Considering the honour bestowed upon men, and realising God's purpose in granting us the favour, our hearts should respond with joy that we are invited to such a princely feast. We are left aghast that such blasphemous behaviour as that which Paul censures should ever have been imagined by the Corinthians, but it was. Looking for a reason for such a grossly wrong attitude, we are forced to the conclusion that to them Jesus was no longer Lord. He was not even Lord in the sense in which Paul speaks earlier in the epistle when, quoting David, he says, 'the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof'. The fact that the Lord of all the earth decided to use only bread and wine at His table, when He had all fullness from which to choose, should have caused them to realise that there must be some very important reason for the choice.
He quite purposely did not reserve a piece of lamb from the Passover feast and press that into service. Had He done so we might have seen some very real meaning in it, but He did not do that. Without need to restrict Himself at all, He quite deliberately chose bread and wine. Then let us not fail to learn the lessons which the Corinthians had not learned. When He bade two of His disciples go to a certain place and there make ready the meal for His coming, it was with full knowledge of what He would do following the Passover. Had He wished, He could quite easily have ordered extra things to be placed on the menu, but He did no such thing. He knew the two elements best suited to His intentions would be there, and no better media than bread and wine could possibly be found anywhere on earth. They were present in the room and nothing could be more admirably suited to His purpose to reveal to them the truth He wished them to know.
They were royal enough dainties in any case, for had not Melchisedec, priest of the most high God king of righteousness and peace, brought forth these same elements for Abraham in the beginning? At the dawn of Hebrew history their most famous patriarch ate and drank of these same things and was blessed of God. Bread and wine are the traditional food and drink of kings and priests and prophets and patriarchs of God. Bread and wine spoke then to Abraham, as they speak now to us, of a past sacrifice and of royalty and sainthood and those mysteries of God we cannot now investigate.
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G.W. North (1913 - 2003)
G. W. North was born in London England in 1913. As a young man he became aware that the Lord was calling him into the work of the ministry. At timely stages the Lord placed folk in his path who were able to direct him into the truth of heart purity and a more expansive understanding of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He held pastorates in Kent and Bradford. By the late 1960s, following a significant period of ministry in Liverpool, he began a more itinerant ministry. This led him to many parts of the world, and occupied him until well into his eighties. His powerful preaching and the unique sense of the Lord's presence, which seemed to brood over his meetings, were always intensely challenging.The true secret of his remarkable ministry stemmed from his personal communion with the Lord Jesus. To him, 'entering the holiest' was not merely a theological concept; it was a distinct spiritual reality - and the central feature of his spiritual life. It was here, in the place of worship, that his revelatory ministry found its source. He preached from understanding and conviction. He was never the echo of another, nor did he take on board the ebb and flow of various contemporary emphases. He was not a man of 'books'; he soaked himself in Scripture and allowed it to saturate his heart and mind. Truly, this is a man who has lifted up a standard for the people. Mr North went to be with the Lord on 29th April 2003, shortly after his ninetieth birthday.