And in this meal, the Bread and the Wine tell the story of the God’s people. That’s us and our brothers and sisters all over the world.
The bread and wine speak of our past, of the crucifixion of our precious Lord Jesus; the bread speaks of his body offered up in obedience to death and the wine speaks of his blood poured out in death that we might be washed and cleansed of all our darkness and that we might stand before God, now and forever, in all purity.
But the bread and wine speak also of Christ’s presence here and now for Christ did not stay dead, but was resurrected and now he intercedes for us before the Father in the power of an indestructible life, and by his Spirit, he pours out that eternal life upon us his people. And so the bread speaks of Jesus and his words being our sustenance, that he is our daily bread, and the wine of him being our victory and our joy so that we need not walk in fear, but in fullness of life.
And yet, whilst Christ is truly present now by his Spirit, he is also truly absent. For today, we eat and drink by faith, but one day, we will finally see God face to face and so the bread and wine remind us of the great wedding feast, when all darkness is finally swallowed up by light, when all tears are finally swallowed up by all joy, when our weak, temporary bodies are replaced with eternal, spiritual ones and when all death is finally swallowed up by life.
As you go up to collect the bread and wine, talk to the Lord, ask him to search your heart and to lead you in the everlasting way, then thank him that he has made all provision for you:
- To stand pure before God,
- To walk daily in his strength, victory and joy
- And to sit down with him at the feast in the great climax of history.
