October 4, 2015

1 Corinthians 11:26 AMP - For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are representing and signifying and proclaiming the fact of the Lord's death until He comes [again].

On the night before He was slain, the Lord Jesus transformed the Passover Meal. More than a celebration of “yesterday” or a “ritual” observance, or even a foreshadowing of “tomorrow;” Christ made it a Communion Table in which He invited His disciples to partake of His fullness and life. It was here that the truth of our salvation, pre-figured in the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, would be fulfilled. As He broke the unleavened Passover bread and took the cup with them, He reinterpreted the practice that had been going on for centuries, applying it to Himself: the ultimate Passover Lamb.

There in the Upper Room was the last time the Passover would be celebrated before its prophetic elements would be fulfilled. The next day at Calvary, the Lamb would be slain, His blood spilled, and His body broken that there might come - as it had in Egypt long ago - protection from judgment and death, and deliverance out of the bondage of slavery.

“This do in remembrance of Me,” is a fundamental text we often consider at the Lord's Table.  It is engraved on communion furnishings in churches everywhere. In every passage where Jesus was instituting communion, He says those words. But for many people, that call to remembrance is interpreted as almost being downhearted and melancholy; as if Jesus is telling us, "Remember only my agony." Instead Beloved, His suffering should remind us that His VICTORY was actually assured on the Cross!

I will readily admit that many times, I do not feel victorious.  It is especially during those seasons, when the days are unpredictable, when life is fragile, and seasons of suffering can be excruciating, it is particularly at those moments that we should come to this Table of Remembrance. To remind ourselves that the Son of God has paid every price, defeated every Foe, and assured us of the final victory.

Today we will be going to the LORD’s TABLE to remember His Victory.  As we do, please consider that every time we partake of the Bread and the Cup, we “are representing and signifying and proclaiming (1 Corinthians 11:26 AMP)” deep and unalterable truths about our Savior that each one of us has personally “received from the Lord.”