Communion and The Lord's Supper
A Written compostion of the Heavenly Calling Network Study Group

Part 1
Communion and The Lord's Supper
"For this is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matt. 26:28).

In saying "this is," the Lord Jesus explained that the blood He was about to shed was the blood of the New Covenant, but He did not define what the New Covenant was. To do that was not necessary, for the disciples had the New Covenant promised and described in the words of Jeremiah:).

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a New Covenant with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Jer. 31:31-33).

This New Covenant was new in contrast to the Covenant made on the day of the exodus. There had been other covenants made with Noah, Abraham and David, but these were unconditional and enduring, and will not become old or be supplanted by any other covenant. The New Covenant is only new in relation to God's covenant given to the nation of Israel when He, for the first time, began to deal with them as a nation.

To appreciate what the New Covenant is, we must endeavor to understand, first of all, what the Old Covenant was. While the Old Covenant was made on the day that Israel came out of Egypt, yet it is not until Sinai is reached that we read anything of what the covenant was. At the first ascent of Sinai the Lord spoke to Moses:

"Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel: Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bare you on eagle's wings and brought you unto Myself. Now, therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me, above all people, for all the earth is mine; and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel" (Ex.19:3-6).

The covenant was conditional " if . . . then," and though made at the Passover, the conditions were not given until Sinai. The requirement was that Israel should "obey My voice and keep My covenant," This Israel agreed to do:

"And all the people answered together and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do" (Ex. 19:8).

The promise was that Israel should be the Lord's peculiar treasure and a kingdom of priests in the earth.

At the second and third ascents of Sinai, Moses received the details of the covenant that Israel had agreed to keep; he received the law. Coming again to Israel after the third ascent:

"Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord. . .all the words which the Lord hath said we will do. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. . . And he took the book of the covenant and read it in the audience of the people, and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do and be obedient. And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words" (Ex. 24: 3-8).

On hearing the words of the law which was to be the conditions of the covenant, Israel further agreed to abide by it by a double repetition of "we will do." The written law was called "the book of the covenant," and the blood sprinkled was "the blood of the covenant."

During the next three ascents, Moses received instructions concerning the tabernacle and its service, and the special privilege of Israel if they kept the covenant. At the sixth and last ascent, a further promise is given that was to make Israel an object lesson and a witness to all the people among whom they should go:

"Behold I make a covenant before all they people; I will do marvels . . . observe thou that which I command thee this day" (Ex. 34: 10-11).

But this covenant was made with a people who had only been typically redeemed: they had been delivered from the bondage of Egypt, but not from the bondage of sin. Before ever the Lord had ceased speaking to Moses in the Mount Israel broke the first commandment of all:

"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make any graven image" (Ex. 20: 3, 4). "They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made a molten calf and have worshipped it" (Ex. 32:7, 8).

The failure of Israel under this covenant necessitated a change, as it was not possible for God's purpose in Israel to be realized on these grounds. Thus it is that a New Covenant is promised:

"I will make a New Covenant. . . not according to the covenant that I made . . . in the day that I took them out of . . . Egypt . . . which My covenant they brake . . . but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel . . . they shall be My people" (Jer. 31: 31-33).

Under this New Covenant Israel shall be the Lord's people. Now I make no apology for giving a second quotation of Jer.31, nor for frequent further references to these verses; unless this promise is understood, we shall not be able to enter very far into the significance of the words of the Lord Jesus at the Passover supper.

"Which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord" (Jer. 31:32).

The comparison of the broken covenant with a broken marriage vow, is enlarged upon in Ezek. 16 Here, again, we have the promise of another covenant that should replace the first covenant agreed upon by Israel:

"Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant in the days of they youth, and I will establish with thee an everlasting covenant . . . but not by the covenant . . . I will establish My covenant with thee and thou shall know that I am the Lord" (Ezek. 16: 60-62).

Together with the promise of a New Covenant, Israel received the promise of a coming Messiah. In the last written prophecy given to Israel, the two promises are linked together:

"The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant" (Mal.3:1).

Thus when the Lord Jesus came, He came:

"To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant" (Lk. 1: 72).

The New Covenant is not mentioned until the last Supper Matt. 16:28). Not only did Israel fail to keep the covenant during the O.T., but they also failed to receive their Messiah while under the administration of the Old Covenant. It was not until Israel had gone to the fullest lengths in rejecting the Lord Jesus, that He first made mention of Israel's only hope--the New Covenant.

The blessings in view under the Old Covenant were only earthly in geometry. Israel's deliverance was from an earthly dominion, Egypt. Sinai and Jerusalem were but earthly places; the blood of the Old Covenant was the blood of bulls and of goats. The tabernacle was the building of men's hands, and the priesthood was drawn from among the people.

The New Covenant embraces not only Israel's earthly blessings, but also Israel's heavenly blessings, of which all that pertained to the Old Covenant was but a type and shadow. Comparing the New Covenant with the Old Covenant in the order by which the Old Covenant was unfolded, as already traced, the following affinity can be seen.

The Old Covenant was made on the day of the Passover (Heb. 8: 9); the New Covenant was made when Christ became the true Passover (Matt. 26: 28).

The Old Covenant was connected with Sinai and Jerusalem (Ex.19:1-8); the New Covenant is connected with their heavenly counterpart:

"Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond maid, the other by a free woman . . . which things are an allegory, for these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar; for this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with her children, but Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all" (Gal. 4: 21-26).

Here the two covenants are linked with the geometry of their operation. The first covenant gendered to bondage, and the earthly Jerusalem was in bondage under it. The New Covenant brought liberty, and opened the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem to the children of promise.

At the ascent of Sinai, Moses received the terms of the Old Covenant, and Israel sought to keep them: thus this mountain is connected with the inauguration of that covenant (Ex.19). The New Covenant is connected with an heavenly mountain:

"For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched and that burned with fire . . . and so terrible was the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake; but ye are come unto Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels , . . and to Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant" (Heb. 12:18-24).

After Moses had given Israel the book of the covenant, he sprinkled both it and the people with the blood of the covenant (Ex.24:3-8):

"Whereupon neither the first covenant was dedicated without blood, for when Moses had spoken every precept . . . he took the blood of calves and of goats . . . saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God hath enjoined unto you . . . and almost all things are by the law purged with blood . . . but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these" (Heb. 9: 18-23).

After receiving the Old Covenant, Moses was instructed to build a tabernacle.

" Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary, for there was a tabernacle made . . . this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was yet standing . . . But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands . . . but by His own blood He entered . . . for this cause He is the mediator of the New Covenant" (Heb. 9:1-15).

Here the first covenant is linked with what is spoken of as the "first tabernacle;" the Lord Jesus as the mediator of the New Covenant entered that greater and more perfect tabernacle that was not made by hands, but was in the heavens, and of which the first tabernacle was but a copy (Heb. 8:5; 9: 23, 24).

The first tabernacle had a priesthood, so also has the heavenly tabernacle:

"For those priests were made without an oath, but this with an oath by Him that said unto him, 'The Lord sware and will not repent. Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedec;' by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better covenant" (Heb. 7: 20-22).

The superiority of the Lord's priesthood of this New or better Covenant over that of the priesthood of the Old Covenant, is gauged by the fact that He was appointed with an oath by Him that will not repent. The covenant with Abraham concerning the land was made with an oath (Gen. 24:7; 26:3; Deut. 4:31), as was also the covenant with David concerning the throne (Psa. 89:3-49), but the promises of the Old Covenant were not thus confirmed; they were conditional and depended on the flesh; any confirmation of the promises on these terms was therefore impossible. The New Covenant supplants the old, and when the Lord Jesus became the surety of the covenant, He was appointed with an oath. Thus the promises of the New Covenant are placed on the same secure footing as the covenants to Abraham and David, all confirmed by the irrevocable oath of God, all made possible through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. "All the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen."

The Old Covenant, its priesthood and its promises were therefore but the shadows of the New Covenant and its enduring promises:
"We have such an High Priest . . . a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man . . . there are priests . . . who serve unto the example of heavenly things . . . but now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises" (Heb. 8: 1-6).

This better covenant, with its better promises and better priesthood, is associated with:

"A better country, that is, an heavenly" (Heb. 11: 16).

"For if that first covenant had been faultless, there should no place have been sought for the second; for finding fault with them He said, Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a New Covenant" (Heb. 8:7, 8).

This fault was two-fold: The covenant itself; and "with them," i.e., Israel. The fault of the Old Covenant was that sin could only be passed over. The fault with Israel was that they were unable to fulfill the terms of the covenant.

The purpose of the Old Covenant and its terms embodied in the law of Sinai was to make manifest to Israel their faults and lead them to Christ. The covenant of promise made with Abraham concerning his seed and their land was received by faith and confirmed by an oath. The Old Covenant made at the exodus concerning Israel as a kingdom of priests depended on their works; this introduced a conflicting principle, but only for the times then present:

"Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made "   . . . and this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect . . . wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions . . . "wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith" (Gal.3: 16-24).

It is necessary to read the whole of Galatians 3. The Old Covenant was given a long and thorough trial, yet while perfect and just in God's sight, it but made manifest Israel's inability to receive God's promises, or to accomplish God's purposes, by their own efforts. If these promises or purposes were to be realized at all, it must be on some other terms:

"A New Covenant . . . not according to the (old) covenant . . . this is the covenant . . . they shall be to me a people . . . their sins and iniquities will I remember no more" (Heb. 8: 8-12).

The Old Covenant prepared Israel for the New Covenant by showing them their weakness; it led them to Christ, the mediator of the New Covenant, through Whom alone sins could be done away: "For this is my blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (Matt. 26:28). Already in this answer we have considered the parallel between the Old and New Covenants, but now, in examining their respective principles, we discover the contrast. Under the Old Covenant, "there was a remembrance again made of sins every year" (Heb. 10:3). Under the New Covenant, God has said, "their sins and iniquities will I remember no more" (Heb. 10:17). The Old Covenant said "come not," the New gives "boldness to enter" (Heb.12). The Old Covenant could make nothing perfect, but the coming of a better covenant does.

The promises were to be received by works under the Old Covenant, but by faith under the New. The Old was made without an oath, but the mediator of the New Covenant was appointed with an oath. Under the Old Covenant the inheritance could never have been received:   "For this cause He is the mediator of the New Covenant, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance" (Heb. 9:15). Although the precious blood of the New Covenant was shed by the Lord Jesus, yet it is obvious, and should be obvious, that the New Covenant has not yet been established with Israel. Nope.

The Old Covenant was made on the day of the exodus, the first Passover (Heb. 8:9), "Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. "  but the giving of the law and the agreement of Israel to keep it did not occur until after sixty days (Ex. 19:1  "In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they [into] the wilderness of Sinai." ).  A similar interval now obtains in the case of the New Covenant. The New Covenant was made in the day when Christ became the true Passover (Matt. 26:28 "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." ),  but the day when the law shall be written on the hearts of Israel, and they become truly the Lord's people, is still future (Heb.8:8-11). "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Rom. 10:4). The work of the Lord Jesus rendered the terms of the Old Covenant a dead letter to those that believed. Romans 1-8, prove the impossibility of attaining to God's righteousness by the law, and explains how it is now made possible to receive that righteousness by faith. Romans 9-11, pursues a question that arises out of this. If the righteousness of the law can now be attained by faith, how is it that Israel has not received the promises? "Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law; for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone" (Rom. 9:31, 32). Although righteousness was to be received by faith, Israel, as a nation, continued to seek it by the law; they "have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God" (Rom. 10:3). Thus, although the blood of the New Covenant was shed, Israel did not submit to the terms of the New Covenant; they did not seek the promises by faith. The root of the failure was that they stumbled at that stumbling-stone, the Lord from heaven:

""Their minds were blinded, for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old covenant, which veil is done away in Christ" (2 Cor. 3:14).

At the time of writing Romans, a few only were enlightened:

"Even so, then, at this present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace, and if by grace, then, it is no more of works . . . What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded" (Rom. 11:7).

The blindness of Israel at that present time became more complete, until finally a pronouncement of their blindness was made at Acts 38:23-29, after which we find that Israel and the New Covenant ceased to be in the forefront of God's purposes temporarily, and another distinct purpose took its place. The quotation of Isa. 6: 9, 10, on this occasion was a direct negation of the promise of the New Covenant in Jer. 31:31-34; compare the reference to "hearts" in both passages. The probability of the New Covenant being realized was consequently deferred until Israel is again dealt with as a nation.

The duration of this blindness is connected with the times of the Gentiles:

"For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery . . . that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins" (Rom. 11:25-27).

Until the Deliverer does come to Jacob, Israel will remain without the New Covenant, even though that covenant is already made possible through the blood of the New Covenant. Within this present interval is the dispensation of the Mystery wherein our hope is found, a hope distinct and entirely different from that of Israel. It remains then, that Israel is not yet under the New Covenant, that time being still future.

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah" (Heb. 8:8).

You and I should have noticed that, as a result of the New Covenant having been ratified, Israel were given the opportunity to receive their blessings on the terms of the New Covenant, but because they refused, and resolutely rejected, the Lord Jesus, Paul was caused to repeat for the last time those words from Isaiah 6, which indicated that the attitude of Israel's heart was entirely opposite to that necessary for the New Covenant to be realized. The period between Matt. 26:28 and Acts 38:28 must, therefore, have been occupied with the proclamation of the New Covenant. And this is just what we find.

Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, reviews the nature of the collective ministry of the Apostles at that time:

"Our sufficiency is of God, Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Covenant" (2 Cor.3:5,6).

"We have received this ministry . . . our gospel" (2 Cor. 4:3)

The us, we, and our, makes it evident that this ministry of the New Covenant was committed to others beside Paul. When Paul makes claims of independence and speaks of "My gospel" during the same period of the Acts, it is because of the special aspect of the ministry that was his as being the Apostle of the uncircumcision; so far as hope was concerned, the "hope of Israel" remained in view till the end of Acts 38:20 not until after the dispensational boundary of Acts 38:28 was Paul given another ministry (Col.1:25, 26), the stewardship of which was his peculiar privilege.

The ministry of the New Covenant that was shared among many during the Acts is, in 2 Cor. 3., set in contrast with the ministry of the Old Covenant

The difference between the ministry of the Old and New Covenants was the difference between death and life, condemnation and glory. Those addressed in this passage were the fruits of this New covenant ministry, and constituted a sort of first-fruits of those who are to receive New Covenant blessings. Notice how that the attitude of heart of these who believe is the same as will be that of all Israel in the day when the New Covenant is made:

"Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart" (2 Cor. 3: 3).

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws in their mind, and write them in their hearts" (Heb. 3: 10).

The Vail had been taken from the hearts of these believers, so that they could behold the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, Israel as a whole being still blinded. But though this was so, a time was anticipated when Israel as a nation, should see:

"Nevertheless when it (i.e., Israel's heart, verse 15) shall turn to the Lord, the Vail shall be taken away" (2 Cor. 3: 16).

The ministry being the ministry of the New Covenant, the doctrine also was relevant to the New Covenant.

"Covenant" diatheke occurs 33 times in the N.T. Three indicates divine perfection, eleven imperfection, twelve is a number associated with Israel, eleven speaks of Israel coming short.

"Covenant" with "new" kainos occurs seven times. Seven, spiritual perfection (Matt. 26:28 Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20 2 Cor.3:6; Heb. 8:8 8:15) Thus, while imperfection is suggested by the general use of "covenant," perfection is found in the New Covenant. Of these seven occurrences of "New Covenant" five have a reference to the blood in their immediate context. Five is a number associated with grace; the New Covenant is one of grace in contrast with the Old Covenant, which was by law. The gematria of "diatheke" is 60=5x12: the factors suggest Israel being dealt with in grace. Of the 33 occurrences of "Covenant" in the New Testament, 17 occur in Hebrews and 16 elsewhere; this makes it evident that the covenants are the special concern of the Hebrew believers.

Outside of the Gospels, Paul is the only writer who mentions the New Covenant; it was given him to show what the New Covenant meant to Israel in Hebrews; what was the dispensational place of the New Covenant in Romans; and what the ministry of the New Covenant meant in 1 and 2 Corinthians. Paul was especially the Apostle to the Gentiles. Why, then, was he chosen to expound the teaching of the New Covenant, which was essentially a Jewish hope?

Now you might have the Gentile's on your mind while you are reading, and so we should consider them as well. Because up till now we have only considered the covenants as they relate to Israel, but that the Gentiles find a place in these covenant blessings is now our special interest.

When the Old Covenant was made with Israel, the promise was that if the covenant was kept they should be a kingdom of priests in the earth.

"Now, therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed and keep My covenant, then . . . ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation" (Ex.19:5, 6).


Part 2 The Blood