LORD SUPPER PART I

Many people have misunderstood the real significance of the time of observance of the
Lord ’s Supper, or Passover. A passage in 1 Cor.11:26 has been read to mean that we do not know how often nor when we are to take this ordinance. The statement is “For as oft as ye do this ye do show forth the Lord’s death until He comes.”

If we are not told how often to partake of this feast (as Paul calls it in 1 Cor.5:6-8) then surely it isn’t a good work, for he states very plainly in his letter to Timothy that the Scripture thoroughly furnish the man of God unto all good works. It behooves us then to Search the Scriptures for any information that we might lack along this line. Some will say that we should take it each first day of the week. But these same people contend that Christ arose from the dead on the first day (Sunday). But He arose at the end of the Sabbath (Saturday) not on the first day of the week (Matt.28:1).

Why then do they wait till the time which they state is the day of His resurrection to Celebrate His Death? Rather inconsistent isn’t it? Others say that we should take it every fifth Sunday or every thirteenth Sunday, Can we celebrate His death, or do this in commemoration of His death, more often than once a year and still be consistent? How often do people celebrate His birth? Every week? He just died once, and it certainly would be out of place to celebrate His Death more often than we would His Birth, or at any other season than that at which He died.

The Passover has a history that is not often taken into consideration by some. The Passover as a Religious Festival originated in the land of Egypt, at the time that the children of Israel came out of bondage, and were ordered of God to be kept by them in commemoration of their deliverance. The record of this is found in Ex.12. In Ex. 12:6, we find the lamb was to be kept until the 14th and in the evening (late that day before sun set). Christ died about three o’clock in the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan. Therefore the type met the anti-type the Same Day of the Month and at the same time of the day. There are Scriptures that say the day at Evening is the Lord’s Passover.

Christ ate the Passover the night before. His death upon the cross instituted the Lord’s Supper, therefore we should take it the same night He took it. The Passover was more than the commemoration of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. The blood of the lamb was an atonement for their sins (Num.9:13). The one who refused to eat was cut off. The same is true with those who refuse to apply the blood of Christ; our Passover, for the remission of sins.

“This day shall be unto you for a Memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast; ye shall keep it a feast by ordinance forever” (Ex. 12:14). Before Christ they (Israel) kept the feast, today we take of the Passover the night before His death upon the cross and instituted the Lord’s Supper, therefore we should take it the same night He took it, after the sun has set, on the 14th day of Nisan according to the Jewish calendar. Jewish time begins at sundown to sundown.
Ex.12:6 (ye shall keep the lamb until the 14th day and kill it in the evening (3 o’clock). Num.28:16 (The fourteenth day of the fist month (Nisan) is the passover of the Lord). Num.9:3 (Ye shall keep it in his appointed season: according to all the ceremonies).

The lamb was to be taken from the flock on the tenth day, and kept up and fed by itself till the fourteenth day, when it was to be sacrificed in the evening (the first evening began just after 12 o’clock, and continued till sunset).