The Lord’s Supper or Communion as it is also called is an “ordinance” (or sacrament) given to Church by the Lord Jesus Christ. In his letter to the Corinthian believers, the Apostle Paul wrote: “I received from the Lord that 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 brook it and said, “Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way also He 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 this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes” (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). The Lord’s supper was instituted right after the Passover, hence these words, “He took the cup after supper.”
The Lord’s Supper is a “memorial service” intended only for born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to proclaim His death until He returns. By partaking of the Lord’s Supper, two things are in view; His death on the cross for our sins and looking forward to His glorious appear when He coming again. We partake of the bread in remembering His body where He bore our sins. In partaking of the cup, we are remembering His shed blood for forgiveness of our sins. However, there are certain pre-conditions set forth in the scriptures concerning participation at the Lord’s Supper.
Self examination is absolutely essential before partaking of the Lord’s Supper, as Paul points out. “Whoever eats the bread and 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” (1 Corinthians 11:27,28). Paul also gives the reason for self examination. He states, “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself” (v. 29). If there is sin in our lives, then it needs to be confessed to the Lord before participation. Paul also warns of God’s judgment on those who fail to examine themselves, ”That is why many of you weak and ill, and some have died” (v. 30).
Observance of the Lord’s Supper means we do not look back at the blood on the door posts in Israel’s day, though it served God’s vital purpose then and it pointed in type to the Lord Jesus. Today, we look back at the Cross. The writer to the Hebrews clearly states that the one sacrifice of the New Covenant is superior to the many sacrifices of the Old. “He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sin. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sin, He sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:9-12).
The bread represents the Lord’s body and the cup represents His shed blood.