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Among all the important meals recorded in the Bible, the most significant is also the one to which all Christians are invited. It was instituted by Jesus Christ on the night when He was betrayed. It is not a one-time occurrence but is to be celebrated perpetually until it reaches its heavenly culmination. It is called the Lord’s Supper.
The Bible identifies at least three purposes for this supper, all of which are outlined in 1 Corinthians 10–11. The first is the most mysterious. The Lord’s Supper is a participation—a sharing. What is it that we share? We share spiritually in the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has fellowship with His people by His Spirit at the supper. Of course, Jesus is not physically present—the text makes that abundantly clear. But Jesus Christ is present in a special way by His Holy Spirit. When we gather, we share in this together as one body. We have communion with Jesus spiritually and communion with one another. “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (10:17).
Second, this important meal is a memorial. Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me” (11:24). It is worth noting that Jesus did not institute a meal that would remind us of His miracles or His sermons. He established a memorial of His death. This shows us how central the death of Jesus is to Christians. We are not simply followers of Jesus’ teaching or admirers of His ethics; we are those whose only hope of reconciliation with God comes through the death of Jesus Christ on our behalf.
Because of this great truth, it is only fitting that the third key purpose of the Lord’s Supper is proclamation. Since we eat the meal together in the context of public worship and the proclamation of the Word, our participation is a public matter. We are declaring something about Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (11:26).
What a day it will be when He comes! Believers who know Jesus Christ through His Word and by His Spirit will then see Him face-to-face. The meal that is so central to our lives today—the supper in which the Lord meets us and feeds us spiritually—will then give way to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, He was already looking forward to that day. He said, “I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matt. 26:29). When the Apostle John was given a glimpse of that day, he was told to take special note: “And the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb’” (Rev. 19:9).