1)“Jesus took the bread...broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat” (Matt. 26:26); “This is My body which is given for you; do this unto the remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19); “And taking the cup...He gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant” (Matt. 26:27-28); “...which is being poured out for you” (Luke 22:20); “This do, as often as you drink it, unto the remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:24-25).
Although the center of the breaking of bread is to remember the Lord, such remembrance is not merely to reflect on the Lord and all that He has done for us, but even more to enjoy the Lord and all that He has accomplished for us. The Lord said that our eating His bread and drinking His cup is our remembrance of Him. His bread and His cup signify His body and His blood. Thus, to eat His bread and drink His cup are to eat His body and drink His blood. The Lord’s body and His blood are He Himself given for us and the means by which He accomplished all things for us. Furthermore, to eat and to drink are not only to receive but also to enjoy. When we eat the Lord’s body and drink His blood, we not only receive but also enjoy the Lord Himself and all that He has accomplished for us by giving His body and shedding His blood. To receive and enjoy the Lord in this way is to remember Him. It is when we thus eat, drink, and enjoy the Lord that we truly remember Him. This is the profound meaning of eating the Lord’s supper.
Our eating, drinking, and enjoying the Lord at His supper are also our declaration and testimony. Our declaration is that we are joined to the Lord and are mingled with Him, just as the bread becomes mingled with us after being received into our body. Our testimony is that we live by eating, drinking, and enjoying the Lord, taking Him as our life every day. When we break bread to eat and drink the Lord, we declare that the Lord, by giving His body and shedding His blood, has come into us to be joined to us. We also testify that, by receiving the body the Lord gave for us and the blood He shed for us, we have partaken of Him and all that He has accomplished for us, we have been joined to Him, and we live by Him as our life and our life supply. This is our declaration as well as our testimony when we break bread.
1)“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you declare the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Cor. 11:26).
The word “declare” in this verse has the meaning of showing and displaying. Whenever we eat the Lord’s bread and drink His cup, we simultaneously remember the Lord and display His death. We remember the Lord, not His death. But while we are remembering the Lord, we display the Lord’s death for ourselves, the angels, and all things to see. When we remember the Lord, the bread and the cup are displayed separately on the table. The bread refers to the Lord’s body and the cup to His blood. Since the separation of the body and the blood signifies death, death is thus displayed. This is how we display the Lord’s death when we break bread to remember Him.
The Scripture quoted here says that we should remember the Lord and display His death until He comes. This implies that when we break bread to remember the Lord and to display His death, at the same time we are waiting for His coming. This shows that we should display the Lord’s death and thus remember Him in the spirit and atmosphere of waiting for His coming.
Home | First | Prev | Next