20230611 Matthew 26:26 Take, Eat - The Meaning of the Lord’s Supper
This is a topical study of the Lord’s Supper. Paul calls circumcision a “sign and seal” in Rom 4:11. As a sign, circumcision represents the invisible reality of God’s covenant with Abraham. As a seal, the Holy Spirit assures Abraham of his righteousness by faith and future descendants, who will bless all the families of the earth. My goal is that after exploring some OT background and NT Lord’s Supper passages, we will enjoy celebrating the Lord’s Supper in a deeper way, as a sign and seal of God’s New Covenant promises for the strengthening of our faith.
The people of Israel were slaves in Egypt for 400 years (Exod 12:40). God used 10 plagues to rescue his people. The tenth plague was the death of the firstborn. The Lord instructed his people to avoid this plague. They slaughtered lambs. They placed the lamb’s blood around the door of the house in which they ate the lamb (Exod 12:7). As God passed through the land, he killed all the firstborns of man and beast. God spared the firstborns in the houses with blood by passing over them. According to Exod 12:8, 10, they ate the lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They wore belts and sandals, held their staff, and ate quickly. This meal is a sign. The lamb they were eating represented the death that saved the firstborn’s life. The way they ate symbolized the speedy departure from Egypt from slavery. The meal is also a seal. The meal was nothing magical. Yet only those who were at the meal benefitted from what the meal represented. In Exod 12:24-27, the Lord commands the Israelites to observe the Passover meal yearly. To the next generations, the meal was a sign. It was a teaching tool to teach children about God’s salvation from Egypt. It was also a seal even generations later. Those who celebrated the Passover meal benefitted from God’s Passover. They, too, were enjoying freedom from slavery. So, the Passover meal is a sign and seal of God’s promised deliverance. It represents deliverance. Those who partake enjoy God’s deliverance.
Following the Exodus, the people arrive at Mount Sinai. God makes a covenant with Israel. The covenant establishes the relationship between the savior God and his people. God gives laws to live in a relationship with him. (First saved then given laws). The people promise to keep those commands (Exod 24:3,7). They offer sacrifices (Exod 24:5). Moses takes blood. He throws it at the people and says, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words” (Exod 24:8). Moses, three priests, and the seventy elders of Israel, then enjoy a meal with God. According to Exod 24:11, “they beheld God, and ate and drank.” The meal represents the covenantal relationship. The people's representatives enjoyed a meal with God. This meal confirmed the people's relationship with God.
To feed the 5000, Jesus took bread, blessed, broke, and gave (Matt 14:19). Note the 4 verbs. In John 6, Jesus uses this miracle to teach about the food the world really needs. He said in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” And in John 6:54-56, “54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”.
At the last supper, Jesus celebrates the Passover with his disciples. Jesus took bread, blessed, broke, and gave it (Matt 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:17). Note again the four verbs. Then Jesus said, “Take, eat, this is my body, given for you” He called the wine, “my blood of the covenant,” in reference to Exod 24:8. It is poured out “for many” refers to the sacrificial death of the servant in Isa 53:11-12. “For the forgiveness of sins” refers to the New Covenant in Jer 31:34.
In Luke 24, on the road to Emmaus, after the resurrection, Jesus walks with two disciples. “Their eyes were kept from recognizing him” (Luke 24:16). When they arrive at their village, they invite Jesus to eat with them. At the table, Jesus took bread and blessed, broke, and gave it to them. Following these four actions, their eyes were opened (Luke 24:30-31). They recognized Jesus. Luke 24:35 says that Jesus was known to them “in the breaking of the bread.”
1 Corinthians 10-11 teaches on the Lord’s Supper passages. 1 Cor 10:1-22 warns the Lord’s Supper is not a magical meal to protect from God’s judgment. It is a sign for all, but only those who have faith in Christ benefit from what the sign represents. Paul says in 1 Cor 10:16-17, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” Believers enjoy union with Christ and with one another. 1 Cor 11:26 “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” 1 Cor 11:27 “Whoever, therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.” We must come to the Lord’s Table with care.
The Lord’s Supper is a seal. As a seal, the Lord’s supper is more than a symbol, a religious tradition, or a command. The bread and wine are more than signs. The bread remains bread. The wine remains wine. The acts of eating bread and drinking wine do not in themselves do anything. Yet, Christians benefit from the Lord’s Supper. We hear the words of institution. We see the minister take, bless, break, and distribute the bread. We eat the bread and drink the wine. The Holy Spirit reminds us that we belong to Christ. He confirms that we possess what the signs represent, the blessings of the New Covenant.
The Lord's Supper strengthens us like hearing the gospel strengthens us. Faith comes from hearing the gospel. The Christian keeps living by faith. We grow in our faith when we hear the gospel, read the Bible, attend a gospel-preaching church, pray, and enjoy meaningful Christian fellowship. What a sermon does with words, the Lord’s Supper does audibly and visibly. The disciples on the road to Emmaus only recognized Jesus once he took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it. Jesus makes himself known in the bread. The bread remains bread, and the wine remains wine. Also, in a mysterious way, Jesus presents himself to us in this simple meal. At the Lord’s Table, we come to Jesus, we feast on Jesus, feed on Christ’s flesh, and drink his blood. The Lord’s Supper is a feast for our souls. Through the Lord’s Supper, the Lord stimulates our faith and transforms us by the gospel. Through this meal, we grow in love, mercy, and grace.
The following are the benefits that are ours, that the Holy Spirit confirms when we take the Lord’s Supper.
(1) We are set apart by God. Only those who have faith participate in the Lord’s Supper. In this way, the Lord’s Supper is an outward mark of belonging to Christ. Because 1 Corinthians 11 warns that partakers must discern the body. This means accepting that Christ’s body was broken, and his blood shed for the forgiveness of sins. The Lord’s Supper reminds us that God has transferred us out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of his beloved son. We remember that when Christ returns to judge the world, we will be kept from the wrath of God. For this reason, only believers participate.
(2) The meal assures us of eternal life. In John 6:53-54, Jesus said, “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. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life….”
(3) Jesus called his blood the blood of the New Covenant. The New Covenant promises the forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit, and regeneration.
(4) 1 Corinthians 10 teaches that at the Lord's Table, we participate in the body of Christ and in the blood of Christ. Communion is one of the names of the Lord’s Supper. One of the mysteries of the Christian life is that we are united with Christ. We benefit from Christ’s perfect life, his death, and his resurrection (c.f. John 6:56).
(5) Communion seals our union with other believers. 1 Cor 10 teaches that in eating from the same bread, we affirm the unity of the church. Through our common union with Christ, we are also united with one another. For this reason, we ask that you resolve conflicts with church members before coming to the table.
(6) Lastly, the Lord’s Supper seals the promise of the blessed hope of life after death. John 6 connects communion with the promise of eternal life and being raised on the last day. 1 Cor 11:26 we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. The Lord’s Supper anticipates a greater feast at Christ’s return. It is the marriage supper of the lamb (Rev 19:6-10) and a feast that will include believers from all over the world in Matt 8:11.
In the garden of Eden, Eve took and ate. Her sin led to utter chaos in the world, sin, and the wrath of God. Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke, and gave it. He said, “Take and eat” (Matt 26:26). It took the broken body of Christ and his shed blood to change the meaning of "take" and "eat." The first sin led to curses, sin, and death. At the Lord's Supper, taking and eating means we have blessing, forgiveness, and life. This is what we proclaim until Christ returns![i]
1 Signs and Seals (Gen 1-3; Exod 12; Exod 24)
Genesis 1-2 portrays eternal life. It is life as God intended it. Man enjoyed harmony with God, the woman, and creation. In Gen 2:16-17, God said, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” In Gen 3:2, the woman "saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.” Note the verbs, “take” and “eat.” In Gen 3:22, God says, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever.” So, the Lord sent them out of Eden. All we know about the tree of life is that it is the explicit reason God expels Adam and Eve from the garden. Having access to the tree meant the possibility of living forever. As a sign, it represented eternal life and living in God’s presence. It is a seal in that seeing it meant you were still in the garden and had a relationship with God. It represents and confirms. Out of the garden, this sign and seal of eternal life was no longer available.The people of Israel were slaves in Egypt for 400 years (Exod 12:40). God used 10 plagues to rescue his people. The tenth plague was the death of the firstborn. The Lord instructed his people to avoid this plague. They slaughtered lambs. They placed the lamb’s blood around the door of the house in which they ate the lamb (Exod 12:7). As God passed through the land, he killed all the firstborns of man and beast. God spared the firstborns in the houses with blood by passing over them. According to Exod 12:8, 10, they ate the lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They wore belts and sandals, held their staff, and ate quickly. This meal is a sign. The lamb they were eating represented the death that saved the firstborn’s life. The way they ate symbolized the speedy departure from Egypt from slavery. The meal is also a seal. The meal was nothing magical. Yet only those who were at the meal benefitted from what the meal represented. In Exod 12:24-27, the Lord commands the Israelites to observe the Passover meal yearly. To the next generations, the meal was a sign. It was a teaching tool to teach children about God’s salvation from Egypt. It was also a seal even generations later. Those who celebrated the Passover meal benefitted from God’s Passover. They, too, were enjoying freedom from slavery. So, the Passover meal is a sign and seal of God’s promised deliverance. It represents deliverance. Those who partake enjoy God’s deliverance.
Following the Exodus, the people arrive at Mount Sinai. God makes a covenant with Israel. The covenant establishes the relationship between the savior God and his people. God gives laws to live in a relationship with him. (First saved then given laws). The people promise to keep those commands (Exod 24:3,7). They offer sacrifices (Exod 24:5). Moses takes blood. He throws it at the people and says, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words” (Exod 24:8). Moses, three priests, and the seventy elders of Israel, then enjoy a meal with God. According to Exod 24:11, “they beheld God, and ate and drank.” The meal represents the covenantal relationship. The people's representatives enjoyed a meal with God. This meal confirmed the people's relationship with God.
2 The Lord’s Supper (Matt 14:19; John 6; Matt 26; Mark 14; Luke 22; Luke 24; 1 Cor 10-11)
To feed the 5000, Jesus took bread, blessed, broke, and gave (Matt 14:19). Note the 4 verbs. In John 6, Jesus uses this miracle to teach about the food the world really needs. He said in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” And in John 6:54-56, “54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”.
At the last supper, Jesus celebrates the Passover with his disciples. Jesus took bread, blessed, broke, and gave it (Matt 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:17). Note again the four verbs. Then Jesus said, “Take, eat, this is my body, given for you” He called the wine, “my blood of the covenant,” in reference to Exod 24:8. It is poured out “for many” refers to the sacrificial death of the servant in Isa 53:11-12. “For the forgiveness of sins” refers to the New Covenant in Jer 31:34.
In Luke 24, on the road to Emmaus, after the resurrection, Jesus walks with two disciples. “Their eyes were kept from recognizing him” (Luke 24:16). When they arrive at their village, they invite Jesus to eat with them. At the table, Jesus took bread and blessed, broke, and gave it to them. Following these four actions, their eyes were opened (Luke 24:30-31). They recognized Jesus. Luke 24:35 says that Jesus was known to them “in the breaking of the bread.”
1 Corinthians 10-11 teaches on the Lord’s Supper passages. 1 Cor 10:1-22 warns the Lord’s Supper is not a magical meal to protect from God’s judgment. It is a sign for all, but only those who have faith in Christ benefit from what the sign represents. Paul says in 1 Cor 10:16-17, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” Believers enjoy union with Christ and with one another. 1 Cor 11:26 “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” 1 Cor 11:27 “Whoever, therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.” We must come to the Lord’s Table with care.
3 The Lord’s Supper as a sign and Seal of the New Covenant Promises
The Lord’s Supper is a sign. John 6 and 1 Cor 10 teach that God provided manna in the wilderness to sustain the people of Israel. Now, in a greater way, Jesus is the bread of life! Jesus is the food who nourishes and sustains his people. At the Last Supper, Jesus gives a new meaning to the Passover meal. It becomes a picture of the gospel, the good news of a greater salvation. Jesus is the Passover lamb (1 Cor 5:7). The bread is Christ’s body given for us (Luke 22:19). The wine is Christ’s blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. The Lord’s Supper is a gospel presentation.The Lord’s Supper is a seal. As a seal, the Lord’s supper is more than a symbol, a religious tradition, or a command. The bread and wine are more than signs. The bread remains bread. The wine remains wine. The acts of eating bread and drinking wine do not in themselves do anything. Yet, Christians benefit from the Lord’s Supper. We hear the words of institution. We see the minister take, bless, break, and distribute the bread. We eat the bread and drink the wine. The Holy Spirit reminds us that we belong to Christ. He confirms that we possess what the signs represent, the blessings of the New Covenant.
The Lord's Supper strengthens us like hearing the gospel strengthens us. Faith comes from hearing the gospel. The Christian keeps living by faith. We grow in our faith when we hear the gospel, read the Bible, attend a gospel-preaching church, pray, and enjoy meaningful Christian fellowship. What a sermon does with words, the Lord’s Supper does audibly and visibly. The disciples on the road to Emmaus only recognized Jesus once he took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it. Jesus makes himself known in the bread. The bread remains bread, and the wine remains wine. Also, in a mysterious way, Jesus presents himself to us in this simple meal. At the Lord’s Table, we come to Jesus, we feast on Jesus, feed on Christ’s flesh, and drink his blood. The Lord’s Supper is a feast for our souls. Through the Lord’s Supper, the Lord stimulates our faith and transforms us by the gospel. Through this meal, we grow in love, mercy, and grace.
The following are the benefits that are ours, that the Holy Spirit confirms when we take the Lord’s Supper.
(1) We are set apart by God. Only those who have faith participate in the Lord’s Supper. In this way, the Lord’s Supper is an outward mark of belonging to Christ. Because 1 Corinthians 11 warns that partakers must discern the body. This means accepting that Christ’s body was broken, and his blood shed for the forgiveness of sins. The Lord’s Supper reminds us that God has transferred us out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of his beloved son. We remember that when Christ returns to judge the world, we will be kept from the wrath of God. For this reason, only believers participate.
(2) The meal assures us of eternal life. In John 6:53-54, Jesus said, “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. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life….”
(3) Jesus called his blood the blood of the New Covenant. The New Covenant promises the forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit, and regeneration.
(4) 1 Corinthians 10 teaches that at the Lord's Table, we participate in the body of Christ and in the blood of Christ. Communion is one of the names of the Lord’s Supper. One of the mysteries of the Christian life is that we are united with Christ. We benefit from Christ’s perfect life, his death, and his resurrection (c.f. John 6:56).
(5) Communion seals our union with other believers. 1 Cor 10 teaches that in eating from the same bread, we affirm the unity of the church. Through our common union with Christ, we are also united with one another. For this reason, we ask that you resolve conflicts with church members before coming to the table.
(6) Lastly, the Lord’s Supper seals the promise of the blessed hope of life after death. John 6 connects communion with the promise of eternal life and being raised on the last day. 1 Cor 11:26 we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. The Lord’s Supper anticipates a greater feast at Christ’s return. It is the marriage supper of the lamb (Rev 19:6-10) and a feast that will include believers from all over the world in Matt 8:11.
Conclusion
We become Christians by faith. Through the administration of the Lord’s Supper, people come to know Christ. The whole Christian life is by faith. Our struggles in this life are plentiful. We struggle with sin. We lack assurance of our salvation. It is possible for Christians to doubt the existence of God. We feel loneliness, anxiety, and despair. The frequent partaking in communion stirs up our faith. Christ makes himself known to us in the breaking of the bread. Communion reminds us of our identity. We are Holy. We have eternal life. We are forgiven sinners. We are united with Christ and united with one another. We are invited guests at a banquet at Christ’s return. Communion stirs up thankfulness within us so that we long to serve God.In the garden of Eden, Eve took and ate. Her sin led to utter chaos in the world, sin, and the wrath of God. Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke, and gave it. He said, “Take and eat” (Matt 26:26). It took the broken body of Christ and his shed blood to change the meaning of "take" and "eat." The first sin led to curses, sin, and death. At the Lord's Supper, taking and eating means we have blessing, forgiveness, and life. This is what we proclaim until Christ returns![i]
[i]
Kidner writes, “God will taste poverty and death before ‘take
and eat’ become verbs of salvation.” Derek Kidner, Genesis, TOTC
(Nottingham: Inter Varsity Press UK, 2008). Gen 3:6.
Comments
Post a Comment