Notes on the book of NumbersMackintosh, Charles Henry
Religion
Notes on the book of Numbers
Mackintosh, Charles Henry
Bible. Numbers -- Commentaries
And may we not ask, in the face of this solemn fact, Is it nothing now—is
it a matter of no moment for Christians to neglect, from week to week and
month to month, the supper of their Lord? Are we to suppose that the One
who, in Numbers ix, declared that the neglecter of the passover should be
cut off, takes no account of the neglecter of the Lord’s table? We cannot
believe it for a moment. For albeit it is not a question of being cut off
from the Church of God—the body of Christ, are we, on that account to be
negligent? Far be the thought. Yea, rather should it have the blessed
effect of stirring us up to greater diligence in the celebration of that
most precious feast wherein we “do show the Lord’s death till He come.”
To a pious Israelite, there was nothing like the passover, because it
was the memorial of his redemption; and to a pious Christian, there
is nothing like the Lord’s supper, because it is the memorial of his
redemption and of the death of his Lord. Of all the exercises in which
the Christian can engage, there is nothing more precious, nothing more
expressive, nothing that brings Christ more touchingly or solemnly before
his heart, than the Lord’s supper. He may sing about the Lord’s death, he
may pray about it, he may read about it, he may hear about it; but it is
only in the supper that he “_shows_” it forth. “And 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.’ Likewise also the
cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new testament in My blood,
which is shed for you.’” (Luke xxii. 19, 20.)
Here we have the feast _instituted_; and when we turn to the Acts of the
Apostles, we read that, “upon the first day of the week, the disciples
came together to break bread.” (Acts xx. 7.)
Here we have the feast _celebrated_; and lastly, when we turn to the
epistles, we read, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the
communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the
communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one loaf, and one
body; for we are all partakers of that one loaf.” (1 Cor. x. 16, 17.) And
again, “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto
you, That 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 show the Lord’s death till He come.” (1 Cor. xi.
23-26.)
Here we have the feast _expounded_. And may we not say that in the
institution, the celebration, and the exposition, we have a threefold
cord, not easily broken, to bind our souls to this most precious feast?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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