For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11.26 ESV)
Jesus himself instituted the Lord’s Supper on the night he was betrayed. Paul confirms this and says we are to proclaim this death until Jesus comes. What about the death of Jesus Christ should we proclaim?
1. The death of Jesus Christ is propitiatory
2. The death of Jesus Christ is substitutional
3. The death of Jesus Christ is reconciliatory
4. The death of Jesus Christ has brought us victory over Satan and his demons
5. By the death of Jesus Christ we have victory over death
We must tell the whole world that you only have to believe, accept, and appropriate these for yourself. We don’t have to take any punishment, fear death, Satan, or his demons because Jesus has already done all these for us. We only have to walk in the victory.
Longer version
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11.26 ESV)
We are aware that this letter was written by the Apostle Paul to the Corinthian church to correct them on many things they were doing wrong. There were problems with how they were celebrating the Lord’s Supper so he wrote this to correct them. We know that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by the Lord Jesus himself.
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (Matthew 26.26-29 ESV)
Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper himself before he died. In the book of 1 Corinthians the Apostle Paul confirmed that the Lord instituted the Lord’s supper on the night he was betrayed.
Why the Lord’s Supper?
When you do a study you will find many reasons why it was instituted. One of the reasons can be found in the verse 26 we just read which says, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
One of the reasons is for us to proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. It is not just for one day, or two days, or one month, but to do it until he comes.
There are two issues here on which I want us to reflect.
1. What is the meaning of “proclaim”?
2. What about the death of Jesus should we proclaim?
What is the meaning of “proclaim”?
To proclaim simply means to announce, to declare, or to broadcast. So, when he says to proclaim, he means we should announce, broadcast, and spread the death of Jesus Christ. It means we should carry the gospel of his death and resurrection around the world. So, as often as we eat and celebrate it, let us announce, broadcast, and spread the death of Jesus Christ.
What is it about the death of Jesus Christ that we should proclaim?
Going through the scriptures, there are a few things that God expects us to proclaim about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
1. The death of Jesus Christ is propitiatory
In 1 John 4.10 it says,
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (ESV)
We must proclaim to the world that the death of Jesus Christ is propitiatory. To propitiate is to appease. When there is an offence and one party is offended, the other party has to appease them. It involves the offering of a gift or sacrifice of sufficient value in order that the wrath of another person may be appeased. So propitiation has two purposes: to set aside the wrath of the offended party; and to bring peace between the two parties.
We in the Ghanaian or Akan culture can understand it. When a son offends his father, the father expects him to come and appease him and, when the son is coming, he does not come empty-handed; he comes with a lamb or some gift to appease him. This is to set aside the wrath of the father and bring peace between the two parties.
In the Garden of Eden when we had sinned against God—when we had been proud and wanted to be independent of God—there was a challenge. We had sinned against God and offended him and the next thing was for us to appease him and settle his wrath but no other sacrifice was of sufficient value to appease God and take away his wrath. Reading through the Scriptures, in the Old Testament, there were sacrifices of bulls, lambs, rams, and other kinds of sacrifices but no sacrifice was of sufficient value to take away God’s wrath. So, instead of the offender bringing a sacrifice to appease the offended, the offended himself said there was only one sacrifice that could satisfy his wrath so he brought it so there would be peace between him and us. Jesus was that sacrifice of sufficient value to bring peace between us and God. The death of Jesus Christ has come to settle the hostility between God and man.
In Ephesians 2 it talks about life before we accepted Christ.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2.1-3 ESV)
So, naturally, we were objects of God’s wrath and there was nothing we could do to turn away the anger of God. We were condemned to hell and eternal destruction but by the death of Jesus and his resurrection now we carry the favor and blessing of God. We are now the children of God because the wrath of God that was upon us has been taken away from us guilty sinners, and this we must proclaim. We must announce to everybody that by the death of Jesus Christ we do no longer carry the anger of God. We are his favorite children. When God sits in heaven and is looking at his favorite children, he cannot count me out. The Bible says to proclaim this until he comes.
2. The death of is subsitutional
To substitute is to do something in place of someone. When I think of this I think of a football match. When the coach wants to change his tactical play, he removes somebody from the game and brings someone like me who is an offensive midfielder who comes to play in the place of the one who was removed. What I mean by subsitutional is that he suffered and died in place of us. In Galatians 3.13 it says that,
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— (ESV)
That is why I say I am a blessed child of God. I am beyond curses. And if somebody stands somewhere and makes declarations against me it will not work because Jesus Christ carried my curse on my behalf. The curse I should have carried, he came in and carried it in my stead. Isaiah 53.5 says,
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. (ESV)
He was punished for a sin he never committed. He was bruised for something he never did. We were the ones who had sinned and should have carried it but Jesus said, “I have come. Punish me instead of them” so they punished him, pierced him and put a crown of thorns on his head. Our story is like Barabbas who had been condemned to die because he had committed robbery, murder, and so on and he knew at any time he could be called out and killed. One day he was in the room and I’m sure—the Bible didn’t say but I’m sure—he thought the end had come. The judge looked at him and said, “Mr. Barabbas, go home, you are free.” “Why?” he must have asked. “Somebody has been exchanged for your punishment. Somebody is carrying your burden for you.” I’m sure he would be surprised. Who is doing this for me? He was not just free but somebody was carrying his burden on his behalf. Jesus carried our punishment for us. I came to announce to you that his death is substitutional. He came to take the punishment and death on our behalf.
God is a just God and there will definitely be a punishment for sin. The Bible says the wages of sin is death so once we have sinned there must be punishment. God was in his courtyard considering and said, “Man has sinned and needs to be punished” but he said, “I will die for him.” He gave the verdict and took the punishment himself. The death of Jesus Christ has taken away our sorrows and sin. So the Bible says that he who did not know any sin was made sin that we may be made the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5.21) The death of Jesus is substitutional and this we must proclaim.
We must tell the whole world that you only have to believe, accept, and appropriate this for yourself. We don’t have to take any punishment because Jesus has already done it.
3. The death of Jesus is reconciliatory
In Ephesians 2.16 it says,
and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. (ESV)
Before you talk of reconciliation there must have been disagreement. There was a huge disagreement between us and God and we couldn’t stand face to face with him because we had become rebellious and were proud and disobedient but God reconciled himself to the whole world through Jesus. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, it was God himself in Christ reconciling the whole world to himself, killing every hostility and removing every barrier. That is why we can come to God confidently. So, when you come to church and you look like you are not really sure of yourself I don’t understand you.
In Colossians 1.21-22 it says,
And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, (ESV)
In the Garden of Eden when God was approaching we were running away but by the death of Jesus Christ we have been reconciled to him. You are not a stranger or a foreigner but a complete child of God. So, we come to Christ as children not as slaves. This also we must proclaim. The only thing we must to is to accept the work he has done for us and when we do we are reconciled to him and not strangers. When you come to God come with boldness. That is why the Bible says we should approach the throne of grace with all confidence. (Hebrews 4.16) When you come to God he is happy.
4. His death has brought us victory over Satan and his demons
In Colossians 2.15 it says,
He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (ESV)
Satan had an army he was using to frighten us and to disturb our peace but Jesus disarmed him and subjected him to a public spectacle—an open shame. He didn’t defeat him in some corner somewhere but he brought him out where everybody could see. Everybody saw Satan had been beaten. I’m sure CNN announced it. I think BBC announced it.
The devil cannot frighten us any longer. We know he has been defeated. So we have victory. The victory of Jesus was not for himself but for us. He won the battle for us. He disarmed the devil and made a public show so he has no other story.
You remember that when Jesus resurrected they bribed the guards to say that when they slept his disciples came to steal the body? These days I am taking the fight to the devil. Now that I’ve understood that I am a lion I don’t wait because we have the victory by his death and this too we must proclaim.
5. By his death we have victory over death
Lastly, by his death we have victory over death. It means death has no authority over us. When I talk of death I’m talking about three kinds of death—natural death, spiritual death, and eternal death. Does it mean you will no die? No, for even if God blesses you with long life, at a certain age you yourself will ask God to take you home. My father is 92 years old now and, when Apostle Nyamekye was in Kofiridua and was leaving, he said, “Don’t leave now for you are the one who will take me home.” I see that now all he is thinking about is heaven, heaven. Thus, even if you live to 100 or 120, you will die but the story is that death does not have control over us and we don’t die but sleep and go to rest.
Anytime you hear I am dead don’t give any credit to any witch. Witches cannot take my life. It is the Lord who calls me home because death does not have any control over my life. By his death we have victory over death. That is why I don’t need any form of protection like a ring or talisman. So, on that day when the trumpet sounds I will rise first—that is, if I am gone. The dead in Christ shall rise first. We must proclaim this too.
Proclaim all these things about his death.
Main reference
1 Corinthians 11.26
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