This Do in Remembrance of Me.

Remembering is an essential discipline of living.

The Lord remembers His covenants all throughout Scripture (Psalm 105:5-12). He remembers the Noahic covenant whenever a rainbow appears (Genesis 9:14-16). In Genesis 19:29, He remembers His covenant to Abraham. Exodus 2:23-25 says that the Lord remembered His people in their suffering. It is His nature to remember what He promises (Isaiah 49:15-16).

Luke 22:14-23 describes part of Jesus' last week on earth. He and his disciples celebrated the Passover, which remembered the Israelites' deliverance from Egyptian slavery. The blood on the doorposts during the initial Passover event pictured the blood of the perfect Lamb of God required for salvation from sin (John 1:29). Warren Wiersbe gives a helpful description of how the stages of the Passover were practiced. Jesus was eager to remember the Passover, to do the will for which God had sent Him, and to receive encouragement from believing Jews. There is always agony in the joy of sacrifice, though the results of sacrifice will remain.

At the end of the feast, Jesus gave new meaning to the bread and cup (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). The Lord's Supper looks back to Christ's death on the cross and ahead to His second coming. The feast has another future fulfillment when God's people will be gathered together in His Kingdom.

The Lamb of God commands believers in the church to remember Him. He is the only one who can give freedom from captivity to sin and death to those who repent. He must be remembered above all human sacrifice for freedom. He alone can grant a transformed heart, spiritual life, the power to live a godly life, and eternal life for all who believe.

The words for "memorial" in German have two meanings: to remember with gratitude and to remember as a warning. The Lord's Table is a reminder in both senses. Those who have received salvation observe with thankfulness; those who have yet to trust Christ are warned of the judgement they will incur if they do not accept Christ's sacrifice on their behalf.