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ND thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’s passover. (Exodus 12:11)
XXVIII. Of the Lord's Supper[1].
The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves one to another, but rather it is a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christ's death: insomuch that to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith, receive the same, the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ; and likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ.
Transubstantiation (or the change of the substance of Bread and Wine) in the Supper of the Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ; but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions.
The Body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper, is Faith.
The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not by Christ's ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, or worshipped. (see Exodus 12:10) – And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. (We do not practice ‘reserved sacrament)
It would be impossible for one to understand the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ without understanding the First Passover in Goshen. The First Passover has a direct correlation to that Last Passover of our Lord on the night of His Passion. In the Old Testament, it is most often referred to as the ‘Lord’s Passover,’ but in the New Testament, it is often referred to as the Jew’s Passover. Why? There are at least two reason that that present themselves:
1. No Passover is a true Passover without the inclusion of the Lord who is the Lamb of God;
2. Legalistic Jews had added many traditions never counseled by the Lord in its observance – much like the pagan practices the Christians have mixed with the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ!
The observance of Holy Communion today is a continuance of that first Passover. But since the Passover Lamb has, once-and-for-all, been sacrificed, we do not take the freshly killed meat of the lamb in it. We do not observe the false Mass of the Roman Church in which our Lord is sacrificed anew. Yes, His Presence is observed, but it is a spiritual Presence, not one in which His very Body and Blood have been transformed by the superstition of a ‘priest.’
In the Anglican Orthodox Communion, we use real, unleavened bread. Why? Because that is consistent with God’s counsel for the first Passover, and it is the same that our Lord partook of at the Last Supper. Leaven represents sin and false doctrine. Why would we use it in contravention of the express will of God? Our Lord said: Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. Matthew 16:6 When the disciples thought he referred to actual bread, He explained: 11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? 12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. (Matthew 16:11-12) Remember, please: the type should always possess the characteristics of that which is typified. The Body of Christ is sinless; therefore, we use unleavened bread in the Communion to represent that sinlessness.
Jesus partook of the Cup and then shared with the others as He also did with the Bread. The Cup has covenantal properties. It was symbolic of the sealing of betrothal in marriage among the Hebrews. The prospective bridegroom and bride would meet upon the arrangement of the father. A Cup of Wine would be placed on a table between the two. After serious discussion, if the groom though the bride acceptable, he would drink from the Cup. Then, if the bride accepted the groom as her betrothed, she would drink from that same Cup. If we, too, are the part of the Body of the betrothed Bride of Christ, we will drink from that same Cup to seal our betrothal: Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. (Matthew 20:23)
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