THE Lord Jesus, on the night of His betrayal, took bread and brake it and gave to His disciples, saying, “This do in remembrance of, me.” It was with the cross before Him, looming up with its untold horrors, that He thus expressed His will and desire. And surely the knowledge of this fact should enhance the importance of His wish in the eyes of each believer, and make its observance more binding upon the conscience; for if He could, under such circumstances, institute the feast and give directions to His own respecting it, the extreme value He Himself put upon it is manifest.
And after He had completed the work of redemption and ascended in a resurrection body into glory, being exalted to a seat at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, He did not think less of this simple act of breaking bread in remembrance of His death. Hence the apostle Paul received a special message relating thereto direct from the glory. This confirmed what He had given before His death, adding the further truth: “Ye do show the Lord’s death, till he come.” Thus there was no room left for Jewish Christians to boast that they only had received the command, nor for the Gentiles to plead the omission in excuse, for neglect. From this revelation we gather the time over which this observance extends its claim. Wherever one’s lot may be cast, as to time, between the Lord’s ascension and His return, His command has the same force, and is equally binding upon every believer. Yet in the presence of all this, many Christians are satisfied with remembering the Lord once a month; others once in three months; and one known to the writer only ate the Lord’s supper once in twelve years.
The plea of such is that, “the Lord gave no command as to how often.” This is true; for the Lord would have us count it a privilege rather than a duty—the outcome of hearts overflowing with gratitude, instead of the dry routine of formalism. Hence He left it to our love for Him. The early Christians, in the warmth of a first love, thought the first of every week not too often. Hence Luke mentions the disciples at Troas, as meeting together on that day. Further evidence as to this may be adduced from 1 Cor. 16:22Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. (1 Corinthians 16:2). On the first of the week, they were to lay by as the Lord had prospered them. No doubt they did this when they came together for breaking bread.
It is evident from the practice of apostolic Christians, that they reckoned it a privilege to remember their Lord, in obedience to His word, and should the believer think less of this blessed institution now? Has the Lord’s death less value in our eyes? Does not the contemplation of His vicarious work produce the same warmth of love and depth of devotion in our souls? If so, is every week too often to show our gratitude to Him in the manner He enjoins?
Besides, at the cross, sin is seen in its enormity as it can be viewed nowhere else. A sacrifice of less value than God’s Son could not satisfy His righteous claims against it. And that Son must, as the sin-bearer, be left alone, forsaken of God, in His time of greatest need! Surely the thought of this should cause a greater hatred against sin, and an ever increasing abhorrence of it. May this be the practical result of our remembrance of Him!
W.T. R.
Rev. 5:5, 65And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. 6And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. (Revelation 5:5‑6). — We are not told whether St. John experienced any surprise, when, after being directed to look upon the “Lion of the tribe of Judah,” he beheld a “Lamb as it had been slain.” Perhaps through our very familiarity with this majestic chapter, some of us may have failed to note the striking transfiguration. But is it not in exquisite harmony with all we read of our Lord Jesus—this marvelous blending of seeming opposites, so that, as one has said, we have “the meekness of the Lion of Judah and the wrath of the slain Lamb”? — R. B., jr.