LOOKING TO THE LAMB

 

“As they were eating, He took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘Take [it]; this is My body.’  Then He took a cup, and after giving thanks, He gave it to them, and so they all drank from it.  He said to them, ‘This is My blood [that establishes] the covenant; it is shed for many.’” (Mark 14:22-24 HCSB)

Each time we have the Lord’s Supper there are three looks: we look back, around and up. These are in three tenses: past, present and future. 

Paul instructs us in 1 Corinthians that we partake of the Lord’s Supper, “in remembrance” of Christ’s sacrifice—that’s the look to the past.  He writes of the fellowship we enjoy with Christ and His people—that’s the look in the present.  Then the Apostle tells us that we observe the ordinance, “Till He comes” pointing to the future and the return of Christ. 

We see these three looks in this passage which gives us the institution of the ordinance.  It is a call to look to Jesus, the Lamb of God.

There is A LOOK TO THE PAST.

“On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrifice the Passover lamb, His disciples asked Him, ‘Where do You want us to go and prepare the Passover so You may eat it?’  So He sent two of His disciples and told them, ‘Go into the city, and a man carrying a water jug will meet you. Follow him.  Wherever he enters, tell the owner of the house, “The Teacher says, ‘Where is the guest room for Me to eat the Passover with My disciples?’”’  He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there.’  So the disciples went out, entered the city, and found it just as He had told them, and they prepared the Passover.” (v.12-16) 

The New Covenant that Jesus would institute in the Upper Room was founded on the Old Covenant.  In the Old Covenant, there was the symbolic sacrifice of the Passover Lamb and in the New Covenant there is the fulfillment of that in Christ.

Consider THE HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATION. Jesus and His disciples were preparing to observe the Passover.  Passover was the commemoration of the Jew’s deliverance from Egyptian slavery.  It was named for the application of the blood of the Lamb to the doorposts, and when the Death Angel passed through Egypt to slay the firstborn of every house, when he saw the blood, he would “pass over” that household.  The Lord commanded them to observe the Passover each year.   Jesus and His disciples were being obedient. 

Understand this: the Lord’s Supper isn’t optional—it is commanded.  The Son has commanded the church to observe that memorial meal, even as the Father commanded the Jews to observe the Passover.

Weigh THE SPIRITUAL IMPLICATION.  John the Baptist pointed to Jesus, and said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” (John 1:36b)  It is the symbolism of the sacrificial system.  Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5:7b, “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.”  All those lambs that were offered under the Old Covenant were pointing to the Lamb to be offered in the New Covenant.  What their blood could never do—actually atone for sin—Christ’s precious blood would do.

Remember! 

How could we ever forget? 

Yet, we do—not that Calvary ceases to be stored in our database, but we don’t access it—it is filed away while the computer of our minds runs other programs in the foreground.  We need to close that window and open that one which shows us Jesus.  There must be a conscious, constant, conspicuous reminder of the cross.  It is central to the Christian faith!

The Lord’s Supper is a look to the Lamb.  It is a look to the past, but also it is A LOOK IN THE PRESENT.

“When evening came, He arrived with the Twelve.  While they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, ‘I assure you: One of you will betray Me — one who is eating with Me!’  They began to be distressed and to say to Him one by one, ‘Surely not I?’  He said to them, ‘[It is] one of the Twelve — the one who is dipping [bread] with Me in the bowl.  For the Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.’  As they were eating, He took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘Take [it]; this is My body.’  Then He took a cup, and after giving thanks, He gave it to them, and so they all drank from it.  He said to them, ‘This is My blood [that establishes] the covenant; it is shed for many.’” (v.17-24)

Jesus was with His followers and they were gathered around the table with one another.  The Lord’s Supper isn’t a private matter, but a corporate gathering. 

It is A TIME OF EXAMINATION.

“When evening came, He arrived with the Twelve.  While they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, ‘I assure you: One of you will betray Me — one who is eating with Me!’  They began to be distressed and to say to Him one by one, ‘Surely not I?’  He said to them, ‘[It is] one of the Twelve — the one who is dipping [bread] with Me in the bowl.  For the Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.’” (v.17-21) 

Though the Lord’s Supper isn’t private, it is intensely personal.  We are called to examine ourselves and our relationship with the Lord.  In the Passover all leaven was searched out and swept away.  Leaven is symbolic of sin.  Paul makes this connection in 1 Cor.5:6-8, which we earlier referenced in part, “Your boasting is not good.  Don’t you know that a little yeast permeates the whole batch of dough?  Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch. You are indeed unleavened, for Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.  Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old yeast or with the yeast of malice and evil but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

We are to conduct a spiritual inventory when we come to the Lord’s Supper.  Are we in a relationship with Christ?  If we are not, then it has no meaning to us until we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  It is a family meal and only those who are in the family of God by virtue of the new birth are invited to eat.  Are we in fellowship with Him and with one another or has sin disrupted the fellowship?  We may be children of God in a relationship with Him, but not in fellowship with Him because of our rebellion.  It is an occasion for prodigals to come back home and experience the feast.

It is also A TIME OF COMMUNION.

“As they were eating, He took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘Take [it]; this is My body.’  Then He took a cup, and after giving thanks, He gave it to them, and so they all drank from it.  He said to them, ‘This is My blood [that establishes] the covenant; it is shed for many.’” (v.22-24)

The physical elements are meant to testify to a spiritual reality.  Christ is among us, when two or three meet in His name.  Jesus speaks of His body.  We are the Body of Christ—members of one another.  We are an extension of His life and we are connected to each other.  When one member rejoices, all do.  When one mourns, all do.  This is our communion—we are one in the Spirit.

The third direction we look to the Lamb takes us from the past and present to A LOOK AT THE PROSPECTS.

“‘I assure you: I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it in a new way in the kingdom of God.’  After singing psalms, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” (v.25-26)

This is the future element.

We look forward to A NEW SUPPER.

“‘I assure you: I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it in a new way in the kingdom of God.’” (v.25) 

As the Passover meal was superseded by the Lord’s Supper, the Lord’s Supper will be supplanted by the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.  What a day that’s going to be, when all that Jesus purchased for us at Calvary will be presented to us in glory!

Here’s how John describes it:

“Then I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters, and like the rumbling of loud thunder, saying: Hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty, has begun to reign!  Let us be glad, rejoice, and give Him glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself.  She was given fine linen to wear, bright and pure.  For the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints.

 

Then he  y an angel; Rv 17:1; 22:8-9

said to me, ‘Write: Those invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb are fortunate!’ He also said to me, ‘These words of God are true.’” (Rev.19:6-9)

We further anticipate A NEW SONG.

“After singing psalms, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” (v.26) 

It wasn’t a dirge that they sung, but a hymn of celebration. Traditionally the Jews would sing at the Passover the Hallel—Psalms 113-118. That song—the Hallel (Hallelujah) chorus—was in anticipation of deliverance.

Consider this:

“Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.” (Heb.12:1-2)

It is the summons to follow Christ on the Calvary Road— and we do so with joy, for the way of the cross leads home!