THE MEMORIAL OF THE LORD'S DEATH.
Let us now enter on a subject so near to our Savior's heart, and to the hearts of His dearly beloved and dearly bought ones. It is in itself the expression of the One body of Him, Who gave Himself for us, not merely that we should be one of many saved individuals (however countless the number may be), but that all the redeemed units should be united into one, even the One body of Christ.
Before our Savior suffered and died for us, it was His last desire in that upper chamber, where He for the last time was about to eat the passover with them, to explain to them the true meaning of it, be it as to the new covenant of the millennial kingdom, or as to Himself above all, the true Paschal Lamb Whose body was now to be given, and His blood to be shed for them—even the blood of the new covenant, which alone could secure and disclose for Israel those earthly blessings of the millennial kingdom, and infinitely higher blessings for us.
And when He after His victorious death on the cross and resurrection had ascended to heaven and taken His seat at the right hand of God, as the glorious Head of His body, the church, it was again His plain concern (after having from glory called Saul to be His apostle of glory and of the church and of the mysteries now revealed) to give to Paul an especial revelation and instruction for the church concerning the memorial of His love (1 Cor. 11).
Indeed no brighter, no more blissful, place could the imperishable love of our adored Lord and Savior have provided for His own, amidst a world full of daily increasing darkness and opposition to all that is divine, than this memorial feast of His love. Here it is that the family of His redeemed on the day of His resurrection, the first day of a new week) take their place, shutting the door upon everything around and within, to remember Him, Whose love, which was strong as death, all the waters of death beneath and around Him could not extinguish, nor the fiery billows of divine wrath consume, as it rolled over the One forsaken of God. Here it is that our souls feast upon Himself, whilst we muse upon Him and His cross, and our hearts dwell on Him Who is altogether lovely, whilst we partake of the memorial of His sufferings and death, showing His death in the breaking of bread and drinking of the cup of blessing “till He come.”
What would a family be without the family table? There its members assemble to realize, whilst partaking of the common meal, their near and dear relationship one to another and to the presiding parent. If there be anything amiss in the family, it is sure to be felt at the family table. How much more at the Lord's table, where the redeemed are not only as the members of a family, but as members of one body under one glorified Head, the tie of union being closer still!
Let us turn, for a few moments, to that solemn night, in which our blessed Savior bequeathed to His apostles and to us the precious legacy of His love.
Oh what tones of perfect love, grace, patience, goodness, and wisdom were heard that night, the atmosphere of which was saturated with the leaven of Satan's and men's wickedness! May that night more constantly be present to our consciences and to the memory of our hearts! Then indeed, when sitting down at the table then prepared for us by our Good Shepherd, we shall better understand the meaning of His tender dying injunction,” THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.”
THE NIGHT OF THE INSTITUTION OF THE LORD'S SUPPER
It was the darkest of all nights—a night the like of which had never been on this earth, nor ever will be again. It was that night when Judas went out to betray his Master with a kiss for the price of thirty pieces of silver. The Holy Spirit Himself distinguishes that night from all the dark and terrible nights that had been in this world before, by those words, “AND IT WAS NIGHT.”
And He Himself Who then and there was so shamefully betrayed, after He had ascended to heaven, surrounded by the light of glory, remembered that night, when He by special revelation reminded His apostle and all His own of it with those words, “THE NIGHT IN WHICH HE WAS BETRAYED,” thus confirming from glory the solemn comment of the Holy Ghost, “And it was night.”
What a moment when Jesus sat down with His apostles, to eat the last Passover with them before He died!
Richer blood had to be shed now—the blood of the Lamb of God—to procure for them and for us the blessings founded upon it; for them on earth, and for us in heavenly glory. Before Him the roast lamb was placed on the table, of which He Himself was the blessed anti-type. What was the train of His thoughts when the Holy Lamb of God looked at the type before Him? Was it His own sufferings? Yes, but in what way? “With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.”
The One who sat at the table with the twelve was the same Who made the world. Before the foundations of the earth were appointed, He was His Father's daily delight, and His delights were with the sons of men. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” “Behold I and the children which God has given me.” That which now engrossed His mind and heart was, not the anticipation of His sufferings (the hour of Gethsemane had not yet come), but those for whom He was about to suffer and to die. It was not the travail of His soul, but those that were to be the fruit of it, all whom the Father had given Him out of this world, whom He was going to redeem by His blood. They and we, fellow-believer, filled the foreground of His mind and heart before He suffered. And they—we—are the first of whom He thinks and speaks, after He had been “heard from the horns of the unicorns.” “I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.” “Go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.”
And did not Jesus know what manner of men they were, for whom He was going to suffer? As to “that nation” for whom He was to die, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”
The Son of God, the King of Israel, Who saw Nathanael when he was under the fig tree, knew that in that very night the false shepherds of Israel were going to weigh out to his betrayer the price for a common slave, as their value of Jehovah, their Messiah. And as to His disciples, nay, His apostles, did He not know that one of them, who was eating His bread at that very table, had lifted up his heel against Him? And was He not aware that the chief of His apostles, whom He had entrusted with the keys of the kingdom of heaven, would in that night deny Him thrice? And knew He not that all His disciples, the one “whom He loved” and who was then leaning on His bosom, along with the rest, would forsake Him in the hour of deadly peril? He knew it, and He told them. He knew and foreknew every thought and movement of their treacherous, proud, deceitful, and inconstant hearts—and of ours. He knew it all and He felt it too, as only He, perfect God and perfect Man, could know and feel it. The words, “Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat,” only just preceded, “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and when thou art converted [or, hast returned back], strengthen thy brethren.”
Did His hand, in the perfect knowledge of all this, hesitate even for a moment to take the bread and break it, and likewise also the cup after supper? The words, “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you,” are followed by, “But, behold the hand of him that betrayeth me, is with me on the table. And truly, the Son of man goeth as it was determined; but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed.”
There was one present, upon whose conscience even such words had no effect. Judas Iscariot took the sop. Satan entered into him, and finally hardened him, and afterward drove him to despair. The others were alarmed. But what comes next? “And there was a strife amongst them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.”
Wretched hearts of ours that betray themselves even at such a table and at such a moment, in the very presence of Him, Who made Himself of no reputation, but humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross! But the purposes of the obedient Son could not be shaken by the treason and pride of men's rebellious hearts. When He came into the world, He said, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.” When in service on earth, it was, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work “; and at the end, in Gethsemane, it was again, “Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.” There was an “if” in Gethsemane; and if any “if” be admissible, surely this was. But it was immediately followed by “Nevertheless.” How far superior is His “nevertheless” even to that of His faithful servant Paul (Phil. 1:24)!
Such an obedience could not be turned from its path by the defection of His own all around. Nor could His purposes of divine love be shaken or modified by the wretched selfishness in the hearts of His disciples—or by ours, Christian reader? No, His obedience was as unswerving toward His Father, as His love was unchanging toward those whom the Father had given Him: His love had its motive in Himself Who is love, not in anything in us or in our hearts, which are the opposite of love—selfish. Not that we loved Him, but He loved us, and gave Himself for us.