The Lords Supper

 
What is the meaning and purpose of the Lord’s Supper?
NOTES ON THE LORD’S SUPPER

There are two commands given by Jesus Christ to the Church, both of which are teaching tools that represent spiritual truths symbolically, the Lord’s Supper is one of them.
Matthew 26:26— “ 26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to His disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.”
Jesus had used this theme of bread symbolising His flesh in an earlier moment to teach the gospel:
John 6:48-58—”48 “ I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.“ 52 Then
By: Yedidiah Tilahun
the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent Me and who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
Christ first explains that He is the fulfilment of the picture of the manna. In Exodus 16, the Israelites are wandering in the wilderness and do so until they reach the Promised Land. At this point, God begins a form of provision that lasts for the whole of their jour

Biblical Perspectives
What is the meaning and purpose of the Lord’s Supper?
NOTES ON THE LORD’S SUPPER

ney, which is manna. This is bread that would supernaturally come from heaven to the earth, as nutrition and sustenance for the Israelites to survive in the wilderness. We, the believers of today, are reflected in this imagery. The wilderness represents this earth, whilst the Promised Land is the Kingdom of God to come. The manna coming from Heaven supernaturally which we receive to sustain and enable us to reach the Promised Land is the Bread of Life, Christ Himself. He explains how He is the true fulfilment, because those who receive Him will not die but have eternal life and enter into the Kingdom of God. Furthermore, Christ explains that this bread is His flesh, and that we must consume it. To understand this, we must refer to: Leviticus 17:11—”11 For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.” The context of this verse is about sacrifi ces that Israelites were to bring before the altar, as an offering to the LORD. Thus, in using this language of referring to consumption of His flesh and blood, Christ is explaining
that He is to be regarded as a sacrifice.
Romans 6:23— “23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The wages of sin is death, means that judgement is required for sin, which is why God allowed for sacrifices as atonement for sin. The word “atonement” means the animals that were sacrificed took the place of the sins of the people. But, Jesus explains in John 6:49, that despite all these sacrifices the people would still die eventually. Since, the animals could never completely, wholly, perfectly justify an individual and remove all their sins. Therefore, God provided the ultimate sacrifice in Jesus, who lived a sinless, perfect and righteous life, a lamb without defect. So when He was sacrificed in our place on the cross, He paid it all.
Romans 3:25-26— “25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand
Jesus associated the wine of the third cup with His blood and New Covenant. He is saying, He has to shed His blood, meaning, die on the cross, to fulfill the promise of salvation. As He took our sins and paid our debt, we are covered by His sinless blood, His righteousness, and so we are redeemed. Therefore, since He had no sins of His own to pay for but then took upon Himself all
unpunished— 26 He did it to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
Thus, we learn that by taking the bread as part of the Lord’s Supper, we declare that we trust and believe in the promise of God that the sacrifice of Christ cleanses us from all of our sins and covers us in His righteousness — that He is a sufficient atonement.
Matthew 26:27— “ 27 Then He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.”
In the Seder ceremony of the Passover, four cups of wine are to be drunk. These are significant to the four sayings of deliverance by God in Exodus 6:6-7, wherein God says, “I will bring out”, “I will free”, “I will redeem”, and “I will take”. So, in this passage of the Passover with Jesus and the disciples, we see Him take a cup and refuse to drink from it but rather pass it on to the disciples. We understand that this cup is the third cup, since at this moment Jesus also breaks the unleavened bread and gives thanks for it. This is normally done after the second cup is drunk, referred to as the Shulcan Orech part of the Passover ceremony. By taking the third cup (the cup of Redemption) Jesus taught that His death on the cross would bring redemption:
Matthew 26:28 — “ 28 This is My blood of the [new] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

of our sins, the cup of Redemption is not to be passed around to Christ for Him to drink from.
1 Corinthians 11:26— “ 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”
Paul mentions “the cup” in reference to the third cup of the Passover that was passed on by Jesus to the other disciples. The con
tinued observance of the Lord’s Supper in the Church is a sort of “replaying” of this moment in Matthew. The believer’s participation in this observance is a proclamation and reminder to ourselves that we are waiting for the return of our Lord and the time when we will drink of the fourth cup of wine with Him in the Kingdom.
Matthew 26:29— “29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”
Christ promises that the Passover will be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God – Thus, we see that the Lord’s Supper has been set as a continually practiced observance till the establishing of the Kingdom of God. Then, in our Lord’s Second Coming and His Kingdom’s inauguration, a banquet with His people and the King will be prepared, where we will feast together and there drink the fourth cup of wine, the cup of Praise (or Restoration).
Isaiah 25:6-8— “ 6 The Lord who commands armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain. At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine—tender meat and choicest wine. 7 On this mountain He will swallow up the shroud that is over all the peoples, the woven covering that is over all the nations; 8 He will swallow up death permanently. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from every face, and remove His people’s disgrace from all the earth. Indeed, the Lord has announced it!