Title: The Origin of the Eucharist
Content Exodus 12: 21-27 Origin of the Eucharist 080316
This text records the circumstances of the day when Israel was liberated from Egypt. As God commanded, each family killed a sheep, smeared its blood on it, roasted the meat, ate it, and waited, and then God set them free. Israel later kept it as a festival called the Passover to commemorate that day. And before that Passover, the Lord had a supper with his disciples, and that supper became today's sacrament. And on that Passover, Jesus died on the cross. Why did the Lord die on the Passover, and why did He command that the sacrament be celebrated in commemoration of His death from generation to generation? Where is the origin of this sacrament?
First, the meat of the Passover lamb and the unleavened bread
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5:7, “…Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” said. It means that the Lord is the Lamb of the Passover.
On the Passover, one sheep per household died, and the blood was smeared on the door. It was painted with blood as a sign that a sheep had died for the house. The angel who came to execute judgment on sinners sees the blood of an innocent lamb and crosses over the house. So the family did not suffer disaster. But the Egyptians, who did not slaughter the sheep and did not apply the blood of the sheep, all died. When the king of Egypt saw it, he was afraid and gave the Jews freedom. That is the Passover. That is why the Apostle Paul said, “Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed.”
The lamb that died on the Passover is a symbol of Jesus dying on the cross. The Israelites, who were slaves in Egypt, roasted and ate dead lamb instead of them on the day of the Passover, and ate it with unleavened bread. They did nothing and just ate the food that God had told them to eat, and they were set free. The Lord came to save us, and on the day of the Passover, while dying like the Passover lamb, he made a promise of life that those who eat my flesh and drink my blood I will raise them up on the last day. When we eat the sacrament, it is a confession that we receive and believe deeply in our hearts as we eat food that Jesus died for us. The unleavened bread symbolizes our sinless Lord. The unleavened bread symbolizes the pure Christ, who has no sin but died in his place to give us life.
The reason the Lord told us to repeat this sacrament until He comes again, I died for you and made you alive. So, I'm telling you not to always forget that you are my person who lives by grace. And remember the covenant I gave you, and you too should always keep that promise with a new heart.
There are many of us who live in jeonse houses, but jeonse contracts are for two years. Fortunately, even if I met a good owner and stopped raising the deposit, the contract must be renewed. The reason the Lord has told us to have the sacrament meeting often until He comes is to live in the promises that He has given us, to always remember them in their present effect. And it says to follow me and live like a saved man of God. The Lord's Supper was the food that contained God's plan for the salvation of mankind, and it has already begun in the Old Testament.
Second, the manna eaten in the wilderness (Exodus 16:)
When the Israelites were living in the wilderness, they could not find food because they were traveling in a dry wilderness, so they often complained to God, and God gave them a mysterious food called manna for those who complained.
Look at Exodus 16:8. “Moses said again, “The Lord will give you meat in the evening to feed you, and in the morning you will be satisfied with bread, for the Lord has heard your murmuring against him.”
Look at Exodus 16:12. “I have heard the murmuring of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, At sunset you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be satisfied with bread, and you will know that I am the LORD your God. God said so, and from that day onward, He gave manna and quail.
But isn't there something a little strange about it? It is as if God gave manna to shut the mouths of those who grumble because they complained.
But is God like that? Even if they did not complain, God was preparing everything for them to eat. He knew that the grain they had brought from Egypt was falling apart and was preparing. But their resentment was always faster than God's hand. Before God worked, they began to complain. They have always lived with complaints. Therefore, they have no choice but to look disgusting in the eyes of God. Nevertheless, God fed them and guided them. Although they complained, God was patient and patient and gave them grace. He fed, guided, healed, saved, prepared and provided everything. Thank you so much.
Wouldn't it be great if they were people who believed in God and prayed with thanks to God instead of complaining? How willing was God to help and guide them? How pleasantly did Moses, the leader, lead them?
But they always complained and gathered people to make a party to complain, and they all perished in the wilderness. This was the case with Korah and Abiram.
Let's look at verse 4. “Then the LORD said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out and gather their daily rations. In this way I will test whether they walk in my law or not.”
what is the law? It is a rule to take the mysterious food given away for free. They had to follow the rules to eat the mysterious food that God gave them.
Article 1 of that rule is to collect only one's portion each day. To reap too much is against the law. He did not believe in God's promise that he would give us tomorrow, and he caused all the manna that he had harvested to rot. And if you become a person who reaped greedily, there would be no leftovers, and those who gathered little did not lack. He was punished for breaking the rules and for his hard work in vain. If you keep the command, you are blessed, and if you break it, it is hardship and punishment.
And it is Article 2 that you must never go to gather on the Sabbath. Because it is never given on the Sabbath. Instead, for the Sabbath, He allowed us to gather two days' worth of food on Friday so that it would not rot. Still, some people broke the law and went to gather on the Sabbath, and they were vain and ashamed. And this manna was continuously given until they entered Canaan.
Why did God give manna to Israel? The reason for giving the manna was to save their lives, but it was implied that “the food that makes you truly alive is not the food you collect on earth for your toil, but the food that God gives down from heaven.” It was not the food obtained through the efforts of the people I met, but the food provided by God, and it was perfect food that did not need to be processed. The food was a symbol of Jesus, the bread of life that God would give down from heaven.
Jesus made it clear, “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died, but I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. The bread I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (John 6:49-51) He said.
The reason we attend sacrament meeting today is because only the Lord is our eternal food, and it is a sign of relying only on the Lord, knowing that our toil and effort will never bring us reward, happiness, or eternal life.
The origin of the Lord's Supper is the manna in the wilderness that God sent down from heaven. Manna was the eternal food that allowed us to live even without fleshly food. Our participation in the Lord's Supper today is a greater blessing than the Israelite eating of manna.
Third, the rock that gave living water in the wilderness
The wilderness Israel traveled through was a waterless desert. They were thirsty from time to time, and without water they all had to die in the wilderness. But whenever they were thirsty, instead of praying and obeying God who could give them water, they complained and complained. Those who distrust God and resent God are the people who deserve to be killed by the cursed rod in the wilderness. However, God did not tell Moses to strike them with your staff, who complained that there was no water, but gave the wrong command to go to the mountain and hit the rock. “Take up your staff and go to Mount Horeb. I will stand there against you on the rock of Horeb.” “I will stand against you upon the rock, and you shall strike the rock” (Exodus 17:6).
Where did God say He would stand when Moses went to Mount Horeb and struck the rock? God promises to stand on that rock. So, these words are the same as saying, “Strike me who is standing on the rock against you.” Why does it mean to strike the Lord when I say to you to strike the rock on which I stand?
In 1 Corinthians 10:4, when Israel was thirsty in the wilderness, Moses struck a rock and drank water. “And they all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink, and they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.” The rock that Moses struck was none other than Christ.
What does this mean? In order to save the wicked people who are thirsty but who do not depend on God who gives water and who only complain, who must be judged, the Lord Himself is right. It is a foreshadowing that he is providing living water for the people to live by by being beaten. It's true. Christ, the holy God, raised sinners to life by hanging on the cross, being beaten and nailed to death, was alluded to in the words, “Strike the rock on which I stand.”
“He was pierced for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; by his punishment we have peace; by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the LORD hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:5-6). Then the prophets clearly said: The Bible is a guide that explains how Jesus, who is the whole God Himself, becomes our salvation.
The rock that did not strike the resentful people, but instead gave water to the people who grumbled, and made them drink and live, and Christ, who was beaten by the stinger, gave us sinners eternal salvation.
The words of the Lord when He died for us were, “It is finished.” All the events that I foretold through Moses and the prophets in the Old Testament had been fulfilled, and it was saying that all the things that God had planned and prophesied long ago and entrusted to me have been fulfilled. Therefore, the Lord's Supper was not the first thing Jesus did, but the event that completed the Old Testament Lord's Supper, which was partially alluded to in the Old Testament.
As we partake of the Lord's Supper today, we can synthesize the prophecies of the Old Testament and enjoy the Lord's merits ourselves. I hope that you will receive the sacrament that was foretold in various ways from the Old Testament and showed you the patterns, and that this is the true food that saves you.
Now, let's eat the holy food the Lord has given us. And let's live anew with the power of that food. Let's begin the Holy Communion.