Home | First | Prev | Next
  1. There are two minor aspects of the Lord's table meeting:
    1. To display the Lord's death—1 Cor. 11:26.
      1. First Corinthians 11:26 says, "You declare [show, display, proclaim, announce] the Lord's death."
      2. The Lord's supper is to display the death of the Lord, rather than to remember it.
        1. We remember the person of the Lord, but we announce, proclaim, His death.
        2. We declare His death to the entire universe: to the demons, to the angels, and to human beings.
      3. While we remember the Lord, the two elements, the bread (body) and cup (blood), are displayed separately on the table.
        1. This shows that the blood is separated from the body, signifying death.
        2. With this display of death we proclaim and announce Christ's all-inclusive termination of twelve items on the cross—the angelic life (Col. 1:20), the human life (Gal. 2:20), Satan (Heb. 2:14; John 12:31), the kingdom of Satan (Col. 2:15; John 12:31), sin (2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 8:3), sins (1 Pet. 2:24; Isa. 53:6), the world (Gal. 6:14; John 12:31), death (Heb. 2:14), flesh (Gal. 5:24), the old man (Rom. 6:6), self (Gal. 2:20), and all things, or creation (Col. 1:20).
      4. By the death of the Lord all negative things have come to an end, and their end is displayed openly; this is the negative aspect.
      5. The table also shows we can receive the Lord, symbolized by the bread and wine, into ourselves; this is the positive aspect.
        1. On the one hand, the old creation is ended, but on the other hand, His new creation has begun.
        2. Now He mingles Himself with us and we live by Him.
    2. To express our hope—1 Cor. 11:26.
      1. According to 1 Corinthians 11:26, we are to declare the Lord's death "until He comes."
      2. We take the Lord's supper for the remembrance of Him by declaring His redeeming death without ceasing until He comes back.
      3. We are declaring a glorious matter, but we also have a glorious hope.
        1. In a sense we are satisfied, but there is still a hope within us—Col. 1:27.
        2. One day He will return and change our body (1 Cor. 15:51-54); we are waiting for this.
          1. 1) Our body will be transfigured at His coming—Phil. 3:21.
          2. 2) Our redemption will be complete—Rom. 8:23.
      4. The words "until He comes" point to the coming kingdom—Matt. 26:29.
        1. In Matthew 26:29 the Lord told us that He would not drink of the fruit of the vine until He drinks it new with us in the kingdom of His Father.
        2. The coming kingdom is a matter of God's universal administration.
    3. These two minor aspects of the Lord's supper point to the two comings of Christ.
      1. In His first coming we have His death to carry out an all-inclusive redemption—the goal of His first coming.
      2. His second coming will be after His having received the kingdom (Dan. 7:13-14; Luke 19:12-27), at which time He will establish this kingdom to be God's universal administration—the goal of His second coming.
      3. The death of Christ in His first coming produced the church, and the church will bring in the kingdom with His second coming; to declare the Lord's death until He comes is equal to declaring the existence of the church for the bringing in of the kingdom.
        1. The church connects the Lord's death with His coming back; the church is a highway from one side to the other.
        2. The church continues the Lord's death and brings in His coming back.

Home | First | Prev | Next
The Lord's Table Meeting (Outlines)   pg 5