(Ed. note:This is the last of a series of three articles on Matt. 18:20 and the Lord’s Supper. All
three are based on lectures given at Bible Truth Hall, Nassau, Bahamas, April 1995.)

In the first article in this series (July-August 1996 issue), Byron Crosby presented the foundational
truths concerning Matt. 18:20 and its context. In the second article Paul Canner built upon that
foundation and elaborated on the meaning and practical application of each phrase of this verse.
In particular, he discussed the types of assembly meetings that seem to be implied by this verse.
In the present article, we shall consider in greater detail one of those meetings of the assembly,
namely, the Lord’s Supper.

I was asked by the brethren at Bible Truth Hall if I would speak on the Lord’s Supper. I was
thankful for the privilege to do this. As I reviewed this precious subject, so dear to the Lord’s
heart, my own heart was stirred afresh by some of the verses that I studied. My prayer is that the
Lord might stir our hearts also as we look tonight at some of the scriptures that call our attention
to that wonderful privilege that we have each week of remembering the Lord in His death.
Although the Lord’s Supper is also called the breaking of bread meeting, the remembrance feast,
or communion, we will refer to it in the following seven questions as the Lord’s Supper.

1. What is the Lord’s Supper?

2. How important is the Lord’s Supper?

3. When did the Lord institute His Supper?

4. What should our attitude be at the Lord’s Supper?

5. Who is there when we gather together for the Lord’s Supper?

6. What is the purpose of the Lord’s Supper?

7. How often should we keep the Lord’s Supper?

1. What Is the Lord’s Supper?

At the institution of the Lord’s Supper we read these words:"And He took bread, and gave
thanks, and broke 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 22:19).

Although the Apostle Paul was not present at the institution of the Lord’s Supper, he wrote:"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 broke 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" (1 Cor. 11:23-
26).

What then is the Lord’s Supper? It is a remembrance meeting. We are remembering One who
accomplished something for us in the past. I have a picture on my wall at home. It is a picture of
my mother. As I look at that picture, I remember her and all that she did for me. (It makes me
wish that I could have her back for a while to thank her for all the things that she did for me.) The
Lord has not given us a visual picture of Himself to help us remember Him, but He has given us
that which symbolizes how much He loved us. The Lord has given us the bread and the cup to
remind us of His death for us. The bread reminds us of His body given for us and the cup reminds
us of the blood that He shed on Calvary to redeem us. Both together remind us of all the suffering
and agony that He passed through for us when He bore our sins in His own body on the cross. It
is the desire of the Lord Jesus that we not forget what He did for us, but that everyone redeemed
by His precious blood should remember Him. Remembering Him in His death will cause us to
praise and worship Him more and more.

2. How Important Is the Lord’s Supper?

The importance of the Lord’s Supper is seen in the way that the Holy Spirit leads the Apostle Paul
to speak of it. Although Paul was not present at the institution of the Lord’s Supper, he received
a direct revelation from the Lord for the Church regarding His Supper:" I have received of the
Lord that which also I delivered unto you" (1 Cor. 11:23). This statement shows us the
importance of the Lord’s Supper.

The Lord told the Samaritan woman that the Father seeks worshipers to worship Him "in spirit
and in truth" (John 4:23,24). He is still seeking worshipers. The Lord is not looking so much for
the service of our hands as He is looking for the worship of our hearts. The praise and worship
that arises from our hearts as we remember Him will cause us to go out and serve Him. So as we
think of the Lord’s request, " This do in remembrance of me," let us never give the Lord’s
Supper a secondary place in our walk with the Lord. May those of us who have been remembering
the Lord for many years never let the Lord’s Supper become simply a ritual or something we do
without the heart’s affections being touched. May the Lord’s words reach our hearts so that as we
come together to remember Him in His death for us, we may hear His voice saying to us, " This
do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me."

3. When Did the Lord Institute His Supper?

The Lord instituted His Supper on the very night that He was betrayed by Judas (1 Cor. 11:23).
Have you ever had a close friend who has betrayed you? Here was Judas who had walked with the
Lord Jesus for three years, who knew Him well, who had heard the words of truth that He taught.
Yet he betrayed Him! " Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who did eat of My
bread, has lifted up his heel against me" (Psa. 41:9). Yes, His own familiar friend betrayed
Him!

The Lord Jesus was troubled by that fact. Sorrow filled His heart when He thought of that coming
betrayal. Remember what the Lord said to His disciples in the upper room just before He instituted
the Supper:" One of you will betray me." Yes it was the same night in which He was betrayed
that He said, "This do in remembrance of Me." I believe that this betrayal is mentioned in
connection with the Lord’s Supper so that we might think of the sorrow that filled the heart of the
Lord Jesus at that time. The Lord keenly felt the betrayal by one of His disciples. The fact that
our Lord would ask us to remember Him on the very night in which He was betrayed should
deepen our desire to remember Him. One of our hymns says it so well:

On that same night, Lord Jesus,
When all around Thee joined
To cast its darkest shadow
Across Thy holy mind,
We hear Thy voice, blest Saviour,
"This do, remember Me":
With joyful hearts responding,
We do remember Thee.

4. What Should Be Our Attitude As We Come to the Lord’s Supper?

The very fact that we have come together to remember the Lord in His death for our sins would
cause us to come in an attitude of reverence and godly fear. When we realize that our sins caused
Him to be forsaken of His God and Father, we cannot help but come with a sense of sorrow for
all that He suffered for us. This sorrow would be mingled also with a deep sense of joy with the
realization of His love in giving Himself for us. Sad to say, this attitude was not true of some of
the believers living in Corinth. Some had been coming to the Lord’s Supper in a drunken state (1
Cor. 11:20,21). As a result they were forgetting why they had come together. Notice how the
Holy Spirit through Paul warned them of the consequences of their actions. "Wherefore,
whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily [or in an unworthy
manner] shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and
so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he who eats and drinks unworthily eats
and drinks damnation [or judgment] to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body" (1 Cor. 11:29).
The judgment of the Lord had already fallen on some of the Corinthians. This judgment meant
sickness to some and physical death to others (verses 30-32).

The above verses make it very plain that when we eat of that bread and drink of that cup we are
not to do so in an unworthy manner. Remembering the Lord in His death is a solemn and holy
privilege. It is something like a funeral service. When we think of His death we would not be
whispering to someone else about things that happened during the week or thinking about other
things not pertaining to remembering the Lord in His death. A worthy manner is a quiet, reverent,
thoughtful, and thankful attitude.

How can I prepare myself for the Lord’s Supper? We have the answer in the verses already
quoted:" But let a man [this includes both brothers and sisters] examine himself, and so let

him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup." We need to examine ourselves before we come
to the Lord’s Supper. Saturday evening or early Lord’s day morning I need to be quiet before the
Lord. I need to allow Him to search my heart and reveal to me sinful actions and thoughts that
have been true of me during the past day or week. There could be thoughts of jealousy, bitterness,
or pride. There might be words I have spoken or actions that I have engaged in that are sinful. I
need to judge these and confess them to the Lord before partaking of the Lord’s Supper. How can
I remember the One who died for my sins when I have unjudged sin in my life? If I do, the Holy
Spirit will be grieved, and as a result my unjudged sin will have the effect of lowering the spiritual
tone of the remembrance meeting.

This self examination is not for the purpose of deciding whether one will remember the Lord in
His death or not. No, that is not the reason for examining ourselves. The examination is for those
already in fellowship. Once one examines himself, there is no question of not partaking: So let
him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup." A young brother once came to me before the
breaking of bread and said, "I don’t feel worthy to remember the Lord this morning." We may
not feel worthy and this often is because we have allowed some things to come into our lives that
have broken our communion with the Lord. The Lord knowing this wants us to examine ourselves
and then eat of that bread and drink of that cup.

I would like to quote from two hymns that we often sing at the Lord’s Supper. The two verses
quoted refer beautifully to the attitude that we should have at the Lord’s Supper:

We think of all the darkness
Which round Thy spirit pressed,
Of all those waves and billows
Which rolled across Thy breast.
Oh, there Thy grace unbounded
And perfect love we see;
With joy and sorrow mingling,
We would remember Thee.

I have joy because He died for me, but also sorrow because my sins were what caused Him so
much pain. Here is the second hymn:

O how our inmost hearts do move,
While gazing on that cross;
The death of the Incarnate Love!
What shame, what grief, what joy we prove,
That He should die for us!

5. Who Is Present When We Come Together for the Lord’s Supper?

The answer to that question is found in Matt. 18:20:"For where two or three are gathered together

in My Name, there am I in the midst of them." What a promise that is! If we are gathered unto
His Name He Himself (think of it!) is in our midst. Do we show by our actions that we believe
this? If we really believe this wouldn’t we always try to be there … and on time? Or perhaps even
a little early? How easy it is for us to be forgetful of His promise to be in our midst. We need to
remind ourselves of the precious reality of His presence in our midst. When we gather together
to observe the Lord’s Supper we are going to remember Him!

6. What Is the Purpose of the Lord’s Supper?

The purpose of the Lord’s Supper is to remember the Lord in His death. Every time we gather to
remember the Lord, we announce His death. "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup,
ye do show the Lord’s death till He come" (1 Cor. 11:26). Remembering the Lord in His death
will produce praise and worship of the Father and the Son. The Lord’s Supper has been called a
"praise meeting." Surely that is true. But it is good to be reminded that praise and worship are the
inevitable result of remembering the Lord and not, first of all, the purpose of the Lord’s Supper.
I remember hearing a brother once say, "Sometimes I just don’t feel that I will be able to praise
the Lord the way I should." Well, that is probably true of many of the Lord’s people much of the
time. We cannot produce praise and worship in or of ourselves. Suppose a brother, thinking ahead
to the remembrance meeting, says to himself, "Well I shall probably have to get up and pray or
give thanks for the bread and the cup." That is looking to one’s self for strength to produce praise.
Praise is produced by the Holy Spirit as we meditate upon the sufferings of the Lord. When we
are reminded by the scriptures or the hymns that are sung of what He did for us, the Holy Spirit
produces corresponding worship in our hearts.

There is a hymn that suggests how worship is produced:

When we see Thee as the Victim
Nailed to the accursed tree,
For our guilt and folly stricken,
All our judgment born by thee,
Lord, we own, with hearts adoring,
Thou hast washed us in Thy blood:
Glory, glory everlasting,
Be to Thee, Thou Lamb of God!

The type of hymns to be sung. Let us consider now the type of hymns that the Holy Spirit would
lead a brother to give out in the breaking of bread meeting. We have come together to remember
the Lord in His death. We have not come together to remember our blessings or the experiences
or trials of life. Hymns that focus on our trials, such as "Our Times Are in Thy Hand," or on our
blessings, such as "O Happy Day, That Fixed My Choice on Thee," are not hymns that the Holy
Spirit would normally lead a brother to give out. Hymns that focus instead upon the Lord’s
sufferings and death and our praise of Him are what the Holy Spirit would normally lead one to
give out in the remembrance meeting. Now if a brother does give out a hymn that, perhaps, is not
so suitable, even then we usually can find something in the hymn that will cause us to praise and

worship Him.

Prayer and praise are not gifts. I would like to speak for a moment to some of the younger
brothers. You may perhaps think that you cannot pray as well as others and therefore you are
afraid to get up and thank the Lord. But remember, prayer and praise are not a gift. The prayer
does not have to be long. It can be a very short prayer just thanking the Lord for dying for our
sins on Calvary. Prayer and praise are just the overflow of the heart to the Lord for what He is
and for what He has done.

7. How Often Should We Keep the Lord’s Supper?

What does the Bible say? " For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup." The earliest
disciples met daily for this purpose (Acts 2:46). Later they met on the first day of the week (Acts
20:7). Should it be less than once a week? The Lord has graciously opened the door in most
countries for believers to gather together on Sunday. Most believers also have this day off from
their employment. So we can thank and praise our God and Father that the way is open for most
of us to keep the Lord’s Supper once a week. If we were to remember the Lord less often than
once a week would we not be robbing Him of the praise and worship that He so much deserves?
It would become easier and easier to forget all that He has done for us.

Let us notice something about the first day of the week as it is mentioned to us in Acts 20. Paul
stopped at Troas on his way back to Jerusalem and we read:"We sailed away from Philippi after
the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days, where we abode seven
days" (Acts 20:6). It seems that Paul wanted to be there for the remembrance meeting. " And upon
the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto
them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight" (verse 7). Does
this account not remind us that we should make every effort to be somewhere on the Lord’s day
where we can remember the Lord in His death with His own people? Even when we are traveling,
perhaps on vacation, if it is at all possible we should try to plan our trip in such a way that we can
be near an assembly on the Lord’s day. It is one way we can encourage one another and also bring
refreshment to the heart of the Lord. May the Lord Jesus give us increasingly to value the
remembrance of Himself until He comes again. The words of the following hymn suggest to us
the attitude of the believer’s heart regarding the Lord’s Supper:

According to Thy gracious Word,
In deep humility,
This will I do, my dying Lord,
I will remember Thee.

Thy body, given for my sake,
My bread from heaven shall be;
Thy blood my peace, this cup I take,
And thus remember Thee.

Gethsemane can I forget?

Or there Thy sorrow see,
Thine agony and bloody sweat,
And not remember Thee?

When to the cross I turn mine eyes,
And rest on Calvary,
O Lamb of God, blest Sacrifice,
I must remember Thee!

Remember Thee, and all Thy pains,
And all Thy love to me?
Yea, while a breath, a pulse remains,
I will remember Thee!

My Dear Brother:

I have had it on my heart to share with you a few thoughts in connection with the Lord’s
Supper_that solemn and precious remembrance of Christ. First of all, there is great importance
in seeing clearly the object and character of that great central meeting which gives its character
to all other meetings. It is described for us in a simple manner in The Acts, and there we see the
primary object of that meeting:"Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together
to break bread" (20:7). As the Passover had changed for Israel the order of the months, and the
year must begin with the sign of accomplished redemption, so, for Christians, each week must
begin with the joyful celebration of the love that has visited them.

The verse in Acts does not say, as we sometimes hear, "The disciples came together for a worship
meeting." There is no doubt that they would worship; but that was not what was uppermost in their
minds. It was their Lord who was before them_Him of whom the bread spoke.

The purpose of coming together should be distinctly before our minds. We must be simple in it.
In two opposite ways this simplicity may be destroyed, and the character of the meeting may be
lowered and souls suffer. Let us spend a little time in the consideration of this.

First, when we come together, after six days of warfare in the world (would that were always
spiritual warfare, and that we realized the world as an enemy’s country simply), we are apt to
come full of our spiritual needs to be refreshed and strengthened. We may not use the term, but
still the idea in the Lord’s Supper to us thus will be that it is a "means of grace." We bring jaded
spirits and unstrung energies to a meeting where we trust the weariness will be dispelled and the
lassitude recovered from. We come to be ministered to and helped. We require the character of
it to be soothing and comforting, speaking much of grace and quieting our overdone nerves for
another week before us. And we know too surely that we shall go through the same course
exactly, and come back next Lord’s day as weary as before, with the same need and thought of
refreshment. We come with the same self, in fact, as an object, and scarcely Christ at all, or Christ
very much as a means to an end, and not Himself the end.

This is the evil of this state of things:Christ is not in any due sense before our soul, but rather it
is our need which He is to be the means of supplying. No doubt there is a measure of truth in this
view of the Lord’s Supper. Can we ever come to Him without finding refreshment from the
coming? Does He not, blessed Lord, delight to serve us? Do not the bread and wine speak of
refreshment ministered_"Wine that makes glad the heart of man … and bread which strengthens
man’s heart" (Psa. 104:15)?

Surely all this is true. But true as it is, it is not this that gathers us. Does not "to show the Lord’s
death" have a deeper meaning? His own words, "Do this," are not for the regrouping of our own
strength, but "in remembrance of Me." Thus this sacramental use of Christ, as I may term it
(common as it really is, alas, among those who think they have outgrown sacraments) essentially
lowers the whole thought of the Lord’s Supper. The remembrance of Christ is something more and

other than what I get by the remembrance; something more than the strengthening and refreshing
of our souls by the body and blood of Christ.

I do not mean to deny that Christ is gracious and meets our needs oftentimes in unexpected ways.
He is sovereign, and gracious beyond expression. But if we make ourselves the object, will that
lead to blessing for us? What honor has Christ in all this? And what must be the character of
meetings to which languid and wayworn souls come, seeking a stimulating cordial to return to
what seems only too sadly indicated to be the main business of their lives?

Let us look now at the other way in which our souls may be tempted from the simplicity of the
remembrance of Christ.

When we look at the worship of heaven, in that attractive picture in Revelation 5, it is the simple
presence of the Lamb slain that calls out the adoration of those 24 elders who are our
representatives. Worship with them was no arranged, premeditated thing, but the pouring out of
hearts that could not be restrained in the presence of Him who had redeemed them to God by His
blood. And here is the mistake on our parts when we think we can make worship a matter of
prearrangement, while it is, in fact, a thing dependent upon the true remembrance of the Lord.

There will be blessing on the one hand and worship on the other in proportion as our eyes are
taken off ourselves and fixed upon the object which both ministers the one and calls forth the
other. There surely will be blessing, for how can the sight of Him do otherwise than bless? And
there will be worship, for this is the true and spontaneous response of the heart to the sight of One
who, being the Son of God, yet loved us and gave Himself for us. Therefore, the great point
pressed in Scripture is remembrance:"This do in remembrance of Me." "You do show the Lord’s
death."

Of course, we are not to forget that while our eyes look back upon the Lamb slain, it is from the
after-side of His resurrection that we contemplate this. "The first day of the week" speaks of
resurrection out of death, and gives Him back to us in all the reality of a living person. While we
remember His death, we do it in the glad knowledge of His resurrection, and with the Lord
Himself in our midst. Who could celebrate the Lord’s death but for this? Who could sound a note
of praise did He not Himself first raise it? He says, "In the midst of the Church will I sing praise
unto Thee" (Heb. 2:12; see also Psa. 22:22). Death, but death passed, do we celebrate; death
which, thus seen, is only the depths of a living love which we carry with us, unexhausted,
inexhaustible, unfathomed, and unfathomable.

"A Lamb as it had been slain" is the object of the elders’ worship (Rev. 5:6). The Living One
carries with Him forever the memorials of His blessed death. The cross is not only atonement
effected for us, but the bright and blessed display of God manifest in Christ, and for us, in every
attribute displayed.

(From Letters on Some Practical Points Connected with the Assembly.)

The remembrance or breaking of bread meeting, the observance of the Lord’s Supper, is
principally for the purpose of drawing out our hearts afresh with praise, worship, and thanksgiving
in response to the memory of Christ’s sufferings and death on our behalf. How worthy is our
precious Lord and Saviour, how worthy is our God and Father, that we should devote this period
of time each week in worshiping the Father for giving "His only begotten Son" and in praising the
Son for giving Himself for us!

I believe that in addition to what we give to the Father and the Son in this meeting, there is
something God gives to us in this meeting. As a brother stated at a recent Bible conference,
"Christ ministers Himself to us through the bread and wine." It is true that we do not go to the
remembrance meeting with the express purpose of getting something out of it for ourselves. This
point is well stated in the preceding article by F.W. Grant. At the same time, how can we spend
an hour meditating upon the sufferings of Christ for our sakes and go away without our hearts and
lives affected by it?

The very hymns that we commonly sing in observance of the Lord’s Supper often illustrate ways
in which Christ may minister to us at this meeting. Let us look at a few examples from Hymns for
the Little Flock (denoted by "LF") and Hymns of Grace and Truth ("GT").

In the hymn, On That Same Night Lord Jesus, we find some beautiful expressions concerning the
Lord’s suffering:

The depth of all Thy suffering
No heart could e’er conceive;
The cup of wrath o’erflowing
For us Thou didst receive;
And oh! of God forsaken,
On the accursed tree,
With grateful hearts, Lord Jesus,
We now remember Thee.

We think of all the darkness
Which round Thy spirit pressed
Of all those waves and billows
Which rolled across Thy breast.

The hymn concludes with the suggestion of a practical response in our hearts to such meditations:

Till Thou shalt come in glory,
And call us hence away,
To rest in all the brightness
Of that unclouded day,
We show Thy death, Lord Jesus,

And here would seek to be
More to Thy death conformed,
Whilst we remember Thee.

A similar sentiment is expressed in the hymn, How Beauteous Were the Marks Divine. We quote
the last three stanzas:

O who like Thee so humbly bore
The scorn, the scoffs of men, before!
So meek, so lowly, yet so high_
So glorious in humility!

Death_death that sets the prisoner free_
Was pang, and scoff, and scorn to Thee!
Yet love through all Thy anguish glowed,
And mercy in Thy life-blood flowed!

O wondrous Lord, my soul would be
Still more and more conformed to Thee,
With heart engaged, along the road,
To trace Thy footsteps, Son of God.

The hymn, We Bless Our Saviour’s Name, concludes with the stanza:

O let Thy love constrain
Our souls to cleave to Thee!
And ever in our hearts remain
That word, "Remember Me"

Lord Jesus! We Remember also concludes with the practical result in our lives:

From sin, the world, and Satan,
We’re ransomed by Thy blood,
And here would walk as strangers,
Alive with Thee to God.

In a similar vein, O My Saviour Glorified concludes with:

O my Saviour, glorified,

Turn my eye from all beside,
Let me but Thy beauty see_
Other light is dark to me.

Isaac Watts pointedly shows the incompatibility of the contemplation of the wondrous cross of
Christ and His transcendent love with our lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life:

When we survey the wondrous cross
On which the Lord of glory died,
Our richest gain we count but loss,
And pour contempt on all our pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that we should boast,
Save in the death of Christ, our God;
All the vain things that charm us most,
We’d sacrifice them to His blood.

Were the whole realm of nature ours,
That were an offering far too small;
Love that transcends our highest powers,
Demands our soul, our life, our all.

The following hymn gives the response in our hearts and lives to the love, "so great, so full, so
free" shown to us by our Saviour:

O blessed Saviour, is Thy love
So great! so full! so free!
Fain would we have our thoughts, our hearts,
Our lives engaged with Thee.

We love Thee for the glorious worth
Which in Thyself we see;
We love Thee for that shameful cross,
Endured so patiently.

No man of greater love can boast
Than for his friend to die;
Thou for Thine enemies wast slain!
What love with Thine can vie?

Thou wouldst like wretched man be made
In everything but sin,

That we as like Thee might become
As we unlike had been:

Like Thee in faith, in meekness, love,
In every beauteous grace;
From glory into glory changed,
Till we behold Thy face.

In O Head Once Full of Bruises we meditate upon the insults heaped upon the Lord Jesus at the
cross. And the greatest torment of all for our precious Lord "was our sins’ heavy load" which He
did "pay in blood." The hymn writer leads us, as a result of such meditation, to conclude with the
prayer:

Grant us to lean unshaken
Upon Thy faithfulness,
Until, to glory taken
We see Thee face to face.

In Oh, My Saviour Crucified, as we abide near our Saviour’s cross, "Gazing with adoring eye on
[His] dying agony," our hearts respond in the last verse:

Yet in sight of Calvary,
Contrite should my spirit be,
Rest and holiness there find
Fashioned like my Saviour’s mind.

"If a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and you hang him
on a tree; his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall in any wise bury him that
day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), that your land be not defiled" (Deut. 21:22,23).

"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us:for it is written,
Cursed is every one who hangs on a tree" (Gal. 3:13).

Worthy, O Lord of death am I,
The just award of sin;
Unfit to live beneath Thy sky,
‘Tis right that I should hang, and die,
Guilty, condemned, unclean:
That cross of shame, that cursed tree,
Is the just doom of one like me.

Thy sun might justly seek to hide
His beams from eyes like mine,
Who, in my God-renouncing pride,
His Maker day by day defied;
Thy stars refuse to shine:
Yea, all good creatures might complain
Of one, like me, a loathsome stain_

Unfit to live on Thy fair earth,
Unfit to breathe its air;
A tainted traitor from my birth,
A discord to all holy mirth,
A blight on all things fair;
Worthy alone of death must be
One, that has sinned, O God, like me.

A hiding-place beneath its sod,
For one too vile to live;
That died beneath the curse of God,
Smitten by law’s most righteous rod,
Is all that earth could give,
Till that tremendous judgment-day,
When earth itself shall pass away.

Thy angels, who delight to praise
And serve their glorious King,
Whose will at once Thy will obeys,
Look down with horror and amaze,

On such a guilty thing;
And ready stand with flaming sword,
To crush the scorners of their Lord.

Oh, wretched man! where can I go?
What arm can help, or save?
I look behind, around, below_
Naught see, or hear, but deepening woe:
Before me yawns the grave;
Beyond the darkness of the tomb,
The horrors of eternal doom!

"Look unto Me," the Saviour cries.
Behold! upon the tree,
Between two thieves, Emmanuel dies,
The Lamb of God, a sacrifice,
He bears the curse for me_
Oh, love unsearchable, divine,
His life He gives to ransom mine!

Oh, hour most solemn! Hour alone,
In solitary might,
When God the Father’s only Son,
As man, for sinners to atone,
Expires_amazing sight!
The Lord of glory crucified!
The Lord of life has bled and died.

Oh, mystery of mysteries!
Of life and death the tree;
Center of two eternities,
Which look with rapt, adoring eyes,
Onward and back to Thee!
Oh, Cross of Christ, where all His pain
And death_is my eternal gain!

Oh, how my inmost heart doth move,
While gazing on that tree;
The death of the Incarnate Love!
What shame, what grief, what joy I prove,
That He should die for me!
My heart is broken by that cry,
"Eli, lama sabachthani?"

Worthy of death, O Lord, I am;

That vengeance was my due:
Thy grace upon Thy spotless Lamb,
Laid all my sins, and guilt, and shame;
Justice my Surety slew;
With Him I in my Surety died,
With Him I there was crucified.

When Thou didst make Him "sin" for me,
Thy Son Thou didst not spare;
Oh, what exceeding agony,
All needed, Lord, to set me free,
My Jesus, Thou didst bear!
Now peace and righteousness can meet,
And kiss Thy wounded hands and feet.

They bury, ere the setting sun,
In the new rock-hewn cave,
The body of Thy Holy One;
They set the watch; they seal the stone,
To keep Him in the grave:
Buried with Him myself I see,
So low He chose to lie for me.

But lo! His grave is empty now,
He sits at Thy right hand:
Honor and glory crown His brow,
Before Him all the angels bow,
And wait His high command:
The Lamb of God for sinners slain,
Lives as the Lord of all to reign.

Thy Righteousness the sentence spoke,
That sent Thy Son to die:
Thy Righteousness from death awoke,
And all the powers of darkness broke,
And raised Him up on high;
His spotless righteousness to own,
Thou hast exalted to Thy throne.

And now Thy mercy finds delight,
Right royally to prove
How precious He is in Thy sight;
And all the wondrous depth and height
Of Thy surpassing love:
With Him, who bore our sins alone,

Thy grace has made His ransomed one.

Quickened with Him with life divine,
Raised with Him from the dead,
His own_and all His own are Thine!_
Shall with Him in His glories shine,
His Church’s living Head:
We, who were worthy but to die,
Now with Him, "Abba, Father," cry.

Isaac and Jacob

"By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was
dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshiped, leaning upon the top of his staff" (Heb.
11:20,21).

We shall discuss Isaac and Jacob together because their actions of faith described in Hebrews 11
have some things in common. They also have in common the fact that much more space is given
in the scriptures to describing their "unfaith" than their faith.

Isaac developed a favoritism toward his son Esau over Jacob because of the venison Esau provided
him (Gen. 25:27,28). When he and his family lived among the Philistines in Gerar, Isaac lied and
told the people his wife Rebekah was his sister (Gen. 26:7). And when it came time to give
blessings to his sons, Isaac acted upon his feelings of favoritism along with adherence to cultural
tradition rather than seeking guidance from the LORD (Gen. 27:1-4).

Jacob’s life likewise followed a pattern of doing things his own way rather than God’s way. When
his twin brother Esau was faint with hunger, Jacob charged him a high price for some bread and
soup (Gen. 25:29-34). Jacob and his mother Rebekah conspired to deceive his father Isaac into
giving him the blessing of the firstborn (Gen. 27:5-29). And just as Isaac had a favorite son, Jacob
favored Rachel over his three other wives and Rachel’s two sons over his other ten sons (Gen.
29:30; 37:3; 42:4).

"By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau." When Jacob and Esau were still in their mother’s womb,
the LORD revealed to Rebekah that "the elder shall serve the younger" (Gen. 25:23). Despite this,
or perhaps in forgetfulness of this, Isaac set out to give the older twin, Esau, the blessing of the
firstborn without seeking guidance from the LORD.

Now where do we find faith in this? When Esau bitterly informed his father that Jacob had tricked
him into giving him the blessing of the firstborn, Isaac did not carelessly cancel the blessing to
Jacob but "stuck to his guns." It would appear that Isaac finally remembered the prophecy given
to Rebekah about the older serving the younger. He realized that even though he had been
deceived, He had unwittingly done what God had wanted him to do all along. In faith and trust
in the LORD, Isaac let his less favored son Jacob keep the better blessing.

Jacob, like his father Isaac, also manifested faith at the very end of his life. Unlike his father,
Jacob was not deceived when it came to blessing the two sons of Joseph. In fact, for all of Joseph’s
trust and dependence upon the LORD throughout his life, and all of Jacob’s willfulness throughout
his life, in this instance Jacob’s faith outshone that of his son Joseph.

Joseph brought his sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to his father Jacob to be blessed (Genesis 48).
Joseph placed firstborn Manasseh toward Jacob’s right hand and younger Ephraim toward his left
hand. However, Jacob crossed his hands and gave Ephraim the right hand of blessing (the better

blessing). Joseph was displeased with this action, saying, "Not so, my father, for [Manasseh] is
the firstborn." Jacob responded, "I know it, my son." Jacob had it right, even though it was
contrary to Joseph’s desires and contrary to the cultural tradition of giving the best blessing to the
firstborn son. Jacob finally, at the end of his life, was communing with the LORD and finding out
what the LORD wanted him to do. "By faith Jacob … blessed both the sons of Joseph … leaning
upon the top of his staff."

From these experiences of Isaac and Jacob we draw the following lesson of faith: Faith is noted
and honored by God even when it comes at the very end of a life that is characterized by the
lack of faith.

The account of Jacob in the waning years of his life gives us an additional lesson of faith: Faith
is not in bondage to, but rises above, the cultural traditions of the day.

Are you_am I_in bondage to cultural tradition, societal or peer pressures, clothing or hair
fashions? May the Lord help each of us to discern ways in which we may be in bondage to the
"tradition of men" (Mark 7:8; Col. 2:8).

What about our assemblies? are we bound to certain traditions in the ways we meet, pray, or
worship? What about the way the table with the bread and wine is set in our local assembly? In
my travels I find that almost every assembly does it a little bit differently. But do not many of us
think that our way of doing it is the right way, because that is the way we have always done it?

Many years ago I was told of an assembly in which the remembrance meeting could not begin until
a certain brother "opened it" by praying or giving out a hymn. I am almost certain that brother had
not decreed such a thing; maybe he was not even aware of it. What may have started with a
repeated practice over four or five meetings developed into a fixed tradition.

Even more years ago I was in a small assembly with only one other brother. I began noticing at
the remembrance meetings that if I gave thanks for the bread and cup one week, the other brother
would do it the following week. If he had done it the previous week, it seemed that nothing could
move him to do it again this week.

Then there is the common tradition of opening every meeting_whether remembrance meeting,
prayer meeting, ministry meeting, Bible study, or gospel meeting_with a hymn or two.
And I wonder if any of our readers have ever experienced a remembrance meeting opening with
a brother giving thanks for the bread and cup. Do we allow the Holy Spirit liberty to lead us
contrary to the traditions we have fallen into?

A sister once told me, "I think it is nice when the remembrance meeting closes with a prayer." But
is it not even "nicer" when not only the closing but all parts of the remembrance meeting are
conducted according to the leading of the Holy Spirit rather than tradition?

To a certain extent we need traditions simply to give a certain stability and order and predictability
to our lives. But let us be careful not to fall into bondage to these traditions. Let us remember the

story of old Jacob "leaning upon the top of his staff." May we be careful never to allow our
traditions to come in conflict with the Word of God or with the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Rebekah was a woman who wanted God’s will to prevail. She was married almost 20 years before
her sons Esau and Jacob were born. Her pregnancy must have been quite uncomfortable because
not only was she carrying twins, but they fought together even before birth (Gen. 25:22). Rebekah
asked the Lord about this and was told that there were two nations in her womb and the elder
would serve the younger, a reversal of the usual customs concerning the firstborn son.

Rebekah’s husband, Isaac, showed an interest in having God’s will for his family by praying
during the years of his wife’s infertility (Gen. 25:21) rather than trying to solve the problem on
his own by taking a second wife or a concubine as other men of that time did (Gen. 16:2). It is
probable that Rebekah told Isaac about God’s prophecy concerning her sons, but with the passage
of time Isaac apparently forgot about it. He developed a definite preference for Esau over Jacob,
and Rebekah was very aware of this. It was this or perhaps her knowledge of the usual customs
concerning firstborn sons that must have made her think there was no use in attempting to sway
Isaac’s decisions concerning his sons.

When Rebekah heard that Isaac definitely planned to give Esau the firstborn’s blessing, she
devised a plan to deceive Isaac into giving it to Jacob (Genesis 27). Although the plan was
successful in that Jacob received the blessing, both Rebekah and Jacob paid a high price for the
scheme. Jacob fled from his brother and Rebekah never saw her favorite son again. Furthermore,
Jacob, after he arrived in Haran, more than met his match in deception and trickery in the person
of his Uncle Laban.

It seems that Rebekah wanted God’s will to prevail over Isaac’s, though that motive may have
been mixed with the desire to promote the interests of her favorite son. Surely it would have been
better for her to have reminded Isaac of God’s prophecy to her and then to have trusted the LORD
to work out His will by influencing Isaac’s behavior rather than trying to work out the prophecy
by her own manipulations. God is not dependent on us (either our good or our bad behavior) to
work out His plans.

Rebekah’s behavior is an example of the deviousness which many women use to manipulate their
husbands or other men, and which men so dislike in women. Men often use aggressive
confrontation to persuade women or other men to give them what they want. Women, perhaps
because they have been taught that open confrontation is unsuitable for women, will often resort
to some form of deceit to obtain their desires.

(I speak of what seems to be general tendencies of natural, sinful men and women. There are
women who use aggressive confrontation to persuade men; and there are men who use the words,
"I love you," or some other "line" to persuade a woman to do something she would not otherwise
do.)

Whatever the provocation or circumstances may be, women (and men as well) should be totally
straightforward and honest in their relationships with their spouses, their friends, and all others.
God has called us to such honesty:

" Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds" (Col. 3:9).

"Let love be without [ hypocrisy]" (Rom. 12:9).

"Let us walk honestly, as in the day" (Rom. 13:13).

"I pray … that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ" (Phil. 1:10).

Abraham had asked his servant to go back to Abraham’s original country and find a wife for Isaac
among his relatives. When the servant met Rebekah, he found her a beautiful young woman. She
was also a well brought up young women, carrying out her share of the household responsibilities
and remembering to offer hospitality to strangers (Genesis 24).

Besides being an example of right behavior in a young woman, she is also an example of
unquestioning faith once God’s will is made known. Rebekah, her father, and her brother were
evidently convinced that her meeting with Abraham’s servant was no mere coincidence; the Lord
had planned it all. They could not refuse the servant’s request without disobeying God. But, we
might ask, what did this mean for Rebekah in human terms? She would be leaving the happy home
of her childhood; there is no indication that she ever saw her parents or brother again. While Isaac
was apparently well-to-do, as evidenced by the expensive gifts he had sent, the servant had given
no clue as to his character. Would he be a good husband to her? Surely there were local men who
would have made good husbands. All of these possible objections counted for nothing. God’s will
had been made manifest. How beautiful her simple reply, "I will go" (verse 58)!

How happy the outcome for Rebekah! Not only was her husband rich, but he loved her. (Love was
not always a part of the arranged marriages of oriental societies.) She remained the sole object of
Isaac’s affections the rest of their lives, for he took no other wives or concubines, even though she
was barren for 20 years. She became the mother of two heads of nations, including the nation of
promise.

What does this say to us? Seek God’s will for you, pray earnestly for an understanding of it. Study
His Word by which He will make known His will to you through the Holy Spirit. God knows what
is best for us, whether it be the choice of a school, career, or a marriage partner. There may be
all sorts of human objections to the path God wants us to take, but we must follow His will. It may
seem as if we are leaving all happiness behind to set out through a desert to some unknown
destination; but if we are carrying out God’s will, He will abundantly bless at the end. The Lord
Jesus (of whom Isaac is a type) is not only the One by whom all things were created, not only our
Saviour, but He is our Friend as well. He loves us and wants only what is best for us. Look to
God for guidance each day, every moment, in every circumstance, and you will have a happy,
spiritually healthy life.

(From Young People of the Bible, published by Moments With The Book, Box 322, Bedford, PA
15522.)