March 17, 2013
Scripture:
Hymn 358 – Tell me the story of Jesus
Prayer
Matthew 11:28 - 30
There are three important words in these verses: come, take, and learn.
Jesus is asking the weary and heavy-laden to come to Him. I believe that the weary and the heavy-laden are those who are still carrying the weight of their sins. Jesus promised to give rest to those that come to Him; this is rest for the sinner. When we take Jesus as our Saviour, it gives our conscience rest. At night, we can go to sleep with the assurance that Jesus has saved us from the doom that we deserved. The blood of Jesus is able to make us white as snow when we take Him as our Saviour.
In the old times, farmers used oxen to plough their fields, and they would use a yoke to hook two oxen together. What does Jesus mean when He said take His yoke upon us? It seems that Jesus wants us to walk with Him. In serving the Lord, we can do great things if we do it with the Lord. Without Him, we are left in our own strength, which is very small. When we take the Lord’s yoke, we get another type of rest. This rest doesn’t mean a nap. It means relief. An example is, the church had rest, or relief, when Saul of Tarsus got saved. This is rest for the saint.
First of all, we need to come to the Lord and be saved. Secondly, we need to take His yoke. When we walk with the Lord, we will be able to do things for Him. Finally, as we walk with the Lord, we should continually learn about Him.
Luke 22:13 - 30
This passage is precious and touching. Our Lord loved His disciples but He knew that He had to leave them. Before He left, though, He wanted to chat and be with them. He wanted to spend a little time with His own. It was a very human desire. Jesus was fully Divine (which He showed by predicting all that Peter and John would find) and fully human. He “heartily” (margin) desired to eat this passover with His disciples.
The desire of our Lord is to meet with His own. Yet some do not remember the Lord, and others forsake the gathering together of the saints entirely! When we do come together, though, do we come for the Lord’s sake, or our own? We should come for both reasons: because we want to come, and because He wants us to come. Our hearts should respond to His. Isaiah says: “the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee” (26:8). May our hearts say the same!
Jesus chose the guest chamber above all rooms in that house. The guest chamber was the place for people who were just passing through. Our Lord was just passing through this earth and so are we. The remembrance that He has given us is temporary: “ye do show the Lord’s death till He come”.
Jesus didn’t shield Himself or his disciples from the facts. His sufferings were on His mind. “I have desired to eat this with you before I suffer.”
When the Lord said, “I will not any more eat [of the Passover], until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God” He was referring to His fulfillment of the Passover at the cross. But when He said, “I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come” it is possible that He is referring to the Millennium.
As as side note, the King James Version of 1 Corinthians 11 says that Christ’s body “is broken for you” (v24). However, the Passover lamb was not to have any bones broken; and God made sure that none of Christ’s bones were. Other translations say, “This is my body, which is for you”.
Our Lord chose the emblems of His death: the bread and the wine. These have caused much trouble throughout history, and yet they are so simple. The Lord’s table speaks of communion, the wine is also the communion of the blood of Christ; while the bread represents all believers: we are One in Christ. He instituted His remembrance Himself before His death, and then after it through the Apostle Paul. It’s important!
The Lord’s Remembrance is a precious hour of the week! It was a precious desire of our Lord and you would think that His followers would have treasured it, but sadly they didn’t seem to (v. 24).
Hymn 15 – O what a gift the Father gave
Prayer