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Confession Study
London Baptist Confession of 1689 reads, in the 28th chapter introducing the ordinances of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Reading of 1689 LBCF Chapter 28
Baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances of positive and sovereign institution appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ, the only lawgiver to be continued in his church to the end of the world. Since we will partake of the Lord's Supper this morning, I felt it appropriate that we could consider the institution of the Lord's Supper by our Lord Jesus Christ as we find it in Matthew chapter 26. So you can please turn there. We're going to look at the text of Matthew chapter 26 concerning the Lord's Supper, just a few verses.
But if you could back up in that chapter to verse 1, we're going to read verses 1 and 2. Then we're going to skip to verse 17 and read to verse 20. And then we will read verses 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30. Hopefully you followed all of that.
But we're going to begin reading in Matthew chapter 26 at verse one. and we'll read verse 2 then skip to 17 and then we'll be skipping to 26 a few verses after that. This is Matthew 26 at verse 1. Now it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these things that he said to his disciples, you know that after two days is the Passover and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. Verse 17.
Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying to him, Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover? And he said, Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, The teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples. So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.
When evening had come, he sat down with the twelve. Verse 26. And as they were eating, Jesus took the bread. Jesus took bread, blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat, this is my body.
The Cup and the New Covenant
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. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Amen. Well, let's pray. Our Father, we praise you again that we can come to your Holy Scriptures and consider them. Father, we pray that we would never think it an unheavy or a light thing, that we get to consider your Bible, that we get to open it up and read from it, that we have all 66 books of the Old and New Testaments.
And we praise you, Father. for the reality that there is redemption in this Bible, that page after page, chapter after chapter, it points to Christ upon the cross working out the salvation of sinners. We ask, Father, as we consider this particular passage, that we would glory in the institution of the Lord's Supper as we find it here, as our Lord Jesus instituted this particular ordinance. Might we consider the gravity of it, the significance of it, and might we glory, Father, in the fact that we as your people get to partake of such a representation of the sacrificial, substitutionary work of our blessed Christ. And it's in His name that we pray.
Amen.
Introduction
Well, the Lord Jesus had just completed five discourses prior to our reading this morning. There are five discourses in the book of Matthew that we find our Lord Jesus Christ giving before hearers, whether to disciples or to multitudes gathered before him. The first of which is the Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5 to 7. Secondly, the missions of the king or kingdom missions of chapter 10.
The kingdom parables in chapter 13. Fourthly, the authority and character of the church in chapter 18. And fifthly, kingdom judgments in chapters 24 and in 25. Well now we have a transition to a new phase, if you will, a new historical account in the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.
At verse 1 we read, Now it came to pass when Jesus had finished all these sayings that he said to his disciples. So, he had finished all of the sayings that he had, the five discourses that we find in the book of Matthew. And it's interesting to note here that we find the transition. Our Lord Jesus Christ had just executed his office as prophet.
Not that he now relinquishes his office as prophet, but primarily up until this point, our Lord Jesus Christ was functioning in his office as prophet, bringing the will and the force of the weight of God's revelation to the people of Israel, to the disciples, building up his church, building up the faithful, and indicting and pronouncing imprecation upon those who would oppose the gospel of our great king. And now we have the phase, if you will, or the point in this particular discourse that our Lord Jesus Christ is executing or beginning his role as priest, as our great high priest. He has exercised his role, his office as prophet. Now we find the transition to Jesus Christ doing the work of the high priest, not only the work of the high priest in offering up a sacrifice, but also and peculiar to the Lord Jesus being also that sacrifice himself.
And so we have this or we have arrived at this particular point in Matthew that we read this morning. The Lord has predicted his death three times prior to chapter 26 at verse 2. We read of another prediction. You know that after two days is the Passover and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.
The Lord Jesus has announced this three times prior to this occasion with objections, most notably from Peter and with his disciples not necessarily understanding why this needed to take place. But as the life and ministry carries forth, as our Lord Jesus Christ continues to instruct his disciples, and as redemptive history moves forward, we find that the disciples have come and do come to an understanding of why Jesus Christ needed to be delivered into the hands of wicked men, to be crucified, and that he would rise again the third day.
Institution in the Passover Context
what we're going to notice here is a number of things as we follow through the text of verses 26 to 30 primarily 26 to 28 and the content of the institution of the Lord's Supper and we're going to notice first of all here or let's notice first off verse 26 and as they were eating Jesus took the bread, blessed, and broke it." This institution of the ordinance of the Lord's Supper by our Lord Jesus Christ is taking place within the context of a meal. Of course, it's taking place within the context of the Passover meal. And we need to make a note about that and we're going to look more at that tonight as we consider typology, Passover and the Christ who is our Passover. But we need to notice that there is not an insignificance to the fact that Jesus is instituting the Lord's Supper within the context of the Passover meal.
There is great significance. It is not just accidental or coincidental. It's not just a small or simple thing that this is taking place within the context of the Passover meal. As if Jesus would have announced at verse 2, you know that after two days it is Thursday and the Son of Man must go to be crucified.
No, there is great significance to the fact that this is taking place within the context of the Passover meal. And it is striking. It is striking and hopefully you get the weight of this or you receive the weight of what's going on here that this is taking place within the context of the Passover meal. It's amazing that Jesus Christ is the one here instituting the Lord's Supper within the context of the Passover meal.
Why? Well, it was and it is the Passover meal that foreshadowed the Lord Jesus Christ. not only the events that the Passover meal looked back to in remembrance, but the Passover lamb itself. We have here the Lamb of God, Christ, our Passover, instituting the Lord's Supper within the context of a meal that foreshadowed and pointed to Him and His redemptive work. It is an amazing thing that the Lamb of God the actual and the real Passover lamb of redemptive fulfillment is here eating the Passover meal.
So we need to consider or we need to understand the significance of the fact that this is taking place within the context of that Passover meal. Also, they were there, the disciples were there, Christ was there, as a result, or rather the disciples were gathered together in this place as a result of obedience to Christ's request. We read that at verse 17. Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus saying to him, where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?
And he said, go into the city to a certain man and say to him, the teacher says, my time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples. So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them. That's a good thing.
The disciples of Christ, not only these at this particular time in history, but the disciples of Christ are to heed the command of their master. They are to be obedient to the directives, to the instruction of their great King, the Lord Jesus. So they're there, gathered together as a result of obedience to Christ's request. And this account, verses 26 to 30, most likely was taking place near the end of the Passover meal, after they would have taken part of the majority of that Passover meal.
Now, the discourse, of course, continues, or the narrative continues, and as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed, and broke it. Jesus takes the bread, most likely a loaf of bread, a simple loaf of bread, but he uses it, or he takes this loaf of bread, which certainly was fitting for the occasion of instituting the Lord's Supper, and he blesses it.
Blessing and Breaking the Bread
Now, we need to understand what's going on when we read this language of blessing it. Now, why do we need to understand what's going on? Well, there have been monstrous monstrous damages done to particular doctrines, to the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, throughout the history of Christianity, or rather throughout the history of Christian perversion. When Jesus took the bread and he blessed it, he was not somehow some prototypical papist priest. doing some sort of magical incantation over the bread, or conferring some sort of hocus-pocus upon the bread.
No, our Lord Jesus Christ, yes, was setting it apart from a common to a holy use, that's the language of our confession. that the ordained minister or the one authorized to institute the Lord's Supper or to give the Lord's Supper takes the elements and sets them apart from a common to a holy use. But the qualification, of course, is that it's nothing magical or mystical going on in that particular action. Jesus Christ blessed the bread. No doubt this was a giving of thanks to the Father for providing them with bread to eat. it was a giving of thanks.
In fact, we find that language in other accounts or actually in this account at verse 27 with regards to the cup. Then he took the cup and gave thanks. So, it's a giving of thanks to God the Father for the giving of the bread. Now, It was very common in the Jewish recognition, or in the Jewish carrying out of the Passover meal, and in meals generally, to render a blessing with regards to the meal that they were about to partake.
The common Jewish formula for such an occasion that we find here was, Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, the King of the world, that produceth bread out of the earth. So our Lord Jesus Christ, we don't have a report of the words that he actually used in this blessing, but no doubt he used words befitting the occasion, and no doubt he gave thanks to his Father, as he often did, for those things that he gave from his merciful and gracious hand. So the Lord Jesus Christ takes the bread, he blesses it, and he breaks it. Now we need to spend a little bit of time on this particular language.
Jesus took the bread, blessed and broke it. Now, yes, of course, Jesus broke the bread in order to distribute it to the disciples who were eating this Lord's Supper with him. He took the bread, he broke it so that it could be distributed amongst the disciples that they might receive it and eat it according to his command. But, of course, and we need to note above that the significance of the breaking of the bread.
Elsewhere, or in the Lucan account, we have the language of the bread that was given for you. It was broken or this is my body broken for you, this is my body given for you. We need to understand that this breaking of the bread is emblematic of something. It is symbolic of the breaking of the body of our precious Savior.
When Jesus takes the bread, He blesses it, and He breaks it, it is not simply what it is for distribution to the disciples, but it is emblematic and representative of a grand truth. And that truth is that our precious Savior's body was broken for the sins of His people. Now, what does broken mean? Does it mean the breaking of bones.
Of course it could not mean the breaking of bones because that would fly in the face of or that would undo the biblical typology of the Lamb of God. You can turn actually to John chapter 19 for a moment just to understand a little bit more what this breaking means. It's good to rehearse these things. I know most of you, if not all of you, of course understand the biblical reality or the scriptural fulfillment of the Passover and what it means when not a bone of our Lord's body would be broken.
But it's good to rehearse this as we consider the language of the breaking of the bread and the fact that it is emblematic of the breaking of our Savior's body. We can turn to chapter 19 and we'll begin reading at verse 34. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe.
For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, not one of his bones shall be broken. And again another scripture says, They shall look on him whom they pierced. Now, one of the things that we find previous to that particular verse is the fact that the Jews asked Pilate that the legs of the prisoners, or the Lord Jesus Christ and the two that were beside him, would be broken. so that they might be taken away, or in order to expedite the crucifixion, they were to break the legs so that the process would be sped and that they could get about the business of Jewish religion. Well, we find the account there that our Lord Jesus Christ was already dead. that the soldiers pierced his side and they were given evidence that the Lord Jesus Christ truly had or truly was dead at that particular point, so they did not have to break his body.
They did not have to break his legs. And this was not a simple, just something that happened haphazardly or chronologically or as a historical account. in the narrative. No, it was a fulfillment of scripture, as the text of John says. And it is a common misunderstanding that that is a fulfillment of Psalm 22, whereas it is actually a fulfillment of Exodus 12 and the breaking of the Passover or the ceremony with regards to the Passover lamb.
Not a bone of the Passover lamb was to be broken. And so we have there a fulfillment of the fact, or a revealing of the fact, that Jesus Christ is, was the Passover Lamb, the Lamb of God, who was to take away the sins of the world. So the breaking here means not a breaking of the bones again, because that would be contrary scripture, but the breaking means that our Lord Jesus Christ received breach upon breach of his body by torture and by the crucifixion by Roman nails. the breaking of his body, it speaks of the wounds, the sufferings, and all of those things that came upon him, the bruisings, and all of the trials of physical travail that came upon him, and ultimately his death. So when Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, and breaks it, that breaking is again representative of his body, which was soon to be broken for the sins of his people.
The Lord Jesus Christ now speaks the words after he takes the bread, after he blesses it and breaks it, he gives it to the disciples and he says, take, eat, this is my body.
'This Is My Body': The Battleground
And these, just those four words, this is my body, serve as the battlegrounds for the last 2,000 years of the doctrine of the Lord's Supper. Of course, most notably between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants. And while I don't want to While I don't want to go into an unnecessary consideration or a lengthy consideration of the negative aspects of what this does not mean, it is good to rehearse that before we actually get to the blessed reality of what it does mean, because there is much misunderstanding with regards to the literalism of this is my body. So again, Jesus takes the bread, he blesses it, he breaks it, he gives it to his disciples, and he says, take, eat, this is my body.
Again, the gospel writer Luke adds, which is given for you. Which is something of a qualifier, because we'll get to that in a moment. But we're going to reiterate or rehearse what this does not mean, what this is my body can't mean. And what it can't mean is that the bread that Christ was holding, the bread that Christ held and that he distributed to the disciples was literally and truly his body.
In other words, it was not the case that Christ was holding up this bread and breaking it and that that bread was literally his body. Now, many of you might be saying, well, yeah, of course, that's repugnant to common sense and reason, like the language of our confession. And you would be right. But there is, of course, that doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, transubstantiation.
They take this passage, this is my body, apply a wooden literalism to it, and say that that really becomes, by consecration of the priest, and at this point, by consecration of the Lord Jesus Christ, it really and truly becomes, not just the body, but the body, soul, and divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this bread, again, to reiterate, is emblematic of, or it represents, Christ's body. This is our confession at chapter 30, paragraph 6, regarding the doctrine of the Roman Catholics. That doctrine, which maintains a change of the substance of bread and wine into the substance of Christ's body and blood, commonly called transubstantiation, by consecration of a priest, or by any other way, is repugnant not to Scripture alone, but even to common sense and reason, overthroweth the nature of the ordinance, and hath been and is the cause of manifold superstitions, yea, of gross idolatries." So that is the statement of our confession, biblical to its core, repudiating or being or opposing, of course, the doctrine of the Roman Catholics with regards to this verse and their understanding of it.
Now, why is it repugnant or opposed to Scripture and to reason?
Four Arguments Against Transubstantiation
We're going to look at four things. This isn't exhausting the sound evidences against why it is repugnant or supporting why it is repugnant or opposed to Scripture and reason, but they are for good points to observe. The first is that the Bible and the events it records concerning Matthew 26 demand a figurative understanding of this is my body, not a literal understanding but a figurative understanding of this is my body first, it's notable that in the eating of the Passover meal, the Jews would often recite a formula that would also contain language that supports the figurative interpretation. The Jews would say concerning the bread, this is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate in the land of Egypt.
So it wasn't literally the bread of affliction that their fathers ate in the land of Egypt that Jews celebrating the Passover meal would be partaking of. It was emblematic. It was symbolic of that bread that their fathers ate in their season of trouble. They did not think it to be the actual bread, again, that their fathers ate in their bondage in Egypt.
In many places in the Bible, we find the figurative use of the verb to be. many different forms of the verb to be, the word are, the word is, different constructions of the verb to be, but in many places in the Bible, we find that figurative use. And kids, what figurative means is that we could sort of use it as the opposite of literal, but in this case, figurative means the use of one thing as a symbol for another thing. For example, in Revelation 120, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. They weren't literally those things, but they were represented by those things.
Genesis 41, in an interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams, the seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads are seven years. Of course, not a literal understanding can we bring to that or take from it, but rather a figurative one. Ezekiel 37.11, these bones are the whole house of Israel. While those bones weren't literally the whole house of Israel, they were symbolic, rather, of the whole house of Israel.
Now, you might say, or those who revile our biblical doctrine may say, well, yeah, but those are just dreams and visions, interpretations of dreams and visions. Well, turn to 1 Corinthians 11 for a moment. You're well familiar with that particular passage, as we consider it almost every Lord's Day. But even in the context or in the institution of the Lord's Supper, in an account of the institution of the Lord's Supper, we find figurative language.
Verse 25 of 1 Corinthians chapter 11. In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Now, that might seem simple to you, but that cup really wasn't the New Covenant, literally speaking, but rather it was a representation, the blood that was in the cup, the cup there, referring to the blood that was contained in it, was representative of the New Covenant in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Or rather, sorry, the wine that was in the cup was representative of the blood of the New Covenant.
But again, we have that figurative use of the verb to be. This cup is the New Covenant in my blood. So again, the figurative use. In the Gospel of John, we find page after page of figurative use, used by our Lord Jesus Christ concerning Himself, and even in some cases concerning His believers.
But in the Gospel of John, I am the Bread of Life, John 6.48. I am the Living Bread, John 6.51. I am the Light of the World, John 9.5. I am the Door of the Sheep, John 10.7.
I am the door, John 10, 9. I am the resurrection and the life, John 11, 25. I am the true vine, John 15, 1. I am the vine, you are the branches, John 15, 5.
Now, if we were to take the wooden literalism of the Roman Catholics and apply it and apply it freely to passages like these, well then there ought to be within the doors of their churches ordinances where they set up a door that the congregants must walk through because Jesus is the door. or perhaps a setting up of vines and branches, or whatever it might be. It's ridiculous to take a wooden literalism and apply it to verses in the Bible that very clearly, by the force of obviousness, are to be taken figuratively. Jesus Christ was not literally a door. He was not literally a vine.
There are blessed spiritual realities that are represented by those physical objects. And it's interesting, although John, of course, or Jesus in John's account, probably didn't have Matthew chapter 26 in the back of his mind. But it's very interesting, and you don't have to turn there at John 16, 25. Jesus speaks something of a vindication.
I can use this verse as a vindication for the Protestants in biblical understanding of this is my body. Verse 25 of John 16, These things I have spoken to you in figurative language. But the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ used figurative language in order to communicate precious and divine truths.
Christ's Bodily Presence Demands Figurative Reading
Now, secondly, a figurative interpretation upholds the reality of the immediate historical context of the events of the institution of the Lord's Supper. Now, simply, or in other words, Christ was right there with them. Christ was right there with them in the account of the institution of the Lord's Supper. It is a lie to the senses.
It is a lie to the biblical reality of the fact that it supports the use of our senses, that Jesus Christ is somehow to be in front of them present, and yet holy and holy in the bread that not only he was eating, but that his disciples were eating also. So again, a figurative interpretation upholds the reality of the fact that Jesus Christ was right there with them. Christ was right there with them, eating the Passover meal and participating in the eating of the bread, the taking and the eating of the bread, the taking and the drinking of the wine. He was sitting before them in his sound, undivided flesh, as A.
A. Hodge says. When our Lord, this is A. A.
Hodge, when our Lord said this, when he said, this is my body, and gave them bread to eat, he was sitting by them in his sound, undivided flesh, eating and drinking with them. How is it, then, that the Roman Catholics can claim that in every piece of bread distributed, Christ is fully present, body, soul, and divinity? It is a contradiction of the Scripture which requires, this is my body, to be taken figuratively." So again, Christ was right there before them. as if our Lord Jesus Christ would be, or according to the Roman Catholics, if what they say is true and it is not, our Lord Jesus Christ would be participating in auto-cannibalism, which is an affront and an abomination and a blasphemy forced upon Holy Scripture.
True Humanity of Christ and Transubstantiation
A figurative interpretation upholds the biblical doctrine of the true humanity of Christ. God was manifested in the flesh. was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. He made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond-servant, and coming in the likeness of men. Therefore, in the book of Hebrews, therefore, in all things he had to be made like his brethren." Now, where am I going with all of this?
Well, here's Waldron on this particular subject, the fact that a figurative interpretation upholds and a literal interpretation does violence to the biblical doctrine of the true humanity of Christ. This is Waldron. This is my body, taken literally, contradicts the biblical doctrine of the person of Christ. Christ assumed a true human body, but he still has it.
He will have it forever. That body is, during the present age, absent from the earth. Such a body could not be present in a thousand sacraments at once. Furthermore, according to the explicit witness of the Bible, transubstantiation cannot be true.
The Lord's Table is a remembrance, a memorial of Christ till He comes. This speaks of the reality and normality of His human body and of its absence at the Lord's Table. We do not remember one who is physically present. The very text of Holy Scripture, Jesus Christ, is there with them.
And he says, though, at verse 29, but I say to you, I will not drink of this of the fruit of this vine. from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom. The Lord Jesus Christ, holy man, holy God, the God-man descended, or rather ascended to the right hand of the majesty on high after his crucifixion, after his resurrection, and after appearing to over 500. And so the Lord Jesus Christ, or it is, it does, do violence to the Christology of our Bibles to say that Christ can somehow be body, soul, and divinity in every single piece of wafer distributed within the walls of the Romanist church. Again, we do not remember the Lord's Supper.
Part of it, or a characteristic of it, is that it is a memorial, it is a remembrance, and we do not need to remember one who is physically present in the ordinance that we are using to remember him.
Common Sense and the Senses
Fourthly, a figurative interpretation upholds common sense and reason, which, properly understood, are never repudiated by scripture, but assumed by it as required tools of looking at reality. Now, before you jump all over me here for a moment, I will issue a qualification. I affirm presuppositional apologetics. If nobody knows what that means, we can talk afterwards.
But I'm not affirming here an evidential approach to Christian apologetics. What I'm saying is, is that scripture does actually say that we can have a righteous use of our senses and that they are valuable tools for affirming reality. You can turn to 1 John for a moment. 1 John for a moment, as we consider the fact that a figurative interpretation of this is my body upholds common sense and reason. 1 John chapter 1 verse 1. That which was from the beginning which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled concerning the word of life.
The life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard we declare to you. that you also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled." And also, you don't have to turn there, but you can if you will, Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24 and the Lord Jesus Christ affirming the righteous and wholesome use of the senses in order to affirm a particular reality. Verse 36 of Luke 24, Now as they said these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, Peace to you.
But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. And he said to them, Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.
When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. But while they still did not believe, for joy and marvel, He said to them, Have you any food here? So they gave Him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb, and He took it and ate it in their presence. Jesus Christ asks His disciples in order to dispel unbelief, in order to dispel confusion, He says, Look on Me, look upon Me, and handle Me.
Not only that, but watch Me as I eat the broiled fish and honeycomb. So, the Gospel writer, the Epistle writer, John, affirms a righteous and wholesome use of our senses in order to exercise common sense and reason, and our Lord Jesus Christ authorizes those in Luke 24 as a wholesome means of apprehending the truth of a given reality. So, again, a figurative interpretation upholds common sense and reason. Now, do we deny Do we deny the supernatural by repudiating the Romish doctrine, or repudiating the possibility that the bread could be turned into the body of our Lord Jesus Christ?
Of course we repudiate that doctrine, but we don't deny the supernatural. We're not saying, because we do affirm, that with God all things are possible. But what we are saying is that God our Father Our great God does not work against and counteract or contradict His revelation. He does not go against His scripture.
That word which He exalts above His name, He does not Himself violate. He does not contradict Himself because He certainly cannot do so. Now one other thing before we move on. One other thing before we move on with regards to this subject.
We do, believe it or not, if you'll have patience with my use of the word, in a positive light, we do have a biblical example of transubstantiation. If you want to turn to John chapter 2. And forgive me for using that word in a positive light, but Waldron in his exposition uses it to affirm that we actually do have a biblical example of things that had one substance being changed into something that is another substance. John chapter 2, where are we going with this?
Water turned to wine. water turned to wine. We can start at verse 6. Now there were set there six water pots of stone according to the manner of purification of the Jews. containing 20 or 30 gallons apiece, Jesus said to them, fill the water pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
And he said to them, draw some out now and take it to the master of the feast. And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and did not know where it came from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew, the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, every man at the beginning sets out the good wine.
And when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior, you have kept the good wine until now. So it's here that we have a biblical example of actual transubstantiation. Now what is the difference? This is an actual miracle.
This is an actual miracle. If we consider the miracle, in quotes, of the Roman Catholic Church, it would be tantamount to, or it would be equal to, the Lord Jesus Christ saying, OK, I'm going to change this water into wine. Here you go. And then the people look on it and say, well, this looks like water.
Well, yeah, just trust me, it's actually wine. Well, the substance of it is water. It's clear. It tastes like water.
It looks like water. It's water. No, no, no, no. It's a miracle.
The outward appearance of the elements still looks to be water, but inwardly it really is wine. That would be ridiculous. Our Lord Jesus Christ isn't about an affront to common sense and reason. He's not about doing violence or lying to our senses.
When a miracle actually takes place, a miracle actually takes place. And so here we have actual miracle, and certainly by necessary implication or by logical extension, a denial of the so-called miracle of transubstantiation of the Roman Catholic Church.
What 'This Is My Body' Does Mean
Now finally, what does this is my body mean? We have already defended and established the figurative interpretation of it. But what does it mean? This is my body is emblematic.
It's symbolic. It's a representation of Christ's sacrificial substitutionary work on behalf of his people. And this is one of those points, however feeble the preacher may be, that we really do need to worship the God of Holy Scripture. When we come to the simple reality that this is my body, is representative of Christ our Savior giving up himself, giving up himself to breach upon breach of his flesh for his people.
It should have been, or it was to be, brethren, our bodies built. It should have been our bodies broken. It wasn't our Lord Jesus Christ who fracture upon fracture did violence to the righteous precepts of the covenant woman. It wasn't our Lord Jesus Christ who raised his fist, who railed against the beautiful law of a kind and a merciful God.
It was us who should have received the bruises. We should have been bruised. We should have been stricken. We should have been cut off.
We, brethren, should have been led as lambs to the slaughter in order to fulfill and to satisfy divine justice. That should have been us. Our bodies should have been broken. We should have been breached, fracture upon fracture of our flesh.
But our Lord Jesus Christ said, here am I. Send me. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, Behold, I have come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do your will, O God. And it was our Lord Jesus Christ who came into this world to save sinners.
It was our Lord Jesus Christ who went into Gethsemane, not us, and said, If it is possible, let this cup pass from you. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. It was our Lord Jesus Christ who received bash after bash. You've got to consider that kids Those of you who reject the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, those of you who roll your eyes at our Savior, turn away from that richness.
This one entered into the world to save sinners. This one came into this world, he received breach upon breach, lash upon lash. He was tortured. This one who was unblemished, perfect, undefiled, The Holy One, the God-Man, the One who enjoyed the praises of angels, entered into our lower ignominy and received lash upon lash for guilty sins.
Don't roll your eyes at the Lord Jesus Christ and turn to idol upon idol, whether it's sports, whether it's music, whether it's movies, whether it's whatever. If you cast all those things aside and you own the Christ, who would depart glory and come into this world to die for sinners and to rise again, we should have been beaten. We should have been slaughtered. But God, in His mercy and according to His grace and to the praise of the glory of His grace, put Christ in our step, put Christ in our place.
And that's one of the things that we certainly remember. Do this in remembrance of me. Yes, Lord Jesus, we'll remember you for that saving work, for that sacrificial and substitution. We'll move on in the discourse as we try to quickly move through, considering the institution here.
Verse 27, Then he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you. He took the cup. just like he did when he took the bread it was common to Jewish custom the Lord Jesus takes the cup he gives thanks again we don't have a record of what the Lord Jesus said in the giving of thanks but no doubt it was or it could have been that Jewish formula blessed art thou oh Lord our God the king of the world who has created the fruit of the vine But our Lord Jesus Christ, of course, was not restricted to any Jewish formula. Our Lord Jesus Christ could have said anything that he wanted, and no doubt, whatever it was, it was fitting such a somber and such a righteous and joyful occasion as this, befitting the institution of the Lord's Supper. Now, one of the things we need to consider, just very briefly, we drink red wine in remembering and in following through with the ordinance of our Lord Jesus Christ, and certainly that was the case in the time of Christ and throughout redemptive history. the recognition or the drinking of red wine first to remember the blood that was sprinkled upon the doorposts on that first Passover and continually through to this point in redemptive history where now the redemptive focus is shifted to our Lord Jesus Christ and the shedding of his blood.
So they drink red wine, they give thanks, or Jesus in this case gives thanks And he says to them, drink from it, all of you. Now, just two brief things to consider from this statement of our Lord Jesus. Drink from it, all of you. First off, It is the case that we are to heed, the disciples first, prototypical, we are to heed the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It's a simple command, but nevertheless, when our Lord Jesus renders a command, it is the obligation of his people to follow through with adhering to it. Now, this isn't something that we do. begrudgingly, or it certainly isn't something that we ought to do begrudgingly, or as if we're under the harsh imposition of a slave master. No, we are, Christians are, in joyful obedience to our master, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus gives the command to drink from it, And he says, all of you, which touches upon the intended recipients of this particular ordinance.
There have been gross errors throughout the history of the church in denying the drinking of the cup to particular communicants. I'm not saying denying it to unbelievers. The ordinance is for believers. But there has been an unbiblical separation of clergy and laity, if I can use those terms. throughout the history of the church.
The Lord Jesus Christ here in his institution clearly says that all disciples, the 12 in this case, but all disciples, true disciples, those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and are seeking to walk in newness of life are to drink from the cup at the Lord's Supper. So the intended recipients here, all of you, are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. No doubt he drank of the cup also. and then his disciples drank from it. And then we have similar language that we just touched upon, we do not need to rehearse what we just discussed with regards to this is my body, but the Lord Jesus continued at verse 28, for this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Now, one thing that we have here is fulfillment taking place within the context of the Lord's Supper. And you need to see this. We have biblical fulfillment taking place in the context of the Lord's Supper, but in this particular verse. And I believe there's a couple of things that we have in the background here.
First off, though, with regards to the Lord's Supper, we have the fulfillment of the Passover celebration. Remember, this is taking place within the context of the Passover meal, while we have a fulfillment now, a revealing of what the true meaning of the Passover was. In the first Passover, the congregation of Israel, in the very first Passover meal, we're anticipating the short release, or the short time before they would be released from bondage. But the Passover meal, historically, is looking back upon God's redemption pulling the nation of Israel out of bondage in Egypt. and bringing them to the land of promise.
And of course, not just that particular action, but also the deliverance, or passing over them, while the angel of death destroyed the firstborn of Egypt, and there was much death, much wailing, and much judgment. And so, now we have a realization of the true meaning of the Passover meal, is that it typified, it pointed forward to, the Passover Lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who would give his blood, who would give himself up for the sins of his people. Now, two other things that we have in this particular verse.
For this is my blood of the new covenant. We have another full realization of what was done in the old covenant when Moses sprinkled the book of the covenant and the people with the blood of bulls and goats. We have another fulfillment here. That first sprinkling or that first act of affirming the covenant of God was typical.
It was another thing that pointed forward to a greater reality. We have in the book of Hebrews the fact that the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins, but rather the blood of the high priest an actual efficacious sacrifice was only that which could take away the sins of God's people. So we have at verse 28, for this is my blood of the new covenant, not only Exodus 24 and verse 8 in view, but we have Jeremiah 31, 31 to 34 in view also. We have now, finally, an announcement of the inauguration of the new covenant that was announced so many hundred years ago.
Remember Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 31, he announces the coming of the new covenant. Actually, Well, we don't need to turn to Hebrews, but just the language of Jeremiah 31, just so we understand that in the context, in this initiation, in this institution of the Lord's Supper, we have the Lord Jesus Christ affirming from His own mouth that He is the mediator of the New Covenant, that He is the testator, that He is the one who would ratify or confirm or fulfill the New Covenant. Jeremiah 31, 31, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah." And of course the prophet continues saying that this would not be like the old covenant which he made with his people, but rather in this covenant all people would have his law written upon their minds and upon their hearts. All of the people would receive the remission of sins, the blessed forgiveness of sins, and all of his people would know the Lord and would walk with them, would walk with him.
So we have here Jesus Christ and in the background of his statement, for this is my blood of the new covenant. We have the Exodus 24 sprinkling of the book of the covenant and the people by the blood of bulls and goats. And we have the new covenant announcement by Jeremiah 31 also in the background. Now the language here continues, for this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Blood Shed for Remission of Sins
Now this is where we have obviously a clear and a striking difference between those old covenant symbols and points and ceremonies, etc. We have the fact that now the announcement of the efficacious or the powerful or the real sacrifice was about to be made. Now there would be no need for that typical sprinkling of the blood of bulls and goats. Now there would be no need for those multitudinous washings and sacrifices and rituals because the one whom now all of that pointed to has come.
He has arrived on the scenes. he has carried out his prophetic office, he has now come to the point in redemptive history where he would give his life for his people, where he would shed his blood of the new covenant for the remission of sins. And this This brings us, or it brings us clearer to the point, that there is a redemptive focus to this account, to this narrative account. It is not simply a meal, a supper that is to take place. It is not simply people partaking of the elements of bread and of wine.
It is a celebration. It is a memorial. It is a proclamation. It is a recognition of the redemptive work of the Son of God who came into the world to save sinners from their sins.
We need to see that the Bible here, in joining together the Passover with the Lord's Supper, in joining together thousands of years of redemptive history, or many centuries of it, is sort of setting forth the strength of the fact that the Bible is a redemptive document. if I can use the word document. The Bible is a redemptive document. It has a redemptive focus. It is not simply some dusty tome of histories, of truths, and of proverbs.
Again, page after page, chapter after chapter, it points to the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary working out the salvation of sinners. The redemptive movement or the movement of revelation while we have God dealing with his people, while we have judgment, restoration, judgment, restoration, while we have many lessons of morality, biblical morality throughout the Old Testament and into the New Testament, the movement of Holy Scripture is to the Lord Jesus Christ according to the eternal covenant, according to the eternal plan of God, saving sinners upon the cross of Calvary. And so we have that redemptive focus here. For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
It has always been about redemption. The people celebrating the Passover meal were not just eating lamb and the various foods and drinks that were involved in the Passover meal. They were remembering. They were looking back to that point when God brought them out of the house of bondage and into the land of promise. they would remember the fact that God redeemed them from out of that land and brought them into their own particular freedom.
So it is always redemption. And how much more than in the Lord's Supper or in the New Covenant era, if Israel rejoiced in a physical removal from bondage, how much more ought we, the New Covenant people, rejoice and remember and relish in and just be awed in the fact of spiritual removal from the house of bondage. If Israel could century after century and time after time look back in that historical retrospect and praise God for pulling them from out of bondage in Egypt, if they could do that time and time again, how much more ought we, ought the people of God, to rejoice, to render psalm, to render doxology, to render glory to our great God for pulling us out of that spiritual Egypt, for transferring us from out of the house of bondage spiritually, from pulling us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. And another thing that we ought to consider here is that it is required, it was required, that blood be shed for the remission of sin.
It is a violent thing and it does damage to the doctrine of sin, the doctrine of man, but more importantly, the doctrine of the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ, to think lightly about sin and about shed blood, about the law of God also. But it was required that blood be shed for the remission of sin. That ought to point us to the fact that sin is great. sin, the breaking of law, the transgression of the law, and a lack of conformity unto the precepts of our covenant God is a heavy and a hard thing. And what does it require?
It does not require and it cannot be put away by jingling money in the cups of papists. It cannot be put away by paying the priest or lighting a candle. It cannot be put away by our works done. It cannot be put away by good deeds.
It cannot be put away by creature or creaturely things. It can only be put away by creator things. the one who created the world, the one who fixed the stars in place, entered into our reality and took upon himself the sanctions due us, the penalties due to us in order to purchase the remission of sins. It is a heavy thing that blood was required by our great God in order to put away the sins of his people. And we ought not ever to think lightly of it, because sin required a heavy sacrifice.
And when we consider the language in a moment, when we move on to the Lord's Supper, when we consider the language of do this in remembrance of me, we need to remember those weighty realities. First, the weighty reality of this is my body that the Lord Jesus Christ breach upon breach received, breach upon breach in his flesh, the reality that by the shedding of his blood, the perfect Lamb of God, we have remission of sins. Those who breach upon breach broke the law of God, those who were deserving of breach upon breach in our flesh, We fractured God's law. He was, He should have fractured us, but He fractured the Son of His love.
We need to remember those things as we consider the Lord's Supper.
The Anticipatory Character of the Supper
Very briefly, the Lord Jesus Christ gives us some evidence that an attribute of the Lord's Supper is anticipatory or is a looking forward to a reality. Verse 29, But I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you. in my father's kingdom. There is an anticipatory reality to the Lord's Supper. We're looking forward with great joy to the coming of our conquering King.
And notice verse 30, very briefly, when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. This wasn't the time for them to mourn, although it was a sober occasion. It was a solemn occasion. This wasn't a time, though, for them to mourn, as they may have previously, when they lamented at Christ's announcement that he would be crucified, that he would be delivered, that he would be put to death, and that he would rise again the third day.
Though they sang a hymn, yes, no doubt, as a reality of participating in the Passover meal. They would close the celebration and actually throughout the meal they would sing psalms. But no doubt they had joy in their hearts because they realized that this Christ was, or they wholly realized, that this Christ was the Passover lamb, that this Christ was the realization of the blood of the covenant, that this Christ was coming to fulfill all of the law. and all of the prophets. So they sang at him and they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Matthew Henry notes that no doubt the Lord Jesus Christ had, yes, the fact that he needed to move forward with the Father's providential plan for him. He needed to go to the garden. He needed to be betrayed and arrested in Gethsemane. But Matthew Henry notes that secondarily, the Lord Jesus Christ was being kind to the master of the house that they were eating in.
He did not want to bring trouble upon the master of the house that they were eating the Passover meal in. So the Lord Jesus Christ, after they sing a hymn, the king leads his kingdom people out to the Mount of Olives. We don't want our master to be brought into trouble. We don't want to have an uprising in the city.
No, we'll go to the Mount of Olives. We'll pray. I'll be arrested, portrayed in the garden. And providential and redemptive history will continue, and I'll give my life for you, and I'll rise again, and I'll ascend to my father, and I'll ever live to give intercession for you, my precious people.
Application: Approaching the Lord's Supper
Just a few brief notes, and then we'll move on after a prayer to the Lord's Supper. One, we need to have a sober but joyful remembrance. When we approach the Lord's Supper, we ought not ever to approach it lightly, brethren. It's bread and it's wine.
Yes, but our Lord Jesus Christ, in instituting it, set these things apart from a common to a holy use. It is not us kicking back, just chilling, and having some bread and some wine like we would have some snacks and some juice. This is something that resembles, that is emblematic of our Savior's body broken for us. It's emblematic of our Savior's blood shed for us.
And we are, too, as we heard this morning, we're to have an improvement upon our own wickedness. We need to repent of thought of deed and action. If we haven't, we need to do so. We need to have a growth in our faith.
As we partake of the Lord's Supper, this is something that is a constant reminder of us that we have been saved by such a God, that we have been saved by such a Savior, by such an act as redemption of the Cross of Calvary. We need to have a sober and joyful remembrance that we are looking forward to inheriting eternal life. We have it saved up, pulled up for us in heaven. That is assured in a certain fact.
But we look forward to the realization of that. We look forward to the coming of our conquering king, and he comes with the glory of all his holy angels. When he judges those who are wicked, but brings to eternal bliss those who are his righteous by his work. We are proclaiming the death of Christ.
We are exhibiting, we are demonstrating the death of Christ. It is a visual gospel, as one man has said. We are proclaiming to each other, to the world, and to God, the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is an exhibition, a revealing of the gospel reality, that Jesus Christ came into this world to save his people from his sins.
And lastly, I want to appeal to the children And I want to appeal to them using something that we find in the discourse in the book of Exodus. And you don't need to turn there, but children, we as parents, we as adults in the church, we as people of the great lamb, people of our Lord Jesus Christ, would hope and pray and we would plead that you would do as the children of the nation of Israel were encouraged to do so many hundreds of years ago. They were required to say, they were asked to ask, what do you mean by this service? They were asked to ask the question, what is this Passover meal all about?
And with regards to the Passover meal, the people were to respond. that you shall say, it is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians and delivered our households. So the people bowed their heads in worship. Then the children of Israel went away and did so. Just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
We would ask children that you would ask us, what do you mean by this service? And each and every one of us ought to be ready to tell you, this is what we mean by this service. And such a Christ descended from on high, such a Christ descended from on high, entered into, again, that lowest ignominy, living rejected by his people, living without a place to put his head, no pillow for his Savior, rejected by his people, spit upon, mocked, beaten, crucified, but all of this in order to redeem his people. He was that Passover sacrifice of the Lord, and by it, the Lord God passes over us, passes over you if you believe in him.
While he exercises judgment on the wicked, he in his grace and his mercy and his kindness passes over you because he counts you covered by the blood of the Lamb. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Never roll your eyes, never look down at the floor, never fiddle with anything while the preacher is saying, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Cast off idols, cast off the folly of your own mind, the folly of your own opinion, the religion of your own head and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you so much. for the reality of our Lord Jesus Christ and the giving of himself, the giving of his body, the shedding of his blood for guilty sinners. We just pray that we would be renewed this day in the reality of that Father. Help us, God, to consider just the weight of redemptive history, the weight of the biblical testimony. that Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners, that He came into this world to save His people, God, and may we always relish in these truths. And may each and every one who heard this message, Lord God, everyone who heard this message, however feeble, however quick, God, would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, because it is possible with You.
We pray that each and every mouth would leave this place singing the praises of our blessed Redeemer. We pray in His precious name. Amen.