Announcement of Things to Come

“For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.” – I Corinthians 11:26

As we eat and drink earthy elements of simple substance, we proclaim an eternal truth that transcends all formality and exalts the lowliest of deeds to the loftiest meaning.

Every day, we take a little nourishment to feed our bodies and drink a little something to refresh us in our thirst. Without food, we have no energy and our cells cannot reproduce. We die. Without water, we quickly dehydrate, and our bodies cannot sustain life.

Jesus said that when we eat the bread we are to think of His body and to do so in remembrance of Him, His life giving, life affirming, and yet lifeless body on the cross, given for us. Certainly, we do so in anticipation of His resurrected body on the third day and His living body on earth beginning at Pentecost. But nothing erases the image of His broken body given for us.

We drink the cup, and the sweetness of the grape does not cloud the memory of His poured-out blood. We are to “drink ye all of it” as a reminder that He poured out all of His blood for us. Without the shedding of blood, sin remains. Without blood in our veins, we have no life. We drink willingly and reverently and remember Him with gratitude and love.

But Paul says that every time we do this, we are making a visible announcement to the world that He is coming again in His glorified body. He promised to come to us, and He has in the Spirit and He will in person. He promised to never leave us, and He never has. He promised to prepare a place for us and come again and receive us to Himself and that is what we show forth every time we celebrate His presence at His table.