MAT 18:20We will now look at the supper as seen in I Cor. 11:20-34. It was a distressing state into which the assembly at Corinth had fallen. Sects had begun among them, and those who did not join in this, marked the difference (Verse 19). Their behavior was such that it took away the true character of the Lord's supper. They did not all take it at one time. Some had a feast of their own as well, so that one was hungry, and another was drunken. It was as if they despised the assembly of God. The apostle could not praise them for such behavior, though he had praised them for heeding other instructions he had given to them (Verse 2). All this was allowed to happen that they might have the truth, and the Lord 's supper might be set in its true place before us.
Verse 23. Paul gives it to us as a message he had received from the Lord in glory, and now delivers it to them. He was not present when it was instituted, nor did he get it from any who were there. In getting it direct from heaven, it gives it to us in such a way that it claims our heart's attention, and gives us to see its importance in the Lord's mind for us. The Lord tells him of that night of His betrayal, and with all that sorrow before Him, how He thought of our need of having brought before us the story of His sufferings and death. It was communion of the gathered saints in Chapter 10. Here it is individual remembrance, meant to touch the heart, and bring before it the love of Christ who gave Himself for us.
So the bread comes first. The Lord took bread (a whole loaf in Chapter 10), and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, "This is My body which is for you: this do in remembrance of Me." In like manner also the cup, after having supped, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood: this do, as oft as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of Me." Chapter 11:24, 25. N. T.
How all this is meant to, claim our hearts' affections, and to make the Lord's supper a means of drawing our hearts out to Him afresh; and His word, "This do in remembrance of Me," linking our hearts with His, we think of His wondrous love that gave Himself for us. We think of how He glorified God in His death. We think of what was needed to put away our sins, and to meet the claims of God. It is a remembrance of Him, not as He is now alive in glory; we know Him there: and we have His presence now in our midst here. It is what He did on the cross, and how He was forsaken of God,' and that His precious blood was shed,-the witness that atonement was accomplished. So if the truth in 10:16, 17, tells of our fitness to be at the Table, Chapter 11 speaks of what we enjoy in the supper, and He also receives our worship and adoring thanksgiving. Then the apostle adds, "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye show the Lord's death, till He come." "Till He come!" Does not that speak to us of how important it is to Him that we should be constant in our remembrance of Him? Should we make a religious ceremony of what is so affecting? No, it is His dying request, and it speaks of how much or how little our hearts are taken up with Himself, and whether we go to meet Him there.
Verse 27. The apostle warns them of the danger of not connecting the eating and drinking of these symbols with thoughts Of His death, This is eating and drinking in an unworthy manner. We are worthy, because we are believers. There is no thought of unconverted ones partaking of the Lord's supper in this chapter, but of believers getting cold and careless, and not esteeming the privilege of being in His presence, and getting into formality. This is what is before the mind of the Spirit here, and thus, partaking of it, they would be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Notice again in Chapter 10, it was the blood of Christ, and the body of Christ. Here it is the body and blood of the Lord.
Verse 28 is important. "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat." It does not say, "So let him stay away." No, the Lord gives us no excuse to stay away, but ever encourages us to come into His presence.
Verses 29, 30, tell of God's discipline upon saints who had so misbehaved, "Damnation" should read "judgment," but it is only in this life, for these are believers, and it is stated in Verse 38 that they are chastened of the Lord that they should not be condemned with the' world. The world will be condemned forever; the believer is chastened now in this scene,some are sick, even to death of the body. If we would judge ourselves, the Lord would not need to do it.
Verses 33, 34, now give instructions that since the apostle wrote, there is to be a time most convenient for all to meet together, and all are to observe the supper together. They are not to connect it with any other meeting, lest its importance and solemnity should be interfered with. This is the most important meeting of all, for the two or three gathered to the Name of the Lord. We are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is. We are to show the Lord's death till He come. There are other meetings shown us in Scripture; meetings for prayer; meetings to read the Word; meetings for ministry. All are needed in their place, and the Lord is with us in them all; but the Lord's supper, to remember Him, is of the greatest importance for His glory and our blessing.
The Word of God guides us, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, how to wait on the Lord, and is as sufficient for the meetings, as for the man of God. (2 Tim. 3:16, 17.) The guidance given to the assembly at its beginning, is still available for the behavior of the remnant, the poor little two or three who are left gathered to His Name, and surely that is where all the members of the body of Christ should be found. Indeed, the Lord has not two or more different paths for His believers to walk in. The Name of the Lord Jesus is our gathering point for earth, as well as when we are in heaven. There all will be gathered round Himself, and with one heart and one voice, shall praise the Lamb, and sing, "Thou art worthy.”
The blessed Lord can, by His Spirit, give us a little foretaste of that now. We find in Heb. 10:19, these words, "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He bath consecrated for us (all the redeemed), through the veil, that is to say, His flesh; and having an High Priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith." And there, "By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name," (Heb. 13:15.)
This is our heavenly altar, where the redeemed can worship the Father in spirit and in truth now. What a loss men's arrangements -and forms have been and are to God, depriving Him of the worship of His saints, and depriving His saints of their privilege of so worshipping. "The coming of the Lord draweth nigh." Soon our longings may be realized and then as never here, the one song shall fill each heart.
"Praise the Lamb!" the chorus waking,
All in heaven together throng;
Loud and far each tongue partaking
Rolls around the endless song.
Grateful incense this, ascending
Ever to the Father's throne;
Every knee to Jesus bending,
All the mind in heaven is one.
(Continued from page 298)