When the Lord said : « Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do? » (Gen. 18 :17), was He not alluding to more than the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah? Not having liberty to fully reveal his counsels, in Genesis 22, He has Abraham rehearse or mime with his son Isaac the very things the Father would do with his son our Lord Jesus Christ. In this same spirit, let us consider two scenes where similar allusions or mimes are found in the Word:
The first scene is found in Genesis 40 : 14-23 : we find there Joseph in distress in prison expressing his desire to be remembered (v.14); he is in prison with the chief cup bearer and with the chief baker (bread maker is the real word) of the king of Egypt. The one that bore the cup of wine and the one that bore the bread were both associated with Joseph; the cup bearer would be restored to Pharaoh’s court while the bread maker would die hanging from a tree. The dreams had spoken of three days when the restoration and the judgment would take place. It would happen on the occasion of celebrating the birthday of the king. Astonishing elements grouped here, before the complete revelation of Him Who expressed the desire that we remember Him, in the hour of His distress, with the cup of wine and the loaf of bread, He that hung on the tree for us and rose again the third day. This feast, the Lord’s supper, is not because of the birth of a powerful monarch but to commemorate the death of the Son of God. Does not this grouping of elements conceal a divine intention in connection with that which is now fully revealed to us in the Lord’s supper?
The second scene is in connection with the double request of Esther in Esther 5 :3 - 8. She invites the king on two occasions to a feast prepared for him. The lesser invites the greater. At the second feast, Haman, the wicked betrayer is uncovered and he will be hanged on a tree (ch. 7 :10) and the people will be saved. Between these two feasts, Mordecai, the Jew will be crowned and honored by all (ch. 6). Esther could have asked for half the kingdom for herself but she asked only for the king’s presence at the feasts. Our Lord Jesus expressed His desire; He could have asked for the nations (Ps. 2 :8) but rather He asked for our presence with Him (John 17 :24). Here, the greater invites the lesser, and as Esther had done with her husband, He has twice invited us to a meal and asked « this do in remembrance of me» the first time in the night in which He was betrayed and the second from the glory when He revealed it to Paul (1 Cor. 11 :23). The Lord is the One that hung on the tree for the guilty rather than Haman the guilty and it is He also Who is crowned and elevated higher than the heavens and that all must honor rather than Mordecai.
So beloved, when we are gathered around the Lord Jesus at His table, to remember Him in His death for us, let us be fully persuaded of His great interest in our presence at this supper and of the great joy He has that we thus answer to that which fulfills those things hidden in these precious allusion of the Old Testament. What a privilege, as in John 12 :2, to make Him a supper, in His honor, and that each one would come to the supper He has invited us to.
Absalom, the rebellious son, having no son of his own, had reared up a pillar to have his name remembered (2 Sam. 18 :18), but the Lord Jesus, the obedient son, instituted this supper of remembrance to remind us of His love and move our hearts in unison with His until we see each other face to face.
NOTE: All Bible references are from the King James Version unless otherwise specified. All unsigned material is in the spirit of Ecc. 12:11. Send all correspondence, comments, suggestions to: dailysowers@tlb.sympatico.ca
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