| When we partake of the Lord’s supper, as every true believer in Christ is privileged to do, it presents to us a backward look at “the Lord’s death” and a forward look for His appearing, for we “eat this bread, and drink this cup … till He come.” It also gives us an inward look, for “let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.” There is nothing either miraculous or mysterious about the Lord’s supper. It “shows,” that is, by it we “declare,” we “preach,” we “speak of” His “death till He come.” It is a simple continuation of what our Lord did on the night before the cross, when He “took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is My body. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, 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.” We take the Lord’s supper, not because it has merit, but because we love Him who said, “This do in remembrance of Me.” We look back and remember that “the Son of God … loved me, and gave Himself for me,” we look ahead to the time when “we shall see Him as He is,” and we look into our hearts and pray, “Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.” |
