Friday, June 30, 2017

The Lord's Table and our Future

1 Corinthians 11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to youthat the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread, 11:24 and after he had given thanks he broke it and said“This is my bodywhich is for youDo this in remembrance of me.” 11:25 In the same wayhe also took the cup after suppersaying“This cup is the new covenant in my bloodDo thisevery time you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 11:26 For every time you eat this bread and drink the cupyou proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (NET Bible)

"...Until He comes."

When God's people observe communion, they bear witness both of what took place in the Lord's death, and what must yet take place. Simultaneously, we look back at the ultimate, supreme feat of redemption, on the Cross, where our sins were taken away, removed from us by the Holy Lamb of God, and we look forward in expectation of that day when Jesus Christ will appear before all creation, the Victorious King of kings. 

For two thousand years Christ's Church in this world has not failed, in this way, in submission to the risen Christ, to bear witness to Who He is, who we are in Him, what we hold fast to, and where are pressing on to. Let us never underestimate the significance of this table, this bread, this wine, and our testimony and expectation of the coming King. The commandment pronounced by Jesus Himself ceaselessly summons us back, to recall, recollect, take thought, focus, to again be resolved and dedicate ourselves to the One Savior of human souls, and to recognize anew Who we belong to. The Lord knew that His people--that is, we the Church--would need such a physical, visible, repeatable, uniting and reminding observance as this. Yes, we are saved by God's grace through faith, but faith needs reinforcement, support, concrete footholds. Communion is one of those footholds. And everything that communion testifies to is, for us, life's sense, meaning and hope. 

This Lord's table, and everything it bears witness to, limits our lives. Testifying that we belong to Him means we don't belong to any other. Testifying that we serve Him means we serve no other. And testifying that we are awaiting Him means we expect no other, and that we will respond to no other and recognize no other but Him alone, the only Risen Son at His glorious appearing. 

Our fate is limited by God's grace. Our future is demarcated by the future of Jesus Himself, inasmuch as He chose to identify with us. Our eternity is defined by the eternity of God's Lamb. That's what it means to belong to Him. 

Let's look at a place in sacred scripture where the apostle Paul directs our attention in a special way to our "limited", demarcated, delineated eternity in Christ. 

Romans 8:18 For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us. 8:19 For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God. 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility – not willingly but because of God  who subjected it – in hope 8:21 that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondageof decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now. 

It's our future that the apostle is talking about here. When we testify of our great expectation in Christ, we also testify of the surpassing expectation of the whole creation, as yet subjected to the consequences of human sin. And we, together with all creation, suffer to this day--but what do we need? Immediate release from all suffering? That will come, but in the meantime our actual need is for holy assurance concerning God's blessed intention towards us. Again: 

Romans 8:18 For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us. 8:19 For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God. 

We are pressing on to a revelation, and the most astonishing thing is, it is the revelation of us ourselves, together with Christ in glory. 

Do I look at myself in the mirror and see a splendid revelation that will one day gladden and revive the whole, exhausted, worn-out creation? No, not very much. And precisely so I take by faith what is written here and I again commit myself to this gloriously limited, narrow way, because it is that pearl of great price for which all else is worth giving up. We suffer in life but, before us, and towards us, shines a light--a focused, concentrated, limited, single beam of light, the light of revelation and hope, the light that conceals the dawning freedom of the whole creation together with the children of God at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

8:18 For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us. 8:19 For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God. 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility – not willingly but because of God  who subjected it – in hope 8:21 that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now. 

When you take part in the Lord's Supper, reflect on the future of which this ordinance of the Lord serves as a foreshadowing: when God's children will gather around the heavenly table together with Christ Himself and all the redeemed Creation will exult for glory. And perhaps you will feel something of what the apostle is anticipating when he says further:

8:23 Not only this, but we ourselves alsowho have the firstfruits of the Spiritgroan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies.  8:24 For in hope we were savedNow hope that is seen is not hopebecause who hopes for what he sees? 8:25 But if we hope for what we do not seewe eagerly wait for it with endurance.

Not only the creation groans, but our souls, too, groan for home. We yearn to meet the Lord, which testifies that His Spirit dwells in us. Paradoxically, that pain, the pain of longing for our heavenly home, is an inestimable blessing, because it reminds us Who we belong to, and by Whom we've been called, and Who is acting through our lives for His eternal glory.

Sometimes people joke, "I'm sick today, but that's okay: being sick proves I'm alive!" In a rather similar way the ache in our spirits, for return, for reunion with the Lord, assures us that the love of the Father dwells in our hearts and steers us.

8:24 For in hope we were savedNow hope that is seen is not hopebecause who hopes for what he sees? 8:25 But if we hope for what we do not seewe eagerly wait for it with endurance.

It may seem that, in verse 24, Paul is explaining the perfectly obvious. He tells us that as long as we can't see the thing we're hoping for, we go on hoping, but as soon as it turns up, we stop hoping for it. Well, isn't that something we all knew already? Of course we knew, and it's precisely because we know it that the apostle takes advantage of the fact to remind us that that's exactly how it is concerning what "eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and it has not entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for..." who? 

Yes, "for those who love Him." The apostle reminds so that we would wait with patience, and that our love for Christ would only grow right up to that great Day, and, yes, on into all eternity.

And, I think, in light of everything already said, we will understand even more deeply the gist of the following verses. Keep in mind that here Paul's attention is entirely centered on the trustworthiness of God's intention for His beloved children, in Jesus, Who identified with them and, through His death and Resurrection, bestowed His own eternal destiny on them. In the light of such exceeding grace, what, after all, can really constitute an authentic threat to us?

That is what all this has been leading us up to.

But just before we get there, the apostle will remind us that the presence of God's Spirit serves not only as a harbinger of the great Day, but also enables our daily walk in the Lord:

8:26 In the same waythe Spirit helps us in our weaknessfor we do not know how we should pray,  but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. 8:27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spiritbecause the Spirit intercedes on behalf of the saints according to God’s will.

Because Christ Jesus, in the magnificence of His love and mercy, chose to identify with us in our sins and helplessness, taking on Himself the whole weight and burden of our guilt before the Father, and suffering the full, righteous, punishment of those sins, He correspondingly bestowed on us the right to identify with Him in prayer, the right to pray with with His desires, His feelings, by His Spirit, so we might participate in the very thoughts of the most high God. Sometimes we don't quite understand why certain urges to pray arise within us or what it is inside that so strives toward God or for what exactly, but we know that God is in it. Later, it happens, it is granted to us to see, to understand, what it was that God's Spirit in us was praying, and then we praise God for granting us the honor to take part in God's work, by sharing God's thoughts.

That is the depth of what it means to co-heirs with Christ. That is God's will for us in Him. And as the apostle writes further:

8:28 And we know that all things work together for good for those who love Godwho are called according to his purpose....

Again the apostle reminds us that we love Him. This is our answer, our faith-response, to Christ's call. Why do "all things work together for good"? Not because we can't, in this world, run into trouble, hardship and pain. But since God has demarcated, narrowed, limited our destiny by the very destiny of His Own Beloved Son, then everything, when all is said and done, works together for our good. It can't be any other way!

Never forget that the very one who wrote these words, Paul, had finally to give up his life to execution for the sake of Jesus. And he did it exulting in spirit. So, this is no naive man writing that "all things work together for the good." NO. This is a man with the eternal heavenly vision in his eyes, who assesses everything in this life in the light of what our Redeemer has prepared for us:
14:1 “Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God; believe also in me. 14:2 There are many dwelling places in my Father’s houseOtherwiseI would have told youbecause I am going away to make ready a place for you. 14:3 And if I go and make ready a place for youI will come again and take you to be with me,  so that where I am you may be too. 14:4 And you know the way where I am going.” 14:5 Thomas said, Lordwe don’t know where you are goingHow can we know the way? 14:6 Jesus replied, I am the wayand the truthand the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 14:7 If you have known meyou will know my Father too. And from now on you do know him and have seen him.”
If you are really listening, not only with your ears but your hearts, you must catch the fact that here Jesus Himself is talking about the very same truth as Paul is. It's all one and the same vision of the divine, eternal, intention towards us, and what it means to live out our earthly lives in utter expectation of the vision's materialization in reality.

And in the light of all this, I very much hope that what Paul means in the next verses will become even more--brilliantly!--clear:

8:28 And we know that all things work together for good for those who love Godwho are called according to his purpose, 8:29 because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Sonthat his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 8:30 And those he predestinedhe also calledand those he calledhe also justifiedand those he justifiedhe also glorified.

The all-knowing God certainly foreknew us, who would respond to the Word of Life, and it us indeed that He foreordained to be conformed to the image of Jesus Himself.

This phrase sounds quite interesting in the Greek original. The verb "predestined" in Greek comes from the same root we get the word "horizon" from. The idea here is that the Father Himself sees for us only that blessed eternity He foresees for His own beloved Son, the risen Lamb, Jesus.

What's also interesting is that in the Greek original there is no verb here, "to be", where our Bible says "to be conformed". The nuance of the phrase that Paul composes here could be expressed roughly as: "Those who God foreknew in Christ, those very ones He demarcated in advance as identical to the image of Christ Himself, precisely so Christ Himself would be the firstborn among the multitude of God's children." 

That's why all things "work together for the good," finally. It simply cannot be any other way for those who remain faithful, who keep on loving Him. What Paul is doing here is encouraging us, urging us on, not to lose heart but to hold onto this unwavering vision.

"And if I go and make ready a place for youI will come again and take you to be with me,  so that where I am you may be too."

"And those he predestinedhe also calledand those he calledhe also justifiedand those he justifiedhe also glorified."

God's activity in us is perfect. He leaves nothing undone. 

As a conclusion, I will allow the apostle Paul to have his say, without further commentary from me. I hope that, in the light of what you've just heard, you will hear these words in a new way, with deeper meaning! 

Romans 8:31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for uswho can be against us? 8:32 Indeedhe who did not spare his own Sonbut gave him up for us all – how will he not alsoalong with himfreely give us all things? 8:33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect?It is God who justifies. 8:34 Who is the one who will condemn? Christ is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of Godand who also is interceding for us. 8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ
Will troubleor distressor persecutionor famineor nakednessor dangeror sword8:36 As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 8:37 Noin all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us! 8:38 For I am convinced that neither deathnor lifenor angelsnor heavenly rulersnor things that are presentnor things to comenor powers8:39 nor heightnor depthnor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Corinthians 11:26 For every time you eatthis bread and drink the cupyou proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.