In this sermon I cover the connection between the Passover, the Lord’s Supper, and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and explain why we take communion once a year as a church family. Also covered: Paul’s reproof of the Corinthian church & whether Jesus drank wine at the Last Supper.
The Lord’s Supper
Today, we’re partaking in the LORD’S SUPPER or COMMUNION as it’s called, together as a church family.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:2: “Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.”
The Bible gives us only 2 ordinances that we are commanded to keep as Christians living under the new covenant:
THE FIRST ORDINANCE is WATER BAPTISM:
All believers are commanded to be baptized, immediately AFTER salvation.
Baptism has nothing to do with salvation; but it has everything to do with growing in obedience to the Word.
THE SECOND ORDINANCE that we are commanded to keep is the LORD’S SUPPER or COMMUNION.
BAPTISM is to be done one time only, AFTER salvation;
whereas THE LORD’S SUPPER is to be administered throughout a believer’s life.
And each of these NT ordinances contains a wealth of spiritual symbolism.
COMMUNION represents the DEATH of Christ through His broken body & His shed blood;
BAPTISM represents His BURIAL & RESURRECTION.
So in these 2 ordinances alone, we have the DEATH (through communion), BURIAL, & RESURRECTION (through baptism) of JESUS CHRIST.
1 Corinthians 11:27 says of COMMUNION: “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.”
Colossians 2:2 says of Baptism: “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with [him] through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.”
And so we see the Gospel in these 2 ordinances.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 says:
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
… and so today, I’d like to give you the BIBLICAL DEFINITION of “Communion” …
… & also explain why it’s important to partake in the Lord’s Supper together as a church.
We’re also going to look at the parallels between the LORD’S SUPPER & THE PASSOVER …
And I’m going to explain why we, as a church, have decided to take communion once a year on or around PASSOVER …
• Now, you don’t have to be legalistic about this, but this is what we’ve chosen to do as a church.
… Finally, we’re going to examine Paul the apostle’s reproof of the Corinthian church & conclude w/ a brief look at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
BUT BEFORE I BEGIN, it’s important to define the word, “COMMUNION” from the Bible.
The word, “communion” appears only appears 3 times in the King James Bible.
The first occurrence is in 1 Corinthians 10:16: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?”
And this is the verse we get the term, “Communion” from in reference to the LORD’S SUPPER.
• And this is speaks of the communion OF the body & communion OF the blood of Christ.
But WHAT DOES the word, “COMMUNION” mean?
2 Corinthians 6:14 is the next time the word, “communion” appears in the Bible: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”
So we see that “COMMUNION” is used interchangeably with the word, “FELLOWSHIP”.
They’re really the same word.
To have communion w/ someone is to have fellowship with someone in a deep & intimate level.
Communion also means to be yoked together.
So “communion” speaks of deep, intimate fellowship.
2 Corinthians 13:14 also says: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.”
So the fellowship or communion of the Holy Ghost be w/ you all.
“Communion” is also a form of the word “commune” or “communicate”.
In Exodus 25:22, the Lord says to Moses: “And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat …”
So God would “meet with” and “commune” with Moses.
Psalm 4:4 says: “Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.”
So we see that “communion” applied to the Lord’s Supper would mean SHARING, FELLOWSHIPPING, & COMMUNING with Jesus’ body and blood …
… in remembrance of His ultimate sacrifice.
Look again at 1 Corinthians 10:16-17:
16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
[But keep reading, v. 17].
17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
This speaks of our unity as a body of believers under the banner of Christ’s body and blood.
When we partake in the Lord’s Supper, we are sharing in or having communion with our Lord’s greatest sacrifice.
But we are to do this in a manner worthy of the Lord.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:28: “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.”
So go ahead and turn to 1 Corinthians 11, where this passage is taken from, & let’s examine Paul’s reproof of the Corinthian church.
There is a great deal of instruction from Paul on the Lord’s Supper in his epistle to the Corinthians.
NOW, THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH WAS A REAL MESS.
In Chapter 1, Paul had to rebuke the Corinthians about DIVISIONS & DENOMINATIONALISM.
The church is not meant to be splintered & divided.
Paul speaks of: “one body, one Spirit, one calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism One God and Father of all”.
& that’s the spirit by which communion is to be taken.
So let me just give you a brief overview of Paul’s rebukes.
In Chapter 3, Paul calls the Corinthians CARNAL & SPIRITUAL BABES.
In Chapter 4, Paul calls the Corinthians PUFFED UP, and says he would rather not come to them with a rod, but in love & meekness.
In Chapter 5, Paul rebukes them for FORNICATION.
In Chapter 6, Paul rebukes them for suing one another in secular courts of law among the wicked.
In Chapter 9, he rebukes them for QUESTIONING his authority as an apostle.
Are you getting the picture? This was one messed up church!
All they were missing is some ROCK n’ ROLL & youth ministry, and they would look just like your average modern-day church today.
And then we get to CHAPTER 11, and it’s no different.
Paul rebukes them again; but this time about the UNWORTHY WAY in which the Corinthians were partaking in the Lord’s Supper.
TURN IN YOUR BIBLE TO 1 Corinthians 11:17-34
VERSE 17: The first thing I want you to notice is that Paul says that when they came together, they were leaving each other worse off than they were before.
• 1 of the main functions of the church is to come together & to leave better than we were before.
• But the opposite was happening, when the Corinthians came together.
VERSE 18-19:
Paul hearkens back to their divisions as a church …
Again, the LORD’S SUPPER is intended to declare our unity as believers.
VERSES 20-22:
Paul was being sarcastic here.
He wasn’t saying that church isn’t the place to have communion.
He was just saying that the way they were doing it, was not the Lord’s Supper.
They weren’t doing it in a way that was worthy of the communion of the Lord’s body & blood.
• A PASTOR I heard recently gave a really good example of this, and so I’d like to share it with you.
If a believer said to you, “Hey, I was baptized last night.”
You’d say, “Great, praise the Lord!”
But then if he told you, “Yeah, I took a shower last night.”
To that you would say, “When you take a shower that is not to get baptized!”
And that’s what Paul was saying.
“When you come together, THIS IS NOT TO EAT THE LORD’S SUPPER!”
It was a rebuke!
He was saying that if you’re going to treat the Lord’s body & blood like any ordinary meal & revel in drunkenness and carnality …
… then go & do those things @ home, because that’s not how the Lord’s Supper is to be taken!
Don’t come to church & get drunk on the communion wine and eat your own food to yourself and say that this is the Lord’s Supper!
Don’t you have houses to eat & drink in?
VERSES 23-26:
Look at v. 25, some people say that this phrase, “as oft as ye drink it” means to do it as often as you want.
But it’s not really what it’s saying, if you really look closely at the sentence structure.
It’s just a way of saying, “when you do it, do it in remembrance of Me.”
Let’s keep reading, VERSE 27-30
And when the Bible talks about not eating the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner, it’s not talking about our level of sinfulness.
Some people think if they haven’t cleaned up their life they shouldn’t take the Lord’s Supper.
But Jesus said if you don’t eat my body and drink my blood, you have no part in Me.
Because it’s His body and blood that cleanses us from sin.
That’s the whole point! We all have sin.
What it is talking about, is being sober-minded and taking communion seriously.
… Not making a mockery of His body and blood, like the Corinthians were doing.
Salvation and remission of sins all comes down to the BLOOD OF JESUS, not whether we are worthy or not.
It’s HIS WORK, not OUR WORK that saves.
& This brings us to the connection between the OT ordinance of the PASSOVER & NT ordinance of The LORD’S SUPPER.
AND SO WHY DO WE TAKE COMMUNION ON OR AROUND THE PASSOVER?
We take the Lord’s Supper once-a-year on or around the Passover …
… because the Passover is eternally linked to the Lord’s Supper as an ordinace.
In fact, they are the same feast, but THE LORD’S SUPPER is actually a continuation – or more accurately … a FULFILLMENT of the FEAST OF PASSOVER and the Feast of UNLEAVENED BREAD.
Leviticus 23 talks about the various Feasts of the Lord, including the PASSOVER:
5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover.
6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
Contained within the feast of PASSOVER, we have the symbols of the broken body & shed blood of Christ …
(w/ unleavened bread representing His body …
… that’s why Shawna was gracious enough to BAKE us home-made unleavened bread for communion today).
& the sacrificial LAMB foreshadowing Jesus as the “LAMB OF GOD, which taketh away the sin of the world”.
1 Corinthians 5:7 says: “… For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:”
LOOK WHAT JESUS HIMSELF HAD TO SAY IN JOHN 6.
Turn in your Bibles to John 6.
Jesus had finished speaking to the Jews about the MANNA which God had given to their fathers in the wilderness.
This MANNA was also a TYPE of HIS BODY.
The “manna” was temporary; But Jesus said that He was the real thing.
READ JOHN 6:48-58
Jesus promises everlasting life through His blood.
Leviticus 17:11 says: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”
We see the NT parallel to Leviticus in Hebrews 9:22: “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.”
& THIS GOES ALL THE WAY BACK to the first Christian martyr, Abel.
Acts 10:43 says: “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”
& Luke 11:51: “From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.”
Every martyr blood that was spilled foreshadowed Jesus’ blood.
And the BLOOD ATONEMENT is illustrated back in Exodus 12, where the PASSOVER is initiated among the Israelites …
LOOK @ Exodus 12:7-13
So the PASSOVER looks forward in time in anticipation of Christ’s blood sacrifice …
And the LORD’S SUPPER looks backwards in time to Christ’s blood sacrifice.
They are eternally co-joined as one feast, with Christ being the real sacrifice at the center of it all.
Jesus Himself instituted the Lord’s Supper on the PASSOVER.
LOOK AT @ LUKE 22:15-20:
15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:
16 For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:
18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.
19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it [you see when He broke that bread, it symbolized His body being broken for us], and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
Also notice that Jesus was having a full Supper, it was an entire meal. The Passover Meal.
So having a small, machine-cut cracker and a 1/2 ounce plastic cup of grape juice wasn’t what Jesus had in mind.
The one thing we don’t do though is sacrifice a lamb!
Jesus IS our Passover Lamb!
And the these 2 ordinances are connected to yet a 3rd, yet unfulfilled future event …
THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB.
THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB is the final culmination of the LORD’S SUPPER with His Bride, the Church.
LOOK AGAIN AT LUKE 22:15-18:
15 And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: [So clearly it was the Passover Meal, but then He says]:
16 For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:
18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.
This was Jesus’ last meal on earth and He said would not eat this meal or drink of the fruit of the vine …
… until He would do so again with all believers at the fulfillment of His Kingdom.
This is all one MEAL, from the PASSOVER MEAL to the LORD’S COMMUNION, and ultimately to the MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB.
Revelation 19:6-9:
6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
NOW LOOK @ a prophetic parallel to this in the OT, ISAIAH 25:6-8, and you’ll see how this all lines up.
6 And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.
It’s almost as if Isaiah 25 could be read right alongside Revelation 21.
These are parallel passages, speaking of the mountain of God (Mount Zion), when God will tabernacle with His own people …
… when He will wipe away all tears from their faces, when we will be adorned as a bride for her bridegroom …
This is the MEAL that Jesus was speaking of when He said He would abstain from drinking this cup and eating this bread …
… until He would have it again with His church in His Kingdom.
Now, I understand this can be a sensitive subject.
But the question comes up whether Jesus was drinking fermented wine.
We’re having grape juice today because I understand this topic can be a stumbling block …
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 8:13: “Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.”
… & it’s important that we remain united with brotherly love, like Marshall preached about last week, but also remain steadfast in teaching correct doctrine from the Bible.
So look at Isaiah 25:6.
Isaiah 25:6 is a prophetic verse about the culmination of the Kingdom of God & the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
And Isaiah 25:6 is the clearest passage on this subject.
It speaks of “a feast of wines on the lees … of wines on the lees well refined.”
This is the cup of the vine that Jesus was talking about when He said He would not have it again until He has it again in His Kingdom.
NOW, WHAT ARE WINES OF THE LEES?
When grapes are crushed from off the vine … they begin to ferment right away …
THE REASON THEY FERMENT is because there is YEAST which grows naturally on the skins of the grapes.
As soon as you crush grapes, the YEAST begins the FERMENTATION PROCESS.
And after the wine is fully fermented, the LEES are the SEDIMENTS & DEAD YEAST particles LEFT-OVER from the fermentation process.
And The Bible refers to this as “Wines on the Lees”.
It’s kind of like Kombucha, for those who love to drink kombucha.
Kombucha has about ½% alcohol in it, because it’s fermented, and that fermentation process creates beneficial pro-biotics that are good for the stomach.
& that pulpy, slimy stuff on the bottom of the kombucha bottle are the LEES …
In the PROCESS OF REFINING WINE … the LEES are FILTERED & REMOVED.
& That’s what the Bible is talking about when it says “wines on lees well refined”.
… And so, as Christians whose sole authority lies in the KJV, we have to put away from us the traditions of the church and cleave to the truth of God’s Word.
… even on matters like this.
But ultimately, like Neil pointed out last week, whether you drink grape juice or wine for communion IS NOT THE ALL-IMPORTANT ISSUE.
We should not judge one another on this, one way or the other, on either side.
Those who abstain from wine should not be judged, and those who drink wine moderately should not be judged either.
Division arises when one side becomes too legalistic one way or the other on PERIPHERAL ISSUES that are meant to be PERSONAL CONVICTIONS.
Paul said, “Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.”
In Romans 14:20-21, Paul said:
20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
Ultimately, the CUP OF THE VINE represents the BLOOD OF JESUS. That’s the important thing.
That’s what we are to keep in mind as we partake in the body & blood of our Lord.
Our fellowship is too wonderful, too sweet, & too valuable to our work in the Lord to trade for either wine or grape juice.
What’s important is our Bible-based, God-centered brotherly love around the body & blood of Christ.
Everything we’ve learned about THE LORD’S SUPPER today is that we ought to do it in a spirit of unity, charity & love.
And to do it in Remembrance of Him!
