WEEK 18

THE LORD’S SUPPER

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:53-54 ESV).

To ‘eat’ Jesus’ flesh has the spiritual meaning of trusting or believing in him, especially in his death for the sins of mankind. Similarly, to ‘drink his blood’ means to trust in his atoning death, which is represented by the shedding of his blood. The receiving of eternal life through being united with ‘the Son of Man’ is represented in the Lord’s Supper.¹

Jesus himself is the origin of the Lord’s Supper. He commanded that it be continued. And he is the focus and content of it. The Lord’s Supper is to focus the mind on Jesus and especially his historical work in dying for our sins. As we do the physical act of eating and drinking, we are to do the mental act of remembering.²

“The power to excite remembrance consists in the appeal made to the senses. Here the eye, the hand, the mouth, find joyful work, and thus the senses, which are usually clogs to the soul, become wings to lift the mind in contemplation.”³

Jesus, who knew our forgetfulness, appointed this festival. Only as it assists remembrance can it be useful. [W]e need that there be a set sign and form to incarnate the spiritual and make it vivid to the mind. [I]t behooves us to keep the name of our Lord engraven on our hearts.⁴

Christ Himself has appointed this institution and selected for us the part of His mission which He considers the vital and all-important centre—‘This is My body, broken for you. This is the new covenant in My blood, shed for the remission of sins.’ Not His words, not His loving deeds, not His tenderness, does He point us to; but to His violent death, as if He said, ‘There is the thing that is to touch hearts and change lives, and bind men to Me.’ The part of it which most concerns us to remember was this: ‘that He died for our sins, according to the Scriptures.’⁵

“Know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2 ESV).

“Our obligation duty, and interest all combine to enforce obedience to this last, solemn, and dying command of Christ.”⁶

“There is no other religion whose believers can look back to a founder who was content to say, ‘Be true to My memory. That is all I command. Let your most solemn worship embody the expression of this remembrance.’”⁷

ENDNOTES

(18) CHRIST Inside of Me

            1. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2035.

            2. John Piper, “Why and How we Celebrate the Lord’s Supper,” 13 August 2006, desiringGod, 11 February 2021 https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/why-and-how-we-celebrate-the-lords-supper.

            3. Charles Spurgeon, “Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:24,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/1-corinthians/11-24.html#verse-tbi.

            4. Spurgeon.

            5. A. Maclearen, “Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:24,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/1-corinthians/11-24.html#verse-tbi.

            6. N. Meeres, “Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:24,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/1-corinthians/11-24.html#verse-tbi.

            7. R.H. Story, “Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:24,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/1-corinthians/11-24.html#verse-tbi.

            8. Don Fleming, “Lord’s Supper,” 2004, Bridgeway Bible Dictionary, 11 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/bbd/l/lords-supper.html.