July 15, 2012 AD, by Pastor Ben Willis

Leviticus, the Third Book of Moses, 4:27-35, 6:26-29 [NLTse]

In a few moments we are going to be celebrating the Lord’s Supper together. It’s a ritual we share at least once a month here at Milford Presbyterian, and oftentimes more.

Have you ever really thought about what you are doing when you eat and drink? Have you ever really thought about why you are eating and drinking at all?

When I eat the Lord’s Supper I believe that – somehow, someway – I’m in the heavenly Temple – that God showed Moses on Mt. Sinai, that we read about in the Revelation, that the Holy Spirit has made all of us Christians into together. I’m in the heavenly Temple participating in a sacrificial meal: I am eating the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world! Jesus is the Lamb I have chosen to offer for my own sins, and yet I am also, myself, a priest of the Most High God offering the sacrifice, and eating the flesh of the sacrifice just offered, and applying its life-blood to my life.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe we’re sacrificing the Lord Jesus over and over and over again (as the Roman Catholic Church used to teach and sometimes still does teach). No, here in the heavenly Temple, here outside of Time in eternity – by the Holy Spirit of God – every time we eat and drink I’m participating in the Lord Jesus’ once-and-for-all sacrifice. By the Holy Spirit I am a sinner confessing my own sins, as we’ve been commanded to do; by the Holy Spirit I am a priest of God eating the sin sacrifice, as we’ve been commanded to do; applying the blood, as we’ve been commanded to.

Just as we’ve read of those Israelites long ago being told to bring a goat or a lamb to the Temple and to confess their sins over it; just as we’ve read of those priests long ago being told how to offer and how to eat the sacrificial meal, I am both offering and sharing in Christ’s sacrificial meal.

I am showing God by my faith – my faith in eating and my faith in believing what the Lord has told me happens in the heavenlies when I eat – I am showing God that Jesus is the sacrifice I have picked, the Lamb I have picked to sacrifice. As I come to the Table I have put my hands on Jesus’ head and I have admitted my sins there. Not just that I’m a sinner, but I have admitted my specific sins while laying my hands on Him. And in His once-and-for-all sacrifice I am refreshing and renewing that Covenant of Grace the Father has offered me – has offered the world – in His Son.

Do I need to – do we need to – eat this bread and drink this cup to be forgiven? No, we’re saved according to the saving-faith His Holy Spirit’s given us. And yet Jesus does say, “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, do it in remembrance of Me.” So, in order to show Jesus our love for Him we do as He’s asked us. And since we celebrate the Lord’s Supper once a month here at Milford Presbyterian, every month I remember His sacrifice, and let – by faith and by the power of the Holy Spirit doing His work in the heavenly realms – I let this bread and this cup be my sin sacrifice.

And yet, the Lord’s Supper is more than just the “sacrifice for sin” meal. It is also the “Passover” meal: The Lamb we feast upon together here in God’s House (all of us together made into God’s House); and the Lamb’s blood that we apply to our souls by faith; believing that by eating His flesh and applying His blood that the Lord God will protect us from the death-Angel from the Bottomless Pit who’s been given authority to torment and destroy all those who’ve not put their trust in Christ. (You can read more about that in Exodus 12 and in the Trumpet Woes of the Revelation 8:6-9:21.)

We don’t believe the bread becomes the Lord Jesus’ flesh. No, it remains bread. And we don’t believe the cup ever contains His actual blood. No, it’s all the Holy Spirit’s work when we eat by faith and drink by faith: The Holy Spirit applies God’s forgiveness to our souls; the Holy Spirit applies to us God’s protection assuring us of everlasting life! (And, of course, when we don’t eat and drink by faith… well, I hope you enjoy the bread and the juice! J But, beware! You also drink God’s judgment upon yourself!

Even so, the Lord’s Supper is also our sacrifice of praise! The joyful feast of the people of God! The Letter To the Hebrews proclaims of us, “We have an altar from which the priests in the Tabernacle have no right to eat. Under the old system, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, and the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp. So also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make His people holy by means of His Own blood. So let us go out to Him, outside the camp, and bear the disgrace He bore. For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.

“Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to His name. And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.” (13:10-16)