My Journey to Life, Step 26—The Lord’s Supper

1. What is the history and meaning of “The Lord’s Supper”?

On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus gathered His disciples together to institute a service that was to replace the Passover celebration and memorialize His great sacrifice, as well as proclaim faith in His Second Coming. Before their supper of unleavened bread and unfermented grape juice, Jesus washed each of His disciples’ feet. Together, the ordinances of foot washing and the Lord’s Supper make up the “communion service,” an opportunity to enter communion with Jesus. JTL26 3.1

As the Passover commemorates Israel’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 11:1; Exodus 12:1-29), so the Lord’s Supper celebrates our deliverance from spiritual Egypt and the bondage of sin (see Exodus 12:3-8). This deliverance is accomplished through the atoning blood of Christ on the cross of Calvary (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). JTL26 3.2

The nourishment we gain from food becomes part of our cells and sustains our lives. Similarly, we not only enter fellowship with Jesus at His Supper, but His qualities of love and holiness are appropriated into our choices. Because we are also disciples of Christ, the meaning we derive from the Lord’s Supper today is the same as it was for Jesus’ twelve disciples at the original Lord’s Supper in the upper room. It has been an essential part of Seventh-day Adventist worship from the inception of our movement. JTL26 3.3