The Lord's Supper

He takes the bread and the wine. -- When the minister offers the bread and wine to those at the table, this represents Christ freely offered to sinners, even the chief. The receiving of the bread and wine means -- I do thankfully receive the broken, bleeding Savior as my Surety. The act of taking that bread and wine is an appropriating act; it is saying before God, and angels, and men, and devils, "I do flee to the Lord Jesus Christ as my refuge." Noah entering into the ark was an appropriating act. Let others fly to the tops of their houses, to their castles and towers, to the rugged rocks, to the summits of the highest mountains, -- as for me, I believe the word of God, and flee to the ark as my only refuge (Heb.11:7). When the manslayer fled into the city of refuge, it was an appropriating act. As he entered breathless at gates of the Hebron, his friends might cry to him, Flee unto the wilderness! or Flee beyond Jordan! But no, he would say, I believe the word of God, that I shall be safe only within these walls; this is my only refuge city, here only will I hide! (Joshua 20). When the Israelite brought an offering of the herd or of the flock, when the priest had bound it with cords to the horns of the altar, the offerer laid his hands upon the head of the lamb: this was an appropriating act, as much as to say, I take this lamb as dying for me. The world might say, How will this save you? mend your life, give alms to the poor. I believe the word of God, he would say; I do not wish to bear my own sins, I lay them on the Lamb of God (Lev. 1:4). When the woman, trembling, came behind Jesus and touched the hem of His garment, this also was an appropriating act. Her friends might say to her, Come and try some more physicians, or wait till you are somewhat better. No, said she, "If I may but touch His garment, I shall be made whole" (Mark 5:28). In the 42nd Psalm, David's enemies said to him continually, "Where is thy God?" This made tears his meat night and day. It was like a sword in his bones. But in the 43rd Psalm he gathers courage, and says, "I will go unto the altar of God," where the lamb was slain; and then he says, " Unto God, my exceeding joy." You say, I have no God: behold, I take this lamb as slain for me, and therefore God is my God. In the Song of Solomon, when the bride found Him whom her soul loved, she says, "I held Him, and would not let Him go." This was true appropriating faith. The world might say to her, " Come this way, and we will show thee other beloveds, fairer than thy beloved." Nay, saith she, "I held Him, and would not let Him go. This is my beloved, and this is my friend" (Song 3:4).

Just such, beloved, is the meaning of receiving broken bread and poured-out wine at the Lord's table. It is the most solemn appropriating act of all your lives. It is declaring by signs, "I do enter into the ark; I flee into the city of refuge; I lay my hand on the head of the Lamb; I do touch the hem of His garment; I do take Jesus to be my Lord and my God; I hold Him, and by grace I will never let Him go." It is a deliberate closing with Christ, by means of signs, in the presence of witnesses. When a bride accepts the right hand in marriage before many witnesses, it is a solemn declaration to all the world that she does accept the bridegroom to be her only husband. So, in the Lord's Supper, when you receive that bread and wine, you solemnly declare that, forsaking all others, you heartily do receive the Lord Jesus as your only Lord and Saviour.