THE LORD’S SUPPER

TRADITION OR TRUCE?

JESUS’ METAPHORIC LANGUAGE

MATTHEW 26:26-28

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

MULTITUDE: BREAD OR BENEFITJOHN 6:1, 2, 12-14

After These things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.

ELLEN G. WHITE, DESIRE OF AGES, p. 377

But the miracle of loaves appealed to every one in that vast multitude. All were sharers in its benefit. In the days of Moses, God had fed Israel with manna in the desert; and who was this that had create from five barley loaves and two fishes, food sufficient to feed thousands of hungry people. The disciples had long hoped for a popular movement to place Jesus on the throne;

JOHN 6:15, 26, 27When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, You seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which…

…perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man

shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

Four kinds of followers:•Political: King

•Miraculous: Signs & Wonders •Prosperity: Get not Give•Bread: Body & Blood

FOLLOWERS SEEK AFTER A SIGN

JOHN 6:30, 31

They said therefore unto him, what sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? What dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

A TRADITION OR A TRUCE?JOHN 6:51-59, 60, 63 [LIVING BREAD]

I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, Hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood,…

…dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

THE LORD’S SUPPER: WILDERNESS

DEUTERONOMY 8:3

And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

• Physical Food: Manna• Spiritual Food: WORD OF GOD

MATTHEW 5:6

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall filled.

MULTITUDE OF FOLLOWERS: OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT

OLD TESTAMENT• PEOPLE: ISRAEL [EXODUS

12:37] • MIXED MULTITUDE: FOUR

KINDS [EXODUS 12:38]• POLITICAL REASONS:

EXODUS 14:12 [EGYPTIANS]

• MIRACULOUS REASONS: NUMBERS 11:4 [WHO WILL GIVE US MEAT?]

• PROSPERITY REASONS: [NUMBERS 11:4-6] INTENSE CRAVINGS

• BREAD: BODY AND BLOOD

NEW TESTAMENT• PEOPLE: DISCIPLES [JOHN

6:70] • GREAT MULTITUDE: FOUR

KINDS [JOHN 6:1-71]• POLITICAL REASONS:

[CFO]• MIRACULOUS REASONS:

[JOHN 6:1-71]• PROSPERITY REASONS:

JUDAS [GREED AND MONEY] AND THE GREAT MULTITUDE

• BREAD: BODY AND BLOOD

OLD TESTAMENT APOSTASY

ZECHARIAH 7:11, 12

But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts.

APOSTASY & BETRAYAL: [EXODUS 32:1-4]

2 CHRONICLES 36:15, 16 [JERUSALEM’S FALL]

And the LORD God of their fathers sent them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy.

NEW TESTAMENT APOSTASY

JOHN 6:58, 64, 66, 71 [APOSTASY & BETRAYAL]

This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.

Olivetan said, “There are but two religions in the world. The one class of religions are those which men have invented, in all of which man saves himself by ceremonies and good works; the other is that one religion which is revealed in the Bible, and which teaches man to look for salvation solely from the free grace of God.” GREAT CONTROVERSY, pp. 219-221

A CLASS OF RELIGION THAT MEN HAVE INVENTED

ELLEN G. WHITE, GREAT CONTROVERSY, pp. 280-281

But many of the revivals of modern times have presented a marked contrast to those manifestations of the divine grace which in earlier days followed the labors of God’s servants. Popular revivals are too often carried by appeals to the imagination, by exciting the emotions, by gratifying the love for what is new and startling. But where, in the popular churches today, is the spirit of consecration for God? The converts do not renounce their pride and love of the world. The power of godliness has well-nigh departed from the churches…

… Picnics, church theatricals, church fairs, fine houses, personal display, have banished thoughts of God. Lands and goods and worldly occupations engross the mind, and things of eternal interest receive hardly a passing notice. Before the final visitation of God's judgments upon the earth, there will be, among the people of the Lord, such a revival of primitive godliness as has not been witnessed since apostolic times. The Spirit and power of God will be poured out upon his children. At that time many will separate themselves from those churches in which the love of this world has supplanted love for God and his Word. The enemy of souls desires to hinder this work; and before the time for such a movement shall come, he will endeavor to prevent it, by introducing a counterfeit. In those churches which he can bring under his deceptive power, he will make it appear that God's special blessing is poured out; there will be manifest what is thought to be great religious interest. Multitudes will exult that God is working marvelously for them, when the work is that of another spirit.

RELIGION OF THE BIBLE: LORD’S SUPPER

ELLEN G. WHITE, MANUSCRIPT 81, 1906; 33, 1911.

A HEAVEN-SENT TEACHER.—”I am the bread of life, the Author, Nourisher, and Supporter of eternal, spiritual life. To eat his flesh and to drink blood means to receive him as a heaven-sent teacher. Belief in him is essential to spiritual life. Those who feast on the Word never hunger, never thirst, never desire any higher or more exalted good.

EATING AND DRINKING REPRESENTS NEARNESS TO CHRIST

…His statement regarding eating and drinking the blood of the Son of God, is to be taken in a spiritual sense. We eat Christ’s flesh and drink his blood when we by faith lay hold upon Him as our Saviour. The temporal food we eat is assimilated , giving strength and solidity to the body. In a similar manner, as we believe and receive the words of the Lord Jesus, they become a part of our spiritual life, bringing light and peace, hope and joy, and strengthening the soul as physical food strengthens the body.