Good evening. We’re reading two passages tonight, the first from 1 Corinthians chapter 11. I believe that’s on page 1,219 of your Pew Bibles. And then we’ll turn to Numbers 9. Let’s give attention to the Word of God, 1 Corinthians 11, beginning at verse 23.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, And so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. And now if you turn to numbers. Chapter 9, I believe that’s on page 149 of your Pew Bibles. Once again, let’s give attention to the Word of God. Numbers 9, beginning at verse 1. I’ll read the first 14 verses.
And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, let the people of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. On the 14th day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time. According to all its statutes and all its rules, you shall keep it. So Moses told the people of Israel that they should keep the Passover. And they kept the Passover in the first month on the 14th day of the month, the twilight in the wilderness of Sinai, according to all that the Lord commanded Moses. So the people of Israel did.
And there were certain men who were unclean through touching a dead body so that they could not keep the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. And those men said to him, We are unclean through touching a dead body. Why are we kept from bringing the Lord’s offering at its appointed time among the people of Israel? And Moses said to them, Wait, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If any one of you or your descendants or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body or is on a long journey, he shall still keep the Passover to the Lord.
In the second month, on the fourteenth day at twilight, they shall keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones, according to all the statute. For the Passover they shall keep it.
But if anyone who is clean and not on a journey fails to keep the Passover, that person shall be cut off from his people, because he did not bring the Lord’s offering at its appointed time. That man shall bear his sins. And if a stranger sojourns among you and would keep the Passover to the Lord according to the statute of the Passover and according to its rule, so shall he do. You shall have one statute, both for the sojourner and for the native. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Would you pray with me? Our Father and our God, once again, we come to a passage with which we might be unfamiliar. Father, we pray that by and through the Spirit this evening, you would make it very familiar to us, such that it would change our hearts, such that we would, by and through the work of the Spirit, be examining our hearts, and Father, that you would be blessing us with all that you have for us in this your word and that you’d be teaching us that we might see all of the blessings of the Lord’s Supper. Guide us and direct us. We ask this all in Jesus’s name. Amen. What blessings are you receiving as you take the Lord’s Supper? Have you considered that? Have you thought about that? It’s a good question to ask. It’s a question that could have been asked of the Israelites.
As we read in Scripture, as we go through the history of the kings, in Scripture, we see that the nation of Israel had neglected to celebrate the Passover for years. Even though it was commanded by the Lord to celebrate the Passover annually, they had neglected the celebration of the Passover so much so that we can read in Chapter 35 of 2 Chronicles, very close to the end of 2 Chronicles, close to the recordation of the overrunning of Judah, the southern kingdom. We read this, so all the service of the Lord was prepared that day to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord according to the command of King Josiah. And all the people of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, seven days. No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah. And the priests and the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were present and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, in the 18th year of the reign of Josiah, the Passover was kept. So many years neglecting the Passover, so many years neglecting the blessing of the Passover.
And in a sense, that brings us to our passage this evening in numbers. Remember, as we have been studying numbers, we’re studying what events were happening in the lives of the Israelites as they were about to depart and head off into the wilderness to the promised land. We’ve been reading of the numbering of the Israelites. We’ve been reading of the Levites, much on the Levites, and what they were charged to do, and how they were to guard the tabernacle and the tent of meeting, and how they were to be a blessing to the people, keeping guard over the tabernacle, such that the wrath of God would not come upon the people as God lived amongst his people. And so tonight, after the lampstand has been lit by Aaron, after the Levites have been cleansed, we come to this passage on the celebration of the Passover.
We read that as this is the second year that they’ve come out of Egypt, this is the time that the Lord would call them now to observe the Passover. We also read in this passage about men who were unable to take the Passover because they were unclean. That will be significant in this passage. We also read of the warning of those who would neglect the Passover.
Interesting that Moses places the section on the Passover just prior to them packing up the tents and the tabernacle for the first time to move out, to move out into the wilderness and to head, finally, head to the promised land. We might sum up the teaching here this way, that the followers of Jesus need the blessings of the Lord’s Supper to press on through this wilderness wandering. The followers of Jesus need the blessings of the Lord’s Supper to press on through this wilderness wandering.
We’ll see that in three very simple points tonight. First, the need for the Passover. Secondly, the desire for the Passover. And finally, the neglect of the Passover. Once again, as we go through this passage and really seek to parallel the Passover with the Lord’s Supper, I’d like you to be asking yourself, what blessings am I receiving as I take the Lord’s Supper? What blessings am I receiving? First, the need for the Passover.
Obviously, this passage is all about the Passover, so we need to understand what the Passover was in order for us to grasp this passage. And we might say, well, I already know. Let’s skip to the next point. But review is always good, especially for me.
So we need to go back to Exodus to understand this call to keep the Passover. We’ve got to go back to Exodus. We’ve got to understand that in Exodus, we have that recordation by Moses of the slavery of the Hebrews who were then in Egypt, who were suffering as an oppressed people. And the Passover requires that we understand that suffering, that context, because without that context, the Passover makes absolutely no sense to us. They were in captivity, and we read in Exodus, chapter one with regard to the new Pharaoh who had risen to power. He didn’t know Joseph.
And so he speaks to his people, come, let us deal shrewdly with them, meaning with the Hebrews, that they are multiplying and they continue to multiply and maybe they’d become our enemies and fight against us. set taskmasters over the Hebrews, the Israelites, to afflict them with heavy burdens.
And so they built store cities for Pharaoh. That’s what they were doing. That’s what the Hebrews were doing. That’s what the Israelites were doing. They were an oppressed people. And then as we move forward in Exodus and we go to the burning bush that was never consumed, we see the Lord speaking with Moses and he relates to Moses that he’s seen the affliction of his people. He hears their cries because the taskmasters, The affliction of the Hebrews is so evident in the first three chapters of Exodus and then throughout even all the plagues. They were in bondage and they could not free themselves. That’s critical for our understanding of the Passover.
They were God’s covenant people. And Moses is chosen, he’s selected by God as the one who would deliver them out of their oppression. He’s the one who would bring them out of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, such that they would be able to worship the one living and true God.
Because they couldn’t do that sacrificial worship within Egypt because the Egyptians would stone them. So they had to be delivered. They had to be removed from Egypt. They had to be taken out and The Lord sends a deliverer, Moses. Moses becomes the messenger of God.
He becomes the messenger of the plagues, the nine plagues which struck the Egyptians, preparing them, in a sense, for that last and final plague, that being the death of the firstborn of each and every family of the Egyptians. And so as the people, the Hebrews, are preparing for this night of death, what are they told? were told to take a lamb and sacrifice it and take the blood of the lamb and put it on the lintel. That means that portion that goes over the door and then on the doorpost. And so their doors were surrounded by blood, such that the messenger of death, the angel of death, would pass over their houses and not strike down the firstborn. That’s what was happening in each and every one of the Egyptian houses. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.
I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you. When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you.” That’s the Passover. That’s what was happening. And as a result of The Passover, as a result of the death of the firstborn, what happens? Their people are released. Their bondage is broken. Their chains fall off, so to speak. And they’re able to leave. They’re able to exit the iron furnace.
The Passover was to be celebrated every single year. It was a day of remembrance. This day shall be for you a memorial day. You shall keep it. as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. It was to be celebrated constantly, consistently, every year, remembering that they were enslaved. Remembering that the covenant-making Lord God Almighty remembered them as he remembered his covenant.
As they were taking the Passover, they were remembering that the Lord had sent a deliverer in Moses They were to remember that Pharaoh had refused to let them go. They were to remember that the Lord besieged the people of Egypt and the land of Egypt with 10 plagues, miraculous, supernatural events, each and every one of them. Remembering that the blood of the lambs preserved and saved the firstborn in each and every one of the Hebrew homes. And remembering that the people of Egypt sent them away with much plunder. Remembering how the Lord, through Moses, split the Red Sea in two such that they were delivered out of the house of slavery and annihilated their enemies. Remembering the promise of the Lord to bring them into and give them the land of promise. Now, there probably were more things to be remembered. And as the Lord gives his people the Ten Commandments, what does he say? I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Passover was to be celebrated, but the Passover was also that which caused them to remember and meditate upon all of these blessings that they had received. As you take the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, what’s going through your mind? You must recognize that there is a parallel between the Passover and the Lord’s Supper. And so as you take the supper, what’s happening?
What’s going on? What are you remembering? The Israelites were to be remembering that which the Lord had done for them, that he delivered them out of bondage. that he had spared their firstborn, that they were granted access into worship with the assembly of God. What are you remembering? What’s on your heart? What’s on your mind? What are you thinking about?
What are you meditating upon as you receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ spiritually? Are you thinking of your deliverance? Are you remembering that you’ve been delivered out of bondage to sin? Are you remembering how awful and wretched it was to be in the iron furnace of sin, where sin was your master, that it had dominion over you?
As you take the bread and the wine or the grape juice, are you remembering, are you meditating on, are you praising God for your deliverance by and through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You see, that’s what the Passover had done for the Israelites. It delivered them out of bondage. And it’s a picture of what the blood of Jesus Christ has done for you. He has broken your chains to sin.
Is that what’s going through your heart, your mind, as you take the supper? Are you remembering? Are you remembering your substitutionary cleansing? Even as your chain to sin is broken, the punishment or guilt, which we spoke of this morning in Sunday school, of your sins remains, doesn’t it? That which you have earned, death, by and through your sins, that remains upon you.
So I speak of cleansing. And as I speak of cleansing, what I’m really speaking of is the gift of life that you’ve been given. Because actually there is no life in sin, is there? There’s no life in your sin. As you were immersed in your sins, as you were surrounded by your sins, as you lived in your sins, you’re actually living in death.
But you see, as the blood of the lamb was placed on the lintels and the doorposts of the dwelling place of the Hebrews, the firstborn were as good as dead until that blood was shed. Then they were given life. They were delivered from death to life. They were spared. But more so they were given life by the blood of a lamb, which was offered up as a substitute. Is that what you’re thinking as you take the cup? The blood of the true lamb. Jesus Christ offered up in your place. His death for your death. such that you’ve been transferred, transformed from death to life.
Is that what you’re thinking of? Is that what you’re praising God for? Is that what you’re thanking Christ for? You’re cleansing, you’re life-giving cleansing. And then finally, as you take the elements, as you ingest the bread and the wine or grape juice, Are you remembering that you’re in worship? That the sacrament is being given to you and you’re receiving it in the midst of a service of worship where you’re meeting with God? Are you remembering that as Jesus Christ was taking his last breath on the cross at Calvary, that as he was giving up his spirit, that as he was laying down his life, that as he was suffering the eternal wrath of his father to the dregs, meaning to drinking the last drop of his father’s cup of wrath that he tore the veil in two.
Is that what you’re meditating upon? Because as he did these things, as he satisfied the divine righteous judgment for your sin and made you blameless, such that you’re now able to enter into that heavenly temple, a temple not made with human hands, and like Isaiah, to gaze upon your king, your savior on the throne, your maker. Is that what you’re remembering?
Is that the memorial that’s moving through your mind, knowing that without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, you’d have absolutely no opportunity, no ability, no access to worship? That which you were created for, that which you long to do, but without Christ, You’d have no opportunity.
I know the supper is not only a memorial. It’s much more. But it is a memorial in addition to all the other things that it is. And so as you come, as you’re taking the supper, what is it that you’re remembering as you take the bread and the cup? What’s flowing through your heart and mind? Passover helps us. But as you’re ingesting the spiritual body and blood of Christ, we do well to remember all that Christ has done as we take his spiritual body and blood. That brings us to our second point, the desire for the Passover. This is a very interesting portion of scripture Because it’s not merely Moses reiterating and setting forth, well, this is the Passover, this is what you’re supposed to do.
No, there are men, certain men who come who are unclean. They confess their uncleanness. Moses, we can’t come. We’ve touched a dead body. And they knew, somehow they know the rules and regulations concerning the Passover. They knew the rules and regulations concerning being unclean. We don’t even read of this until the 19th chapter in Numbers, whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. Okay, they knew that already. And they knew because of their uncleanness that it wouldn’t be right for them to come and worship in this way or worship at all.
Now we don’t know the circumstances of what happened, but we do know that these men were so concerned about the reverence for God that they come to Moses and approach Moses, and they ask, why are we prevented from coming? Why are we kept from bringing the Lord’s offering with everyone else? Can’t there be some exception for us? That seems to be the question they’re asking. Would you ask the Lord?
And so we know that’s exactly what Moses does, and we know the response of the Lord. He shall still keep the Passover, one who has touched the dead body and is on a long journey in the second month. It wasn’t in the first month, but they were able to keep the Passover.
Why is this here? What does the Lord want us to take from this? Certainly, this passage teaches us that there was a desire, a great desire by these men. Remember, the celebration was to happen only once a year. And so they stood to lose this opportunity. And so they asked to receive it, this opportunity to serve the Lord and be blessed by the Lord. They had a desire to come before the Lord at this exclusive and infrequent celebration. It’s on their hearts. It was a longing that they had. How much easier would have been to say, well, not my fault. Somehow I came in contact with the dead body. I’m unclean. Maybe next year.
But their desire was to bring their offering. and come together with the assembly in worship, so much so that they would approach Moses, the messenger, the spokesman for the Lord, and plead for an opportunity to worship. What about you? What’s your desire?
The Lord’s Supper has rules and regulations. There are biblical boundaries. Paul writes about some of them in his letter to the church at Corinth. And so as you’re contemplating, receiving, and taking the supper, you’re called to prepare yourself. There’s to be an examination of your faith in Christ, an examination of the sincerity of your repentance. There are to be events in the life of a Christian in the preparation for the taking of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
So you need to see, again, a parallel with the Passover. There was preparation by the Israelites in order to take and celebrate and participate in the Passover. Very tangible preparations. Slaying of the lamb all at once. Being clean. And those who came to Moses were admitting their uncleanness. But they had a desire. So that has to make us ask that question, what’s my desire?
As you contemplate the Lord’s Supper, the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, what’s your desire and your preparations? As we read tonight, Paul tells us, whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Are you worthy? Are you preparing yourself to be worthy? Are you examining yourself? Is that your desire?
Do you desire the supper so much that you would, in fact, take what Paul says and, look, I need to do this? I need to prepare. I want the supper. I want to participate. And so I need to examine myself, my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I need to examine my repentance. I need to ask the Holy Spirit to help me examine myself.
The desire of these men was so strong that they would participate in this offering, this communal worship, that they would ask Moses to enable them. Are you asking the Spirit to enable you? as you contemplate the Lord’s Supper? Are you pleading with the Spirit to prepare you to come in cleanness?
Not that you can be pure or without sin. Not that your repentance is perfect. It won’t be until Jesus Christ returns. But isn’t that the purpose of the supper? To build up your faith? To increase it? Recognizing that we have small faith? By eating and drinking of Christ, our faith is built. Our repentance becomes stronger and more complete. Isn’t that one of the purposes of the supper? Of feasting upon Christ? Is that your desire? To feast upon Christ so that you’d be stronger, able to fight the battles that are coming.
So do you desire it so much that you’d plead with the Spirit, just as these pleaded with Moses? Please grant us access to this time of worship, to this celebration. Do you plead with the spirit such that he would move in your heart to help you recognize and confess unconfessed sin? Do you plead with the spirit that he would help you acknowledge what’s lacking in your faith and that he would work in and through the sacrament to build you up and improve your repentance? I hope, brothers and sisters, that each of us would be pleading for this blessed work of the Spirit as he prepares us to come with that desire, that burning desire to feast upon Christ.
That brings us then to our third point, the neglect of the Passover. It’s interesting that Moses sets these two things in contrast, the men who so desired, so longed to worship in Passover versus those who weren’t. Verse 13, but if anyone who is clean and who’s not on a journey fails to keep the Passover, that person shall be cut off from his people. because he did not bring the Lord’s offering at its appointed time. That man shall bear his sin. There was no desire. Now, we don’t know if that was happening at this time. We don’t know if this was Moses just, as he’s inspired, he’s warning the people. Could be. But we do know that this would become a common theme for the entire nation.
As we just read in 2 Chronicles, that there were king upon king upon king upon king who didn’t observe the Passover the way Josiah did. And I think what that means is they just didn’t observe the Passover. They neglected it. And the question is why? Why would the Israelites, why would any of them, have chosen to neglect the Passover Why would they neglect to do with that which the Lord commanded? Why would they neglect to engage in that communion, that blessed communion? We might be able to explain or rationalize in our corrupt minds and hearts why they would fail to obey one of the commandments of God with regard to the law, but how do we explain this neglect of a command which was to be a great blessing?
Celebration of the Passover. So it boils down to that, doesn’t it? Why would anyone forego or neglect the blessing of the Lord. Well, the Passover took time, didn’t it? It required a devotion of time to the Lord. It wasn’t a one-day event. It wasn’t come to worship for an hour, hour and a half, and then go home, do whatever you want. It was seven days.
Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. The first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses. On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly. On the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days, but everyone who needs to eat alone, that alone may be prepared by you.
Passover had requirements. You couldn’t have leavened bread in your home. In fact, you couldn’t have leaven. You had to remove it. There were other requirements, no work. And so we can speculate, we can speculate as to why they didn’t want to meet these requirements because maybe they had something better to do.
And so they neglected the Passover. As a nation, they would neglect the Passover. But it forces us to ask the same question of ourselves. Why would we neglect a blessing of the Lord? And so we have to ask, am I neglecting the supper? You might be thinking right now, no, I come to worship on the first Sunday? I come, I take the supper, of course I do.
But are you? Westminster Larger Catechism has a couple of questions and answers with regard to the supper. And I’m thinking particularly of number 174, and maybe 175. If you turn to the back of your hymnals, you find 174 on page 963. And the question reads there, what is required of them that receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper in the time of the administration of it? What are you supposed to be doing when you’re receiving the bread, the wine, the grape juice. Here’s the answer. It is required of them that receive the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper that during the time of the administration of it, with all holy reverence and attention, they wait upon God in that ordinance, diligently observe the sacramental elements and actions, heedfully discern the Lord’s body and affectionately meditate upon his death and sufferings, and thereby stir up themselves to a vigorous exercise of their graces in judging themselves, in sorrowing for sin, in earnest hungering and thirsting after Christ, feeding upon him by faith, receiving of his fullness, trusting in his mercies, rejoicing in his love, giving thanks for his grace, and renewing of their covenant with God and love to all the saints. I won’t read the next one.
But as I read that, were you thinking, what a blessing. What a blessing the supper is. Am I mining, am I digging into it deeply to draw all of these things out as I’m receiving the body and blood of Jesus Christ, as I’m being taken up to to glory for a moment by the Spirit and where Christ is and I’m feeding upon Him truly, spiritually feeding upon Christ. Am I earnestly hungering and thirsting after Him as this is happening? What a blessing to be able to participate in this. Rejoicing in His love, giving thanks for His grace. Is that what, are you doing that? Are you receiving that blessing?
And I think I can answer for many of us, no, I’m not. And in a sense, I am neglecting the supper. I’m not squeezing out all of the blessings that are contained within it, that the Lord has for me in the sacrament. because I haven’t contemplated all of the blessings that he has for me in it. Brothers and sisters, I think tonight is a call for us to be doing just that.
And it’s a call for us that we would not miss our spiritual need. Did you notice the timing? The timing of this particular passage It is just before they set out. They’re celebrating the Passover just before they set out into the wilderness. They were going to need strength. And so the Lord blesses them with this powerful blessing that would come from the Passover.
And the question is, do you? Do you need that strength, that blessing that comes from taking and receiving and offering yourself up during the sacrament? I’m hoping our answer is yes. And I’m hoping that each of us tonight are saying, you know, there’s so much in the supper that I need more of. And I need to make sure that I am squeezing all of the blessings out that the Lord has for me each and every time I feast upon Christ. As the followers of Jesus, I need the blessings of the Lord’s Supper to continue to press on in this wilderness. The Israelites neglected this blessing, and as we know, weren’t able to continue to press on where the Lord had placed them.
But Jesus Christ is working powerfully tonight, and each and every time we come to take a supper, and I think this is a great reminder for each of us tonight, there’s so many blessings in the Lord’s Supper that it’s difficult for us to contain each one of them, but it’s a call tonight for us to be students and be edified by the Spirit and be submitting our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and saying, Holy Spirit, have your way with me.
Bless me in this sacrament. Amen. Heavenly Father, what a joy it is to just think about, to meditate upon the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Even though we didn’t take it today, Lord God, we look forward to the next time that we’re able to, and we pray, Lord God, that you would help us to grasp the blessings of the supper, all that you have for us. Help us, Lord, never to neglect any portion of the supper, any portion of the sacrament, and help us to receive all the blessing you have for us each and every time we take it until the Lord returns. We ask this in his name. Amen.