The Lord's Supper
and
The New CovenantFOR WHOM? AND WHY?
by Ed Stevens
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." I Thes. 5:21
SOME RELIGIOUS GROUPS do not observe the Lord's supper but do not produce convincing scriptural reasons. New covenant truth connected therewith seems misunderstood by all.
Who desires to know whether the Lord's supper having served it's purpose in the infancy of the church is not to be observed today? "He that is spiritual" will want to know for certain, not allowing obstacles to arriving at the truth to hinder him as they do the masses, namely, trust in traditions held by the majority, and what is may cost the flesh to walk in the truth of God's "rightly divided" Word.
In a study of the Lord's supper, it is helpful to begin with Romans 15:8 where we are told that during Christ's earthly ministry He "WAS a minister to the circumcision [the Jewish people], to confirm the promises made unto the fathers" - Jewish fathers. The Lord Jesus confirmed both fulfilled and unfulfilled promises made to Israel. Verses nine through twelve speak of future blessings coming upon the Gentiles when promises made to Israel will finally be realized when her Messiah, Christ, shall "reign over the Gentiles". This will occur AFTER the present dispensation of "the church which is Christ's body", "the MYSTERY of Christ which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men", will have ended. Eph. 1:22-23; 3:3-11. THEN the Lord will make and put into effect the NEW covenant as foretold in Jer. 31:31-34, quote:
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a NEW covenant WITH the house of Israel and WITH the House of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt which covenant they break ... but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me ... for I will forgive their iniquity and will remember their sin no more."
It is almost universally believed that we are living under the new covenant today - we Gentiles who never had the OLD covenant (Rom. 2:14), and that this covenant was MADE at the cross. This is not true! The words "after those days"' according to the context, Jer. 31:1-10, plainly designate this covenant will not be made until after Israel has been "scattered", after "the Lord will save His people, the remnant of Israel", and "will bring them" back to their own land. Their present incomplete establishment in Palestine is their own doing, allowed of the Lord. The great final regathering is still future, as many Bible references prove. See, for example, Matt. 24:30-31 and Ezek. 39:25-29.
Christ as "a minister to the circumcision" addressed two groups in Israel, "the multitude AND His disciples". Speaking to both He had said, "the scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do ... " (in Mosaic law observance). Matt. 23:1-3. The disciples (followers of Christ) later increased in number, as can be seen in Acts 21:20, " ... thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of THE LAW". This law included, of course, the seventh day sabbath and hold feast days, "meats and drinks and divers washings [baptisms] and carnal ordinances imposed on THEM until the time of the reformation". Heb. 9:10. We can see here that about twenty-seven years after the cross, revelation had not fully come from God releasing believing Jews from fully keeping the law of Moses. It is important to know this in studying the Lord's Passover supper.
In Acts 21:25 re-affirmation is given concerning the Holy Spirit-directed decision that Mosaic law observance was not to be placed upon believing Gentiles:
"As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that THEY observe NO SUCH THING, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from what is strangled, and from fornication."
Plainly then, believing Gentiles religiously walked differently from believing Jews, who, as a group constituted "a remnant" in Israel, as affirmed in Romans 11:5 (written during the Acts period):
"Even so then at this present time also [as was true in Elijah's day, vs. 2-4] there is A REMNANT according to the election of grace." (The "thousands" of Acts 21:20 are here identified.)
A "MIDDLE WALL OF PARTITION"
In Ephesians 2:14-22 Paul wrote that a "middle wall of partition" had existed between Jew and Gentile believers. This wall was "broken down" at the cross, but it was not so revealed until Paul wrote Ephesians after the Acts period of about thirty years had ended, after God had temporarily set aside Israel as a nation in His dealings with that people. A very great mistake has been made in Christendom in taking the so-called "teachings of Jesus" as found in Matthew, Mark and Luke, and the "Acts" of the apostles [a book of transition] as directives for Christian faith and practice for all believers to this day, disregarding the Lord's revelations for us as given in the epistles of Paul, "THE minister of Jesus Christ to THE GENTILES". Rom 15:16.
[to be continued]
We will search our Bibles in vain to find that the new covenant has been made with the church, as such; that it has been put into effect in this present dispensation. Conditions containing that covenant such as, "all shall know the Lord", "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb", "the lion shall eat straw like the ox", Israel to be supreme over the nations, certainly are not seen today as all will have to admit. Please read Jer. 31:34; Heb. 8:8-11; Isa. 11:1-10; 49:23; 60:14; 61:6; Zech. 8:23. Thus, who can claim "the cup of the new covenant" today? No one! Our portion today is to be "blessed with all SPIRITUAL blessings in heavenly places in Christ". Eph. 1:3.
[to be continued]
Ed Stevens
(1895-1966)