By TAC Team (based on teaching from Miss Shirley Crowder and Dr. Mark Shaw’s Podcast Conversation)-March 2022 –  Podcast #153 “Easter week 3”

What Does “The Lord’s Supper” Mean? – Part 1 of 2

 All through scripture we see that shed blood is required in order for redemption to occur. God teaches His people Israel about the sacrifices required so that throughout their generations they see how much sin costs. Sacrifices were a foreshadowing glimpse of the shed blood of Jesus on the cross.

Israel’s Passover Helps us Understand

The Passover celebration of the Jewish people was commanded by God to be done every year after coming out of Egypt to remind them of the shed blood on the doorposts which kept them from death in Egypt as God killed every first-born male. The children of Israel ate unleavened bread at the Passover feast according to God’s instructions—so “Passover Feast” and “The Feast of Unleavened Bread” are really one celebration that commemorates the giving of thanks to God for Him sparing the children of Israel’s first-born sons that night.

Last week the blog and podcast taught about the “triumphal entry” as it is called, and how Jesus was coming into Jerusalem on that day for the very same purpose— to join all of Israel in celebrating the Passover.

Act of Faith

God saved the first-born sons of Israel on the first Passover night because He saw the blood on the doorpost. Placing the blood on the doorposts was an act that all of Israel had to do by faith. It was the blood that saved them, not their goodness or good works. Moses is mentioned as walking by faith in the New Testament book of Hebrews:

“By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.” – Hebrews 11:28 (ESV) [1]

Our Sins Taken Away

In Matthew, Jesus is in the upper room serving the Passover meal with his disciples, and he takes the bread and he gave it to the disciples. He said take, eat. This represents my body. And he takes the cup and gave thanks and then said to drink from it—because this is the blood of the covenant poured out for many for the forgiveness of sin.

Jesus Himself offered His own body as the last “Lamb” ever needed—the perfect One—the Lamb of God as John the Baptist cried out: “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

A New Memorial

So with these actions Jesus institutes a new memorial of what we now call “Communion” or the “Lord’s Supper.” The Passover memorial is being completely fulfilled in Himself.

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 says:

“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (ESV)

What Are We Celebrating?

In the act of eating communion, we are celebrating and remembering the shed blood of Christ on the cross and what He accomplished. We are not happy for the suffering and death he experienced but we are happy that because of his great love for us, God sent Jesus His only Son to earth to live as fully God and fully man:

• to be accused wrongly
• to be beaten and crucified
• to die on the cross (He lay down His life—no one could take it from Him against His will as He said in John 10:17)
• to take upon himself not only the sin but also the punishment that we deserve for that sin—eternal death.

The correlation is clear. The Israelites were celebrating and remembering the past historical event of what happened when God saved them from death in Egypt and redeemed them from slavery. Today, Christ followers are remembering the same for ourselves. We know what happened to Jesus as HE lay down His life on the cross.

As we partake in communion, we affirm that we believe it, and we give thanks for our salvation from the slavery of sin and redemption from the enemy of our souls, even though we deserved death forever.

1 Corinthians says that we are reminding ourselves of His death until Jesus returns. Every time we do this simple communion act by faith, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes (v.26).

It is not the act alone of swallowing communion elements that brings any power, forgiveness, salvation or closeness to God. It is our hearts of faith toward God that in Christ and because of Christ we are forgiven, redeemed, and free—that’s what makes The Lord’s Supper meaningful.

Jesus was the last “Lamb” ever needed—the perfect One—the Lamb of God as John the Baptist cried out:

“The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Part 2 out now! Click here to continue reading!

(Listen to the entire podcast here or find it on YouTube.)

EASTER: Meditations for Addicts was written by Dr. Mark E. Shaw and Shirley Crowder and is part of a series along with the book ADVENT: Meditations for Addicts. Shirley is a co-founder of this ministry with Dr. Shaw and serves as The Addiction Connection’s Vice President. She is a gifted writer and speaker and teaches women all over the country.

 

 

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[1] Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.