Institution of the Lord’s Supper.
Matt. 26:26-2826And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 27And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 28For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Matthew 26:26‑28).
WE have already seen the blessed Lord sitting with His disciples at the last passover supper. The roasted lamb which was lying on the table was just a type of Himself as the One who was about to be slain, and who was to come under the terrible fire of God’s judgment against sin. And yet in the face of all this Jesus could say, “With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I stiffer.” Oh! how this tells of His rove to us. He was about to suffer death, and after His resurrection, He was going to be taken from them. Rejected and slain, He would rise again from the dead, and go back to haven, to prepare a place there for them so that He could have them with Him in a scene where no enemy could ever disturb them.
But His disciples would be left alone in the world until His coming again to witness for Him in the scene of His rejection. And He desired that they should not forget Him during His absence. He would have them remember Him who loved them unto death, and who shed His precious blood for them, that they might have the remission of their sins. And in order that this might be kept continually before their minds He instituted what is called the Lord’s Supper.
When they were sitting at the passover supper, after that supper was over, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and gave thanks for it, and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Then He took a cup of wine, the fruit of the vine, and gave thanks for it also, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” In Luke 22:1919And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. (Luke 22:19), the Lord adds the words, “This do in remembrance of me.” And in 1 Cor. 11, where the apostle Paul tells us what he received from the Lord concerning the supper, we have the words, “This do in remembrance of me,” given both in connection with the eating of the loaf and the drinking of the cup. Thus the Lord’s Supper is a memorial of Christ and His dying love, just as the passover was a memorial of that solemn night when the Lord passed over the houses where the blood of the little lamb had been sprinkled on the door posts and on the lintel over the door.
There are two things of which we partake at the Lord’s Supper; one is the loaf, and the other is the cup. I wonder how many of my little readers can tell what the loaf represents, and what the cup represents. Well, Jesus says of the loaf, “This is my body,” and of the cup, He says, “This is my blood.” The loaf points to His body which was nailed to the tree, and the cup points to His blood which was shed from that body. When the blood is separated from the body, the person is dead. And so the loaf and the wine in the cup being separated, it points to the death of Christ. And so when we eat the bread and drink the wine, we remember Jesus as the One who died for us.
How many of my readers have ever thus remembered the Lord Jesus? Has Jesus saved you, and do you love Him? And do you not long to make glad His heart by partaking of that loaf, and drinking of that cup, in response to His word, “This do, in remembrance of Me?” It is the privilege of all who are saved, and who approve themselves by a holy walk.
ML 01/14/1906