We note that we find
mention of the Lord�s Supper in those Scriptures written before the
beginning of this dispensation, but not even a hint of it afterwards. We
will not, however, limit ourselves to this argument, although, rightly
understood, it is final and conclusive. Let us turn to the Scriptures
where we first read of this institution of the Lord�s Supper. When was
this ordinance instituted? Matthew 26:26 -30 supplies the information:
�And as they were
eating (i.e. the Passover, see verses 17 and 19), Jesus took bread (i.e.
a Passover loaf of unleavened 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 covenant, which is shed for many
for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink
henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new
with you in My Father�s kingdom. And when they had sung an hymn, they
went out into the Mount of Olives�.
The Passover
Thus we see that the
Lord�s Supper is connected with the Jewish feast of the Passover, and by
reading 1 Corinthians 11:23 -26 we see that henceforth this feast was
not merely to remind them of the deliverance from Egypt, but to �show
the Lord�s death till He come�, which is further interpreted in 1
Corinthians 5:7 by the words, �For even Christ our Passover hath been
sacrificed for us�. Both Matthew 26 and 1 Corinthians 11, tell us that
the wine typified the �blood of the new covenant�. What is this new
covenant? Is it connected with the Mystery hidden since the age -times?
Is the new covenant a secret only revealed now, or is it a matter of Old
Testament revelation? Let us turn to Jeremiah 31:
�At the same time
(i.e. "the latter times", Jeremiah 31:1-4), saith the Lord, will I be the
God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people ... Again
I will build thee, ... O virgin of Israel ... O Lord, save Thy people,
the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them from the north country,
and gather them from the coasts of the earth ... for I am a Father to
Israel ... He that scattered Israel will gather him ... for the Lord
hath redeemed Jacob ... Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I
will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of
Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in
the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of
Egypt (hence the connection between the new covenant, the Passover, and
the Lord�s Supper) ... but this shall be the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel (this is God�s interpretation of the new
covenant) ... If those ordinances (of the sun, moon and stars) depart
from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease
from being a nation before Me for ever. Thus saith the Lord; If heaven
above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out
beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they
have done, saith the Lord�.
The New Covenant
No one who believes
that God means what He says can help seeing that the New Covenant is
related to a greater, though parallel, exodus than that from Egypt, that
it is specifically connected with the future gathering of Israel back to
their land, and that the church of the Mystery of Ephesians 3 finds no
place therein whatsoever. The opening words of Exodus 20 teach much the
same lesson. �I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the
land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage�. Then follows the covenant,
�which they brake� (Jer. 31:32), and, �They have forsaken the covenant
of the Lord God of their fathers, which He made with them when He
brought them forth out of the land of Egypt� (Deut. 29:25, see also Jer.
11:7,8; Heb. 8).
In Matthew 26 the Lord
Jesus looks forward to �that day�, to �His Father�s kingdom�; the
kingdom in which the Father�s will shall be done on earth; �I appoint
unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto Me; that ye may eat
and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the
twelve tribes of Israel� (Luke 22:29,30). Where in all this is room and
place for, or hint of, the church of the Mystery? When we pass the
dispensational boundary of Acts 28 we read in Ephesians not of the
kingdom of the heavens, nor of the kingdom of the Father, but of �the
kingdom of Christ and of God� (Eph. 5:5). In Colossians 1:13 we read,
�The kingdom of the Son of His love� (R.V.), which is in operation now,
and is entirely distinct from the kingdom that hinges upon the
restoration of Israel.
The usage of �covenant�
The word rendered
�covenant� is never used in those epistles that were written after Acts
28, without reference to Israel. 2 Corinthians was written before Acts
28. Hebrews, as its title shows has a message for those of Israel. The
one reference to a covenant in Ephesians 2:12 refers back to �the time
past� when these Ephesian believers were aliens and strangers, or at
most guests, with regard to the �covenants of the promise�. No covenant
is ever mentioned in relation to the �church which is His body�. There
is a promise and a purpose given before the age -time (Titus 1:1 -3),
but not a covenant old or new. The new covenant is God�s gracious
provision for the very people who failed under the old covenant.
After the supper we
read, �They sung an hymn� (the Psalms known as the Hallel), and then
�went out into the Mount of Olives�. The Mount of Olives! The last
portion of earth which the Saviour�s feet trod before He ascended, and
destined to be the first place touched by His feet when He returns to
take to Himself the kingdom (Acts 1:12; Zech. 14:4).
Linked with the kingdom
It seems as though
everything has been written and arranged to link the Lord�s Supper with
the kingdom, and to sever it from the Mystery. Who then has blinded the
eyes of believers, and made them more zealous concerning a kingdom
ordinance, than eager to �know what is the hope of His calling�? Turning
from Matthew 26 let us consider 1 Corinthians 11:23 -26.
Till He come
This
passage at first sight seems to nullify all that has been said before.
First of all let us consider the statement, �I have received of the
Lord�. If we turn to 1 Corinthians 15:3, we shall read, �For I delivered
unto you first of all that which I also received�; or Galatians 1:11,12,
�For I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me
is not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught
it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ�. Paul continually declared
his entire independence of man, both as to his apostleship and his
doctrine.
No new revelation
Many at Corinth were
being led away by Judaizing teachers to doubt or deny his office. �Am I
not an apostle?� he cries, �are not ye my work in the Lord?� (1 Cor.
9:1). �In nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles� (2 Cor.
12:11). The apostle immediately follows his words of censure, �I praise
you not� (1 Cor. 11:22), with the reminder of his authority, �For I have
received of the Lord�. There is no warrant to make this statement mean
more than the immediately preceding context indicates. The institution
of the Lord�s Supper was no secret. The apostle Paul received no further
teaching regarding it than could be gathered from the records in the
gospels; he emphasizes his words in this way to help the Corinthian
believers to be more ready to listen to his rebukes in relation to their
abuse of the ordinance.
Supernatural gifts
Let us also consider
this, that every one of these Corinthian believers who assembled to
partake of the Lord�s Supper had some spiritual gift. It was not that a
few had gifts, but �everyone of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath
a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation� (1 Cor. 14:26).
These supernatural gifts were in perfect harmony with the dispensation
in which they were given; they were, moreover, equally in harmony with
all that we have seen relative to the Lord�s Supper.
Their cessation
Will those who believe
that the Lord�s Supper is for them, satisfactorily (i.e. Scripturally,
not traditionally) explain their lack of these qualifications, which
were possessed by those to whom the instructions concerning the Lord�s
Supper were sent? The �gifts� and the Lord�s Supper ceased at the close
of Acts 28; we search in vain for the faintest allusion to the
ordinances in the epistles written after Acts 28. Why should we pick out
one item from 1 Corinthians 11 and seek to perpetuate that, when we are
compelled to confess that the very next verses in chapter 12 are written
concerning that to which we can lay no claim?
Their omission
If we read 1 Timothy,
we find the apostle giving Timothy detailed instructions, that he may
know how to behave in the house of God. The apostle repeats some of his
instructions regarding the ministry of women (e.g. 1 Tim. 2 and 1 Cor.
11:1 -17), and yet, although the Lord�s Supper is the very next item in
1 Corinthians 11, he finds no place for it in his instruction to
Timothy. The simple reason is that when the kingdom became in abeyance,
everything connected therewith necessarily went with it. Spiritual
gifts, the Lord�s Supper, the covenants, all went with the kingdom
teaching. The apostle was then commissioned to set out the new economy.
To him was the grace given �to make all men see what is the dispensation
of the Mystery which from all ages hath been hid in God� (Eph. 3:9 R.V.).
Repetition and modification
This was a revelation
of something entirely new, unforeseen, unprecedented, something not
found in the Scriptures, but hidden by God away from all ages. No one
could tell us what was to be observed or omitted except the apostle
divinely appointed and commissioned. He has told us. The epistles of
Paul written after Acts 28 contain a complete system of doctrine and
instruction for the church of the present dispensation. Where anything
that obtained under the previous dispensation was to be repeated, we are
told so. The repetition of the ministry of women (1 Cor. 11 and 1 Tim.
2:11) is a case in point. Where a modification or alteration was to be
made, we are told so. The specific statement as to one baptism in
Ephesians 4, definitely sets aside the two baptisms (water and spirit)
which obtained during the Pentecostal period covered by the Acts, and
gives us today one baptism --that of the Spirit.
We do not find a
catalogue of things which we are not to do, for the list would be too
great, and the record unnecessary. In the epistles after Acts 28 we have
all that is necessary for our guidance, comfort and teaching. We add to
the Word of God sent to us by the apostle to the Gentiles at our peril.
Those who desire to enter into the blessed realization of the
dispensation of the Secret will abide by the revelation of God
pertaining thereto. Those who cannot rest satisfied unless they see or
do something, will perpetuate the observance of ordinances, but not
without the inevitable consequences that follow �zeal for God, but not
according to knowledge�.
Accompaniments of the Lord�s Supper
If we are right to
introduce, upon our own initiative, the Lord�s Supper into this present
dispensation, why not spiritual gifts, tongues, miracles? Why not be
thorough? Apart from the silence of the later epistles, the whole weight
of their positive testimony is against the introduction or perpetuation
of that which was definitely linked with Israel, the new covenant, and
the kingdom.
Some reader may
interrupt here and say, What do you understand by the words �till He
come�? The Lord has not come, and it seems that until He does we must
perforce continue the observance of this ordinance. This we must
consider, but first, a note on John�s Gospel.
Omitted in John�s Gospel
Of all the gospels,
the one written by John is the one which seems to approach nearer to the
truth for the present time than the rest. Nine -tenths of gospel
preaching of today is based upon passages from John�s Gospel. The hope
and comfort of many a believer are enshrined in the sacred words of John
14:17. There are many who might be willing to go so far as to agree that
Matthew was indeed kingdom truth, but, say they, you must leave us John.
Is it not striking then that the Lord�s Supper, so fully described and
enjoined in Matthew, the kingdom gospel, is omitted by John who above
all should have taught it if he had a message for believers today? It is
not as though the feast does not come into the subject of his writing.
It does. John 13 tells of the betrayal and many incidents which took
place at that supper. This omission must not be lightly set aside; it
adds its weight to the evidence we seek to bring from the Word on this
important subject.
Let not our faith
stand in the wisdom of men; let none give up the Lord�s Supper merely
because someone has said that it is undispensational. �Search and see�,
then act according to the teaching of the Word, and though
misunderstanding and censure be your portion here, you shall have the
joy of being unashamed in that day, through the endeavour rightly to
divide the Word of truth.
Till He come
1 Corinthians 11:26
says, �For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show
the Lord�s death till He come�. The natural conclusion upon reading
these words is, the Lord has not come, therefore we must continue to
observe the Lord�s Supper. Logic operates within certain fixed
boundaries. There is a circumstance, not reckoned in this argument,
which alters the case completely, viz., the complete cessation of the
dispensation in which 1 Corinthians 11 found its place. We must remember
that we are not at liberty to take a truth revealed at some later period
back into an earlier period in matters of interpretation. To understand
the meaning of the words �till He come� we must acquaint ourselves with
the teaching concerning that coming, which falls within the boundary
line of that particular dispensation. If we
read
into 1 Corinthians 11 teaching that was not revealed, and which was kept
an absolute secret until some years afterwards, we must expect to reap a
harvest of confusion for our pains.
There is a word which runs throughout the Scriptures pertaining to
kingdom and Pentecostal times, which will help us in our studies; that
word is, in the original tongue, the word parousia, and is translated
sometimes �coming�, and sometimes �presence�. It occurs twenty -four
times in the New Testament. Seventeen of these occurrences refer to
Christ, and the remaining seven refer to others -- Paul, Titus, Timothy,
Stephanas, and antichrist (1 Cor. 16:17; 2 Cor. 7:6,7; 10:10; Phil.
1:26; 2:12; 2 Thess. 2:9). The first canonical and historical use of the
word occurs in Matthew 24, and if we allow the canon of interpretation
to be true that the first occurrence of any word supplies the key to its
meaning, then most certainly parousia belongs to the kingdom, and not to
the Mystery. Let us consider the context of this first occurrence:
�And as He sat upon
the Mount of Olives (inseparably connected with the kingdom, see Zech.
14:4; Matt. 26:30; Acts 1:6,12 etc.), the disciples came unto Him
privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall
be the sign of Thy parousia (coming), and of the sunteleia (the "ending
together" of events that culminate in the end) of the age?�(Matt. 24.3).
When ... Then
The Apocalypse is the
inspired record of the sunteleia of the age, and with it the parousia is
connected. In answer to the question �When�, the Lord gives a series of
prophetic utterances commencing with the word �Then� (see Matt.
24:9,10,16,23,30,40 and 25:1). It must be remembered that the word
translated �then� is a definite mark of time, �then at that time�. In
Matthew 24:21 we read, �then shall be great tribulation, such as was not
since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be�.
These words single out this tribulation from any other, consequently
Revelation 7:14 refers to the same period, These are they which came out
of the tribulation, the great. The time of �Jacob�s trouble� will be
brought to an end by the second coming of the Lord. �For as the
lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so
also shall the parousia of the Son of man be� (Matt. 24:27).
This, coming directly
in connection with the false messiahs and false prophets, with their
�great signs and wonders�, links the passage with 2 Thessalonians 2, and
consequently with the antichrist. In 2 Thessalonians2:8,9 we read:
The wicked one
�And then shall that
Wicked One be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of
His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His parousia (cf.
"as the lightning", Matt. 24:27), even him, whose parousia (the travesty
of the Lord�s) is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs
and lying wonders�.
Remember, Satan
travesties truth. The false messiah�s parousia is connected with
�powers, signs, and lying wonders�. Now these powers, signs, and lying
wonders are an exact counterfeit of Pentecost, as a reference to the
Greek of Hebrews 2:4 will show, and go to prove that the parousia of the
Lord Jesus is that spoken of by Peter in Acts 3:19,20, connecting it
with Israel, the prophet Joel, and the day of the Lord. Matthew 24:29
continues:
The Tribulation
�Immediately after the
tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall
not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers
of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the
Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the land mourn,
and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with
power and great glory�.
�Behold, He cometh
with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced
Him: and all kindreds of the earth (tribes of the land) shall wail
because of Him� (Rev. 1:7).
Isaiah, speaking of
�the day of the Lord� (Rev. 1:10) in Isaiah 13:6 -11,says in verse 10:
�For the stars of
heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the
sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause
her light to shine�.
See also the following
passages, Ezekiel 32:7; Joel 2:30,31; Amos 5:20; Zephaniah 1:14,15; Acts
2:19,20; Revelation 6:12 -17, and again consider the question what has
all this to do with the church of the Mystery? Interpreted of Israel,
and the kingdom, all is clear; strained to fit the church of Ephesians,
all is confusion. Continuing our study of the use of the word parousia
in 1 Thessalonians 4:15,16 we read:
�For this we say unto
you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
parousia of the Lord shall in no wise precede them that are fallen
asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead
in Christ shall rise first�.
The archangel (Dan. 12:1,2)
One archangel is
mentioned in Scripture, �Michael the archangel� (Jude 9). According to
Daniel 12:1 Michael is �the great prince which standeth for the children
of thy people� (see also Daniel 10:13,21). When Michael stands up there
shall be:
�a time of trouble,
such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and
at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be
found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of
the earth shall awake�.
Here we have the
connection between 1 Thessalonians 4 and Daniel 12, where the archangel
is directly related to the resurrection (even as Jude 9), and the people
of the kingdom -- Israel. James and Peter refer to this parousia of the
Lord. Those to whom James wrote attended the synagogue (2:2), they were
the �twelve tribes scattered abroad� (1:1). Patience during the time of
trouble is the exhortation, �Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the
parousia of the Lord� (5:7,8). Peter speaks of the parousia several
times in his second epistle:
�For we have not
followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power
and parousia of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye - witnesses of His
majesty. For He received from God the Father honour and glory� (2 Pet.
1:16,17).
�Not yet� -- the present parenthesis
This passage has
reference to the �Transfiguration� (Matt. 17:1). The words �honour and
glory� are terms which belong to the kingdom (see Heb. 2:6,7 and Psalm
8). They further refer to the consecration of the priest in his robes of
�glory and beauty�. �We see not yet ... but we see Jesus ... crowned
with glory and honour� (Heb. 2:8,9).
The �not yet� of
Hebrews 2:8 was a difficulty which Peter confessed. In 2 Peter 3:1 -13
the scoffers are reported as saying, �Where is the (fulfillment of the)
promise of His parousia?� The apostle assures his hearers that the non -
fulfillment of the promise is not the result of �slackness� on the
Lord�s part, it was rather His �long-suffering�. He continues by
speaking of the day of the Lord coming �as a thief in the night�,
exactly as Paul does in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5.
Peter, Paul and the postponement
Peter, however, had to
refer his readers to Paul�s epistles, saying: �Our beloved brother Paul
also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; as
also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are
some things hard to be understood� (2 Pet. 3:15,16).
The scoffers knew
about the parousia; Peter knew of that hoped -for coming, but he did not
understand a great deal of the truth committed to Paul, viz., the
dispensation of the Mystery which comes in the �gap� occasioned by the
setting aside of Israel, and the postponement of �the promise of His
parousia�. In 1 Corinthians 15:23 we read, �Christ the firstfruits;
afterward they that are Christ�s at His parousia�. In 1 Thessalonians 4
the apostle had revealed the fact that some would be �alive, and remain
unto the parousia of the Lord�, which we saw had a connection with
Daniel 12 and Israel. Here in 1 Corinthians 15 he gives further
teaching:
The last trump
�Behold, I shew you a
mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump: for the trumpet
shall sound (see 1 Thess. 4:15,16), and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed� (1 Cor. 15:51,52).
Now �when� this shall
take place �then� Isaiah 24 and 25:8,9 will be fulfilled. Then the
kingdoms of the world will have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of
His Christ. These words are spoken at the sounding of the seventh
trumpet (Rev. 11:15). No trumpet is recorded after this, and so we are
justified in speaking of this as the �last trump�. If we have to argue
that there may be another, it suggests something is wrong with our
theology. The effect of the sounding of the seventh trumpet extends to
Revelation 20, where we have the first resurrection, the resurrection of
those who have gone through the great tribulation, and who share the
glory of the millennial reign on earth.
We have seen that the
Lord�s Supper is the memorial feast of the New Covenant. The people with
whom that New Covenant was made, are the people of Israel, the Gentile
participating only as a wild graft �contrary to nature�, during the
period covered by the Acts. While the contracting parties of any
covenant are in disagreement it is impossible for any other party to
continue to enjoy blessings that can only be theirs as they share with
the original parties to the covenant. The dispensation of the Mystery
was actually instituted because of the breakdown (speaking humanly) of
Israel, and to persist in the observance of a memorial feast, even
though it concentrates attention upon the great sacrifice of Christ, is
to betray a trust, to invalidate the distinctive calling that the
Mystery brings, and to confuse that one initial promise in Christ before
age times, with promises made to the fathers and focused primarily upon
Israel.
From Alphabetical Analysis Part 2