F.E. Marsh :: 416. The Lord's Supper

THERE are three ways to which the Lord’s Supper points. It bids us look back to the Cross, and reminds us of what Christ has done; it beckons us to look up to the Throne, and tells us of what Christ is doing; and it beseeches us to look on to the coming Christ, and proclaims what He is yet going to do. Let us look at these three looks.

1. The backward look of Faith. There are seven things in Mark 14:22-23, that we note in relation to Christ’s action with the bread and cup.
   1. He “took” the bread and cup. The bread represents the body, and the cup the blood of Christ. As Christ takes the bread and cup we are reminded of the fact that He took upon Him human nature (Heb. 2:16), that He might suffer for us in His divinely prepared body (Heb. 10:5, 10).
   2. Christ “blessed” the bread, and gave “thanks” for the cup. In this we are reminded of the Lord Jesus as He acquiesced in the Divine plan, although it meant so much suffering to Him, for we must never forget that it pleased God to bruise Christ (Isaiah 53:10), and to give Him the bitter cup He drank (Mark 14:36; John 18:11).
   3. Christ “brake” the bread. In the broken bread we see symbolized the sufferings that Christ endured in His body (Isaiah 53:5).
   4. Christ “said,” in explaining what the bread and wine represented, that they signified His body and blood. Not, as Rome teaches, that the bread and wine are actually the body and blood of Christ, but that they are symbolized by them.
   5. Christ “gave” the bread and wine to His disciples. In like manner He has given Himself for us, and given Himself to us (Gal. 2:20; Song of Solomon 2:16).
   6. Christ told His disciples to “take” the bread and wine. We take Christ by an act of faith (John 1:12), and make all He has and is, ours by so doing.
   7. Christ bade His disciples, not only to take the bread, but to “eat” it. It is an essential that those who believe in Christ should feed upon Him, as He Himself says in John 6:54.
   As we look to the Cross and remember the Christ who suffered there, we gladly say, “His death is the price of our salvation” (1 Cor. 6:20), the pass into God’s presence (Heb. 10:19), the propitiation for our guilt (Rom. 3:25), the peacemaker for our reconciliation (Col. 1:20), the power of our Christian life (Heb. 13:12), the provider of our blessing (Eph. 1:7), and the plea of our testimony (1 Corinthians 15:1).
2. The upward look of Love. “This do in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:25). The Lord’s Supper not only reminds us of what Christ has done for us, but of the great Worker who accomplished the task. Faith leads us to rest on the work of atonement, but love leads us to praise the Atoner, and causes our heart’s affection to twine around Him, even as the ivy clings round the oak. Love leads us to appreciate Christ for what He is, as well as for what He has done, even as Mephibosheth thought more of the king than he did of his gifts (2 Sam. 19:30). It is the Person of Christ which gives value to the work, and, while we must never under-estimate the work of Christ on the cross, we must ever remember the Person who died (2 Tim. 2:8), and call to mind that Christ is the living, loving Saviour, who bids us remember Him in the breaking of bread (Acts 20:7), and says, “It is I, Myself” (Luke 24:39), and as we thus consider Him (Heb. 3:1), our heart’s affection will be drawn to Him, even as the needle is attracted to the magnet, and we in turn shall influence others (Song of Solomon 1:4).
3. The outward look of Hope. “Till He come” (1 Cor. 11:26). We are bidden to remember Christ in the simple and yet speaking ordinance of the Lord’s Supper. Thus hope goes up the stairs of faith, and looks out of the window which love has opened, and views the coming of the Lord Jesus in His grace and glory (1 Thess. 4:16-17; Col. 3:4; 1 John 3:2).

The whole triangle or trinity of Christ’s work is brought before us in the Lord’s Supper. What He has done, what He is doing, and what He is yet going to do, are pressed upon our attention as we gather around the Lord and sit with Him at His table. The three appearings of Hebrews 9:24-28, are thus illustrated in remembering the Lord’s death.