Till He Comes  (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

Many years ago a member asked me a question … he said: “what happens if you can’t confess the Creeds any more?”

That question completely blew me away … after all … the Creeds had been around almost 2000 years and were confessed by almost of branches of Christianity.

The reason for his question was that he believed that our Savior’s second coming occurred in 70 AD … with the destruction of Jerusalem.

As a result, he couldn’t confess the Creeds any longer, because we do confess that Jesus is coming again.

And also — he no longer believed that we should celebrate Holy Communion … because, as we read in our Epistle Lesson:

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” 

So … if Jesus has returned … then we don’t have to celebrate the Lord’s Supper any longer.

Sadly … he rejected almost 2,000 years of church history and the practice of faithful churches of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And in that rejection he no longer worshiped God in a church because there really weren’t any churches that followed what he believed.

That alone should have caused him to question what he believed … but it didn’t.

With that … we have to ask: Why are WE here?  

Why did we come out on Thursday night.

Why did I drive over an hour to get here … and then another hour to go home?

The answer is in what we do every time we gather for worship on Sundays, and what we will do in a few minutes — and that is celebrate the Lord’s Supper — also called Holy Communion or simply The Eucharist, which means thanks giving.

It was on this night … a Thursday night almost 2000 years ago … that our Savior gathered with his disciples and celebrated the Passover meal with them, and in doing so instituted the Lord’s Supper.

What happened that night is summarized by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 which I would like to read again.

““For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.””

Obviously, the Apostle Paul was not there that night, but at some point the Lord Jesus Christ revealed what happened that night — as Paul says: 

““For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you:””

The account of the institution of the Lord’s Supper is found in all three Synoptic Gospels — Matthew, Mark and Luke.  

For example in St. Matthew 26:26-28 we read: ““And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”  Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.””

///

As we know … the Lord’s Supper was instituted in the context of the Passover meal.  

Passover is an annual event still celebrated by the Jews today.

It celebrates the Lord delivering the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.  We are in the middle of Passover now — and it ends Easter Sunday.  

We read about the institution of the Passover in Exodus 12, where the Lord instructed Moses to tell the people to kill a lamb and to put the blood on the doorposts and the lintel above the door.  

The story is familiar and we read in Exodus 12:5-14: 

““Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. 

And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire; its head with its legs and its entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. 

So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. ‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 

Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.””

///

When the angel of death passed over Egypt — it “passed over” the houses with the blood on the doorposts.  

But those houses that did not have blood on the doorposts — the first-born of everyone — human and animal — died in that house.

As we read in Exodus 12:29: ““And it came to pass at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock.””

Notice that the Lord made it an everlasting ordinance — as we read:

““So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.””

This is why Jesus was celebrating the Passover with his disciples.

But … in celebrating The Passover … he established the Lord’s Supper … for those who follow him.

We note clearly the similarity between the Passover meal and the death of Christ that we will further remember tomorrow.  

The Passover lamb was unblemished and it shed it’s blood.  The bread was unleavened — meaning it had no yeast in it.

Jesus was unblemished — he was without sin.  

And only someone WITHOUT SIN could offer an acceptable sacrifice for our sin!

As you have heard me say … God not only demanded that a sacrifice be made for sin … but He provided that sacrifice in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And in the process … his blood was shed and his body broken.  

1 Corinthians 5:7: tells us clearly: ““For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”” 

But then notice the difference in the Lord’s Supper.  

Just as Baptism replaces circumcision as the sign of the Covenant, so too the Lord’s Supper replaced the Passover — in both cases, a non-bloody sacrament for a bloody one.

We know … as we compare Scripture with Scripture that when Jesus shed his blood on the cross for us — it was the one final and perfect sacrifice.  

All of the O.T. sacrifices looked forward to his sacrifice on the cross.  

He was the Passover lamb.

As we read in John 1: ““The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”” 

— and,  as know … Jesus was sacrificed on the Passover … because there HAD TO BE the shedding of blood.

///

Hebrews 9:22 tells us: ““And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.””

THAT is why we are here tonight.  

We are here tonight to remember his death for us and for our salvation — and to PROCLAIM his death until he comes again.  

We don’t know when that will be … despite the many predictions of his return.

All I can say is that the return of Christ is imminent — it can happen at any time.  

But remember … there is no time with God — a day is like a thousand years — and only He knows the return date, and as far as I know, He hasn’t told anyone yet.

I get a real kick out of all these authors predicting the return of Christ and the end of the world.  

And the only thing that they have in common is that they have all been wrong — 100% of the time.  

And so — we are here to remember the last night of our Savior’s earthly life in his humanity.  

We are here to remember that his body was broken and his blood was shed for our sins.  

We are here to remember that every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper — we proclaim his death (and resurrection) to the world — UNTIL he returns in glory.  

We know that his return can happen at any time … and so we are to live as if he could come the next moment.

That is why we here, and as we celebrate this Supper, let us remember what our Savior has done for us and for our salvation … and as we read in Philippians 2 …

““ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.””

Praise be to God for His unspeakable gift! AMEN.