“As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till He come” (1 Cor. 11:26).
How sweetly simple and yet how beautiful is the thing which the Lord Jesus desired of His people before He suffered, and how calculated it was to touch the hearts of all those who knew the value of His precious blood. It was at the supper of the Passover where He made the request, on the night in which He was betrayed.
He was eating with His disciples, when He took bread and gave thanks and brake it and gave it to them, saying, “Take, eat; this is My body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of Me.” “Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you” (1 Cor. 11:24; Luke 22:19-2019And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. 20Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. (Luke 22:19‑20)).
The Lord’s Departure
They had been with Him for some time, but now He was about to leave them for a little while. He did not wish to be forgotten by them, but would have His dying love kept continually before their souls, because His death would be to them everlasting life, as well as the foundation of every joy and blessing they would have, either in this world or in that which is to come. He knew what poor things they were and how prone they would be to forget. Therefore His desire was that they should remember Him in this simple way while He was absent from them.
How tender and loving this was; it was just like Him, and it shows also how very much He valued their affections. Though He was going back to His Father to enjoy the glory which He had with Him before this world was, yet this great desire that they should not forget Him seemed nearer to His heart than all beside (Luke 22:15-2015And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: 16For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 17And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: 18For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. 19And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. 20Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. (Luke 22:15‑20)). And how sweet it is to know that He is still the same and that it gives Him joy today to be remembered in this way by His loved ones down here. He knew it would add to their joy too, by keeping their hearts fresh and true to Himself, separate from the world.
The Commission From Heaven
Therefore He gave the same words to the Apostle Paul out of the glory, where He is now, as He said, “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: and 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. After 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. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till He come” (1 Cor. 11:23-26).
Now we know that the only place where Paul saw the Lord Jesus was up there. He was a bitter persecutor of both Him and His people for some time after the Lord died and rose again. He even sought prison and death for all them that called upon His name.
But after his conversion he was taken up into heaven, whether in the body or out of the body he could not tell. And there it was he saw things which it was impossible to utter, and there, no doubt, it was that he received of the Lord that which he delivered unto us.
The Lord gave the same unchanging request from the glory which He made with His people when He was here upon earth. We see how gladly the early Christians acted upon it; they met together on the first day of the week for this one object (Acts 20:77And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. (Acts 20:7)).
To Remember Him
They gave praise, worship and thanksgiving to God at the same time, as well as words of exhortation and comfort to each other. But the great object of their coming together was to break bread, and thus fulfill the dying request of their Lord and Master, without whose death there never could have been one bright ray before their souls, either here or in the countless ages of eternity.
The broken bread showed forth His body given for them, and they all ate of it; the poured-out wine showed forth His precious blood, and they all drank of it, according to His Word. They loved Him, and their great delight was thus to remember Him in the way He desired they should.
They met too as one family — not one above another, but as brethren, as well as members of the one body. The little child of yesterday had the privilege of remembering the Lord at His table, the same as those that had known and loved Him from the beginning. But, of course, these had grown up into Him, and thereby they were in a position to exhort and help those who were newly brought into the family. Still, the weakest and feeblest believer had his happy place there, the same as those who had known the joy of it for years.
The Lord’s Table
But it is very important to remember that it is the Lord’s table, and therefore only one table, whether it is here or in different parts of the world. Yet it is only one, because the body is one and the loaf is one. The Lordship of Christ must be owned, and nothing allowed which is not consistent with His holiness and love (1 Cor. 10:21).
No unconverted person should be at that table, whatever his standing in the world might be; it was only for those who loved Him — those who knew that they were washed from their sins in His own blood and whose delight and joy it was to remember Him and what He had done for them. And however great their weakness, yet they were able to say with Peter, “Thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love Thee” (John 21:1717He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. (John 21:17)).
None had a right to please themselves there or speak their own words or do their own will in anything. It is not only called the Lord’s table in Scripture, but it is also called the Lord’s supper and the Lord’s cup, which His people drink, the communion of the blood of Christ. It is the Lord’s death that they show forth, and it is the Lord’s day on which they do it. It is the Lord’s people alone who can do it, and it is His desire that they should do it till He come. It is altogether His, and His alone, and His holiness and glory must be maintained at all cost.
The Lord the Spirit
The Lord the Spirit also is there, not to intimidate, but to fill every heart with joy and gladness and to give foretastes of that coming day when they shall see Him who died for them and drink the new wine with Him in His Father’s kingdom (Matt. 26:2929But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. (Matthew 26:29)).
It is purely a family circle and a family feast; everyone belonging to that heavenly family should be there, and no other. For anyone to be at the Lord’s table who is living in sin is of all things the most sad, and the Lord will judge it sooner or later. In the church at Corinth many were weak and sickly, and many slept — taken away by death because of allowed evil (1 Cor. 11:29-33).
The Lord’s Coming
If God’s path for His people in Old Testament times was a path of separation, how much more it is so now, since the Lord Jesus has been rejected and crucified. He would therefore have His people very separate from evil at all times, with this blessed hope bright before their souls — the hope of His coming. Hence His desire is that they should thus show His death till He come. When they are remembering Him in death, He would have them at the same time be looking forward with joy to His coming again to receive them to Himself.
When God’s people come together to remember the Lord, they see the one loaf on the table and know that every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is represented by it, because they are one body. This is as true today as ever it was, though many of the members of that body are scattered hither and thither, connected with that with which God cannot be pleased. Still, it does not alter that which God has done according to the love of His own heart. It is He Himself who has given them that blessed position, and He will make it good in everlasting glory. That day will find them out, wherever they are; not one will be missing; the proceedings of the Father’s house would be stopped if one were absent, but this we know cannot be. Still, how sweet it is to enter into our blessed portion now and live in the enjoyment of it. By doing so, we also honor Him till He come.
H. Tuggy (adapted)