Your Daily Devotional for April 1, 2006

April 1, 2006

 

Remembering the Work of the Cross

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

“After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.”
I Corinthians 11:25

 

Perhaps you or someone you know was sent off to serve our country, maybe in World War II, Vietnam, Operation Desert Storm or some of the more recent conflicts in the Middle East. When that loved one left, you probably had a yearning, a real burning desire to see that person again. Some people would look at a picture of their loved one and think, “It’s just going to be a few months now before he comes home. It’s just going to be another six months now before he has that time of leave.” That picture would be a way for you to remember the coming again of a loved one.

 

God wants us to remember Him and the returning of His Son, and God has given to us a picture whereby we can remember Him. There were no digital cameras or video equipment in the First Century so He gave us the Lord’s Table as a way to remember that He was coming again.  God says, “I want to give you a Polaroid snapshot of what My Son did for you.”

 

I want to show you that Polaroid picture that Jesus Christ left which helps us to remember Him until He comes again. If you’ll watch these verses very carefully, you’re going to see the context is speaking of remembering Him until He comes again.

Paul records in I Corinthians 11:23-26 Jesus presiding over the Lord’s Table. “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.”

Do you recognize that Jesus wants us to remember Him? Jesus says, “this do in remembrance of me.” The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, said that we’re to do this, “as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup…till he come.”

 

We need to remember His plan of redemption. Remember that it was His blood that was shed, His body that was broken that ours sins might be forgiven today. Were it not for the shedding of that innocent blood, we would have no hope for eternity. You and I would be lost and without Christ.

 

But, praise God for the sacrifice of His Perfect Lamb! I John 1:7 tells us “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Hebrews 10:16-17 says, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”

The Lord’s Table serves as a reminder of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for our sins. He died that our sins may be forgiven and that we might have fellowship with the Father. Let us continually remember the finished work of Christ, for he remembers our sins no more!

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