Last week we saw that God breaks the idols, and He breaks all sin, and He breaks it for our salvation in the body of Christ. And so we, as that body, are enabled by God’s grace to partake of His forgiveness.
The wine is made by crushing the grapes. This kind of crushing is an image in Scripture of two things. The first is that crushing grapes is an image of great wrath and judgment (Rev. 14:18). The second is that it is the occasion of great harvest home rejoicing (Num. 13:23). We find both of these elements present in our commemoration of this sacrament.
This cup, we are told, is the cup of the new testament, and that new testament is the testament of Christ’s blood. But Christ’s blood was shed for sin, and it was shed under judgment (Heb. 9:14). And yet we are privileged to drink it in a Eucharistic celebration. Both elements are present; both elements are here.
Without the cross there can be no resurrection. Without the resurrection, the cross is nothing but an agony of despair. Without judgment for sin, celebration is hollow, empty, vain. Without celebration, sacrifice is hollow, empty, and vain.
This means that as we celebrate, we should be filled with solemnity, knowing the penalty that Jesus paid so that we could rejoice before Him and with Him. And as we consider His sacrifice on the cross, we should look forward, as Jesus Himself did, to the joy set before Him. And so we come in faith, knowing that our sins are broken forever in the bread, and our iniquities are crushed forever in the grapes. God has truly been good to us—come therefore with gratitude.