How can different people read one passage of Scripture and reach drastically different interpretations? One explanation is that we all have a storehouse of information tucked away in our heads and hearts. As we are reading, the definitions that we have learned, and the traditions in which we were raised, automatically come to our minds, coloring what we are seeing. Sometimes this is helpful, enabling us to move quickly from what we have learned to learn new things. But if our previous knowledge is wrong, then we may have no protection in falling into further error.
I confess to reading the scripture before us and wanting to begin a message on the Lord’s Supper, taking most of my points from what Paul teaches us about this ordinance. But perhaps we should step back and try to hear what the Lord was saying and what the disciples were hearing. This may have been the first observance of the Lord’s Supper, but that is not what John and Peter saw. They were just moving from step to step guided by the words and actions of the Lord Jesus. And rather than I Corinthians 11 in the backs of their minds, they probably went back to a message Christ preached in Capernaum several months earlier.
In John 6, Jesus fed the five thousand on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. Then as the little church tried to sail west back across the lake, their ship was struck with a tremendous storm – howbeit, the Lord delivered them. When news of the miraculous feeding of so many people reached the city, Jesus and the disciples were besieged with requests for more miracles. And that prompted a special lesson, beginning with the words, “I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he hat believeth on me shall never thirst.” That then moved on into the scripture which we read a few minutes ago. “These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum” – John 6:59.
The majority of Jesus’ audience completely misunderstood what He was saying. And people today still misunderstand, thinking that by eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking His blood they somehow ingest salvation and eternal life. But of course, the disciples didn’t fall into that cesspool. By God’s grace they learned that the eating and drinking of Christ is done by faith. And now, when Jesus initiates His special meal, following the Passover, they knew of what Christ was speaking. The Lord was using the fruit of the vine and the bread as illustrations of His blood and flesh. The Lord’s Supper is purely symbolical – emblematic – a beautiful illustration of Christ’s sacrifice for the sins of His elect.
I think that what Jesus did in the upper room that night before He was crucified, is pretty self-explanatory. But the scripture which we read earlier from John 6, is a bit more confusing. The foolishness of man has polluted those blessed words, changing them into a deadly poison. Churches all across this country – Catholic, Protestant and non-confrontational – are preaching a heresy which is killing their hearers as surely as if they were pumping hydrogen sulfide into their auditoriums. For example, thousands of people at this very moment, and millions throughout this day, are receiving Communion – what they call “the Mass,” believing that they are literally eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus Christ. But what they are actually doing is swallowing a spiritually toxic mixture that is guaranteed to kill them. I hope, this morning, to explain what the Lord Jesus meant by His words here – in the light of John 6.
To set the background, on the earlier occasion, Christ first spoke of the BLESSING of Eternal life.
In John 6:47 He said, “He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” And He prefaced those words with “Verily, verily.” Which means that He was placing a great deal of importance on what He was saying. He was pointing a verbal finger at what He was about to say, telling everyone to pay attention.
And when He said those words, He was also making a statement about its very cold shadow. When Jesus said, “He that believeth on me hath everlasting life,” He was also saying, “he that DOESN’T believe on me DOES NOT have everlasting life.” I’ll expand on that in moment, but one of the conclusions we are forced to make is that – not everyone has eternal life. Just as the man in the coma may have life, he certainly doesn’t have the quality of life that you and I have. Similarly, just because someone may live in Post Falls, that doesn’t mean he has eternal life. That is what the Lord Jesus wanted His Jewish hearers to understand. There is a difference between physical life and eternal life and spiritual life.
What is eternal life which makes it so special? Well, it goes without saying that it is eternal or everlasting. Physical death is the natural end to the natural life. Judas was given life through his mother, but when he hanged himself, his physical life came to an end. “It is appointed unto (all) men once to die and after this the judgment.” But the Lord Jesus, in speaking about those who believe on Him said, “And I give unto them ETERNAL life; and they shall never perish.” He also said that those who have eternal life, everlasting life, shall be raised from physical death. Don’t worry about the meaning of the first part of verse 54 just yet, but Jesus said, “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” Then Matthew 25:46 teaches that the opposite to eternal life is eternal judgment. “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” To live eternally means to live in eternal glory with Christ our Saviour. Paul said, “I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” And “how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” Eternal life even means an new kind of eternal body. “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” This eternal life is guaranteed only to those who “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Now moving from the BLESSING to the BREAD – we must look at Christ Jesus.
Here in our scripture we read, “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.” And in the earlier scripture from John 6, “I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.”
As I said, just prior to that lesson, the Lord miraculously fed over five thousand people. The second half of the chapter is spent on the results of that miracle, giving Christ an opportunity to do some very serious teaching. And part of that instruction dealt with the question of food. Verses 26-27: – “Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye 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.” Verses 32-35 – “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”
Jesus used the words “meat” and “bread” as though they represent the nourishment which we need to live. And just as we need certain foods every day to stay healthy and alive physically, we need Christ Jesus to have life spiritually and eternally. Perhaps you know the story of Juan Ponce de Leon. After his conquering of Puerto Rico, this Spanish explorer, wanted more and more and more. But what good is more, if we can only enjoy it for a little time? When he heard that a little to the northwest was something called the “Beemeenee” or Bimini, he became one of the first Europeans on the American continent. Ponce de Leon became the poster-child for the sin of greed. He scoured Florida looking for the Fountain of Youth, but he never found it, and eventually he died. There is no eternal life springing from the soil or from a drinking fountain. There is no eternal life at the gym or at the doctors office. There is no eternal life in education or mythology. It’s not to be found in research or cryogenics. It’s not be found in vegetarianism, omnivorousness, alcoholism or abstinence. It does exist naturally – but only in the Person Who is the Bread of Life. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life.” “He that hath the son, hath (eternal) life, and he that hath not the son of God, hath not life.” It is a very simple equation.
But then there is the EATING of this bread.
Why is it that so many people think that by devouring a piece of bread they are ingesting eternal life? Why is it that the vast majority of Christendom thinks that through the mass, communion, or the Lord’s supper, people are receiving the eternal salvation of God? Most people would answer, “Because that is what we have been told.” And the people who told them would answer: “Because that is what these scriptures say.” But that is absolutely and definitely NOT what the Lord Jesus, or these scriptures, teach.
First, once again, what does verse 47 say that we must do to possess eternal life? “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” Does that verse say, “he that eateth on me hath everlasting life?” Does it say, “he that cheweth on me hath everlasting life?” Does it say, he that swalloweth me, or digesteth me hath everlasting life? Like dozens of other scriptures it say that eternal life is given to those whose faith is on Christ the Saviour. John 3 – “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” And “he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 5 – ” Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 6 – “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” Acts 13:48 – “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” There is not a single word here about those new Christians receiving Communion, or even baptism. They believed and trusted Christ to save them. And in John 6 Christ said, “He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
And then He said, “I am THE bread of life,” unlike the manna that your forefathers ate in the days of Moses. All those ancient Israelites died in the wilderness – they were not eating true, Heavenly bread. “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever.” Now, where is Christ Jesus today? About 2,000 years ago, Jesus was arrested and crucified. His body was then taken down from the cross and put into a tomb for a few days. But about 72 hours after His death, life returned to His body, and He walked around Israel for a while. Then eventually, in the sight of His disciples, Jesus ascended into Heaven. Months later Stephen saw Him there, and still later He spoke of Saul of Tarsus from Heaven. Where is Christ? He is with the Father in a place we call “Heaven.” And even if someone doesn’t know the correct answer, he recognizes that at least one answer is wrong. As I look about this room, I recognize everyone of you, and Jesus is not here. And, I am absolutely positive that He has never been here in a physical way at any time during the last 24 years. Furthermore, we don’t have any frozen, freeze dried, pickled, or otherwise packaged parts of Christ to eat. If it was necessary for you to actually and literally eat Jesus’ flesh and drink His blood in order to have eternal life, then not a single one of us possess anything but eternal death.
But didn’t Jesus say, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you”? That is something that I cannot, and would not, deny. But what I deny is that Jesus ever meant those words to be taken literally. As He reclined there surrounded by His disciples in the upper room, none of those men believed that when they ate that bread and drank that wine that they were literally devouring the body and blood of Christ.
What did the Jews think about eating human flesh? Like every other civilized people in the world, the idea was repulsive to them. And what did they think about eating or drinking blood of any kind? It was an act of practical heresy. Among the laws of Moses the restriction against eating blood has been among the most fiercely upheld. “The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” This doesn’t mean simply that they wondered how could this be done. They were saying that this is morally impossible, because it is contrary to God’s strictest command. But the Jews’ misunderstanding of Jesus’ statement is precisely what much of Christendom has swallowed. But Jesus was talking about eating and drinking by faith not by biting, chewing and swallowing.
When heretical churches became convinced of the heretical idea of eating Christ, they had a problem. Just like us, they looked about and couldn’t find a Christ to eat. They had to come up with some divine flesh or they couldn’t possess eternal life. So with various forms of stupidity, heresy and insanity, they have miraculously transformed bread and wine, cookies and grape juice, or hamburgers and cokes into the body and blood of Christ. Through “prayer” and ritual, church after church somehow change bread and wine into flesh and blood. It doesn’t look like flesh and blood; it doesn’t smell like flesh and blood; it certainly doesn’t taste like flesh and blood, but they say that it really is the flesh and blood of Christ. Admittedly, some don’t go quite that far – most Protestants say only that with or within the bread and wine, there is the presence of the body and blood of the Saviour. But they still say that in the Lord’s Supper they actually eat the flesh of Christ.
Now, where in the verses that we have read from John 6 does the Lord Jesus use the words “Communion,” “the Mass” or “the Lord’s Supper?” If you aren’t familiar with the chapter, I can assure you that there isn’t even a shadow of the Lord’s Supper anywhere else in that chapter. It can’t be found in chapter 5 or chapter 7 either. In fact there was no such thing as Communion until near the end of Jesus’ life about 10 chapters later. The miracle of the feeding of the five thousand is recorded in Matthew 14, but the Lord’s supper wasn’t instituted until Matthew 26. If Christ meant that His Supper would be the method of receiving eternal life, then why didn’t He institute that Supper immediately? The answer is obvious: the Lord’s Supper was never meant for that purpose.
One of the men crucified with Christ was promised, “Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise.” Either that man went to paradise without possessing eternal life, or he was given eternal life without Communion. How many people were there who died as Christians during Jesus’ earthly ministry who never partook of the Lord’s Supper? Do they possess eternal life or do they not? And when the Lord did finally sit down with His disciples, blessing the bread and passing the cup, were all of the seventy preachers present? No, only some of them. Were the Christian ladies who had been following Jesus and the disciples present? Not one of them. Was the Lord barring them from eternity with Him? Not one of them.
On the other hand, did Mary Magdalene or any of the others eat the true Bread of Life? They most certainly did, but they did so by believing Him, realizing that they had no life at all without Jesus. They possessed eternal life by faith, exactly as Jesus had told them. They were living spiritually through Christ, just as they were alive physically because they ate physical food.
Well then, what is the purpose of the Lord’s Supper if it isn’t to give us eternal life?
Casting aside all of our traditions and pre-conceived errors, what did the Lord actually say? Turn to 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. We read the same sort of thing in Mark and in Luke 22:14-20 – “And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” Clearly, the purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to commemorate the sacrifice of Jesus’ body and blood. What Christ and His disciples were doing here in Matthew 26 was commemorating the up-coming sacrifice of Christ. It is something that we do periodically in remembrance of His atoning death for our sins. The elements of the fruit of the vine and the bread, represent the blood and flesh of the Lord, in exactly the same way that they did on the night when the Lord Jesus first initiated Communion.
And just to make sure that we got it right, the Holy Spirit brought up the subject again in I Corinthians 11. In writing to the church in Corinth Paul said, “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.” What is the purpose of the Lord’s Supper? It is to commemorate, illustrate and celebrate the death of the Lord Jesus Christ for our redemption. And if it is taken for any other reason than this – it is sin, heresy and probably idolatry.
Once again, did Mary, the mother Jesus, miss eternal life, because she was not invited to eat His flesh? I plan to meet Mary soon, because like her, I have feasted on the Bread of Life. Both Mary and I have put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Redeemer and our God. We both rejoice in His death as the means of our salvation. The Lord’s Supper as a remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice for our souls. But in the world to come, when our salvation is fully accomplished, I doubt that we will ever again observe that ceremony. There will be no need, because we will have the Saviour ever before us.
Our need of the Lord’s Supper today is not for our salvation, but for our communion with the Lord. The great need for us today is faith in the finished work of Christ Jesus on the cross of Calvary. Repent before God and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.