Concerning the Lord’s Supper (I): “Take, Eat”

Concerning the Lord’s Supper (I): “Take, Eat”

Eating the flesh of Jesus and drinking the blood of Jesus is a matter related to "eternal life," and therefore it is very important for believers. Through the words of the Bible, let us examine why we must observe the Lord’s Supper, and what the right way is to observe it.

First, the "origin" of the Lord’s Supper begins with the first Passover / Feast of Unleavened Bread in Exodus 12.

Exodus 12:8-14 "8And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. 10And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. 11And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover. 12For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite 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. 13And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. 14And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever."

The words above are the words God gave through Moses to prepare the Israelites so that the plague of the death of the firstborn would not come upon them. And because God said that this Passover was an "ordinance forever" to be kept throughout their generations by the people of Israel, these words also apply to us today who believe in Jesus. Therefore, the Lord’s Supper must surely be observed. Jesus also prepared the Passover (Matt. 26:19-20) and observed the Lord’s Supper with His disciples. However, when He broke bread and gave it to His disciples, and gave them wine to drink, it was a foreshadowing of His giving His body and shedding His blood on the cross. Yes, the Passover lamb that the Israelites ate at the time of the Exodus foreshadowed Jesus, who would come in the distant future. Likewise, the bread and wine that Jesus gave to His disciples through the supper were also a testimony in advance that Jesus would die on the cross and shed His blood for our sins. Therefore, the bread we eat in order to observe the Lord’s Supper must not be merely physical bread, and the wine we drink must not be merely physical wine.

First, let us examine the words related to "bread."

Matthew 16:5-12 "5And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. 6Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. 7And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. 8Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? 9Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? 10Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? 11How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? 12Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees."

In the passage above, when Jesus first spoke about leaven, the disciples thought only of physical bread. But when Jesus said, "Do ye not yet understand... How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread..." only then were the disciples able to understand that He was not speaking of physical bread, but was telling them to beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. In this way, because physical things serve as foreshadows of spiritual things, whenever we approach the words of the Bible, we must carefully search out what God is truly seeking to tell us.

Matthew 4:3-4 "3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

When Jesus spoke the words above, He had been fasting for forty days. The devil knew well that what a hungry person needs most is physical bread, and so he tempted Jesus with food. But even at that moment, Jesus taught us that the bread we must eat is not physical bread, but the bread of the word of God.

John 6 records the well-known "miracle of the five loaves and two fishes." A child gave Jesus five barley loaves and two small fishes, and with them Jesus fed five thousand people and still had twelve baskets left over (John 6:9-13). But John 6 does not record only this great miracle.

John 6:25-27 "25And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? 26Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. 27Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed."

When the people who had tasted the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes came looking for Jesus again, as shown in the words above, Jesus instead rebuked them, saying that the reason they were seeking Him was for physical bread. And He told them not to labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures unto everlasting life. In this way, there is "perishable physical food" and there is "imperishable eternal food." The reason we seek Jesus must not be for the perishable things of the flesh. We must seek Jesus in order to eat the imperishable eternal food. In fact, those who had tasted the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes should have desired, through that miracle, to eat the "imperishable eternal food," that is, the words of life of Jesus (John 6:35). However, instead of the words of Jesus, they sought Jesus for physical things, and when they were not satisfied with those things, they eventually left His side.

John 6:48-68 "48I am that bread of life. 49Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. 52The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed... 60Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? 61When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?... 63It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life... 66From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 67Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? 68Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."

As shown in the words above, Jesus told them, "I am the bread of life," and said to eat His flesh in order to give them life. But the Jews at that time, astonishingly, thought in a fleshly way about literally eating Jesus’ flesh, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Many of His disciples also said, "This is an hard saying; who can hear it?" and left His side. When Jesus fed them physical bread through the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes, a great multitude followed Him. But when He told them to eat His flesh that gives eternal life, that is, the words of life of Jesus, they all left... In this way, we also must not believe in and follow Jesus for the sake of physical things. This is because Jesus said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing." In other words, Jesus came for spiritual things, not for the things of our flesh (Luke 12:13-14). Therefore, our faith must become like that of the twelve disciples of Jesus, who said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." We must seek and follow Jesus because of His words of life, longing to eat those words.

Therefore, when Jesus said at the Lord’s Supper, "Take, eat; this is my body," this must mean eating not merely physical bread, but the words of Jesus. And we must eat only the words of Jesus, without any leaven mixed in (Exod. 12:15).

1 Corinthians 5:7-8 "7Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."

And when we eat the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (=the words of Jesus, 1 Pet. 2:1-2, the sincere spiritual milk), our own thoughts must not be present (2 Cor. 10:5). Just as Jesus gave up His own will and obeyed according to the will of the Father, dying on the cross for us as the Passover Lamb, we also, when we hear the words of Jesus, must cast away our own thoughts, wisdom, and worldly theories, and humbly say Amen before those words like pure little children. Only then can we fully receive and eat the words of Jesus (see Acts 10). In addition, just as we must eat physical food every day, eating the flesh of Jesus is also not something to be done only at the Lord’s Supper, but something we must do every day, 365 days a year.