And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it.
Relation of the Holy Communion to Christ
The bread and cup are His body and blood, because they are causes instrumental, upon the receipt whereof the participation of His body and blood ensueth. Every cause is in the effect which groweth from it. Our souls and bodies quickened to eternal life are effects, the cause whereof is the person of Christ; His body and blood are the true well-spring out of which this life floweth What merit, force, or virtue soever there is in His sacrificed body and blood we freely, fully, and wholly have by this sacrament; and because the sacrament itself, being but a corruptible and earthly creature, must needs be thought an unlikely instrument to work so admirable effects in men, we are therefore to rest ourselves altogether upon the strength of His glorious power, who is able and will bring to pass that the bread and cup which He giveth us shall be truly the thing He promiseth. (R. Hooker, D. D.)
The Eucharist the great feast of the Church
I. A true feast-for the nourishment of the spiritual life.
II. A sacred feast-sanctifying from all carnal enjoyment.
III. A covenant feast-sealing redemption.
IV. A love feast-uniting the redeemed.
V. A supper feastforefestival of death, of the end of all things, of the coming of Christ. (J. P. Lange, D. D.)
Sacrificial aspect of Christ’s death shown in the Lord’s Supper
This rite shows us what Christ thought, and would have us think, of His death. By it He points out the moment of His whole career which He desires that men should remember. Not His words of tenderness and wisdom; not His miracles, amazing and gracious as these were; not the flawless beauty of His character, though it touches all hearts, and wins the most rugged to love and the most degraded to hope; but the moment in which He gave His life is that which He would imprint for ever on the memory of the world. And not only so, but in the rite He distinctly tells us in what aspect He would have that death remembered. Not as the tragic end of a noble career which might be hallowed by tears such as are shed over a martyr’s ashes; not as the crowning proof of love; not as the supreme act of patient forgiveness; but as a death for us, in which, as by the blood of the sacrifice, is secured the remission of sins. And not only so, but the double symbol in the Lord’s Supper-whilst in some respects the bread and wine speak the same truths, and certainly point to the same cross-has in each of its parts special lessons entrusted to it, and special truths to proclaim. The bread and the wine both say, “Remember Me and My death.” Taken in conjunction they point to the death as violent; taken separately they each suggest various aspects of it, and of the blessings that will flow to us therefrom.
I. A Divine treaty or covenant.
II. The forgiveness of sins.
III. A life infused.
IV. A festal gladness. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The New Testament
God’s covenants with His people:-Ancient Israel had lived for nearly 2000 years under the charter of their national existence, which was given on Sinai amidst thunderings and lightnings (Exodus 19:5, etc.). And that covenant, or agreement, or treaty, on the part of God was ratified by a solemn act, in which the blood of the sacrifice, divided into two portions, was sprinkled, half upon the altar, and the other half, after their acceptance of the conditions and obligations of the covenant, on the people who had pledged themselves to obedience. And now here is a Galilean peasant, in a borrowed upper room, within four-and-twenty hours of His ignominious death, which might seem to blast all His work, who steps forward and says, “I put away that ancient covenant which knits this nation to God. It is antiquated. I am the true offering and sacrifice, by the blood of which, sprinkled on altar and on people, a new covenant, built upon better promises, shall henceforth be.” What a tremendous piece of audacity, except on the one hypothesis that He who spake was indeed the Word of God, and that He was making that which Himself had established of old to give way to that which He establishes now. The new covenant, which Christ seals in His blood, is the charter, the better charter, under the conditions of which the whole world may find a salvation which dwarfs all the deliverances of the past. Between us and the infinite Divine nature there is established a firm and unmoveable agreement. He has limited Himself by the utterance of a faithful word, and we can now come to Him with His own promise, and cast it down before Him, and say, “Thou hast spoken, and Thou art bound to fulfil it.” We have a covenant; God has shown us what He is going to do, and has thereby pledged Himself to the performance. (Ibid.)
The Lord’s Supper
I. The nature of the institution. It is a supper-strictly and essentially in its own particular nature it is nothing else. Was apparently in connection with another supper, and it seemed to be almost a part of that other supper. The supper was significant and emblematic-a representation of something else.
II. The object and design. The death of Christ is brought before us. The death of Christ as an offering for sin is brought before us. The death of Christ as the seal of the everlasting covenant between the Father and the Son is brought before us.
III. The observance of the rite. Just as simple as its nature and object. The frequency of reception is left open. The posture may he considered indifferent. The positive directions and the actual practice of our Lord. (C. Molyneux.)
The last supper
I. The time of the institution.
1. During the feast of the Passover. Christ the true Passover (Exodus 12:3; Exodus 12:6-7, and others; with John 1:29; Revelation 5:6).
2. On the eve of His being offered. The meaning and purpose of the Passover lamb transferred to Jesus, and the sense widened. That for the Jews only, this for the true Israel of God, etc.
II. The method of the institution.
1. With thanksgiving.
2. The bread-broken, distributed, eaten. Christ the bread of life. Received by faith.
3. The wine. All were to drink it. The blood of Christ shed for the remission of sin.
4. They sung a hymn-left the table with joy and thankfulness.
III. The purpose of the institution.
1. To supersede the Jewish Passover.
2. A memorial feast. No less binding upon Christians than any other law of Christ. A dying command. Sacredness of last words.
3. A bond of union among Christians, and public acknowledgment of indebtedness to and faith in Christ. (J. C. Gray.)
The Passover feast
Relate the history of this feast.
I. The passover feast commemorated a great deliverance.
1. A deliverance from what? From Egyptian bondage-the destroying angel-God’s judgment upon sin.
2. How was this deliverance effected?
3. Why was this deliverance commemorated every year?
II. The passover feast pointed to a greater deliverance.
1. A deliverance from what? From a worse bondage than that of Egypt, etc. (John 8:34; Proverbs 2:19). And from a judgment more terrible than came upon the first-born (Romans if. 3, 5, 8; Matthew 25:41).
2. How was this greater deliverance to be effected? Also by the blood of the Lamb (1 Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 5:8-9). Who is this Lamb? (John 1:29; Colossians 1:13-14; Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:14). We must come to Christ and have heart sprinkled (Hebrews 10:19; Hebrews 10:22; 1 Peter 1:2). Each must have his own sin put away, etc.
3. How did the yearly feast point to this greater deliverance? Would show how deliverance from death could only be by death of another (1 Corinthians 5:7).
III. Christ instituted the Lord’s supper to commemorate this greater deliverance. In the Lord’s Supper two things done-
1. We commemorate Christ’s death for us.
2. We feed upon Him by faith. (E. Stock.)
The Lord’s Supper
Nature and design.
I. A commemoration. Includes-
(1) Adoration. Adoration due to God in fashion of a man. It is this that makes Him the central point of the universe, to whom all eyes are turned.
(2) Gratitude. The benefits-deliverance from hell, power of Satan, and sin; restoration to the favour and fellowship of God; fellowship with Christ, including participation with His life and glory. The cost at which these benefits were secured-Christ’s humiliation and suffering.
II. A communion.
1. An act and means of participation. We participate in His body and blood, i.e., of their sacrificial virtue.
2. The effect of this makes us one with Him; one body. Illustration from the Jewish rites. In this ordinance our union with Christ and with each other is far more intimate.
III. Consecration. We cannot commemorate Christ as our Saviour without thereby acknowledging ourselves to be His-the purchase of His blood, and devoted to His service. (C. Hodge, D. D.)
The institution and observance of the Lord’s Supper
I. A remembrance of the atonement of Christ.
1. How much He suffered.
2. How well He suffered.
3. How patiently -He suffered.
II. A proclamation of the atonement of Christ.
III. A participation in the atonement of Christ.
1. Great facilities granted.
2. A direct communication from Christ to His people. (B. Noel, M. A.)
The new wine of the kingdom
I. The words of the saviour as they regard the act in which himself and his followers were then engaged. They were drinking of “the fruit,” or, more properly, “the product” of the vine. Not a mere ordinary social communion, but in direct connection with the Passover. Christ did not design to honour a Jewish rite as commemorating a national deliverance, but as typical, holding a relationship to Him and the economy of which He was the head.
1. That the Lord Jesus led His followers to regard the Passover as being representative of His mediatorial sufferings and death.
2. The Saviour led His followers to consider the Passover as originating an ordinance to be perpetuated for important purposes throughout all the ages of the Christian Church.
II. The words of the Saviour as they regard the events he taught his followers to anticipate,
1. An event of approaching” separation-“I will not henceforth drink of the fruit of the vine until” a certain period afterwards-named; He and His disciples were bound to part.
2. An event of ultimate re-union-“When I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”
3. All the followers of the Saviour shall be brought to “ the Father’s kingdom.”
4. The mediation of Jesus Christ, of which the Paschal rite is to be regarded as a:permanent and symbolical pledge, is of such a nature as to secure that all those who have possessed a personal interest in that mediatorial work shall be brought into a state of glorious redemption in the bright worlds which lie beyond the grave.
5. The followers of the Saviour shall possess unspeakable and everlasting joy. The drinking of wine indicates the fruition of all delight.
6. The pleasures which are to be enjoyed by the followers of the Saviour in the Father’s kingdom are especially to be regarded as associated with His presence. How pre-eminently in the New Testament is the presence of Christ set forth as constituting the happiness of the celestial world (John 12:26). Learn
(1) How vast and wonderful is the love of Christ to man.
(2) The vast importance of being numbered amongst the followers of Christ ourselves. (J. Parsons.)
The new covenant
I. The new covenant of forgiveness and life. On God’s side is pledged forgiveness, remission of sins, sustained acceptance. On man’s side is pledged the obedience of faith. Christ, as mediator for man, receives God’s pledge; and, as mediator for God, He receives man’s pledge. As representative for man, He offers to God the perfect obedience, and pledges us to a like obedience; as representative for God, He brings and gives to us forgiveness and life, pledging God therein.
II. The blood which seals the covenant. The blood represents the yielding or taking of life.
1. In surrendering His life, Christ sealed our pledge that we will give our life to God in all holy obedience.
2. In giving His blood, His life, for us, as it were, to eat, He gives us the strength to keep our pledge.
III. The wine that recalls to mind and renews the covenant. God does not need to be reminded of His pledge, but frail, forgetful, busy-minded man does. (Selected.)
Christ’s own account of His blood-shedding
I. Whose blood was this? “ My blood.” It is a man, who sits at that table with others, not an angel. But He is also the living God.
II. By whom was this blood shed?
1. Himself, to speak with deepest reverence. Jesus shed His own blood-was the offerer as well as the sacrifice. He freely laid down His life.
2. In some respects the principal party in this mysterious blood-shedding, even the holy loving Father, as it is written, “God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all; … This commandment have I received of My Father;” “The cup which My Father hath given Me.”
3. We, believers in Jesus. Our sins were the guilty cause.
III. To what end and issue was this blood-shedding? “For the remission of sins.” Our Lord singles out from all the benefits of redemption the remission of sins, not only because it is that which stands most intimately related to His blood-shedding, but because it is the foundation of all, carrying the others along with it by necessary consequence (Jeremiah 31:33-34). To what effect as well as design? A sure salvation for a great multitude whom no man can number. (C. J. Brown, D. D.)
Substitution
Let me mention here a circumstance in the last days of the distinguished Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst, who, at an extreme age, but in full possession of all his rare mental powers, was brought to know the Saviour. He said, “I never used to be able to understand what these good people meant when they spoke of so much blood, the blood. But I understand it now; it’s just substitution.” Ay, that it is, in one word, “substitution;” “My blood shed for many for the remission of sins;” Christ’s blood instead of ours; Christ’s death for our eternal death; Christ “made a curse, that we might be redeemed from the curse of the law.” Once, in conversation, my beloved friend, Dr. Duncan, expressed it thus in his terse way, “A religion of blood is God’s appointed religion for a sinner, for the wages of sin is death.” (C. J. Brown, D. D.)