You're listening to Sermon audio from Providence Baptist Church. Be sure to check out pbcfringford.org for more information. If you have a Bible, if you'll turn to Luke chapter 22, Luke 22 will be in verses 14 through 20 today. And there'll be several other verses that I'll be referencing as well. I don't expect you to turn to all of them. But you might jot them down and look them up later this week. But Luke 22, 14 through 20 today is we wrap up the series Thy Kingdom Come with Thy Kingdom Come Lord Supper Sunday. And we're going to talk today about the Lord's Supper as a Kingdom meal. Historically, there have been so many discussions about the Lord's Supper, the Last Supper, Communion, whatever you grew up hearing it discussed or referenced to. But you know the questions have always revolved it. How should we do it? Is it a little cup and a cracker? Is it real bread and real wine? Is it a meal or is it supposed to be something that's done collectively and all the time or can it be done in a small group and a home? Like just all kinds of questions of how we should do it. How often should we do it? Jesus just simply says, "Do this in remembrance of me." Paul just simply tells the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 11 when he's writing to them specifically about this issue as often as you do it. So there's no real understanding. We know that the early church according to the book of Acts got together daily in homes and broke bread, which was a phrasing for not only sharing a meal but also remembering what Christ had done through the taking of the bread and the wine. So all kinds of different biblical issues with that. Who should take it? Open and closed communion. We'll talk about that a little bit more later. And then what does it mean? What does it mean when we gather and we do this as part of a worship service or as we're going to today as an extension of our worship service with a lunch? I'll give you four views through history just as a background and a couple of them are $10 biological words so you can look these up and impress your friends and family. A historical view known as transubstiation, which is historically the Roman Catholic view that when the priest blesses the wafer and the wine that it physically turns into even though it doesn't change shape or smell or taste or anything, it actually becomes the body and the blood of Christ. And in that way the sacrifice of Christ is represented or if you want to think about these terms recreated every time they do that. Martin Luther said not so fast, it's not the way the scriptures mean. So he came up with a word called "consubstantiation" which just simply means with that Christ is present with us when we do this but not in a physical sense. Another reformers came along and said, "Well, you're close, Martin, but you're not fully there." And so some of them said it's really just a very memorial type of a thing, we're just supposed to remember. It doesn't really have any significance. Christ is not present with us, it's just we're just remembering what he's done. And then some others behind him came along and said, "Well, it's not just a memorial, it has to have some spiritual meaning and power and intent to it." And so yes, the presence of Christ is real with us through the presence of the Holy Spirit and in that sense he's with us when we take this. And so those are kind of the four main views throughout history of what happens when we do what we're going to be doing later. I'm going to present to you what I think is a fifth view based on Jesus' words in Luke chapter 22 today. And it's not an original thought of mine, it's not something that I received in a vision from the angel Gabriel or anything of that nature. It's just trying to understand the wording of Christ here and the teaching of Christ here with his disciples. So we're going to read, if you will, stand with me, Luke 22, 14 through 20. Stand with me in honor of God and his word and you want to follow along with me today. When the time came, Jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table. Jesus said, "I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins, for I tell you now I won't eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." Then he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. And then he said, "Take this and share it among yourselves for I will not drink wine again until the kingdom of God has come." He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to his disciples saying, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." After supper, he took another cup of wine and said, "This cup is the new covenant between God and his people, an agreement confirmed in my blood which is poured out as a sacrifice for you. Pray with me if you would. Father, we thank you for today all that has transpired to this point. We pray it's been pleasing to you through our Sunday school classes, through our worship time today, through our prayer times that we've had, just pray, Father, that what continues to go on through the moments of this service and beyond are pleasing to you and bring great honor and glory to you. And may we be changed and challenged by your word today and by the power and the presence of your spirit. May we leave this moment different from how we entered it, whether it's physically in this building or whether it's someone watching on our live stream and where they are located. Let us leave the moment changed and challenged, convicted where necessary for your glory and for your honor. It's in your son's name, we pray and we ask these things today, amen, you can be seated. One of the questions I think we start with is what was the Passover meal? What is this meal that Jesus and his disciples are taking part in? And the Passover meal that's established in the Old Testament that's carried through the history up until the time of Jesus as well, it was a very simple meal, but it was a very layered meal, lots of moving pieces if you want to think about it in those terms. Some things that were present in a Passover meal, there were foot washings and hand washing situations and times and aspects of the meal. They had what we might call today appetizers, but they would have bread and they would be, they would dip it in certain oils and herbs and have other things that they would eat and all those things had symbolic significance of what God had done for Israel in bringing her out of Egypt. There was the blessing of the cups. We just read through that where Jesus takes the cups and blesses them and each cup had a significance to the meal and to the history of what was being shared there. There were psalms that were sung and though so at different points throughout the Passover meal and then at the end of the Passover meal, there would be different psalms that were sung and then of course the lamb that was prepared was presented for consumption by those who were at the meal. The purpose of all of this was to remember and recall God's faithfulness of bringing Israel out of Egypt, more importantly bringing Israel out of slavery and having their exodus begin and it all really pointed back to most notably that the blood of the lamb that had been spread over the doorpost of the homes saved God's people from death. We see all elements of this Passover meal in the four various gospel accounts. We see wine and bread. We see foot washing in John's gospel, Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. Matthew and Mark both record Jesus and the disciples singing a psalm or a hymn at some point in time and the night. And so if we take the four gospels and what we know and none of them give us a complete step by step from point A to point Z situation of what transpires but if we take what they do record, it becomes apparent that they are engaged in a Passover meal. But yet Jesus brings a new significance to it with his words. If you will look back at Luke 22 beginning in verse 15, I'm going to read those verses again through verse 18, Jesus said, "I've been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins for I will tell you now that I won't eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." Then he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to it and thanks to God for it. And then he said, "Take this and share it among yourselves for I will not drink wine again until the kingdom of God has come." He goes on to talk about a covenant. He goes on to talk about that which his blood which is shed for them for forgiveness of sins. But I want us to kind of drive in on this issue of him talking about that both with the bread and the wine. He says, "I will not do this again until we do it fulfilled in the kingdom of God." In Matthew 26 verse 29 in Mark 14 verse 25, they both have very similar language with specific to the cup that Jesus takes it and blesses it and says, "I will not drink again of this until I drink it in the kingdom fulfilled." And so sometimes we call the Lord's Supper the Last Supper and it was the Last Supper of this nature that Christ would eat, that he would share, that he would enjoy with his disciples before he went to the cross and died. But it is not the last Supper. There is still yet a Supper to come. And Jesus gives reference to this. He alludes to this. He speaks to this when he uses this terminology of, "I will not do this again until the kingdom is fulfilled." We know in John's gospel, for example, that he meets up with the disciples and has breakfast with them. So it is not that the resurrected Jesus doesn't eat again, but he says, "I am specifically not going to do this again until the kingdom of God is fulfilled." And so this really important piece in Jesus' instruction here and his words is a very different distinction than that of the Passover meal. The Passover meal prompts you to look back to see what God has done, to see how God has rescued and redeemed. In a very similar fashion, the Lord's Supper or Communion, Last Supper, whatever you want to call it, it also prompts us to look back and to be reminded of the cross and the death of Jesus on the cross and his shed blood for us. But with Jesus' words here, we are also now prompted to look forward. And there's an origin story to this. I don't know if you caught this, those of you that have been reading the Scriptures through in the year or at some other time if you caught this, but in Exodus 24. So Exodus 20 through 23, God is giving the Ten Commandments and all these laws and regulations and how Israel is supposed to function as a society. And so then he basically instructs them and says, "This is the covenant I'm giving with you," Chapter 24 of Exodus is them accepting the covenant. But there's this really neat thing that happens in Exodus 24, beginning in verse 9. Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and the 70 elders of Israel climbed up the mountain. There they saw the God of Israel and under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazule as clear as the sky itself. And although these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal eating and drinking in his presence. So at the very beginning of the very first covenant that God makes with his creation, he shares a meal with him. His prophecies begins to, among other things, speak to a time where there's going to be another grand banquet or grand meal. In Isaiah 24, verses 21 through 23, this is what he says, he's talking about a day of the Lord coming, I'm sorry, 25, 6 through 9, I'm getting all my references mixed up. 25, 6 through 9, he's talking about a day to come, the day the Lord will come back and make everything right and good and bring his justice and judgment on those who are in need of it. It says, "In Jerusalem, the Lord of Heaven's armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet with clear, well aged wine and choice meat. There he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. He will swallow up death forever, the sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears. He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people the Lord has spoken. In that day the people were proclaimed, this is our God, we trusted in him, he saved us, this is the Lord in whom he trusted, let us rejoice in the salvation that he brings." And so Isaiah speaks of a day to come when the Lord is going to return and there's going to be a grand banquet. Now, if you're familiar with other books of the Bible, you may have heard me reading Isaiah 25, 6 through 9 and thought, "I've heard this somewhere else in the New Testament." And it's Revelation 21, beginning verse 1, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared and the sea was gone and I saw the holy city of the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband." And I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, "Look, God's home is now among his people. He will live with them and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes." And they'll be in more death for sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. In two Old Testament passages, we see this, that a covenant is made with Israel and on a mountain God dines with his people. And Isaiah says, "There's one day going to be on a mountain, another meal that's going to be far greater than anything you've ever imagined." And Jesus says in Luke 22, going back to our original passage, Luke 22, verse 20, after supper, he took another cup of wine and said, "This cup is the new covenant between God and his people, confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you." And then Revelation 19, we see this, verses 6 through 16. "I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd, or the roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder, praise the Lord for the Lord our God, the almighty chains, let us be glad and rejoice, let us give honor to him, for the time has come, for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. She's been given the finest of pure white linen to wear, for the fine linen represents the good deeds of God's holy people. The angel said to me, "Write this, blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb." I want us just to marinate on that for a moment. We learned from the Old Testament readings that Israel went 400 years without observing the Passover. It might have been 401, it might have been 399, it's not really relevant, it went centuries without observing the Passover. And that was part of the reason they were sent in exile. And we might look at that and say, "What's such a big deal about skipping Passover? When you skip Passover, you're skipping what God has done for you. When you fail to remember, you fail to recall, you fail to take heed of and take heart of what God has done for you." That's a big thing. And unfortunately, maybe even some of you have had to imagine this, imagine your birthday were getting forgotten every year. Would you believe that those who are supposed to remember your birthday truly love you? How much greater then is this significance of this meal? Passover in the Old Testament now leading to the Lord's Supper communion, the Last Supper, however you want to do it in the New Testament. And I'll be honest with you, I can't tell you what's right. I don't know if we're supposed to do it weekly. I've been in churches that do, and it's a wonderful thing. I've been in churches that do it once a quarter, not once a month. I don't know if it's always supposed to be a meal or sometimes supposed to be a meal. I don't know if we're supposed to use crackers and juice or wine and bread, or... But I know this, as I get older, it's more than just a small plastic cup filled with welches. It's more than just a squarish-looking cracker. It's the reminder of what Jesus has done, and it's the reminder of what He's going to do, it's the solemn time for us to recall that we have been brought out of slavery. And you and I, sometimes I think we get like the Jews in John 8 who say we've never been enslaved to anyone, but when we are enslaved to sin, we are slaves. And when we are slaved in spiritual form to sin, it affects us physically. What Christ has called us out by faith through grace, our Exodus has begun. And so when we observe what we're going to observe today, whether it's in here as part of the service or whether it's in the fellowship hall as part of a meal as we do occasionally, it's a time to remember all of that. It is a time to be somewhat solemn. It is a time to be somewhat contemplative on what Christ has done, but it's also a time for joy, because what the Lord's Supper means and what Christ's words mean when He says, "I'm not going to take part in this again until the kingdom is fulfilled," is that we are on an Exodus, we are walking through our wilderness, and we are anticipating a promised land that is to come just as the people of Israel were. And we're doing it through hardships, and we're doing it through tribulations, and we're doing it through trials, and we're doing it on days that go great, and we're doing it on days that are horrible, but we're doing it. You're doing it, and you and I are doing it with an eye towards the future. And so Jesus' words, I think, call us to not only recall and reflect and remember, but they call us to envision what is Revelation 19 going to look like. What is this marriage Supper of the Lamb when the bride is presented to Him? What is that truly going to look like? I confess to you, when I perform weddings or even just when I attend weddings, I often pay more attention to the groom than I do the bride. Now, that doesn't mean that the bride is unimportant. She's very important. We play the music. She's opened up. She gets dropped by a helicopter, whatever the case may be. All eyes go to her, I get that, right? But I always look at the groom, because when he sees that bride, man, you can't bottle that picture. The smiles, the tears, the adult man suddenly acting like a very giddy school boy. And I thought about that this week, and in our readings this week out of Zephaniah, Zephaniah 3 verse 17, a passage in Zephaniah 3 where most all scholars believe that He is speaking about this Jesus to come, this Savior to come, this wedding banquet to come. It says this, "The Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty Savior. He will take delight in you with gladness, with love, He will calm all your fears, and He will rejoice over you with joyful songs." Have you ever wondered what it will be like when you enter Jesus' presence? It's no overwhelming question, I know. I know for me, my mind usually goes to, "He's going to sit me down and tell me all my faults." But that's not how Jesus, as the groom, sees his bride. Ephesians 5 where Paul's teaching about wives and husbands and how marriage reflects the kingdom. He says this in verse 25, "I don't want you to hear this church." Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church. He gave up His life for her to make her holy and clean washed by the cleansing of God's Word. He did this to present her to Himself as a glorious church without a spot or a wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. At the marriage supper of the lamb, the groom is going to see you holy and without fault. He's going to see you faultless. He's going to see you not with the stains of your sin, but the brightness of a holiness that has come from Him. He's going to come not with the wrinkles of the sand, but a clear, pressed fabric of righteousness that He's given us. He's going to delight in us. He's going to love us. He's going to rejoice over us. I happen to think He's going to sing over us, and we will be invited to a feast once again. We will be invited to sit at a table, only this time it really, truly will be the last supper. It's not to suggest we won't eat anymore in eternity, it's not to suggest that all food goes away. It's just that in that moment, that will be the moment that the bride is joined with the groom to keep the wedding metaphor going. Today, what we're going to do is the Friday night rehearsal dinner and rehearsal dinners are great, especially if the groom's parents have lots of money, like rehearsal dinners can be great, but everybody longs for the reception the next day. Everybody longs for the meal, the next afternoon, when the wedding is over and everybody's gathered and everybody's joyful and nobody's angry and nobody's in conflict with one another, and it's just a day of celebration and rejoice because the bride and groom have come together. This feast that Jesus says He will not eat of again until the kingdom is fulfilled is that day, and it is that day that He will see you in ways that you cannot possibly imagine a person can look at you as good and as strong of marriages as some of you have in this place, and as faithful as you've been to one another, and as loving as you've been to one another, there is a Savior who on that day is going to become fully your groom and you will be His bride, and I can assure you it will be the fullness of love you and I've never felt before in our lives. And so what today is rehearsal, it's a day to remember, it's a day to recall, it's a day to reflect, but it is a day to look forward to, it is a day to long for, it is a day to anticipate, and it is a day to be reminded that again going back to the words of Revelation 19, it says, "Blessed are those who are invited to it and who's been invited to it, all persons who have my faith say yes to Jesus as their Savior and Lord." All persons, it matters not, if you're male or female, it matters not if you're black white or some other variation of melanin, it matters not if you're rich or poor, it matters not if you're prominent or poverty-stricken, it matters not if you're the last in a long line of people in your family to say yes to Jesus, or if you're the first in generations to say yes to Jesus. All that matters is He invites, and all that matters is that you respond. Thanks for listening. If you have any thoughts, questions, or prayer concerns, please email us at pvcfrankford@gmail.com. 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