And We Have Come

What we are doing here involves our minds, but it is not what we would call a mental exercise. It involves our mouths and throats, but it is not just ordinary eating. What we do here engages our hearts, but it is not meal of sentiment. So what are we doing then?

The apostle Paul describes this as a partaking of Christ, but this is not because this is a “special” supernatural meal in sharp contrast to a natural world. It is not as though we have the backdrop of the black night of nature, with a tiny spark of grace here.

No, God created the world to function in covenantal categories. So the thing that happens here at this Table is the same thing that happened in the Old Testament when priests partook of the altar. More than that, it is the same thing that happened when pagans partook of the altars they had erected to their demons. The world functions covenantally. This is not just something that happens in the spiritual world; it is how the whole world runs. Whatever we do, wherever we go, we are partakers.

So it is quite true that we partake of Christ in this meal, and that we do so spiritually. But take care what you mean by that word spiritually. When you give your physical body over to the control of God, it is, the apostle says, your spiritual worship. A spiritual man is not an ethereal man. A spiritual man is an obedient man.

As you present yourselves here to be fed, to be strengthened, to be built up, to be nourished, to be given wisdom, you are doing so because you have been summoned. There has been a call to worship, has there not? You have been invited, have you not? This bread and this wine is being offered to you, is it not? Jesus said that His crucified body would draw all men to Himself. This is the divine order—He has died, and we have come.

So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.