THE LORD'S SUPPER FOR REMEMBRANCE OF HIM
THE LORD’S SUPPER FOR REMEMBRANCE OF HIM
Genesis 40:14,15; Genesis 40:23; Genesis 41: 9 - 13; Ecclesiastes 9: 13 - 16; 1 Corinthians 11: 23 - 26
JT The number of scriptures read may seem superfluous, but it is hard to avoid in order to get the subject before us, that is the Lord’s supper. In Genesis 40 and 41 we have typical teaching on the point; the cupbearer of Pharaoh is one who benefited greatly by Joseph’s wisdom, yet who failed to remember him, though he had an urgent request to do this, verse 14; then in verse 23 he “did not remember Joseph, and forgot him”; the negative is thus strengthened. Then as a result of his forgetting, a time arises when he had to call to mind his sins. If we fail to remember the Lord, to keep Him in mind, we shall be forced to remember our offences. Ecclesiastes 9 is another type, “a poor wise man, who by his wisdom delivered the city; but no man remembered that poor man”. I thought these scriptures would help in this city to understand the Lord’s message to Paul in view of His supper. We have little said as to the Lord’s supper until Paul. He had the truth of the mystery, and then this added to it, involving the truth of the assembly, “we being assembled to break bread” — Acts 20: 7, they came together for that. And so here we have in 1 Corinthians 11 from verse 23 the details given to Paul by the Lord. It will tend to elucidate the whole subject by reading these Old Testament scriptures before we take up Paul.
WSS We understand the Old Testament scripture by Paul’s help.
JT Yes, indeed; and the same could be said of every scripture.
Ques What would be [p. 283] the bearing of wisdom here?
JT The bearing of wisdom in Ecclesiastes and in Corinthians is that it has a great place in the teaching here, and enters into the Lord’s supper. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who has been made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption”, 1 Corinthians 1: 30; the wisdom works out in the assembly, “the all-various wisdom of God”, Ephesians 3: 10; and the first place in that is given to the Lord’s supper. So we have in 1 Corinthians 10: 15, “I speak as to intelligent persons”, that is to wise persons, and he is approaching the truth of the Lord’s supper in that connection, so that the thought of wisdom is prominent in 1 Corinthians.
Ques Could you give us the sense in which it delivers the city?
JT I think the fellowship is seen in that relation; the thought is communion, or joint -participators, in the Lord’s supper; and hence the conduct of the saints is involved in the truth of the Lord’s supper.
Ques Does individual faithfulness enter into it, as in the Genesis scripture?
JT Yes, it does; our loyalty to Christ is part of the Lord’s supper. Hence it speaks of our obligation in 1 Corinthians 10 to the Lord, and to each other, as having part in the Lord’s supper.
Ques Have you anything in mind as to the thought of remembrance?
JT Yes; the communication to Paul was as to remembrance; it involves the mind, the calling to mind, “For I received from the Lord, that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which He was delivered up, took bread, and having given thanks broke it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me”. Then the note helps, “The word translated ‘remembrance’ has an active signification of ‘recalling’, or ‘calling to mind’, as a memorial. ‘For the calling me to mind’ only occurs here and verse 25; Luke 22: 19; Hebrews 10: 3”. Great prominence is given to remembrance in this chapter and it enters into the celebration of the Lord’s supper, the same point that Joseph made to the cupbearer, as we see in verse 14 of Genesis 40; how we bear a remembrance of the Lord with us, not a mere thought of calling a certain event to mind, but “bear a remembrance with thee of me when it goes well with thee”, he says; only the cup-bearer forgot Joseph, but later had to remember his offences.
Ques Would he have to be brought back to the cross, the place of a skull?
JT I thought that, but we have to do; as the Lord did in Acts 1: 1, “Jesus began both to do and to teach”; doing takes account of the institution of the Supper, and in Luke 22 it is carefully separated from the passover; so it is in 1 Corinthians, the passover is in chapter 5, and the Lord’s supper is in chapter 11. The “remembrance of me” is the doing; the teaching comes out elsewhere in the epistle, what the Lord taught them through the apostle Paul.
Rem “When it goes well with thee” reminds us of the “cup of blessing”.
JT Quite so; so we eulogize the cup; it is what is good for us.
Rem We are to have a peculiar sense of indebtedness to the Lord Jesus.
JT That is all involved in the cup.
WSS Joseph’s exaltation out of the dungeon was the result of his being remembered.
JT Very good. “Make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house; for indeed I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon”, but the cup-bearer did not help him till he recalled his offences. Maybe this applies to [p. 285] some here who never remember the Lord Jesus; but if you do, it leads to His exaltation.
WSS I thought it was his dungeon experiences that he thought of, as he mentions them in verses 10 to 13 of chapter 41.
JT It is very solemn not to recall Him; as He is the Saviour, now exalted, we shall one day have to remember our offences, if we forget Him.
Rem That is a fine word, “bring me out of this house”, a suggestion of power.
JT Yes.
Ques Would you lay emphasis on the commandment of the Lord, “This do”?
JT The Supper is not all instruction or teaching, but it is doing; we may not learn by the teaching; and we have to come back to what He did; that is the side of the memorial.
Rem The memorial is linked also with the cup in Corinthians.
JT That is very important; it is the only place where it is mentioned as to the cup.
Rem Nothing sets aside the authority of 1 Corinthians 11, neither Luke’s account or any other.
JT That is right; it was added in the Lord’s commandment to Paul. Something was left out, and this is added.
Rem You are stressing 1 Corinthians as the last word?
JT Certainly; it was given from the glory.
WSS Some say that what is given in the gospels governs the position.
JT 1 Corinthians is the completion of the word of God. The accounts in the gospels are individual, and are probably teaching for the Jews in a later day, especially as to the New Covenant teaching. We shall never understand till we see the Lord’s supper in 1 Corinthians is the completion of the word of God.
[p. 286] Luke learnt from Paul, and his second treatise takes up the matter of the Lord’s supper. We have it first mentioned in Luke 22; secondly in Acts 2: 46, “breaking bread in the house”, that is not in the temple; so it was separated from the current order of things. The idea of separation was included additionally to the teaching of the apostles in verse 42. Then in Acts 20: 7 we have the Supper in a Pauline setting, and Luke says, “And the first day of the week, we being assembled to break bread” (note that he calls it “the first day of the week”, not “the Lord’s Day”); then Paul discoursed to them before the Supper was partaken of; it must have been because the Lord’s supper was not properly understood; and I believe it has a prophetic meaning; it had lost its meaning till after the Reformation; only in modern times has the truth of it been revived; and that is why Paul’s discourse was prolonged; even now people say ‘we remember Him in His death’; it is not scriptural, for we remember Him.
Ques So that we are only now seeing Eutychus revived?
JT Just so. He is called “the boy” (verse 12); he is not fully grown; he is a type of the present revival from something stunted to a full-grown man; Paul says “his life” (not his intelligence) “is in him”. But he says to the Corinthians, “I speak as to intelligent persons”, 1 Corinthians 10: 15.
Ques Why is it “the first day of the week” here and not the Lord’s Day?
JT Remarkable love runs through the whole chapter; it is commensurate with this day; a new order of things entirely begins with the first day.
Rem John 20: 19 speaks of “the first day of the week”.
JT Yes, it stresses there the first day.
[p. 287] Ques Do not the loaf and the cup speak of the Lord’s death?
JT What does it mean to you?
Rem Joseph is not in the dungeon now.
JT It is not the memory of Christ’s death that brings Him to us; it is not ‘the remembrance of Me in My death’, but “in remembrance of me”.
APA Do we build up substance through the experience of the supper individually, so that we gain in actual spiritual substance?
JT A good word to use; that involves the eating side of the supper, not the memorial; the breaking of the bread was what He did; He did not eat of the supper. That He actually died is right. “This do”, as a memorial, means that it is a mind matter, more than a heart matter. Christ is rejected here; every city in the world is really “where also their Lord was crucified” — Revelation 11: 8.
Ques Was the cup-bearer like it?
JT You can put it that way. I prefer the authority in 1 Corinthians. Joseph does say, “Only bear a remembrance with thee of me”.
WSS Is it a question of the point of view from which we look at the supper, for we “announce the death of the Lord, until he come”?
JT That is public testimony; the Lord had in mind the memorial.
Ques What feature does the cup speak of in 1 Corinthians?
JT The idea of remembrance is added also in the cup; it is in keeping with Joseph’s thought. In Paul’s speaking we have the very last word, and that addition is in it. It shews how remembrance is in it, and should affect our hearts.
Ques Is there the thought of bringing Christ into presence?
JT Yes, that is a good word to use; it shows our [p. 288] minds have something to do with it. We call Him to mind actively, the note to verse 24, as already said, helps us. Something has happened and has to be recalled; it is an action of our minds. F.E.R. used that expression, and it alludes to the action of the mind, that the Lord is ready to act on our minds; this affects Him, and He is ready to come; the memorial is to recall Christ to us. In the Church of England it is a mere sacrament, and in the religious world they say, “this Moses ... we know not what has happened to him!” He has gone from their minds.
Ques Is it normal for the Lord’s presence to be realized then?
JT Yes, it is the state of our minds; we concentrate upon it.
Ques Do we come together as in fellowship with His death?
JT We do; “For as often as ye shall eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye announce the death of the Lord, until he come”, verse 26. Chapter 10 is fellowship in the cup and in the bread; but the memorial side is in chapter 11. So when we come together, we have it in mind to break bread; it is a question of the memorial.
Ques You mean it is Himself that we come for?
JT Yes. The fellowship is in His death; that is in chapter 10; there is no stressing of what he received from the Lord or of the memorial in chapter 10.
Ques Is the thought in fellowship a public one?
JT The eating and drinking is seen and is public.
Ques Is it a question of the doors being shut?
JT Just so; that is John 20.
Rem There is nothing as to the blood being shed in 1 Corinthians.
JT It is to reduce the commandment to Paul, and intensify it as to the memorial; not that the [p. 289] shedding of the blood is not important, as it is; but as being with His people, it is not so important, but it is “Himself” that is so important.
Ques Would there be less stress on the New Covenant here?
JT Yes, in 1 Corinthians “in my blood”, is not the blood of redemption; that is not the point; it is as if the Lord were reducing the law governing it, to intensify it.
Ques Is this in keeping with the thought of the assembly as the wife?
JT Yes, and brevity is important. Somewhere lately we were saying as to the law of the passover, in Exodus 12, it is 20 verses, but only 6 or 7 used by Moses in transferring it to the people; he reduces it; and the analogous position here is when the Lord reduces what is said in the gospels in what He says to Paul, as Moses did in Exodus; things are added and things subtracted so as to make them clear, to simplify them, so that the mind can better take it in.
Rem Does the New Covenant give us God’s best thoughts?
JT Yes; He is entitled to make them known, and we gladly recognise it.
Ques Does 1 Corinthians take account of the Lord’s death as in John 19?
JT The actual death of the Lord in John describes the blood and water, the testimony to death; that is not for the Lord’s supper; it is the New Covenant in His blood.
Rem Hence all reference to the blood is not omitted in 1 Corinthians.
JT Quite, for the blood is in view.
WSS Would the sprinkling of Aaron and his sons with the blood associated with the oil in Exodus 29 be connected with this?
JT Maybe. “My blood”, the Lord says; a [p. 290] wholly new matter, stressing the memorial of the Lord, the calling Him to mind. John enlarges on this side of things, as in “I will not leave you orphans, I am coming to you”, John 14: 18.
Rem We have simplicity with brevity.
JT Yes, we had it this morning, as appealing to our pure, our right minds; a calling of Me to mind; the mind is a faculty under control; we are to be able to use it for Him. In John 20, subsequent to the doors being shut, the Lord could therefore say what He wishes. In Luke they had to be adjusted, but in John 20 all was ready.
Ques Would what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14: 20 apply, “in your minds be grown men”?
JT Yes.
Ques Is the setting the same in Acts 1 and Luke?
JT I ventured to read that passage to shew what the Lord did, “all things which Jesus began both to do and to teach”. So we have been engaged with the doing.
Ques So was this in the writer’s mind?
JT It was in the Holy Spirit’s mind anyway. What He did involves the Supper; that was all I had in mind, and in addition, He is said to present Himself living; and also another feature, He “being assembled with them”. I had this in mind this morning, and this grows out of it, as making way for the Lord.
Rem It would save us from having our own thoughts.
JT The development of the truth of the Lord’s supper has mainly engaged the last thirty years, especially the calling of Him to mind, making way for Him.
Ques Is the supper in the wilderness?
JT Yes, not in the land; we come into that in the course of our [p. 291] service.
Rem So it is the basis for what follows.
JT Yes.
Ques Is “this do” the public side?
JT It is for the minds of the saints, not for the public. But later on we have, “For as often as ye shall eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye announce the death of the Lord, until he come” — verse 26 that is for others.