More than just remembering Christ, we are actually communing with Him by His Spirit. “Our memories of Christ are no substitute for his living presence,” Marcus Johnson writes. “Our recollections of Christ’s death, as meaningful and enriching as they are, cannot replace our very participation in the One who was crucified.” [1]

Many Christians today hold to the misconception that the Lord’s Supper is nothing other than a memorial meal, a time where we “look back” and reflect upon the death of Christ. This is generally the view of mainstream evangelicalism, though if we are not cautious it can easily become the default position in Reformed congregations as well.

I’m not denying that the Lord’s Supper is a time of reflection and remembrance. After all, Jesus commanded His disciples to “do this in remembrance of me.” But is that all it is? Our Reformed Confessions say otherwise. More than just remembering Christ, we are actually communing with Him by His Spirit. “Our memories of Christ are no substitute for his living presence,” Marcus Johnson writes. “Our recollections of Christ’s death, as meaningful and enriching as they are, cannot replace our very participation in the One who was crucified.” [1]

So looking back on what Christ has done during our observance of the Supper is not enough. But what I would like to focus on in this brief article is how, in large measure, the sacrament is actually meant to be a time of looking forward in faith and hope about what Christ will do for His people. In fact, it is my firm belief that more than anything else, the Lord’s Supper is the most powerful and effective means of exhibiting to us the hope of the new heavens and the new earth.

How so?

Being created in God’s image, mankind is made to commune with God. We answer the great purpose for which we were made when we know God, glorify Him, and enjoy Him always. Thus in the Garden there was a call to obedience sent out to Adam (Genesis 2:17). He was expected to respond in faith and submission. As a reward for this obedience, Adam would have been privileged to feast with God at the Tree of Life (3:22). This was the goal: eternal feasting and fellowship with God Himself. In a word, communion. And by God’s design, communion is most profoundly expressed and experienced through feasting.

But, of course, man sinned. Communion between man and God was ruptured, and it’s full expression in the meal was never realized. But though God dealt punishment by withholding access to the Tree of Life, He does so only for a time. As Scripture unfolds, we see evidence that God was still extending that initial invitation to His image-bearers.

The establishment of Israel as a nation in the Book of Exodus is a grand example. God covenants with His people in a way very similar to that of Adam in the garden. He calls them to obedience (Exodus 20), they are meant to respond in faith (Exodus 24:3, “Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do”). As a reward, the people feast with God: “Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank” (24:9-11).

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