Sing before the service: Scripture hymn 11-4:2 (new)
Our help is in the Name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
Beloved, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, through the mighty working of God the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Psalm of praise 63:3
Prayer
Psalm 65:3
Scripture reading: John 6
Scripture
text:
John 6:32; Catechism Lord’s Day 28
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, it is not Moses
who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives
you the true bread from heaven.” (John 6:32 NIV)
The previous day the Lord fed a host of people on bread.
- Initially the disciples thought they did not have enough money or food
to feed the multitude.
- They only had two hundred denarii (about 3 400 pence) that
couldn’t possibly buy food for all the people.
- They told the Lord that there was a little boy among the people who had
some food with him:
“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small
fish, but how far will they go among so many?” (John 6:9 NIV)
The purpose of the miracle was to show the people how He, as the
Redeemer, would save us from starving to death because of our sins by
feeding us on remission of sins and eternal life.
- The amount of food that was left over signifies the abundance of the
grace of God and atonement for our sins through the Lord Jesus.
- The Lord ordered the people to pick up all the leftovers.
So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the
five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. (John 6:13 NIV)
The people misunderstood the miracle.
- They only recognised the physical side of it.
- They thought that a prophet who had such immense powers should become
their King – then He could care for them.
After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to
say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the
world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make
him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. (John
6:14-15 NIV)
In the evening the Lord’s disciples left by boat for
Capernaum – that same night they saw the Lord walking on the
sea and they were frightened.
But look at what the multitude did.
- They were looking for the Lord.
- They checked which boats were still there and even which had left.
- This is how they discovered that the disciples’ boat had left.
- Then they got into boats and followed Him to Capernaum.
When they reached Him they wanted to know when He had arrived there.
Then the Lord Jesus explained to them what kind of salvation He would
bring about:
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for
me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves
and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that
endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God
the Father has placed his seal of approval.” (John 6:26-27
NIV)
Feeding of the multitude does not point to the Lord’s Supper,
which He instituted before his crucifixion, but it bears relation to
the Lord’s Supper.
- Just as our bodies need food and drink to survive, we need spiritual
food and drink for our souls.
- The spiritual food that ensures eternal life for us is of course the
atoning death of our Lord Jesus.
The bread and wine we have at the Lord’s Supper are the signs
the Lord Jesus uses to portray his physical death through which we
could receive atonement for our sins.
- This is why the Lord Jesus told the people the following day that they
only followed Him because of the food.
- They should be in search of eternal life!
- Hence they should follow Him – but not as a man who would
give them rye bread and fish.
- They should seek Him as the Redeemer who could grant them eternal life!
The night before the Lord’s crucifixion – through
which He bore the punishment of God for our salvation – He
instituted the sacrament of the Holy Supper.
- On this occasion the Lord Jesus Christ commanded me and all believers
to eat of this broken bread and drink of this cup in remembrance of Him.
Hence all churches should partake of the Lord’s Supper
regularly to obey this command. The Lord’s Supper is a
special way of remembering the Lord Jesus.
- The Lord’s Supper does not commemorate the birth of the Lord
Jesus Christ, like we do at Christmas, for example.
- It commemorates the intense violence He experienced when He bore the
punishment of God so that we could be acquitted.
- It commemorates that his body was offered and broken and his blood was
poured out on the cross for me as surely as I see with my eyes the
bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup given to me.
The Lord’s Supper commemorates the fact that the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself saved my soul from eternal death.
- The Lord Jesus referred to his crucified body and shed blood when He
spoke to the multitude about eternal food.
- This is spiritual food that nourishes and refreshes my soul to
everlasting life as surely as I taste the bread and cup of the Lord.
- The bread and wine are sure signs of Christ's body and blood and their
redemptive ministry.
There is a resemblance between the Lord Jesus and his feeding of the
multitude on the one hand, and on the other hand the relation between
Him and the elect in the hereafter.
- There we will also eat with Him – but the meal will be
completely different.
- The Lord wrote to the church in Laodicea that they should make the Lord
part of their lives so that they could share in everlasting joy with
Him. He put it as follows:
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and
opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20 NIV)
The meal the Lord referred to will happen in a way we still cannot
comprehend because it will happen in the perfect hereafter. The Lord
described it by using different images:
- We are going to sit down with the Lord at a wedding supper.
- But we will never be hungry!
- We will not be physically hungry like the multitude on the mountain; we
will be nourished physically and spiritually.
- This will happen because we will be recreated perfectly through the
redemptive death of the Lord Jesus. This means that we will experience
nothing but perfection in eternal life. The Lord said:
Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him
day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread
his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they
thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For
the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will
lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear
from their eyes." (Revelation 7:15-17 NIV)
Of course salvation through the Lord Jesus makes demands on us in this
life.
- We must fully accept what the Lord Jesus has done for us.
- This means that we must accept with a believing heart all the suffering
and the death of Christ.
- We must believe that the Lord Jesus grants us forgiveness of sins and
eternal life.
Since the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the Holy
Spirit has lived both in Christ and in us. He works in us!
- This means that we are united more and more to the sacred body of the
Lord Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
- In other words, we bear the signs of the fact that we have eternal life.
- We are no
longer hungry because of sins.
- We are
fed in such a way with the image of God in us that our lives already
reflect a holy life.
- This
means that we forever live and are governed by one Spirit –
as the members of our body are by one soul.
Let’s read together what the Heidelberg Catechism
Lord’s Day 28 teaches us about it all:
75. Q. How does the Lord's Supper signify and seal to you that you
share in Christ's one sacrifice on the cross and in all His gifts?
A. In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat of
this broken bread and drink of this cup in remembrance of Him. With
this command He gave these promises:[1] First, as surely as I see with
my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup given to me, so
surely was His body offered for me and His blood poured out for me on
the cross. Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of the minister
and taste with my mouth the bread and the cup of the Lord as sure signs
of Christ's body and blood, so surely does He Himself nourish and
refresh my soul to everlasting life with His crucified body and shed
blood.
[1] Matt. 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19, 20; I Cor. 11:23-25.
76. Q. What does it mean to eat the crucified body of Christ and to
drink His shed blood?
A. First, to accept with a believing heart all the suffering and the
death of Christ, and so receive forgiveness of sins and life
eternal.[1] Second, to be united more and more to His sacred body
through the Holy Spirit, who lives both in Christ and in us.[2]
Therefore, although Christ is in heaven[3] and we are on earth, yet we
are flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones,[4] and we forever live
and are governed by one Spirit, as the members of our body are by one
soul.[5]
[1] John 6:35, 40, 50-54. [2] John 6:55, 56; I Cor. 12:13. [3] Acts
1:9-11; 3:21; I Cor. 11:26; Col. 3:1. [4] I Cor. 6:15, 17; Eph. 5:29,
30; I John 4:13. [5] John 6:56-58; 15:1-6; Eph. 4:15, 16; I John 3:24.
77. Q. Where has Christ promised that He will nourish and refresh
believers with His body and blood as surely as they eat of this broken
bread and drink of this cup?
A. In the institution of the Lord’s supper: The Lord Jesus on
the night when He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given
thanks, He broke it and said, “This is my body which is for
you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the
cup, after supper, saying, “Do this, as often as you drink
it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread
and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes (I
Corinthians 11:23-26). This promise is repeated by Paul where he says:
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the
blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in
the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one
body, for we all partake of the one bread (I Corinthians 10:16, 17).
Amen
Closing prayer
Closing hymn: Psalm 107:2, 4
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen.
Dr MJ du Plessis
Reformed Church Bellville
Date: 23 July 2006
(evening)