Brief Retrospect of the History of Sacrifice and its Symbolism--The
Passover and the Lord's Supper--Christ's Relation to both these
Ordinances--The Last Supper.
As before stated, these sacrifices which were offered up from the days
of Adam until the time of our Savior's advent, were typical of the
great expiatory sacrifice which He was to make by the sacrifice of
Himself. They were so many types, shadows and forms of which He was
the great prototype--the substance, the reality prefigured and
foreshadowed by the other sacrifices which had been offered up from
the beginning.
When the law was given by Moses, all the forms pertaining to the
sacrificial ceremonies were revealed in detail, and the instructions
in relation thereto were not simply of a general nature, but they
entered into minute particulars in relation to all things connected
with those who officiated, the form and pattern of the sacred utensils
and of the vestments of the Priesthood, the creatures to be
sacrificed, the order of the proceedings, and indeed of all matters
associated with the observance of these rites. Almost the whole of the
book of Leviticus, and considerable of the book of Numbers, is
occupied with these instructions and kindred matters. This Mosaic law,
with all its duties, observances, ceremonies and sacrifices, continued
in force until Christ's death.
The time having come when the great atonement should be made by the
offering up of Himself, Christ told Peter and John to go and prepare a
place where He might, according to His custom, eat the Passover with
His disciples. Eat what with His disciples? The Passover. Was it the
Passover, or the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper? The Lord, in Egypt,
passed by, or passed over the houses of the Israelites whose door
posts had been sprinkled with the blood of the lamb sacrificed for
that purpose; and the Israelites were commanded to observe this
Passover in all their generations. Jesus, in compliance with this
command, directed that a place be made ready where He might eat the
Passover with His Apostles; for He, the great prototype, was going to
offer up Himself as a lamb without spot or blemish; not only for the
Israelites, but for all nations, for every people, and kindred, and
tongue under the face of the whole heavens: "For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his
Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through
him might be saved."
But previous to the offering up of Himself, as the great expiatory
sacrifice, having fulfilled the law and made it honorable, and having
introduced the Gospel, He met with His disciples, as already noticed,
to eat the Passover. He then told them, "With desire I have desired to
eat this passover with you before I suffer." To eat what with you? The
Passover. To eat what with you? The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.
Thus He eat both, for the two ceremonies centered in Him, He was the
embodiment of both, He was the Being provided before the foundation of
the earth, and prophesied of by men of God throughout all the
preceding ages; and also on account of whom the sacrifices were
offered up by all the servants of the Lord, from the fall of Adam to
that time; and all the various atonements heretofore offered pointed
to Him, for whom they were all made and in whom they all centered. On
the other hand, He it was who introduced the more perfect law, and
offering Himself once for all, an infinite atonement, He, through this
sacrifice, accomplished that which was designed by the Almighty before
the world was, and of which the blood of bullocks, of goats and of
lambs was merely the shadow.
In view of what was almost immediately to take place, He instituted
the sacrament of the Lord's Supper in commemoration of this great
crowning act of redemption. When at the table, "He took bread, and
gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body
which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me;" afterwards, "He
took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, Drink ye
all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament which is shed for
many for the remission of sins."
In reality, this act of the atonement was the fulfilment of the
sacrifices, of the prophesying, of the Passover, and of all the
leading, prominent acts of the Patriarchs and Prophets relating
thereto; and having performed this, the past and the future both
centered in Him. Did these worthies offer sacrifices? They prefigured
His appearing and atonement. Did they prophecy? It was of Him, for the
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Did they keep the
Passover? He Himself was the great expiatory offering. Were the people
called upon afterwards to commemorate this event? They did it in
remembrance of Him, as a great memorial among all of His disciples in
all nations, throughout all time; of the sacrifice of His broken body
and spilt blood; the antitype of the sacrificial lamb slain at the
time of the Passover; of Him; as being the Mediator, the Messiah, the
Christ, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End: the Son of the
living God.
As from the commencement of the world to the time when the Passover
was instituted, sacrifices had been offered as a memorial or type of
the sacrifice of the Son of God; so from the time of the Passover
until that time when He came to offer up Himself, these sacrifices and
types and shadows had been carefully observed by Prophets and
Patriarchs; according to the command given to Moses and other
followers of the Lord. So also did He Himself fulfil this requirement,
and kept the Passover as did others; and now we, after the great
sacrifice has been offered, partake of the' Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper in remembrance thereof. Thus this act was the great connecting
link between the past and the future; thus He fulfilled the law, met
the demands of justice, and obeyed the requirements of His Heavenly
Father, although laboring under the weight of the sins of the world,
and the terrible expiation which He had to make, when, sweating great
drops of blood, He cried: "Father, if it be possible let this cup pass
from me; nevertheless not my will but thine be done;" and when
expiring in agony upon the cross He cried, "It is finished," and gave
up the ghost.
During this ever memorable supper, the Savior said unto His disciples,
"But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the
vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's
kingdom." He was the Lamb proposed to be slain from before the
foundation of the world; He was the Lamb spoken of by the Prophets in
the different ages, and for which sacrifices were made; in Him was now
fulfilled everything that prefigured His approach, and that was
prophesied of Him pertaining to the atonement. He also was to burst
the barriers of the tomb, become the first fruits of those that slept,
and introduce the resurrection, and indeed to be the Resurrection and
the Life. He was also to ascend to the heavens, resurrect His Saints,
and after resurrecting them, drink of the fruit of the vine with them
in His Father's kingdom. Every knee should yet bow to Him, and every
tongue confess that He was the Christ to the glory of God the Father.
Every nation, kindred, and tongue should bow to His sceptre, and the
earth through Him be filled with the knowledge of God, as the waters
cover the sea, the earth be redeemed and become celestial, a new
heaven and a new earth be instituted, wherein dwelleth righteousness,
and the redemption and resurrection of the living and the dead,
according to the eternal plan of Jehovah, should be brought about
through His mediation and atonement.