“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.”[328]
It is the death of the Redeemer, therefore, and not the day of his death
that the Holy Spirit has thought worthy of commemoration. Would you also
commemorate the resurrection of the Redeemer? You need not change the
Sabbath of the Bible for that purpose. The great Law-giver has never
authorized such an act. But an appropriate memorial of that event has
been ordained:—
“Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus
Christ, were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried
with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also
should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted
together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the
likeness of his resurrection.”[329]
To be buried in the watery grave as our Lord was buried in the tomb,
and to be raised from the water to walk in newness of life, as our Lord
was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, is the divinely
authorized memorial of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And let it be
observed, it is not the day of the resurrection, but the resurrection
itself, that was thought worthy of commemoration. The events which lie at
the foundation of redemption are the death, burial, and resurrection, of
the Redeemer. Each of these has its appropriate memorial; while the days
on which they severally occurred have no importance attached to them. It
was the death of the Redeemer, and not the day of his death, that was
worthy of commemoration; and hence the Lord’s supper was appointed for
that purpose. It was the resurrection of the Saviour, and not the day of
the resurrection, that was worthy of commemoration; and hence burial in
baptism was ordained as its memorial. It is the change of this memorial
to sprinkling that has furnished so plausible a plea for first-day
observance in memory of the resurrection.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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