Lord’s Table Addresses
by John Murray
Professor
of Systematic Theology
Westminster
Theological Seminary (1937-1966)
Taken
from Volume 3 of Collected Writings of John Murray
(Carlisle,
PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1982, pp. 280-288)
Table Address 1
For
the people of God, sensitive to the gravity of sin as offence against God and
sensitive to the liabilities created by this offence, there is nothing that
comes between them and damnation but the blood of Christ shed upon the accursed
tree. The shed blood must never be thought of apart from Christ in his identity
as the Son of God become man or apart from all his offices. But we may likewise
never think of him in his identity and offices apart from the blood shed on
Calvary And it is the blood shed that is focal in the purview of the believer
as he thinks of sin in its gravity and of the awful liabilities it creates. It
is of the precious blood of Christ he lays hold when he thinks of sin and its consequence. It is to
this that the Saviour himself directed the thought of his disciples at the
institution of the Supper: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is
shed for you” (Luke 22:20). The Lord’s Supper is the seal of the new covenant
and of the forginess of sins, and of both in Jesus’ blood.
Covenant
is oath‑bound certification of sovereign grace, grace that insures “I
will be your God and ye shall be my people.” It is the covenant because it
brings covenant grace to the apex of its realization, and for that reason it is
the everlasting covenant. It will never give place to another. How could it?
Christ is given for a covenant people and he himself is the guarantee, the
surety, the embodiment of all covenant grace. If Christ is ours he is ours in
all the completeness that is his, and in him all things are ours. “Ye are
complete in him.” All this in his blood.
The
Lord’s Supper is the seal of forgiveness, because the blood in which the
covenant is given is shed for many for the remission for sins. As you think of
sin in its gravity and liability, and as you plead Jesus’ blood and reach forth
to it in the desperation of need, this is the assurance—there is forgiveness of
sin. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our
transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12). “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget
not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy
diseases” (Ps. 103:2, 3,).
Table Address 2
The
Lord’s Supper commemorates the death of Christ. “As often eat this bread and
drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come” (I Cor. 11:26). The
death of Christ has the same reference as shedding of his blood, and Jesus
said: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.”
It
is well for us to think of the ways in which the three persons of the Godhead
are active in the death of Christ.
God
the Father was not a spectator in the sufferings and death of Christ. There are
various ways in which the activity of God the Father is set forth in the
Scripture. It was the Father who gave his Son, who sent him, who was
reconciling the world to himself in Christ. But we may think particularly of
the delivering up (Rom. 8:32, cf. 4:25). He delivered him to the full judgment
of justice against sin. It is the Father who is in view when we read: “The Lord
hath laid on him the iniquity of us all;” “it pleased the Lord to bruise him;”
“awake, O sword, against my shepherd” (cf. Ps. 22). He delivered him to the
full power of the powers of darkness!
But
it is just here that we need to note the action of the Son himself. It was not
the Father who wrenched life from him. Jesus gave his ransom, he laid it down
of himself. When he died it was by his action. He died in obedience. His was a
sacrifice and he was the priest not the Father. He offered himself. By himself he
purged our sins.
We
might think that there was no activity of the Holy Spirit. This would be
impossible. At Christ’s baptism the Spirit came upon him. The Spirit drove him
into the wilderness to be tempted. He returned to Galilee in the power of the
Spirit. By the Spirit he cast out demons. He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. And
we could not think of the Holy Spirit as inactive in the climactic requirement
of his mission. But we have the express witness in Hebrews 9:14, “How much more
shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself . .
.” He was furnished with all holy resolution to offer himself without spot to
God. He testified beforehand.
It is necessary for our appreciation of the great event of redemption to consider how all three persons of the adorable Trinity were involved. Oh, what a marvel of grace, love, and wisdom, and each active in the way necessary and appropriate to the distinguishing properties and prerogatives of each person!
Table Address 3
In
the Lord’s Supper we are commemorating the death of Christ. This is remarkable.
Do we commemorate the death of loved ones? Scarcely! We remember the death and
the date. But we do not commemorate. However, it is not merely a commemoration.
It is a celebration; often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew
the Lord’s death till he come” (I Cor. 11:26). We are proclaiming the Lord’s
death and therefore go on proclaiming. We do not go on proclaiming the death of
any other person. A death is announced, and if we went on perpetually
announcing, not to speak of proclaiming, we would be properly regarded as
insane. But Jesus’ death we proclaim.
All
of this points up the significance, the unique character of Jesus’ death. Why?
Oh, it is the redemptive character that imparts to it this significance. “This
cup is the new covenant in my blood.” “Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to
God by thy blood.” This is a perpetual anthem and the mansions of glory will
everlastingly resound with this melody. It is only as we have participation in
this blood that we entertain any living hope or lasting joy; there must be
participation in the blood shed and the body given. “The cup of blessing which
we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we
break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ” (I Cor. 10:16). “Except
ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in
you” (John 6:53). We can say commemoration and celebration because there is
perpetual participation in a feast that has no equal.
But
in the text quoted there is more—“Until he come.” How much that betokens! We
celebrate the death, but not the death of a dead Saviour. He is going to come
again and therefore he is alive. “Fear not: I am the first and the last, and the
living one, and I became dead and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have
the keys of death and of hell” (Rev. 1:17, 18). If he were not alive we would
not be celebrating, because then the death would be bereft of its virtue and
power. “He was delivered up for our offences and was raised for our
justification” (Rom. 4:25).
But
the main emphasis of the text is that he will come again. The Lord’s supper is
retrospective—the memorial of Jesus’ death. It is communion here and now in
the present. But it is also prospective—it is
charged with perpetual anticipation; we are looking for, and hasting
unto the coming of the day of God. He will be manifested the second time
without sin for them that look for him unto salvation.