T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S its spirit. The wiriie is th e symbol of th e death of Christ, b u t it is th a t death by which we live. He d rank th e cup of suffering th a t we m ight d rink th e wine of. joy. As bread is broken to su stain our physical life, so Christ’s body was broken, to n urish our sp iritu al life. It is a festival of commemoration. It brings Christ to our remembrance and it makes proclamation of His death to the world. As th e Passover memorial ized th e deliverance of Israel from Egypt, as Independence day commemo rates the b irth of America as a nation, so th e Lord’s supper commemorates the origin of th e church on th e basis' ,of Christ’s death and resurrection. It not only brings sp iritu a l blessing to the believer th rough obedience to a Divine command, b u t like baptism , it is a means of confessing Christ, of testify ing to our faith and publishing th e 'fact of His death to others. Baptism shows th e death of Christ as th e procuring cause of the new b irth and th e Lord’s supper shows th e death of Christ as the sustaining power of our sp iritu al life. The external ceremony impresses the senses while stim u lating faith , and brings us into contact w ith other believers whose faith and devotion help our own. The blessing received from p artak ing of th e Lord’s supper depends upon th e faith of th e one who p artak es and th e m easure of his appre hension of Christ. Bread is well called th e staff of life. One soon wearies of cake and condi ment. Bread is found upon our tables th ree tim es a day and is indispensable. I t is equally welcome in th e cottage of a peasant and th e palace of a king. These and o ther reasons abundantly ju stify and in te rp re t th e title th a t Christ assumed. “ I am th e bread of life.” In the m eat or meal offering described in th e second chapter of Leviticus we h a v e . Christ presenting H imself to God as th e food of man. The first and chief m aterial of th is offering is flour. “ Bread corn is b ruised.” Is. 28:28. The wheat ground to powder is th e emblem of deepest suffering, i t is not the blade verdant w ith th e rain, of heaven nor ripening into golden m a tu rity under th e summer sun. It is th e grain crushed between th e upper and the neth er m ill stones. In m eeting t h e . w ants,, of man, our blessed Lord was grieved, and bruised THURSDAY, July 17. John 6:41*51. Bread of Heaven.
670 and to the redemption of our bodies a t H is coming. TUESDAY, July 15. Mark 14:22-26. . ; . The New Covenant. There are four accounts of th e last supper in ' th e New Testament. The in stitu tion of the chu rch ordinance is given by P au l in 1 Cor. 11:23-26. In th e eighth chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Christ is declared to he the m ediator of a b etter covenant, b etter because unconditional and established upon b etter promises. It guarantees th e very th ing which th e law requ ired as a condition of blessing, viz. obedi ence. In o ther words, all is of grace. The new covenant does no t mention man bu t is full of th e “ I w ills” of God. I t is not w hat we do, b u t w hat God will do. It depends not on the worth of our good deeds bu t th e freeness of His grace. When we confess ourselves powerless to m aintain even th e a tti tud e of consecration and cast ourselves helplessly on God to perform all things in and through us, fulfilling His pu r poses and doing His will, when the burden is laid down and we aré content to work out in the power of th e Holy Spirit w hat He works in, we experience th e fullness and blessedness of God’s perfect re st and peace. Israel found no re st under the old covenant, because the law can never give rest and they persisted in saying w h at they would and would not do. They boasted of th e ir own streng th and tru ste d in th eir own resolves. The same m istake is made today. We can neith er ju stify nor sanctify ourselves. We en ter into re st by ceasing from our own works and resting on the finished work of Christ. WEDNESDAY, July 16. Duke 22:7-20. In Remembrance of Me. It is difficult to say to w h at extent our Lord conformed the details of the la st supper to th e customs of th e Pas chal feast, nor can we tell how far the custom s of th a t day resembled the ancient form. . The central custom of the feast was th e hasty eating of the Paschal lamb, w ith.. unleavened b rea d an d b itter herbs, in a standing attitude,: w ith loins, girded and shoes upon the feet, as they had eaten on th e n igh t of th e ir deliverance. The. Passover was: festal in its natu re. The Lord’s supper is.-not a funeral b u t a feast. l„Cor. 5; 7 „g,... Sadness and glo.om are. foreign to
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