The Beautiful Picture of Communion

My Church celebrated communion, or the Lord’s supper, this past Sunday. I have enjoyed this monthly ordinance for several years now, but this past Sunday, something clicked. The Lord helped me see several aspects of communion with a clarity I did not have before. God in His infinite wisdom does not merely give us doctrinal truth in bullet point form. He gives us pictures, metaphors, illustrations so you and I can see the gospel.

Today, I want to reflect on a couple aspects of communion and how these aspects help us remember what Jesus has done. Communion is a rich ordinance and I will not cover even half of its significance and symbolism. But here are three thoughts I had as I took communion this past Sunday.

In Communion You Come to Receive, not Give

I have been reading through the first five books of the Bible for the past few months. Whenever you work through Leviticus in particular, you can’t help but be amazed at the quantity and variety of sacrifices Israel needed to make. In the Old Testament law, you had to constantly bring animal after animal to die for your sins. And yet, despite the constant sacrifices, Hebrews says

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Hebrews 10:4, ESV

Contrast this with Communion. When was the last time you brought a bull or a ram to the Lord’s supper? You don’t come to the Lord’s supper with a sacrifice. In fact, you don’t come with anything to give the Lord at all.

You come to the Lord’s supper with a single thing: need. A need for Christ’s righteousness, a righteousness only provided through His blood.

God, on the other hand, comes with the needed sacrifice. And it is a once-for-all-time sacrifice: Jesus. He died, He conquered death, and He ascended to the right hand of the Father. “It is finished” means God has dealt with sin in Christ. You don’t need to “bring something to the table.” You come to receive what God has done in Christ.

It can become so easy throughout the day to day grind of life to lose sight of this. You think that something you do can make you right with God, or at least you might think God’s favor is based on your performance. But you bring nothing to the communion table. Just your sin, inadequacy, shaky faith, and a desperate need. But the table is thankfully already prepared: God has provided Christ for you.

In Communion You Get the Cup of Mercy, not the Cup of Wrath

The “cup” mentioned throughout Scripture. It is a helpful metaphor the Lord uses to communicate spiritual reality to us. Several times in the Old Testament, God refers to the “the cup of His wrath”.

Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.

Isaiah 51:17, ESV emphasis added

Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.

Jeremiah 25:15, ESV emphasis added

When I read these verses, I picture a glass filled up to the very top. God’s just wrath against sin has reached the brim; it is about to overflow. And now, those who filled it must drink. When you drink something, you are “taking it in”. That is the picture here: those who rebel against the Lord must take the fullness of His wrath against their sin.

But that is not the cup Christians get. The cup of wrath is what Jesus drank on our behalf. One of the most profound portions of Scripture is when Jesus prayed in Gethsemane for “this cup to pass”. It was the cup He would drink on our behalf. Jesus took what you and I deserved: the cup of God’s wrath.

What a beautiful reminder it is when get a cup during communion! A cup not filled with wrath, but a cup reminding you of “the new covenant” in Christ’s blood. As you drink, you are remember that you have taken in Christ’s righteousness. There is not a cup of wrath left for you.

In Communion You Get the Bread of Life, not Mere Physical Provision

At my Church, my Pastor is preaching through John 6. He continually emphasizes the point that the crowds came back to Jesus after He miraculously fed them to get more food. But instead of feeding them physically, Jesus teaches them spiritual truth by calling Himself the “bread of life”. Jesus contrasts Himself with the manna Israel received from God in the wilderness. God’s provision was enough to satisfy Israel temporarily, but ultimately physical bread could not bring life. Jesus could.

Jesus provides for our physical needs, to be sure. “Every good gift” is from the Lord. But communion is a time to remember Jesus’ ultimate provision: eternal life. Jesus did not live and die so you could receive physical possessions. When you come to the Lord’s table, God is reminding you Jesus provides you with life.

Just like if you stopped eating you would die, without believing in Jesus you will eternally perish. Communion reminds us “the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God provided manna to deal with His people’s physical needs in the Old Covenant but how glorious it is to remember God provided something so much more in Christ!

Jesus saves, He satisfies, He is all the Christian needs.

And we tend to forget that. Which is why eating a piece of bread each month corporately is a powerful reminder: without Jesus, you have no life. With Jesus, you have eternal life.

Conclusion: Don’t Just Go Through the Motions

Like anything you do regularly, it is easy to take communion for granted. But just like you should treasure each Sunday worship service, you should also thoughtfully and in faith enjoy communion each month (or however often your Church partakes of it). In communion, God is visually and physically displaying for you what the gospel looks like:

• You don’t bring anything but your sin and need: God provides the sufficient sacrifice
• You experience God’s mercy in Christ rather than God’s just wrath on your sin
• Jesus has provided you with eternal spiritual life through His death and resurrection

What could be more practical than to be reminded of these truths? You and I need communion because we are so quick to forget and take for granted. Praise the Lord He knows exactly what we need: to be reminded of the things of “first importance.”

So next time you go to take communion, remind yourself of what you are actually doing. Meditate on the beautiful picture God is painting for you. See the gospel in every bite of bread and sip of wine.

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