A number of churches have the communion table with a covering over it on which are the words “Until He Come,” which expression comes from the Authorized Version, a rather bad translation in English that should be “Until He comes.” The practice of remembering the Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection was very precious in the early church and should be so today, but it is often rushed or done improperly or has become a ritual in name only. It is believed that the Apostolic church incorporated the Lord’s Supper as part of their frequent agape meal. I am speaking here of Protestant churches.
The scriptures are clear on how the Lord is to be remembered, gained mainly from the Last Passover with the disciples and 1 Corinthians 11:20-24.
I wish to speak about a conclusion on all this, but before that, there is one thing I wish to share. For most of my Christian life, I have gone along with the expression, “His body was broken for us.” I dare say some of us have used that expression or still do. I stopped using it only about two years ago because it is wrong.
The expression has been passed on over the years from one to the other and never properly examined. It is found in hymns and in written texts, and we just parrot the words, but let us examine them. It becomes easy to repeat without consideration.
In the Old Testament sacrifices, the sacrificial animal was never broken; their bodies were not broken. All those sacrifices typified Christ, who was the Lamb without a spot of blemish. Also, there is a verse, John 19:36-37, “These things came to pass that the Scripture might be fulfilled, ‘Not a bone of Him shall be broken,'” and again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”
The Lord’s body was GIVEN for us – Luke 22:19, “When He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it, and gave it to them saying, ‘This is My body which is GIVEN FOR YOU. Do this in remembrance of Me.'”
The Lord’s body was given sacrificially, willingly, wholly, lovingly, eternally, prophetically, unreservedly, and personally (for us all).
Let us try not to use that expression about the Lord’s body being broken for sin. He became the sin-bearer, the One on whom our sins were laid. Isaiah said the following – (NASB) Isaiah 53:5 “but He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed,” and most know the AV’s translation, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities…”
A bit later, Isaiah wrote – Isaiah 53:10, “The LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief. If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand,” again using the word “crush – “bruise” – AV. We will leave it there because I want to dwell on something else.
If there was no Rapture before the Tribulation, then you would have the/some Church remembering the Lord in the Tribulation, either holding (wrongly) to a mid-Tribulation or Post-Tribulation view of a confused Rapture. Those who try to force the erroneous view of a Rapture at the Second Coming have this notion that the Lord comes and snatches His people up, and they then descend with Him to the earth.
What sense is that? It is ignorance, actually. Why not come to the Mount of Olives and then raise the saints and change those living? It is all too ridiculous. There will be no remembrance of the Lord in the Tribulation because the Holy Spirit left with the Church. The Rapture belongs to this Church age ONLY.
To believe in a Mid or Post Tribulation would then create a problem with Revelation 4 and 5 (for the Mid and Post view) and with the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in heaven in Revelation 19 (at least for the Post view). It would have the Church keeping the Lord’s Supper in the Tribulation, and that is nonsensical when all things are considered. So many scriptures would contradict that ill-formed position.
The conclusion is that the Lord’s Supper is kept during the Church age and has no part in the Tribulation because the Lord would already have come. FOR ME, and I don’t know about you, I see the Lord’s Table as proof that the Church won’t be here in the Tribulation.
A different gospel will be preached then, not the gospel of grace with salvation in the Lord Jesus that we preach. Some cynical Christians disparage the truth of the gospel of the kingdom, dismissing it or trying to equate it with the gospel of grace, but it is what John the Baptist taught (Matthew 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”), and so did Jesus at the start of His ministry – Matthew 4:23, “Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.”
John and Jesus preached that as they were establishing the entry into the Kingdom taught by the Old Testament, and the one that Messiah would rule over. However, the rejection of the Messiah truncated that preaching of the kingdom of heaven/the gospel of the kingdom for the time being while the Church age runs its course. In any case, the essence of the preaching is not the Christian gospel. The preaching of the gospel of the kingdom essentially was confession in baptism for the forgiveness of sin. The Christian message is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, then baptism as the witness/obedience to demonstrate what had happened at the time of believing.
That gospel of the kingdom was repentance with confession, and baptism (remember it was before the crucifixion). Do not confuse the two gospels, as ours is the gospel of grace.
In the great Matthew 24 discourse that has NOTHING to with the Church age OR the Rapture, Jesus said this gospel of the kingdom will be preached again – Matthew 24:14, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come. “That “end” is the end of the Tribulation and the Second Coming, and answers the disciples’ question; Matthew 24:3, “As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of THE END OF THE AGE?'”
We preach the gospel of grace, and then the end will come (the Rapture), while in the Tribulation, they will preach the gospel of the kingdom, and then the end will come (the Second Coming). One coming for the Church, and another for the world and Israel. We must never confuse the two comings.
Meanwhile, we remember the Lord until He comes, and I think it should be weekly. There is a lot of evidence for that, both from Acts and early Christian writings.
A WORD OF EXPLANATION
Those churches that do correctly remember the Lord in the way he instituted, with the breaking of the bread and the cup, remember His death. I wonder, though, how many are conscious of the Lord’s coming as they do so, the Rapture of the Church, for that is part of this remembrance – UNTIL HE COMES. I believe we must get into the habit of being conscious of the Lord’s coming as we remember His death.
It is not only ironic but tragic that so many churches have their communion/remembrance/the Supper, BUT THEY DO NOT believe in the Rapture. The Lord’s Supper and the Rapture (until He comes) are so fundamentally linked.
It all goes together – His death and burial and resurrection and His coming again. Those who remember the Lord weekly (as it should be) and correctly should also be conscious that the Lord’s Table they just had may be the last one on earth, because when the Rapture comes, no longer will the Lord’s Supper be relevant here on earth.
That has finished the article, and this is an addition. I decided to add two poems of mine here at the end.
REMEMBER ME UNTIL I COME
The bread upon the table now is set,
Reminder of the body of the Lord.
In gratitude – for Jesus paid our debt –
He’s bidden us to eat in one accord.
Around the loaf, and in His presence met,
We think of Him who faced death’s dreadful sword.
We take this bread. His death we’ll not forget,
For Christ is risen, now the One adored.
This cup joins with the bread, and sweet they be –
Points to the blood so freely shed for sin.
The Lamb of God upon the cross we see,
Whose cleansing blood has brought us safe within.
New covenant through blood, so fully free,
We take the cup in memory of Him.
For my sins’ load, His blood my only plea.
Until He comes, let not this truth grow dim.
Until He comes, this feast again we hold,
And thus declare the truth on which we meet.
Proclaim His death – the Lamb’s great love retold,
Where Satan’s forces now lie in defeat.
Then found in Him, we set this statement bold.
We feast in praise, and worship Him so sweet.
The eyes of faith His glories do behold.
Until He comes, this feast we will repeat.
R E Ferguson 10-10-10-10
Possible Tunes:
Christus Rex St Agnes Eventide/Monk “Abide With Me” (almost – last line)
Cliff Town Morecambe Toulon (good one).
THE LORD HAS MADE ME PERFECT IN HIS LOVE
The Lord has made me perfect in His love.
I don’t feel it, but I’m told that from above.
For the Lord has saved my soul;
He has made me all so whole.
Oh, the Lord has made me perfect in His love.
Chorus:
Perfected in His love. Perfected in His love.
The Lord above has saved my soul.
He remade me and made me whole.
I am perfected in His love.
Like the sheep that was lost and went astray,
I too did wander off, and went my own way.
Out in the dark world of sin;
Nothing there of good to win.
So I wandered, the sheep that had gone astray.
I found no love, but plenty rejection.
This world is “dog eat dog” with no affection.
No one out there cared one bit.
For kindness, each one had quit.
While in that dark place, yes, I knew rejection.
Coming to one’s senses is most taxing,
For there is a constant fear of relapsing.
Back into sin is easy,
As this world is so sleazy.
The struggle between right and wrong is taxing.
The Lord reached down and rescued me through grace.
He smiled upon me with love across His face.
Then mercy and grace prevailed,
And God’s love has never failed.
I have been saved, and I am kept through God’s grace.
I love you, Lord, for saving me that day;
For washing all the filth of this world away.
Upon me was the Lord’s hand,
Helping me to understand.
Praise God, my Saviour, for claiming me that day.
Chorus:
Perfected in His love. Perfected in His love.
The Lord above has saved my soul.
He remade me and made me whole.
I am perfected in His love.
3 January 2022 10-11-7-7-11 Chorus 12-8-8-8