--“Do this, I beseech you, as you love Me, and as I have loved you. I have done My work--‘It is finished.’ Now do your part in remembrance of this finished work.” In obeying this command, we obey it as having especial and peculiar reference to the Mediator. Other commands, like those of the moral law, respect the providence and moral government of God, and the benefit of man--this one directly issues from, and gives glory to, the dying Redeemer, the God-man, “the Author and Finisher of our faith.” In His other commands Christ addresses us as our Master, our Shepherd, our Divine and Supreme Teacher--in this He instructs us in our duties to God, to our neighbour, and to ourselves. All His other commands appear to point OUTWARDS in the direction of various rights and duties; this command only points REWARDS: others, away from Himself--this, to Himself, “Do this in remembrance of ME--in remembrance of My body, My blood, My death. That death which I endured for your sakes, do you at least remember for My sake.” (J. R. Leifchild, M. A.)
Design of the Lord’s Supper
I. COMMEMORATIVE.
1. “In remembrance of Me”--the end.
2. “Do this”--the means.
II. REPRESENTATIVE.
1. The bread, or Christ’s body, represents His personality, or the Incarnation.
2. The wine, or Christ’s blood, represents His work, or the
Atonement.
3. The bread and wine, the body and blood, represent the incarnate career.
III. PROCLAMATIVE. An immortal witness to the crucifixion (1 Corinthians 11:20).
IV. COVENANTIVE (Luke 22:20). The engagement both Divine and human.
V. COMMUNICATIVE (1 Corinthians 10:17).
VI. ASSOCIATIVE. Personal membership in Christ is universal co-membership of Christ’s people.
VII. ANTICIPATIVE (Matthew 26:29). The dirge glides into the paean. Hint of the new heavens and new earth. Bridegroom and bride at the same marriage-supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9). (National Baptist.)
The blood of the new covenant
I. THE NEW COVENANT OF FORGIVENESS AND LIFE. The new reminds of the old. From the old we may learn what to look for as essential features of the new. Take three illustrations:
1. The covenant with Noah, on leaving the Ark.
2. The covenant with Abraham, on entering Canaan.
3. The covenant with Moses, on leading the people from Egypt. The new covenant is an engagement between God and man, through Christ, who acts as representative of God to man and of man to God. It implies mutual pledges. On God’s side is pledged forgiveness; remission of sins; and life, in its fullest, highest meaning. On man’s side is pledged the obedience of faith.
II. THE BLOOD WHICH SEALS AND SANCTIONS THE COVENANTS. Look again at the three cases mentioned. Each covenant was sealed with blood. Noah took of the clean beasts for his offering, which devoted the spared lives to the service of God. Abraham divided the creatures, when he entered into his covenant. And Moses sprinkled with blood both the book and the people, when the covenant was ratified. Why always with blood? Because the blood is the symbol of the life, and, so, shedding blood was a symbolical way of taking a solemn vow to give the whole life to obedience. Then see how Christ’s blood becomes the seal of the new covenant. Take Christ as Mediator for God. He condescended to our weakness, and pledged His very being, His very life, to His faithfulness towards us. In this sense He is God’s sacrifice. Take Christ as mediator for man. And in this He is man’s sacrifice. Then two things come to view.
1. He seals our pledge that we will spend life in obedience, serving God up to and through death. In accepting Christ as our Saviour, we acknowledge that He has taken this pledge for us.
2. In giving His blood, His life, to us to partake of, Christ would give us the strength to keep our pledge. Illustrate by the Scottish Covenanters, opening a vein, and, signing with their life-blood the “Covenant” on the gravestone, in Greyfriars Church, Edinburgh. What, then, is the pledge which we take afresh in each sacramental act? Obedience unto death. The obedience of faith. What is the pledge we receive afresh in every sacramental act? The assurance of Divine forgiveness, and eternal life. Why do we take the sacramental emblems together? In order that we may be mutual witnesses; and then true helpers one of another in keeping our pledge. (The Weekly Pulpit.)