The Lord’s Supper
“The ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper are two monumental pillars, one without and one within the church. Upon these ordinances Christ has inscribed the name of the true God.”
— 6 Testimonies for the Church, p. 91.–
Christ has made baptism the sign of entrance to His spiritual kingdom. He has made this a positive condition with which all must comply who wish to be acknowledged as under the authority of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Before man can find a home in the church, before passing the threshold of God’s spiritual kingdom, he is to receive the impress of the divine name, “The Lord our Righteousness.” — Jeremiah 23 : 6.
“Baptism is a most solemn renunciation of the world. Those who are baptized in the threefold name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, at the very entrance of their Christian life declare publicly that they have forsaken the service of Satan and have become members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King. They have obeyed the command : “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, …… and touch not the unclean thing.” And to them is fulfilled the promise : “I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6 : 17, 18.” – 6 Testimonies, p. 91.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are two main monumental pillars that are strictly binding. Christ has made the baptism the sign of entrance to His spiritual kingdom here on earth, which is the church. And thus the baptism could be given only to those coming from outside, who have been committed in a most solemn renunciation of the world. That is the reason why, the Lord named it “the monumental pillar which is without the church.”
Whereas the Lord’s Supper is to be provided for only those who have entered through the first monumental pillar, who are now to enter through the second monumental pillar. And thus the Lord’s Supper is provided for only those who are the true people of God.
So the Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the new ordinances indeed, to be implemented first in the time of John the Baptist and in the time of Jesus in the Palestine.
The Lord’s Supper to succeed the Passover
“In the last Passover our Lord observed with His disciples, He instituted the Lord’s Supper in the place of the Passover, to be observed in memory of His death.
“The national festival of the Jews was to pass away forever. The service which Christ established was to be observed by His followers in all lands and through all ages.” — The Faith I Live By, p. 300.
“The Passover was ordained as a commemoration of the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage. God has directed that, year by year, as the children should ask the meaning of this ordinance, the history should be repeated. Thus the wonderful deliverance was to be kept in fresh in the minds of all. The ordinance of the Lord’s Supper was given to commemorate the great deliverance wrought out as the result of the death of Christ. Till He shall come the second time in power and glory, this ordinance is to be celebrated. It is the means by which His great work for us is to be kept fresh in our minds.” — The Desire of Ages, pp. 652, 653.
The ordinance of the Lord’s Supper was instituted by the Lord Himself to succeed the ordinance of the Passover. It was instituted for the Christians of all ages to commemorate His suffering to deliver all repentant sinners from eternal death.
“This ordinance is not to be exclusive, as many would make it. Each must participate in it publicly, and thus bear witness : I accept Christ as my personal Saviour. He gave His life for me, that I might be rescued from death.”– The Faith I Live By, p. 302.
Symbol of Bread and the Cup of Wine.
How often the ordinance should be observed?
“The Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread : and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat : this is My body, which is broken for you : this do in remembrance of Me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood : this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till He come.” 1 Cor. 11 : 23 – 26.“ — The Desire of Ages, p. 652.
Bread and the cup of wine symbolize His body and blood that have been broken and spilled during the time of His death. This is none other than for the remission of sins of all mankind.
The servant of the Lord said further :
“The salvation of men depends upon a continual application to their hearts of the cleansing blood of Christ. Therefore, the Lord’s Supper was not to be observed only occasionally or yearly, but more frequently than the annual Passover. This solemn ordinance commemorates a far greater event than the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt. That deliverance was typical of the great atonement which Christ made by the sacrifice of His own life for the final deliverance of His people. ……………………………………………Unspeakably precious to them was the thought, “As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come.” — The Faith I Live By, p. 302.
Jesus’ Humiliating ceremony
of “Feet Washing“
was made a consecrated ordinance
“Jesus said : Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. Matt. 20 : 26. In My kingdom the principle of preference and supremacy has no place. The only greatness is the greatness of humility. The only distinction is found in devotion to the service of others.
“Now, having washed the disciples’ feet, He said, “I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” In these words Christ was not merely enjoining the practice of hospitality. More was meant than the washing of the feet of guests to remove the dust of travel. Christ was here i n s t i t u t i n g a religious service. By the act of our Lord this humiliating ceremony was made a consecrated ordinance. It was to be observed by the disciples, that they might ever keep in mind His lessons of humility and service.
“This ordinance is Christ’s appointed preparation for the sacramental service. While pride, variance, and strife for supremacy are cherished, the heart cannot enter into fellowship with Christ. We are not prepared to receive the communion of His body and His blood. Therefore it was that Jesus appointed the memorial of His humiliation to be first observed.
“As they come to this ordinance, the children of God should bring to remembrance the words of the Lord of life and glory : “Know ye what I have done to you ? Ye call Me Master and Lord : and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord; neither had he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” There is in man a disposition to esteem himself more highly than his brother, to work for self, to seek the highest place; and often these results in evil surmising and bitterness of spirit.
“The ordinance preceding the Lord’s Supper is to clear away these misunderstandings, to bring man out of his selfishness, down from his stilts of self-exaltation, to the humility of heart that will lead him to serve his brother.” – The Desire of Ages, p. 650.
“As the lesson of the preparatory service is thus learned, the desire is kindled for a higher spiritual life. To this desire the divine Witness will respond. The soul will be uplifted. We can partake of the Communion with a consciousness of sins forgiven. ……………
“To those who receive the spirit of this service, it can never become a mere ceremonial. Its constant lesson will be, “By love serve one another.” Gal. 5 : 13. In washing the feet of His disciples, Christ gave evidence that He would do any service, however humble, that would make them heirs with Him of the eternal wealth of heaven’s treasure. His disciples, in performing the same rite, pledge themselves in like manner to serve their brethren. Whenever this ordinance is rightly celebrated, the children of God are brought into a holy relationship, to help and bless each other. ……………..
“All this was comprehended in the words of Jesus, “I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you.” This was the intent of the service He established. And He says, “If ye know these things,” if ye know the purpose of His lessons, “happy are ye if ye do them.” – The Desire of Ages, p. 651.
Jesus’ Humiliating ceremony of “Feet Washing“ was made a consecrated ordinance. And this ordinance is Christ appointed preparation to be first observed to precede the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper to be celebrated.
Preparation for the Lord’s Supper
“But the Communion service was not to be a season of sorrowing. This was not its purpose. As the Lord‘s disciples gather about His table, they are not to remember and lament their shortcoming. They are not to dwell upon their past religious experience, whether that experience has been elevating or depressing. They are not to recall the differences between them and their brethren. T h e p r e p a r a t o r y s e r v i c e has embraced all this. T h e s e l f – e x a m i n a t i o n, t h e c o n f e s s i o n o f s i n, t h e r e c o n c i l i n g of d i f f e r e n c e s, has all been done. Now they come to meet with Christ. They are not to stand in the shadow of the cross, but in its saving light. They are to open the soul to the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness.” — The Desire of Ages, p. 659.
The preparatory service has embraced :
(a) The self-examination
(b) The confession of sin, and
(c) The reconciling of differences.
The three factors Seventh-day Adventists are lacking in this time of the end, because to the Law and to the Testimony (Isaiah 8 : 20), we lack most of the Testimonies of Jesus’ Spirit, in THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY, which contains the rules of implementation of the Ten Commandments. The servant of the Lord said :
“In ancient times God spoke to men by the mouth of prophets and apostles (in the Bible). In these days (in this time of the end). He speaks to them by the t e s t i m o – n i e s o f H i s S p i r i t. There was never a time when God instructed His people more earnestly than He instructs them now concerning His will, and the course that He would have them pursue” – Evangelism, p. 255, 256 (In brackets added).
THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY itself has divided our people into two main categories : the wheat, or the five wise virgins on the one side, and the tares or the five foolish virgins on the other side. Even those of the wheat or the five wise virgins themselves are to be separated again between the pure wheat on the one side, and the chaff on the other side. And all these separations are to stay up to the time of the purification of the Church, to meet the fulfillment of the prophecy of Ezekiel 9. The servant of the Lord said:
“While the Lord brings into the church those who are truly converted, Satan at the same time brings persons who are not converted into its fellowship. While Christ is sowing the good seed, Satan is sowing the tares. There are two opposing influences continually exerted on the members of the church. One influence is working for the purification of the church, and the other for the corrupting of the people of God. …….” –The Faith I Live By, p. 305.
“Sleeping preachers preaching to a sleeping people” (Testimonies, Vol. 2, p. 337); “the message of the True Witness finds the people of God in a sad deception, yet honest in that deception.” Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 253.
The servant of the Lord, Mrs. Ellen G. White, said further :
“In many hearts there seems to be scarcely a breath of spiritual life. This makes me very sad. I fear that aggressive warfare against the world, the flesh, and the devil has not been maintained. Shall we cheer on, by half-dead Christianity, the selfish, covetous spirit of the world, sharing its ungodliness and smiling on its falsehood? Nay! By the grace of God let us be steadfast to the principles of truth, holding firm to the end the beginning of our confidence. We are to be ‘not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.’ One is our Master, even Christ. To Him we are to look. From Him we are to receive our wisdom. By His grace we are to preserve our integrity, standing before God in meekness and contrition, and representing Him to the world.
“God brings against ministers and people the heavy charge of spiritual feebleness, saying, ‘I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see.’
“God calls for a spiritual revival and a spiritual reformation. Unless this takes place, those who are lukewarm will continue to grow more abhorrent to the Lord, until He will refuse to acknowledge them as His children.” – The Review and Herald, February 25, 1902.
This is the spiritual condition of our people today. And this is the fact that leads to the spewing out of Jesus’ mouth the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans and his followers in 1935. So you will have testified for yourselves, that no more preparatory service ever successful carried out by the church even up to now, because most of our people have been fallen in “the open sin“, the sin against the Holy Spirit, from which there is no more pardon.
Preparation among
“the wheat categorized” Adventists
In THE SPIRIT OF PROPEHCY, the wheat or the wise virgins categorized Adventists, are identified as Present Truth believers of Davidian Seventh-day Adventist Associations. These are the staunch followers of Brother Victor T. Houteff, the last prophet of God to succeed Mrs. Ellen G. White with his present truth message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1, that has united with the third angel’s message of Revelation 14 by Mrs. White, which is now enlightening our churches through THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY.
After the death of Victor T. Houteff in 1955, Satan has successfully delivered his knockout blows twice upon the present truth believers : first in about 1962 through Mrs. Houteff, and secondly after 1991 through the leadership of the Top of Carmel Headquarters in Waco, Texas, USA. And those outside Waco, Texas, were caught up in the trap of the antitypical Korahs, Dathans, and Abirams, who were running their own Headquarters respectively by the name Mount Carmel Center, either in Salem, South Caroline, in Mountaindale, New York, in Elk, Texas, and elsewhere even up to this day.
Therefore, after the death of Victor T. Houteff in 1955 up to now, the present truth believers seemed to have lost altogether their ability to seeing eye to eye, to having the same mind, and to speaking the same things, which are to identify them as under the guidance of the Spirit of Truth.
This is again to show us that even the present truth believers themselves have failed to have the preparatory service of : (a) the self-examination, (b) the confession of sin, and (c) the reconciling of differences, accomplished in their midst even up to now.
Therefore, unspeakably precious to them, though, was the thought, “As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come.” — The Faith I Live By, p. 302, the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper could not be observed until all the message of present truth in THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY be comprehended and fully obeyed.
Jesus arranged His supper for the twelve, not at the beginning of His mission, but just at the end. After promoting them to be more qualified Christians, that based upon the ALL TRUTH applied for that time, the Lord observed the ordinance of the Holy Communion with them, preceded by the humiliating ceremony of feet washing. Although only once held during His whole mission of the time, it is the only comprehensive ceremonial service to be the model for all His people till the end of time.
Brother Victor T. Houteff came in 1929 with the message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1. He was tasked to reorganize the General Conference of SDA to be the General Association of Davidian SDA in Waco, Texas in 1935, to meet the fulfillment of the call for a Spiritual Revival and a Spiritual Reformation by Mrs. E.G. White in Review and Herald, February 25, 1902. Although he has successfully united his message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1 with the third angel of Revelation 14 into the so-called THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY, which is now enlightening our churches in all the Laodicea, THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY is not as yet fully comprehended among the Laodiceans And this is the reason why the three factors of the preparatory service for the Lord’s Supper could not as yet be carried out during his life time. Even up to now among the present truth believers in the world.
Punishment for Those partaking
in the Lord’s Supper unworthily
“Who can distinguish the tares from the wheat? ‘Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.’ For “whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, u n w o r t h i l y, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” ”He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh d a m n a t i o n to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” 1 Cor. 11 : 28, 27, 29.” – The Desire of Ages, p. 656.
Due to the fact that Seventh-day Adventist churches in the world today have been generally dominated by the “tares” categorized Adventists, whereas the humiliating ceremony of feet washing and the Lord’s Supper were observed periodically on and on without properly making enough preparation on the part of the people. Do you doubt, that they that ate and drank unworthily the Lord’s body and blood, are the “tares” categorized Adventists?
From the fact that Present Truth of the message of the angel of Revelation 18 : 1, that now has united with the three angel’s message of Revelation 14, in THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY, to enlighten our churches everywhere, has not as yet heartily welcomed among our people, is this not an evidence that the people have been guilty of the body and blood of the Lord ? Is this not a token, that most of them have eaten and drunk in the Supper of the Lord unworthily, that they have eaten and drunk damnation to themselves? The consequences are very clear when Mrs. Ellen G. White as the servant of the Lord declared :
“I am instructed to say that these words are applicable to Seventh-day Adventist churches in their present condition. The love of God has been lost, and this means the absence of love for one another. Self, self, self is cherished, and is striving for the supremacy. How long is this to continue? Unless there is a re-conversion, there will soon be such a lack of godliness, that the church will be represented by the barren fig tree. Great light has been given to her. She has had abundant opportunity for bearing much fruit. But selfishness has come in, and God says, ‘I ….. will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.’
“Jesus looked upon the pretentious, fruitless fig tree, and with mournful reluctance pronounced the words of doom. And under the curse of an offended God, the fig tree withered away. God help His people to make an application of this lesson while there is still time.” – Review and Herald, February 25, 1902.
The Objective of the Holy Communion
From the two statements below we read :
“In the last Passover our Lord observed with His disciples, He instituted the Lord’s Supper in the place of the Passover, to be observed in memory of His death. — The Faith I Live By, p. 300.
”The ordinance of the Lord’s Supper was given to commemorate the great deliverance wrought out as the result of the death of Christ. Till He shall come the second time in power and glory, this ordinance is to be celebrated. It is the means by which His great work for us is to be kept fresh in our minds.” – The Desire of Ages, pp. 652, 653.
Never for a moment think that the Lord Supper was given us that we might be purified from sin. Nevertheless, we must first accomplish the preparatory service that consists of
(a) The self-examination
(b) The confession of sin, and
(c) The reconciling of differences
that our sins might be forgiven prior to coming to participate in the Lord’s Holy Communion. That means, through the preparatory service we might be purified by the Lord long before coming to participate in His Holy Communion.
The Lord’s Supper in the time of Jesus was indeed a model to imitate, either due to its preparatory service that had been accomplished by those participated, and for having the spirit of reconciliation after Jesus Himself carried out the humiliation ceremony of washing feet of all the disciples. With the attendance of the Holy Spirit in the midst of such a purified congregation, Judas was as soon as quickly cast out from their midst.
Though never such a cast out was seen in the churches today, we must be sure that the word of God through His servant Mrs. E.G. White would never fail. That as the requirement of the preparatory service was never observed before the Lord’s Supper, then we may be sure all the congregation, though not cast out bodily from the building, their names should have been surely taken out from the book of life in the heavenly sanctuary.
The objective of the Lord’s Supper seems clear to establish the people for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Its fullness, either during the time of the first Pentecost in Palestine, or at the coming season of the second Pentecost, when Jesus Himself is to descend on mount Zion to stand with the 144.000 saints (Revelation 14 : 1) there in Palestine. The typical event before the first Pentecost must meet its antitypical in the future as He has ever said:
“BUT I SAY UNTO, I WILL NOT DRINK HENCEFORTH OF THIS FRUIT OF THE VINE, UNTIL THAT DAY WHEN I DRINK IT NEW WITH YOU IN MY FATHER’S KINGDOM.” — The Desire of Ages, p. 659.
After the establishment of the 144.000 saints on the mount Zion as the first inmates of the kingdom on earth, and after partaking in the Holy Communion of His Supper with them, Jesus was to return to the heavenly sanctuary, to accomplish His work before the golden altar as the high Priest, up to the close of probation. From there He would have to pour out the Holy Spirit in Its fullness on the waiting saints below. And this is the second Pentecost as shown to John the Revelator in his following words,
“And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. …..And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer ; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. …….. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.” – Revelation 8 : 1, 3, 5.
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