Home | First | Prev | Next
  1. Each time in the Lord's table meeting with the bread and the cup, we receive the life supply of the Lord and review the redemption through His blood.
    1. On the cross the Lord's body was broken for us so that He could be distributed as bread to us.
      1. This signifies His giving His body on the cross that we may obtain Him as our life.
        1. Through the breaking of His body on the cross, he released the life of God from within Him to impart it into us.
        2. When we receive His broken body, we partake of His life.
      2. Christ gave His body as the bread of life for our life supply and our enjoyment.
    2. Furthermore, on the cross Christ not only gave His body for us but also shed His blood for us.
      1. He shed His blood to accomplish redemption for us that we may be forgiven of our sins; on the cross He took away our sin (John 1:29).
      2. God's eternal purpose is to dispense, in the Lord Jesus, His life into us, but because of our fall we became sinful before God; therefore, Christ shed His blood for us.
    3. Thus, whenever we eat the bread and drink the cup, we enjoy this life, we receive this life supply from the Lord, and we review the redemption accomplished by the Lord's precious blood.
  2. The revelation concerning the order or arrangement of the bread and the cup in the Scriptures.
    1. Why is the order or arrangement different in chapters ten (v. 16) and eleven (vv. 24-25) of 1 Corinthians?
    2. In 1 Corinthians 11:24-25 the bread is mentioned first and then the cup.
      1. First Corinthians 11:24-25 deals with the Lord's supper.
      2. In 1 Corinthians 11:24-25 the bread is first because the Body is the original and ultimate purpose of God.
        1. God wants a Body to express Himself and defeat His enemy.
        2. However, before this was realized, man fell; thus, redemption was needed.
          1. 1) Man needed to be recovered to the original purpose of God.
          2. 2) This recovery was accomplished by the cup.
      3. The bread (the Body) is the original purpose of God, so it is spoken of first; the cup (redemption) makes up the gap, so it is spoken of second.
    3. In 1 Corinthians 10:16 the cup is mentioned before the bread.
      1. First Corinthians 10:16 deals with the Lord's table.
      2. The cup is first in chapter ten because the table is disclosed.
        1. At the table we have the fellowship and communion of the believers.
        2. According to our history, we experienced redemption first and then became a member of the Body.
      3. In the believer's experience, the cup (redemption) is first and the bread (the Body) is second.
  3. In the Lord's table meeting, we eat the bread before we drink the cup.
    1. The Body, symbolized by the bread, is the original purpose of God,
      1. Through which God is expressed.
      2. Through which God's enemy is defeated.
    2. Redemption, symbolized by the cup, was not the original and ultimate purpose of God; it is something given by God to recover us for God's eternal purpose.
    3. Thus, in the Lord's table meeting we partake of the bread before we drink of the cup.

Home | First | Prev | Next
The Lord's Table Meeting (Outlines)   pg 7