Tasting and Seeing God's Goodness at the Lord's Table
In John’s Gospel, the first of seven signs is found at a wedding feast in Cana. Accompanied by his family, Jesus is called upon to address the shortage of wine. In response, Jesus says to his mother, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4). In this brief exchange, John sets his Gospel on a collision course for the moment when the hour does come and Jesus addresses his mother again as “woman.” John 19:26–27 records these words from the cross, “Woman, behold, your son,” which is immediately followed with a word to John, himself, “Behold, your mother!”
Clearly, the Gospel of John is directed toward the cross of Christ, as is everything else in the Bible. From the promise of the woman’s seed crushing the serpent’s seed (Gen. 3:15), to the ram provided as a substitute for Isaac (Gen. 22:13–14), to the myriad of sacrifices in Leviticus, to the poetic description of the crucifixion (Psalm 22), the Bible has been looking forward to the day when the Son of God would die for the sins of this people.
In fact, for those reading John’s Gospel, the promise of pardon had already been disclosed in John 1:29, when John the Baptist looked to Jesus and declared, “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Accordingly, when we come to Jesus’s first sign, we have an inkling of what John is trying to show us—namely, that Jesus, who is the Son of God, has come to bring salvation to sinners like us. And if this is the message of John, as well as the whole Bible, it is also the good news (read: gospel) that repeats in our worship services too.
As we have seen throughout our series on liturgy, the proclamation of the gospel comes each week in the assurance of pardon, where in response to our confession of sin, we are reminded of Christ’s person and work, and why our sins which are red like crimson, can be made white like snow (Isa. 1:18). Still, the moment of consecration in our service is not the only places we hear the gospel. The gospel (and the law) will be a regular staple of the counsel of God, the moment in our service when we hear the Scriptures read and explained.
By comparison, however, the place where the gospel is made most visible is in the Lord’s Table, where the bread and the cup provide a visible, tangible, and ingestible declaration of God’s good news for us in Christ. And as our church begins to make a few changes to the way we celebrate this communion, I want to offer a brief theology of the Lord’s Supper (this week), followed by some practical guidelines for our new practice of receiving the elements (next week).
A Sevenfold Theology of the Lord’s Supper
To fully understand the symbolism that is baked (and fermented) into the Lord’s Supper would require a full biblical theology, something like T. K. Dunn’s Take and Eat: From Fall to Feast. Short of that, I can say the Lord’s Supper takes up themes of creation and cultivation, work and rest, Passover and covenant meals (think: Melchizedek), priests and kings, and much more. In the New Testament, the Lord’s Supper is one of two ordinances given by Jesus—baptism being the other. The Lord’s Supper is explained in each of the Synoptic Gospels, as well as 1 Corinthians 11. And for those with eyes to see it, Hebrews, Revelation, and John all contribute to our understanding of the Lord’s Supper, too.
So long story short, eating food in the presence of God is no small topic in the Bible. In fact, eating food wrongly in God’s Garden is what brought sin into the world (Genesis 3:1–6). And if we are reading Scripture rightly, only those who eat food rightly today have assurance of enjoying the communion with God in eternity. And so, while a collection of essays, or sermons, or both, is needed for this subject, I want to highlight seven key points of doctrine that may help you take up and eat, when you come to the Lord’s Table.
1. Take and Eat
The first thing to say about the Lord’s Supper is that when Jesus gave the meal to his disciples, he was reversing the curse brought about the Serpent. That is to say, when Satan led Adam and Eve to rebel, he did so by means of saying, “Take and eat.” As Genesis 3:1–6 records, the Serpent offered good food to the first couple. And instead of keeping God’s Word and waiting for the Lord (cf. Gen. 2:17), they ate the fruit in violation of God’s command and brought judgment upon themselves and all creation, too (Gen. 3:14–19). In other words, Adam and Eve ate without God’s permission or God’s presence. And as a result, a food that was intended to bless Adam and Eve with the knowledge of good and evil, became the source of sin and death.
Truly, every time man eats without giving thanks to God, he abides in that curse (cf. Rom 1:21; 1 Tim. 4:1–5). Just the same, when a man or woman attempts to feed themselves, by trusting in themselves, their works, and their works-righteousness, they are continuing to miss the bread that is offered to us in Christ (cf. Isa. 55:1–3). Yet, when someone is redeemed by the grace of God, and his heart is turned to Christ, and the Spirit gives him repentance and thanksgiving, then he is prepared to sit at the Lord’s Table, where God invites his people to come and enjoy the food he provides. In this way, the food we eat during communion calls us away from our works and reminds us of Christ’s finished work.
“Take and eat” is not just a word of choreography that ensures the congregation eats together. It is a divine word of grace, written down in Scripture, that tells the redeemed that they have received favor from the Lord and can rest in his presence. Truly, eating the communion meal at church has deep theological meaning. And it is worth our effort to understand all that is there.
2. Work and Rest
Following from this command to eat, we can say that the Lord’s Supper is received when the church celebrates the Sabbath. Just as the people of Israel ate the manna when God fed them in the wilderness (Exod. 16:1–36), and just as Moses put one jar of manna in the ark of the covenant (Exod. 16:33–34; Heb. 9:4), to commemorate God’s provision for Israel, so those who approach the mercy seat of God on the Lord’s Day, are to remember the finished work of Christ. Indeed, in John’s Gospel Jesus is presented as the bread of life and the one that we must consume by faith, in order to have life (John 6:35–40). Strange is may sound (at first), Jesus teaches us to feed on him (John 6:52–59), and when we take the Lord’s Supper we are doing just that. By Christ’s finished work, we are taught to leave our works behind and to rest in him.
Indeed, under the new covenant, weekly Sabbath observance is not so much a command to physically cease working, although there is something about that. We are embodied souls, after all. But every Lord’s Day, when the church gathers and partakes of the bread and the cup, our faith is renewed because we are ceasing to work for our daily bread—something we must do on the other six days (2 Thess. 3:7–10). Rather, we are proclaiming the finished work of Christ to one another, and we are remembering what God has done for us in Christ.
3. Remembering and Reminding
If we are remembering what Christ has done, we are also reminding the Lord of his promises to us in Christ. Now, the idea of reminding the omniscient God of his promises may sound odd, or even blasphemous. Are we implying that God has forgotten us? No, not at all. Rather, we are saying that as we come to the table, we are coming in prayer and supplication, needful for God to remember all that he has promised us in Christ.
When we pray, we are bringing before God his promises and we are asking him to honor his Word. Indeed, prayer does not change God’s mind or twist God’s arm. But according to the way God’s work in the world, prayer is necessary. That is to say, the Holy Spirit leads in our prayers and when he does, he brings us into God’s work. In God’s economy, all three persons—Father, Son, and Spirit—work without any separation or independence. And accordingly, when God works for our good, he leads his people to pray and to ask God to pour out his blessings. The same can be said of the Lord’s Table. When we come to the Lord’s Table, it is not only a word of remembrance for us, it is a prayerful reminder to God.
Now, to see this more fully, we need to consider how covenant signs worked in the Old Testament. For instance, the sign of the rainbow was not just given to remind humanity of God’s covenant; it was also given to remind God of his promise to never destroy the world with a universal flood. Genesis 9:13–15 read, “I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh.”
I could be mistaken, but I suspect that our memory remembers this passage differently. But clearly, this covenant sign is designed to remind God, even as the testimony of Scripture reminds us of how the rainbow reminds God.
Similarly, the sign of circumcision (Gen. 17:11) and the sign of the Sabbath (Exod. 31:13) spoke to both God and man. That is to say, these created signs recalled God’s promises to his covenant people, even as circumcision and Sabbath passed on the covenant from one generation to the next. Finally, Psalm 89 compares David’s covenant sign, the throne, to the sun and the moon, which bear testimony to both God and man. Long story short, the covenants that God made with his people in the Old Testament were given signs so that both parties would remember the arrangement. In fact, when the people broke covenant with God in the case of the golden calf, Moses himself stood before God and pleaded for them on the basis of God’s covenant promises (see Exodus 32–34).
To complete the picture, the chief priest in Israel functioned as the designated mediator who stood before God to remind him of his covenant. In fact, this is made plain in Exodus 28, where the priestly garments included the “stones of remembrance” (v. 12). These stones had the names of the twelve tribes written on them, and when Aaron wore his priestly garments in the Holy Place he brought the tribes “to regular remembrance before the Lord” (v. 29). Said differently, by means of this priest and his holy garments, the people of God were blessed by the Lord who remembered them (cf. Psalm 133). But also, if and when the priest failed to bring the people before God, the people suffered (Mal. 2:1–9). Indeed, the work of bringing to remembrance the promises of the covenant before God is vital for the blessing of the people. And this is what the priests who served at the altar were supposed to do—but often didn’t!
Thankfully, today our great high priest lives to intercede for us. And that means that as he reigns in heaven, he makes effectual prayer for all of his people (Heb. 7:25). Nevertheless, when the Lord calls us to worship and commands us to take and eat, he is not simply calling us to remember his finished work. He is also bringing to mind the promises that God to his people. And so, we can say that just like the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants reminded both parties of the covenant, so too, the Lord’s Supper remembers and reminds God and man of the promises of grace found in the new covenant. And lest we think that coming the Lord’s Table is optional, it is in this meal—which signifies the finished work of Christ—that we are bringing to remembrance all the blessings of the new covenant.
4. Passover and Covenant
The Lord’s Table is more than a covenant meal, however. It is also a promise of the redemption that came through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As the Lord instituted the supper on the night before he was crucified, and as he associated the bread with his body and the cup with his blood, so also he connected this meal with the Passover.
Remember, Christ was crucified during the week of Passover. And the time and place where Jesus instituted this meal was during the Passover Celebration. In this way, he took the bread and blessed it and gave it to his disciples. Yet, if we look carefully, we discover that Jesus did not take the cup. As he states in Luke 22:18, “I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Thus, while he gave the cup to his disciples, he waited for the cross to drink his wine, which he did when he tasted the sour wine on the cross (Luke 22:36).
In this way, we can see how the Passover meal anticipated Christ’s own Passover sacrifice, where his flesh was torn for us. Likewise, on the cross, he drank the wine, indicating the way that he drank the bitter cup in his death. Thus, in ways that go beyond symbolism, Jesus became the communion elements on the cross. He was the bread of life torn for us. And his blood was poured out for the forgiveness of our sins. And in these two ways, he became the fulfillment of the Passover, while at the same time he also became the substance to which the Lord’s Supper now points.
Indeed, when we partake of the bread and cup today, we are remembering the king who was crucified in our place and the priest who made himself the sacrifice for our sins. We are not re-presenting the death of Christ, or suggesting that the elements become the body and blood, as in the Catholic mass. Rather, our elements tell the story of how Jesus fulfilled all of the Old Testament sacrifices on the cross. In this way, Jesus became the sacrificial lamb who took the place of God’s firstborn, and now all those who are promised a shared inheritance with Christ in his kingdom celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection whenever we gather.
5. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
Staying in the Old Testament, we can also make an important observation for who eats the Lord’s Supper. In Israel, those who ate the Passover were the ones circumcised and brought into the covenant. In other words, those outside the covenant did not eat of the Passover meal. As Exodus 12:48–49 explains, those from outside of Israel could enter into the covenant by circumcision, but uncircumcised males could not eat.
Likewise, when Israel entered the Promised Land, they celebrated Passover. As Joshua 1–5 records it, this came after they passed through the Jordan River. And by way of typology, it gives us a pattern that those who eat the Passover are the same as those who pass through the waters of baptism. Remember, 1 Corinthians 10 identifies the Red Sea as the baptismal waters for Moses. Those who passed through the sea with Moses were, according to Paul, baptized into their redeemer. Similarly, when Joshua took the place of Moses, we might say that the second generation of Israel was baptized into Joshua, when they passed through the flood waters of the Jordan River (Joshua 3–4) and entered into the blessed rest of the land (see Josh. 21:43–45).
In all, we can see that those who were given the Passover meal in the land were, typologically-speaking, baptized, circumcised believers. That is to say, while the first generation died in the wilderness because they failed to believe God, the second generation proved to be genuinely faithful to the Lord, through the superior mediation of Joshua. In this way, we have a pattern of baptism and Passover in Joshua that would eventually be fulfilled in the greater Joshua, whose baptism and Passover meal superseded anything found in the Old Testament.
Now, there’s a lot more we could do to shore up these connections, but don’t miss the order and connection between baptism and Passover. Just as it would be impossible to eat the Passover without passing through the flood waters, so too it is impossible to (rightly!) eat the Lord’s Table without baptism. Water baptism for the believer is the initiating rite for the new covenant; the Lord’s Table is the ongoing rite. And the former should always precede the latter and make it obvious who should partake of the table.
For fathers and mothers leading their children to the table, the simplest answer to who should eat and who should abstain is this: Are they baptized? The question is not—Do they have faith?— as determined by the child, the parent, or the pastor. The question is, what has the church said? Has the church exercised its royal authority (the keys of the kingdom) to baptize them and invite them to priestly service in God’s house and royal access to the bread and the wine? That is the question, and by keeping the church’s relationship with the child in view, it helps everyone keep our minds on the lines of Scripture. And this is especially true, when we see how eating at the table signifies royal priesthood.
6. Priest and King
Returning to the patterns of eating and drinking in the Bible, it is vital to see how priests and kings eat and drink. For by their food, you will know them. To say it differently, if Christ is the royal priest who invites us to eat at his table, we need to see how his table also makes us royal priests—not priests alone or kings alone, but royal priests.
For starters, in Leviticus we learn that the priests are able to eat at the altar of God. Likewise, the nation of Israel that was chosen by God to be a kingdom of priests is given access to eat at the tabernacle when they enjoyed the peace offering. Still, for all the ways that priests could eat meat from the altar and bread in the presence of the Lord, priests were directly forbidden from drinking wine.
Leviticus 10 says that priests ought not to drink wine. In context, it seems that a failure of judgment led the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, to offer strange fire on the altar. Likewise, Nazirites when they committed themselves to act like priests and serve the Lord entirely, they were forbidden from drinking wine (Numbers 6). Furthermore, when making judicial decisions, which is a priestly task (Lev. 17:8–13), kings were instructed to abstain from wine too (Proverbs 31:4–5). Put together, there seems to be a pattern that those serving, working, or judging before the Lord were to abstain from wine. Wine was reserved for periods of peace and rest. And so, when men were called to work, to war, or to weigh matters of legal importance wine was forbidden.
Nevertheless, fermented grape juice was the proper drink for a wedding feast (John 2), or when kings returned from war (Gen. 14), or when work was done (Eccl. 9:7), or when kings rested on their throne (Esther 1:7; 5:6; 7:2). To say it differently, wine was inappropriate for those working and serving (i.e., doing priestly tasks), but it was entirely appropriate for celebrating peace, prosperity, and rest. As Psalm 104:14–15 puts it, God gave wine to gladden the heart (cf. Judg. 9:13; Eccl. 10:19). And thus, there is a place in the Bible for wine. And at the Lord’s Table, this goes double.
For not only does sweet wine tell us that Christ’s work has been completed and all bitterness removed, but it also reminds us that the king who would not drink wine on the night before his crucifixion has now entered his kingdom. And how do we know? He serves wine to his people, as he gathers the children of his kingdom to worship God. Indeed, when we sit down at the Lord’s Table, we are not simply coming as priests eating the bread of the presence. We are also kings who have been given wine. Again, the wine symbolizes the peace and blessing that Christ achieved on the cross, and it tells us that we are not simply servants in the household of God, but also friends (John 15:14).
Under the old covenant, the priests could not drink wine, because their work was never complete. And just the same, the kings could never eat the bread of the presence, unless like David they were doing priestly things (1 Samuel 22; Mark 2:23–28). But now, as Christ has been exalted as the true and final royal priest (Psalm 110), this king of peace and whose priestly sacrifice made us all righteous, invites us to sit down and to enjoy the bread of his presence and the fruit of his vine—just like Melchizedek did with Abraham when he returned from war (Gen. 14:18).
In his own day, Jesus said that he would not drink of the vine until he entered his kingdom. But now he has entered his kingdom, and every Sunday, we gather to partake of the food he prepares for us. And while, we do not physically see Jesus, as he reigns in heaven and we abide on the earth, the physicality of this meal nourishes our bodies and our souls. And more, it reminds us that while the reign of Christ is mediated by his Spirit today, his kingdom is not wholly immaterial either. Rather, it is a spiritual kingdom we can taste and touch, which is why we want the elements of our communion to properly reflect his glory, which brings us back to John 2.
7. Bread and Wine
In Jesus’s first sign, he comes to a wedding feast where the wine has run out, and to resolve the problem he takes water from six stone water jars—stone jars used for ceremonial cleansing—and he makes new wine. In this way, he brings peace and joy back to the wedding. Yet, as John makes clear, this wine miracle is a sign, and one that points to the significance of wine flowing afresh in Israel.
In Amos 9, a passage that promises the reconstruction of David’s tent, we read these words, “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit’” (Amos 9:13–14).
Without making all the connections, it is worth noting how this prophet looked to a day when a new David would restore joy to the house of Israel. And one sign of that new day would be the mountains dripping wine and the people rejoicing in the fruit of that vine. As noted before, wine symbolizes joy, rest, peace, and prosperity. Wine is most appropriate at a wedding, because the guests are celebrating the love of the lover and the beloved (read Song of Songs). And it is not by accident that Jesus begins his new covenant ministry with such a sign.
It is also not accidental that Jesus calls himself the true vine and his people the branches (John 15). In their lives, God’s people are to abide with him and to bear fruit, as the joy of the Spirit gives them life. And one way, God’s people abide in God’s love is by means of weekly communion that eats the bread of God’s presence and drinks of the vine.
Now in our day, many churches (especially Baptist, Bible, and Independent churches) use grape juice. This goes back the temperance movement of the nineteenth century and a Methodist by the name of Thomas Welch, of Welch’s Grape Juice fame. Holding a view that went beyond the bounds of Scripture, he believed that consuming alcohol, in all forms, was sinful. Yet, a careful reading of Scripture reveals something else. Drunkenness is sin (Gal. 5:19–21; Eph. 5:18) and any form of addiction to any material substance violates God’s commands (cf. Prov. 23:29–35). But clearly, Jesus drank wine (Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:33–34), Paul urged its medicinal use (1 Tim. 5:23), and the participants of the Lord’s Table in Corinth were undeniably drinking wine, not juice.
And how do we know? Because Paul says not to get drunk at the Lord’s Table (1 Cor. 11:21). This both indicates that the cup they served was fermented and that the portions were more than a thimble. It also means that someone can misuse the good elements of communion, too. So, by all means, the church must use wisdom with the bread and the wine. And for those who are morally opposed or physically unable to drink wine, they can and should drink juice at the table. Yet, for those have read the Scriptures and believe that wine is the biblical element, we will soon be offering wine in our communion meal.
To speak personally, I can count on one hand the number of times I have tasted wine. I am by all definitions a teetotaler. Yet, in studying the Scriptures, I have come to a conviction that wine is what God ordained his saints to enjoy when they are called to take and eat and drink. Wine warms the body (and the soul), in a way that juice does not. It’s fermentation symbolizes the maturation that comes with the wisdom that kings need to rule. And its sweetness recalls the joy that is ours, knowing that Christ took the bitter cup. In all of these ways, wine includes important symbols that point to the substance of Christ.
Similarly, the leavened bread symbolizes the risen Christ. Whereas the Jewish Passover ate unleavened bread to remember the hasty departure from Egypt, the loaf we share will be leavened to remember Christ’s resurrection. Next week, I will share a number of logistics for receiving elements in service that do not come packaged in plastic. But for today, I close with the value of knowing what you are tasting and seeing. How easily we can forget the meaning of the bread and the cup. And in this meditation and in the March 22 sermon, we are answering the question: What are we eating? We do this not to get sidetracked with unnecessary nuances, but because Jesus said: “Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Cor. 11:24). Yet, “do this” requires some careful reflections.
The Lord’s Supper is not an ordinance we can eat or not eat as we see fit. Rather, it is plays a central role in our worship service and our personal and corporate experience with our Lord. And so, as I offer these seven reflections to you, I urge you to consider them, search the scriptures to examine them, and then eat and drink with faith as you come to the Lord’s Table this Sunday and on every Lord’s Day. There are so many glorious facets to the Lord’s Supper, and every time we commune with God we should bring them to mind. For now, I offer these seven reflections, and I pray they may spur others as you continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, especially as we come to the Lord’s Table.
Clearly, the Gospel of John is directed toward the cross of Christ, as is everything else in the Bible. From the promise of the woman’s seed crushing the serpent’s seed (Gen. 3:15), to the ram provided as a substitute for Isaac (Gen. 22:13–14), to the myriad of sacrifices in Leviticus, to the poetic description of the crucifixion (Psalm 22), the Bible has been looking forward to the day when the Son of God would die for the sins of this people.
In fact, for those reading John’s Gospel, the promise of pardon had already been disclosed in John 1:29, when John the Baptist looked to Jesus and declared, “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Accordingly, when we come to Jesus’s first sign, we have an inkling of what John is trying to show us—namely, that Jesus, who is the Son of God, has come to bring salvation to sinners like us. And if this is the message of John, as well as the whole Bible, it is also the good news (read: gospel) that repeats in our worship services too.
As we have seen throughout our series on liturgy, the proclamation of the gospel comes each week in the assurance of pardon, where in response to our confession of sin, we are reminded of Christ’s person and work, and why our sins which are red like crimson, can be made white like snow (Isa. 1:18). Still, the moment of consecration in our service is not the only places we hear the gospel. The gospel (and the law) will be a regular staple of the counsel of God, the moment in our service when we hear the Scriptures read and explained.
By comparison, however, the place where the gospel is made most visible is in the Lord’s Table, where the bread and the cup provide a visible, tangible, and ingestible declaration of God’s good news for us in Christ. And as our church begins to make a few changes to the way we celebrate this communion, I want to offer a brief theology of the Lord’s Supper (this week), followed by some practical guidelines for our new practice of receiving the elements (next week).
A Sevenfold Theology of the Lord’s Supper
To fully understand the symbolism that is baked (and fermented) into the Lord’s Supper would require a full biblical theology, something like T. K. Dunn’s Take and Eat: From Fall to Feast. Short of that, I can say the Lord’s Supper takes up themes of creation and cultivation, work and rest, Passover and covenant meals (think: Melchizedek), priests and kings, and much more. In the New Testament, the Lord’s Supper is one of two ordinances given by Jesus—baptism being the other. The Lord’s Supper is explained in each of the Synoptic Gospels, as well as 1 Corinthians 11. And for those with eyes to see it, Hebrews, Revelation, and John all contribute to our understanding of the Lord’s Supper, too.
So long story short, eating food in the presence of God is no small topic in the Bible. In fact, eating food wrongly in God’s Garden is what brought sin into the world (Genesis 3:1–6). And if we are reading Scripture rightly, only those who eat food rightly today have assurance of enjoying the communion with God in eternity. And so, while a collection of essays, or sermons, or both, is needed for this subject, I want to highlight seven key points of doctrine that may help you take up and eat, when you come to the Lord’s Table.
1. Take and Eat
The first thing to say about the Lord’s Supper is that when Jesus gave the meal to his disciples, he was reversing the curse brought about the Serpent. That is to say, when Satan led Adam and Eve to rebel, he did so by means of saying, “Take and eat.” As Genesis 3:1–6 records, the Serpent offered good food to the first couple. And instead of keeping God’s Word and waiting for the Lord (cf. Gen. 2:17), they ate the fruit in violation of God’s command and brought judgment upon themselves and all creation, too (Gen. 3:14–19). In other words, Adam and Eve ate without God’s permission or God’s presence. And as a result, a food that was intended to bless Adam and Eve with the knowledge of good and evil, became the source of sin and death.
Truly, every time man eats without giving thanks to God, he abides in that curse (cf. Rom 1:21; 1 Tim. 4:1–5). Just the same, when a man or woman attempts to feed themselves, by trusting in themselves, their works, and their works-righteousness, they are continuing to miss the bread that is offered to us in Christ (cf. Isa. 55:1–3). Yet, when someone is redeemed by the grace of God, and his heart is turned to Christ, and the Spirit gives him repentance and thanksgiving, then he is prepared to sit at the Lord’s Table, where God invites his people to come and enjoy the food he provides. In this way, the food we eat during communion calls us away from our works and reminds us of Christ’s finished work.
“Take and eat” is not just a word of choreography that ensures the congregation eats together. It is a divine word of grace, written down in Scripture, that tells the redeemed that they have received favor from the Lord and can rest in his presence. Truly, eating the communion meal at church has deep theological meaning. And it is worth our effort to understand all that is there.
2. Work and Rest
Following from this command to eat, we can say that the Lord’s Supper is received when the church celebrates the Sabbath. Just as the people of Israel ate the manna when God fed them in the wilderness (Exod. 16:1–36), and just as Moses put one jar of manna in the ark of the covenant (Exod. 16:33–34; Heb. 9:4), to commemorate God’s provision for Israel, so those who approach the mercy seat of God on the Lord’s Day, are to remember the finished work of Christ. Indeed, in John’s Gospel Jesus is presented as the bread of life and the one that we must consume by faith, in order to have life (John 6:35–40). Strange is may sound (at first), Jesus teaches us to feed on him (John 6:52–59), and when we take the Lord’s Supper we are doing just that. By Christ’s finished work, we are taught to leave our works behind and to rest in him.
Indeed, under the new covenant, weekly Sabbath observance is not so much a command to physically cease working, although there is something about that. We are embodied souls, after all. But every Lord’s Day, when the church gathers and partakes of the bread and the cup, our faith is renewed because we are ceasing to work for our daily bread—something we must do on the other six days (2 Thess. 3:7–10). Rather, we are proclaiming the finished work of Christ to one another, and we are remembering what God has done for us in Christ.
3. Remembering and Reminding
If we are remembering what Christ has done, we are also reminding the Lord of his promises to us in Christ. Now, the idea of reminding the omniscient God of his promises may sound odd, or even blasphemous. Are we implying that God has forgotten us? No, not at all. Rather, we are saying that as we come to the table, we are coming in prayer and supplication, needful for God to remember all that he has promised us in Christ.
When we pray, we are bringing before God his promises and we are asking him to honor his Word. Indeed, prayer does not change God’s mind or twist God’s arm. But according to the way God’s work in the world, prayer is necessary. That is to say, the Holy Spirit leads in our prayers and when he does, he brings us into God’s work. In God’s economy, all three persons—Father, Son, and Spirit—work without any separation or independence. And accordingly, when God works for our good, he leads his people to pray and to ask God to pour out his blessings. The same can be said of the Lord’s Table. When we come to the Lord’s Table, it is not only a word of remembrance for us, it is a prayerful reminder to God.
Now, to see this more fully, we need to consider how covenant signs worked in the Old Testament. For instance, the sign of the rainbow was not just given to remind humanity of God’s covenant; it was also given to remind God of his promise to never destroy the world with a universal flood. Genesis 9:13–15 read, “I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh.”
I could be mistaken, but I suspect that our memory remembers this passage differently. But clearly, this covenant sign is designed to remind God, even as the testimony of Scripture reminds us of how the rainbow reminds God.
Similarly, the sign of circumcision (Gen. 17:11) and the sign of the Sabbath (Exod. 31:13) spoke to both God and man. That is to say, these created signs recalled God’s promises to his covenant people, even as circumcision and Sabbath passed on the covenant from one generation to the next. Finally, Psalm 89 compares David’s covenant sign, the throne, to the sun and the moon, which bear testimony to both God and man. Long story short, the covenants that God made with his people in the Old Testament were given signs so that both parties would remember the arrangement. In fact, when the people broke covenant with God in the case of the golden calf, Moses himself stood before God and pleaded for them on the basis of God’s covenant promises (see Exodus 32–34).
To complete the picture, the chief priest in Israel functioned as the designated mediator who stood before God to remind him of his covenant. In fact, this is made plain in Exodus 28, where the priestly garments included the “stones of remembrance” (v. 12). These stones had the names of the twelve tribes written on them, and when Aaron wore his priestly garments in the Holy Place he brought the tribes “to regular remembrance before the Lord” (v. 29). Said differently, by means of this priest and his holy garments, the people of God were blessed by the Lord who remembered them (cf. Psalm 133). But also, if and when the priest failed to bring the people before God, the people suffered (Mal. 2:1–9). Indeed, the work of bringing to remembrance the promises of the covenant before God is vital for the blessing of the people. And this is what the priests who served at the altar were supposed to do—but often didn’t!
Thankfully, today our great high priest lives to intercede for us. And that means that as he reigns in heaven, he makes effectual prayer for all of his people (Heb. 7:25). Nevertheless, when the Lord calls us to worship and commands us to take and eat, he is not simply calling us to remember his finished work. He is also bringing to mind the promises that God to his people. And so, we can say that just like the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants reminded both parties of the covenant, so too, the Lord’s Supper remembers and reminds God and man of the promises of grace found in the new covenant. And lest we think that coming the Lord’s Table is optional, it is in this meal—which signifies the finished work of Christ—that we are bringing to remembrance all the blessings of the new covenant.
4. Passover and Covenant
The Lord’s Table is more than a covenant meal, however. It is also a promise of the redemption that came through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As the Lord instituted the supper on the night before he was crucified, and as he associated the bread with his body and the cup with his blood, so also he connected this meal with the Passover.
Remember, Christ was crucified during the week of Passover. And the time and place where Jesus instituted this meal was during the Passover Celebration. In this way, he took the bread and blessed it and gave it to his disciples. Yet, if we look carefully, we discover that Jesus did not take the cup. As he states in Luke 22:18, “I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” Thus, while he gave the cup to his disciples, he waited for the cross to drink his wine, which he did when he tasted the sour wine on the cross (Luke 22:36).
In this way, we can see how the Passover meal anticipated Christ’s own Passover sacrifice, where his flesh was torn for us. Likewise, on the cross, he drank the wine, indicating the way that he drank the bitter cup in his death. Thus, in ways that go beyond symbolism, Jesus became the communion elements on the cross. He was the bread of life torn for us. And his blood was poured out for the forgiveness of our sins. And in these two ways, he became the fulfillment of the Passover, while at the same time he also became the substance to which the Lord’s Supper now points.
Indeed, when we partake of the bread and cup today, we are remembering the king who was crucified in our place and the priest who made himself the sacrifice for our sins. We are not re-presenting the death of Christ, or suggesting that the elements become the body and blood, as in the Catholic mass. Rather, our elements tell the story of how Jesus fulfilled all of the Old Testament sacrifices on the cross. In this way, Jesus became the sacrificial lamb who took the place of God’s firstborn, and now all those who are promised a shared inheritance with Christ in his kingdom celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection whenever we gather.
5. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
Staying in the Old Testament, we can also make an important observation for who eats the Lord’s Supper. In Israel, those who ate the Passover were the ones circumcised and brought into the covenant. In other words, those outside the covenant did not eat of the Passover meal. As Exodus 12:48–49 explains, those from outside of Israel could enter into the covenant by circumcision, but uncircumcised males could not eat.
Likewise, when Israel entered the Promised Land, they celebrated Passover. As Joshua 1–5 records it, this came after they passed through the Jordan River. And by way of typology, it gives us a pattern that those who eat the Passover are the same as those who pass through the waters of baptism. Remember, 1 Corinthians 10 identifies the Red Sea as the baptismal waters for Moses. Those who passed through the sea with Moses were, according to Paul, baptized into their redeemer. Similarly, when Joshua took the place of Moses, we might say that the second generation of Israel was baptized into Joshua, when they passed through the flood waters of the Jordan River (Joshua 3–4) and entered into the blessed rest of the land (see Josh. 21:43–45).
In all, we can see that those who were given the Passover meal in the land were, typologically-speaking, baptized, circumcised believers. That is to say, while the first generation died in the wilderness because they failed to believe God, the second generation proved to be genuinely faithful to the Lord, through the superior mediation of Joshua. In this way, we have a pattern of baptism and Passover in Joshua that would eventually be fulfilled in the greater Joshua, whose baptism and Passover meal superseded anything found in the Old Testament.
Now, there’s a lot more we could do to shore up these connections, but don’t miss the order and connection between baptism and Passover. Just as it would be impossible to eat the Passover without passing through the flood waters, so too it is impossible to (rightly!) eat the Lord’s Table without baptism. Water baptism for the believer is the initiating rite for the new covenant; the Lord’s Table is the ongoing rite. And the former should always precede the latter and make it obvious who should partake of the table.
For fathers and mothers leading their children to the table, the simplest answer to who should eat and who should abstain is this: Are they baptized? The question is not—Do they have faith?— as determined by the child, the parent, or the pastor. The question is, what has the church said? Has the church exercised its royal authority (the keys of the kingdom) to baptize them and invite them to priestly service in God’s house and royal access to the bread and the wine? That is the question, and by keeping the church’s relationship with the child in view, it helps everyone keep our minds on the lines of Scripture. And this is especially true, when we see how eating at the table signifies royal priesthood.
6. Priest and King
Returning to the patterns of eating and drinking in the Bible, it is vital to see how priests and kings eat and drink. For by their food, you will know them. To say it differently, if Christ is the royal priest who invites us to eat at his table, we need to see how his table also makes us royal priests—not priests alone or kings alone, but royal priests.
For starters, in Leviticus we learn that the priests are able to eat at the altar of God. Likewise, the nation of Israel that was chosen by God to be a kingdom of priests is given access to eat at the tabernacle when they enjoyed the peace offering. Still, for all the ways that priests could eat meat from the altar and bread in the presence of the Lord, priests were directly forbidden from drinking wine.
Leviticus 10 says that priests ought not to drink wine. In context, it seems that a failure of judgment led the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, to offer strange fire on the altar. Likewise, Nazirites when they committed themselves to act like priests and serve the Lord entirely, they were forbidden from drinking wine (Numbers 6). Furthermore, when making judicial decisions, which is a priestly task (Lev. 17:8–13), kings were instructed to abstain from wine too (Proverbs 31:4–5). Put together, there seems to be a pattern that those serving, working, or judging before the Lord were to abstain from wine. Wine was reserved for periods of peace and rest. And so, when men were called to work, to war, or to weigh matters of legal importance wine was forbidden.
Nevertheless, fermented grape juice was the proper drink for a wedding feast (John 2), or when kings returned from war (Gen. 14), or when work was done (Eccl. 9:7), or when kings rested on their throne (Esther 1:7; 5:6; 7:2). To say it differently, wine was inappropriate for those working and serving (i.e., doing priestly tasks), but it was entirely appropriate for celebrating peace, prosperity, and rest. As Psalm 104:14–15 puts it, God gave wine to gladden the heart (cf. Judg. 9:13; Eccl. 10:19). And thus, there is a place in the Bible for wine. And at the Lord’s Table, this goes double.
For not only does sweet wine tell us that Christ’s work has been completed and all bitterness removed, but it also reminds us that the king who would not drink wine on the night before his crucifixion has now entered his kingdom. And how do we know? He serves wine to his people, as he gathers the children of his kingdom to worship God. Indeed, when we sit down at the Lord’s Table, we are not simply coming as priests eating the bread of the presence. We are also kings who have been given wine. Again, the wine symbolizes the peace and blessing that Christ achieved on the cross, and it tells us that we are not simply servants in the household of God, but also friends (John 15:14).
Under the old covenant, the priests could not drink wine, because their work was never complete. And just the same, the kings could never eat the bread of the presence, unless like David they were doing priestly things (1 Samuel 22; Mark 2:23–28). But now, as Christ has been exalted as the true and final royal priest (Psalm 110), this king of peace and whose priestly sacrifice made us all righteous, invites us to sit down and to enjoy the bread of his presence and the fruit of his vine—just like Melchizedek did with Abraham when he returned from war (Gen. 14:18).
In his own day, Jesus said that he would not drink of the vine until he entered his kingdom. But now he has entered his kingdom, and every Sunday, we gather to partake of the food he prepares for us. And while, we do not physically see Jesus, as he reigns in heaven and we abide on the earth, the physicality of this meal nourishes our bodies and our souls. And more, it reminds us that while the reign of Christ is mediated by his Spirit today, his kingdom is not wholly immaterial either. Rather, it is a spiritual kingdom we can taste and touch, which is why we want the elements of our communion to properly reflect his glory, which brings us back to John 2.
7. Bread and Wine
In Jesus’s first sign, he comes to a wedding feast where the wine has run out, and to resolve the problem he takes water from six stone water jars—stone jars used for ceremonial cleansing—and he makes new wine. In this way, he brings peace and joy back to the wedding. Yet, as John makes clear, this wine miracle is a sign, and one that points to the significance of wine flowing afresh in Israel.
In Amos 9, a passage that promises the reconstruction of David’s tent, we read these words, “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit’” (Amos 9:13–14).
Without making all the connections, it is worth noting how this prophet looked to a day when a new David would restore joy to the house of Israel. And one sign of that new day would be the mountains dripping wine and the people rejoicing in the fruit of that vine. As noted before, wine symbolizes joy, rest, peace, and prosperity. Wine is most appropriate at a wedding, because the guests are celebrating the love of the lover and the beloved (read Song of Songs). And it is not by accident that Jesus begins his new covenant ministry with such a sign.
It is also not accidental that Jesus calls himself the true vine and his people the branches (John 15). In their lives, God’s people are to abide with him and to bear fruit, as the joy of the Spirit gives them life. And one way, God’s people abide in God’s love is by means of weekly communion that eats the bread of God’s presence and drinks of the vine.
Now in our day, many churches (especially Baptist, Bible, and Independent churches) use grape juice. This goes back the temperance movement of the nineteenth century and a Methodist by the name of Thomas Welch, of Welch’s Grape Juice fame. Holding a view that went beyond the bounds of Scripture, he believed that consuming alcohol, in all forms, was sinful. Yet, a careful reading of Scripture reveals something else. Drunkenness is sin (Gal. 5:19–21; Eph. 5:18) and any form of addiction to any material substance violates God’s commands (cf. Prov. 23:29–35). But clearly, Jesus drank wine (Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:33–34), Paul urged its medicinal use (1 Tim. 5:23), and the participants of the Lord’s Table in Corinth were undeniably drinking wine, not juice.
And how do we know? Because Paul says not to get drunk at the Lord’s Table (1 Cor. 11:21). This both indicates that the cup they served was fermented and that the portions were more than a thimble. It also means that someone can misuse the good elements of communion, too. So, by all means, the church must use wisdom with the bread and the wine. And for those who are morally opposed or physically unable to drink wine, they can and should drink juice at the table. Yet, for those have read the Scriptures and believe that wine is the biblical element, we will soon be offering wine in our communion meal.
To speak personally, I can count on one hand the number of times I have tasted wine. I am by all definitions a teetotaler. Yet, in studying the Scriptures, I have come to a conviction that wine is what God ordained his saints to enjoy when they are called to take and eat and drink. Wine warms the body (and the soul), in a way that juice does not. It’s fermentation symbolizes the maturation that comes with the wisdom that kings need to rule. And its sweetness recalls the joy that is ours, knowing that Christ took the bitter cup. In all of these ways, wine includes important symbols that point to the substance of Christ.
Similarly, the leavened bread symbolizes the risen Christ. Whereas the Jewish Passover ate unleavened bread to remember the hasty departure from Egypt, the loaf we share will be leavened to remember Christ’s resurrection. Next week, I will share a number of logistics for receiving elements in service that do not come packaged in plastic. But for today, I close with the value of knowing what you are tasting and seeing. How easily we can forget the meaning of the bread and the cup. And in this meditation and in the March 22 sermon, we are answering the question: What are we eating? We do this not to get sidetracked with unnecessary nuances, but because Jesus said: “Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Cor. 11:24). Yet, “do this” requires some careful reflections.
The Lord’s Supper is not an ordinance we can eat or not eat as we see fit. Rather, it is plays a central role in our worship service and our personal and corporate experience with our Lord. And so, as I offer these seven reflections to you, I urge you to consider them, search the scriptures to examine them, and then eat and drink with faith as you come to the Lord’s Table this Sunday and on every Lord’s Day. There are so many glorious facets to the Lord’s Supper, and every time we commune with God we should bring them to mind. For now, I offer these seven reflections, and I pray they may spur others as you continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, especially as we come to the Lord’s Table.
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