Just as the man mentioned in yesterday’s devotional became a Christian by observing Christians taking communion, something like that also happened at Tenth Presbyterian Church before I was pastor. There was a man who was sitting in the back corner of the church in one of the communion services. He knew that he was not a Christian, and he understood that the communion table was for Christians only. So during the communion service, when the bread was passed, this man rightly refused to take it. But as the bread passed by, he was aware of what he was rejecting. He was rejecting that which represented the body of Jesus Christ broken on the cross for him. In the moments after that when the congregation was participating, this man gave his heart to the Lord.
As the service went on, the cup was passed, representing the shed blood of Christ. But this time, when the second element came by, he took it because in the meantime he had become a Christian. This man went on to become the dean of Moody Bible Institute some years later. That is the spiritual presence of Christ in the Supper. Certainly this does not mean that He is not present at other times, but there is a special promise of the blessing of Jesus Christ where we gather together in His name.
All this concerns the past significance of the Lord’s Supper. As I said earlier, there are two more time elements involved. There is the future element because we do not just look to the past, to a Christ who died on the cross for our sin and rose again. Rather, that same Jesus who died and rose again ascended to heaven, and He is coming again. He said to His disciples, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2-3). The same Jesus whom we look to in the past is the Jesus we look to in the future.
That same Jesus is also coming, and because of that there is the present element as well. The apostle John in the third chapter of his first letter is talking about the return of Christ. He says that one day we are going to see Him, and when we see Him we will be like Him (v. 2). At the present time we cannot see Jesus in His glory because of our sin. We have to be changed in order to become like Him. We have to be holy as He is holy. We have to be filled with love as He is filled with love. And because the day is coming when we will see Him and be like Him, John says, “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure” (v. 3).
As concerns the Lord’s Supper in the present, Paul writes in verses 27 and following that it is possible for a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ to participate in the Lord’s Supper unworthily. He is not talking about whether or not we come as unworthy. If that was the issue, no one would come because we are all unworthy. Rather, he is talking about the manner in which we come. What he means is we can come treating the Lord’s Supper flippantly. We can come and take it without any serious thought about the state of our soul, as if it is just another thing that goes on in the Christian Church. He says that it is possible to do that and to heap up judgment to yourself.
Paul said that some have been so wrong in the way they have approached the Lord’s Supper that the Lord has actually judged them with sickness. And some have even died. God takes communion seriously.
We should recognize the Lord’s Supper for what it is—a great gift of God to His people, a wonderful opportunity for growth, and a privilege of meeting with Jesus Christ in a special spiritual way. If we understand that, then before we come we need to search our hearts. We need to ask the Spirit of God to reveal to us that which is displeasing in His sight, and by His grace we confess that sin and receive the forgiveness for it that we most certainly need. Paul says, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:26).
Jesus is most certainly coming. The question is how are we going to meet Him when He comes. Are we going to meet Him having treated spiritual things lightly? Are we going to meet Him as those who have been faithful, who have profited from His gifts, who have fellowshipped with Him at this table and who are, therefore, ready to participate with Him in that great fellowship at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb?
