The Lord’s Supper was first instituted by our Lord after His last observance of the Passover (Luke 22:14-20). The main elements of the Passover feast were roast lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs (Ex.12:8) while at the Lord’s Supper they were bread and wine (Luke 22:19,20).
Furthermore, the Lord’s Supper was given by Paul to the Gentiles as a celebration of what Christ had done for them. Here let us be Bereans and ask a question or two from Scripture. Was not the Old Covenant made with Israel (Ex.19:3-6)? And does not this covenant affect the Gentiles?
“Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that EVERY MOUTH may be stopped, and ALL THE WORLD may become guilty before God” (Rom.3:19).
It is significant that Paul calls himself and his coworkers, not Peter and the eleven, “able ministers of the New Covenant” (IICor.3:6). And remember he was “the apostle of the Gentiles”(Rom.11:13) and wrote this to Gentiles. As with the Old Covenant, so with the New, full light was not given until the revelation of the mystery to Paul by the exalted Lord.
The simple fact is, that what was promised to Israel and Judah under the New Covenant (Jer.31:31-34) we, Gentile believers, receive by grace. As we came under the condemnation of the Old Covenant so we also come under the blessing of the New — by grace, for remember, the blood of the New Covenant, shed at Calvary, was also shed for us. It is that blood whereby we are saved. He shed no other.
But, beloved reader, has it ever occurred to you that to accomplish this, our blessed Lord had to be baptized into the human race — become bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh–one with us, yea, one of us? Before we could be identified with the Lord, He had to be identified with humanity. Before we could be baptized into His death, He had to be baptized into our death (Luke 12:50). To lift us from earth to heaven, to bless us with all spiritual blessings, He had to take on Himself a physical body to be beaten and scourged and spit upon and crucified.
God would have us remember this. And not only would He remind us of this stupendous fact and have us live in the light of it (Col. 1:21,22): He would have us show it forth to others as well.
“THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME.”
“FOR AS OFTEN AS YE EAT THIS BREAD, AND DRINK THIS CUP, YE DO SHEW THE LORD’S DEATH TILL HE COME” (ICor.11: 24,26).
To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.