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The Elements of
the Lord’s Supper
What Kind of Bread and Fruit of the Vine Are We
to Use?
Peter DitzelThe
first reaction many have to an article on this topic is that it is too picky.
After all, they reason, what difference does it make if we use leavened or
unleavened bread, wine or grape juice? The important thing is that we take
the Lord’s Supper. The details are unimportant. I
find it especially odd when I get comments like this from Baptists.
Concerning the ordinance of baptism, Baptists are concerned about such
“details” as who is baptized and by what mode (immersion only).
And this concern is right and proper. So why do so many Baptists balk at the
idea of being concerned about the details of the ordinance of communion? It
just does not make sense. Of
course, what really matters is whether God is concerned with such details.
So, before getting into my main points, I am going to show you that God is
concerned with details.
A God of Details
Those
who denigrate details have apparently not noticed that God is a God of
details. Think of the Creation. From the vast expanse of the universe to a
butterfly sitting on a flower, to the scales on that butterfly’s wings,
right down to the sub-atomic level, God is a God of details. He has woven
every minute detail together to work perfectly. God
is the same God of details in the Bible. When God showed Moses the pattern
for the tabernacle, He said, “And let them [the Israelites] make me a
sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee,
after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments
thereof, even so shall ye make it” (Exodus 25:8-9). God said it was to
be made “according to all that I shew thee.” Moses was not to
gloss over or compromise with the details. And there were details, many of
them. In the verses and chapters that follow, God told Moses the
measurements, the materials things should be made from, what they were to
look like, and precisely where things were to be placed. Were
these details important? Of course they were! Would the great Creator God of
the universe have given Moses these details if they were not important? One
of these details concerned exactly how the Ark of the Covenant was to be
carried. When, centuries later, David ignored that detail, it cost a man
named Uzzah his life (see 2 Samuel 6).
God
also gave details in the Pentateuch for exactly how the children of When
I was a young man and had no understanding of the Bible, I tried reading it
from cover to cover. I got as far as the details of the sacrifices in the
first few chapters of Leviticus. I kept falling asleep trying to read these
details, closed the Bible, and gave up reading it for a couple of years. But,
do you know, Jesus Christ is in those sacrifices. They picture in intricate
detail various aspects of His sacrifice. The details are important. Maybe
you think that such details are just Old Testament stuff; the New Testament
is not so detailed. Think again. In fact, read the New Testament again, this
time thinking in terms of details. Notice the dates, the timing of events,
the numbers, the places, the meaning of the names mentioned, the types of
diseases Jesus healed, the context of the miracles, who Jesus was talking to
when He said certain things, the place settings in which Jesus said certain
things, and so on. These details have meaning, and are part of God’s
intricate composition.
This
small article is, of course, not the place to discuss all of these details.
We are concerned here with only two details, the two elements Jesus
instituted for the Lord’s Supper. <Previous
Next> Copyright © 2006 wordofhisgrace.org |
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