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I. A COMMEMORATIVE ORDINANCE.

1. The sacrament was instituted at the time of the feast of the Passover, and this was the memory uppermost in the minds of the disciples. Afterwards they saw as we see in the light of the perfected revelation, how fitly on that night was instituted the memorial of deliverance from a bondage greater than Egyptian, and from the deadlier peril of a death that never dies.

2. But what were the thoughts of the Redeemer? There stretched out the whole course of suffering which He had set Himself resolutely to travel. It was "the same night on which He was betrayed." It was the last supper table. Very deeply under such circumstances as those would the words sink into the hearts of the disciples. We, too, must enter into the Saviour's sorrows. For us, if we believe in Him, He breaks the bread and pours the wine, and when we eat and drink we do "show forth His death till He come."

3. And this is what we commemorate. His death —

(1) Not His life, though that was lustrous with a holiness that knew not the shadow of a stain.

(2) Not His teaching, though that embodied the fulness of a wisdom and truth that was Divine.

(3) Not His miracles, although His course was a march of mercy.

(4) His death — His body, not glorious, but broken: His blood, not coursing through the veins of a conqueror, but shed for man. You are to see your sins laid upon Him; your souls washed by Him; your doom reversed by Him; your life secured by Him; and thus "show forth His death — till He come."

II. A CONFIRMATORY ORDINANCE.

1. Its perpetuity seems to stamp it as an ordinance, confirming, on the one hand, man's faith in God, and on the other God's fidelity to man. The disciples had followed Christ's fortunes through evil and good report; but they were more faithful witnesses after this night than they had ever been before. And when in obedience to His command they partook of the ordinance which He had bequeathed to them, it is no wonder that they should come away from each successive celebration of the communion of His body and blood with braver purpose. And it is so with God's people still. By thus "waiting upon the Lord" in His own enduring ordinance "they renew their strength," etc.

2. The sacrament confirms the two things which it exhibits — the death and the second advent of the Lord. It seems to link the humiliation and the royalty, the accomplished passed and the assured future together. It is the wedlock of the believer's memory and the believer's hope; the memory which yet lingers round the Cross; the hope which already revels in the glory of the throne.

3. For the confirmation of your faith and of your devotedness God has set up this sacramental sign. It is to confirm your faith —

(1) In His death. It is to confirm your faith —

(a)  In its reality — that it was not a prolonged swoon.

(b)  In its vicariousness, to show you that His life was offered — "the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." In its efficacy as an accepted atonement.

(2) In His coming —

(a)  In its certainty that the Church is not for ever orphaned of His presence.

(b)  In the recompense that awaits you; for the day is coming when all wrongs shall be redressed, sin eradicated, Satan trampled under foot, the glad welcome, the abundant entrance, the triumphal and eternal song.

4. Now you are called to meet the Saviour in His confirming and witnessing ordinance. If thou seekest Jesus surely He will not send thee empty from His own table away. But for you who do not love the Saviour, there is no grace in the sacrament for you. Like the sun and rain, they will shine and fall upon the stone, and the stone will remain insensible, because it has no hidden principle of life; but if they fall upon the flower they will foster the growth, and develop the beauty, and bring out the fragrance, because the principle of life is there.

III. A COVENANTING ORDINANCE, and this follows upon the two preceding.

1. It is not only a sign but a seal: a solemn federal act which involves mutual pledges — pledges of fidelity on the one hand, and of blessing on the other. Says the Psalmist: "I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord." And in the next verse is the translation of the symbol: "I will pay my vows unto the Lord, now in the presence of all His people." And your participation in the Holy Communion is to be thus regarded as the fresh act of your espousals. If you eat and drink without discerning this great purpose, you eat and drink unworthily.

2. But I am speaking to those who love the Saviour. There is a mortal distrust, of yourselves which causes you to hesitate. Well, that you may take this Holy Sacrament for your comfort, remember that there are two parties to the covenant, and that the sacrament is the Divinely instituted seal of the fidelity of God's promise to you. The Lord speaks to the father of the new world, from which the waters have been but recently assuaged. "I do set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be a token of the covenant between Me and the earth." Here in the sacrament is the rainbow of the new and the better covenant. Behold the renewed pledge of salvation purchased, and blessing conferred upon you all who believe. Oh! the simplicity of the condition — upon him that believeth in Jesus.

(W. M. Punshon, LL.D.)

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KJV: For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.

WEB: For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.