by Richard Shin

Editor’s Note: This is part 2 of an ongoing series. Part 1 can be found here.

The Lord’s Supper as a Sign

Here, we begin diving deeper into the significance of the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is more than a symbol of our union with Christ; it is meant to be a sign that points both backwards and forwards: backwards to the cross of Jesus Christ and forwards to the banquet that we are to enjoy with Him forever.

The concept of eating and drinking is integrally tied to our understanding of God’s redemptive purposes. Before the Fall of Man, Adam and Eve were told not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen. 2:17). The Passover meal served as a reminder to Israel of the Exodus, in which God delivered Israel from Egypt through Moses (Ex. 12). The manna, quail, and water demonstrated God’s continued care for His covenant people in the wilderness (Ex. 16:35; Num. 11:32; Ex. 17:6). God was leading them to the land flowing with milk and honey in Canaan, also described as a “land of grain and new wine, whose heavens drop down dew” (Deut. 33:28). Zechariah speaks of God’s people inheriting the fruit and crops (Zech. 8:12). Amos announces, “The mountains will drip wine, and all the hills shall flow with it” when describing the exalted Davidic Kingdom (Amos 9:13) and the restored nation of Israel “will plant vineyards and drink their wine” (Amos 9:14).

Even during Jesus’ ministry on Earth, there is food to serve as a sign for what’s to come. He turns water to wine at a wedding feast, pointing to a greater feast to come (John 2:1-11). He feeds the multitudes by multiplying the food with His word, displaying His deity and power (John 6:1-13). He identifies Himself and His people with the vine of God (John 15:1-8), establishing Himself as the fulfillment of the promise that the vine would one day yield fruit (Isa 27:6; Gal. 5:22-23). All of these references to the eating and drinking tie us back to God’s continued faithfulness in saving us and pointing us toward the eternal kingdom that is to come.

In conjunction with the food motif, the Lord’s Supper emphasizes the “already but not yet” idea of God’s redemptive plans. God has already purchased our place in Heaven through our Mediator Jesus Christ, but we must still live our lives, working out our salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). The Lord’s Supper is also a sober reminder of the warfare we are in that began with the Serpent that deceived Eve and will end in Christ’s eternal dominion over all creation. While we gather around the table to partake in the Lord’s Supper, we are reminded of Christ’s declaration of victory, pointing us to the day when we will eat at a table spread for us in the presence of our enemies (Ps. 23:5). This is why after Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper, He tells His disciples of the kingdom significance as it pertains to their eating and drinking at His table (Luke 22:28-30).

Understanding the significance of eating and drinking in the Old Testament as a sign of God’s redemptive plans, it is not surprising that Jesus would institute an ordinance that would involve the bread and wine to point us not only to the cross, but towards the future when we will enjoy a banquet with our Lord and Savior. And in response when we partake in the Lord’s Supper, we as a church should readily identify with joy and triumph that this meal signals, while remembering the sober reality that we were once captivated by sin, death, and Satan—powers that no longer have any dominion over us because of Christ’s victory!