The Lord's supper is to be eaten as a memorial, or remembrance, of Christ. This is His own interpretation of it. The bread was symbolically His body, the cup His blood, accomplishing the remission of sins. To eat and to drink of this feast was to express participation in the virtues of His sacrifice (1 Cor. 10:1818Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? (1 Corinthians 10:18)), and it was thus eaten in remembrance of Christ, in token of the soul's fellowship with what His sacrifice had accomplished for sinners. It was therefore to be eaten simply with thanksgiving. The remembrance of what the sacrifice of Christ had accomplished would properly be accompanied with nothing else. No supplication would be needed, because it is a finished work. The table records a full remission.
To pray for the forgiveness of sins would be discordant with the atmosphere of the table. It might be quite unintended, yet really a reproach upon the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. It would be building again the things which Christ had destroyed, and, in the language and sense of Galatians 2, making Him the minister of sin, making His blood like the blood of bulls and goats, only the remembrance and not the remission of sins.
But to surround the table with thanksgiving, to there praise Him for redemption, this would be realizing the work of the Lamb of God which the feast sets forth; and, accordingly, it is always as thus accomplished that the Scripture presents it to us. Jesus, on taking the bread and the cup, gave thanks (Matt. 26; Mark 14; Luke 22). He did nothing else.
The Lord's blessing and giving thanks are, to all moral intents, in the same sense, and in the like mind as the Apostle who calls it the cup of blessing, which we bless-the cup at the taking of which we bless or speak well of the Lord-because by that cup, or by the death and blood-shedding of Jesus which it sets forth, He has rightly entitled Himself to praise, or to hear Himself well spoken of. Again, Paul speaking of it says that when the Lord parted the bread and cup among His disciples, He simply gave thanks (1 Cor. 11:23-2623For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. (1 Corinthians 11:23‑26)).
It may be accompanied with the confession of sin, because it implies our utter death in trespasses and sins, and therefore that would not be in discordance with the supper.
But still we do not find this attended to in any of the passages that refer to the supper, but in them it takes the simple form of a season of thanksgiving for the remission of sins. It tells us, not like the blood of bulls and goats, that sin is remembered, but that it is remitted. This is its peculiar characteristic tone. To give thanks in company with it is harmony; to pray about our sin is discordant.
The service of self-judgment or self-examination, however, may well precede this feast, because we are by the remission of our sins called to holiness, just as of old the feast of unleavened bread accompanied the Passover. And as the Israelites celebrated the redemption from Egypt, they also searched the house for leaven (always used in Scripture as a type of evil) that they might put away all that offended Him who had redeemed them. This is most fitting, and indeed without this, the Passover was not kept.
So with us, if we do not walk in a self-judging spirit, we do not discern the Lord's body; in other words, I believe we do not keep the feast of the Lord aright if we are not honestly and holly searching for and removing all that would grieve the Lord (1 Cor. 5; 6).
This is in as full harmony with the table as thanksgiving is, and the cleansing out of the leaven should be done both from the congregation (1 Cor. 5) and from our individual selves (1 Cor. 11:2828But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. (1 Corinthians 11:28)). For we are one in our standing, an unleavened lump, and so should we be in our desires and diligence of soul, for the Lord's supper shows forth the Lord's death till He come.
The death of Jesus had this twofold sense: it published remission of sins and all God's hatred of sin and it released the sinner and condemned the sin. The Lord's supper eaten, both with thanksgiving and in the spirit of self-judgment, will be in accordance with this.
It is to be a Passover in truth, with a feast of unleavened bread, and therefore there is to be the expression of conscious redemption from Egypt, the place of death and scene of judgment; this is thanksgiving. Such I believe to be the simple character which the Scripture puts on the supper of the Lord.
Human religiousness has attached many and various additions to it, but the Word of God reproves them.
There is no warrant for consecrating the elements or separating them by process to the service of the Lord's table.
The bread and the wine are laid on the table as bread and wine, broken and poured out to represent the broken body and blood of Jesus; no form or process is needful, however, to give them title to lie on the table for this use.
Neither, do I judge, have we warrant for asking God to bless us in the observing of this service, simply because it is our worship, or setting forth of His praise, rather than a waiting upon Him for some benefit to ourselves, either in soul or body. We bless Him in this act, rather than ask Him to bless us; we speak good of His name in it by setting forth the memorial of what He has done, and do not supplicate Him to bless us or to speak good to us by conferring some fresh favor upon us.
I believe, if the Word of God were very simply attended to in this matter, this beautiful service would be relieved of much that religiously encumbers it, and the table would give forth no uncertain sound.
Supplication about it, moreover, is utterly discordant with the service of this table; confession of sin might be made, but there would be no felt need of it on a collective basis; consecration of the elements would be altogether refused; seeking a blessing would not be thought of by the worshippers, but our blessing Him because we are blessed.
These common things would be laid aside, and the service would be an act of worship, giving the Lord the honor due unto His name in this age, until He comes again to gather fresh homage from the lips of His countless redeemed ones.
It is this service or worship primarily that ought to gather us to His name every first, or resurrection, day; afterward things may be there given us of the Lord, such as the word of exhortation or of teaching, or the voice and spirit of supplication.
But first and foremost, we should assemble at the Lord's table (which publishes through the riches of His grace the remission of our sins) to praise Him.
This is entering His house, duly entering it, with praise, because He has already blessed us; it is entering it in the spirit of conscious victory over our enemies, tearing asunder all bonds, and silencing every tongue that would charge or condemn us.
It would be entering His house in a way worthy of that house, where mercy has rejoiced against judgment, where the sword of the destroying angel has been gloriously stayed and where, therefore, the spirit of the worshipper says as he enters, "In the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord." Psalm 27:5, 65For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. 6And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord. (Psalm 27:5‑6).
May His courts be thus entered in spirit now, for the bread and cup are there, and the veil is gone.