Your every meal makes the mandate of his coming relevant and communicates the meaning of the New Covenant.
— 1 Corinthians 11:26 (Mirror Bible)
The purpose for taking communion is to remember the covenant. This meal of the covenant declares the reason He came and the meaning of the new covenant – that I died with Christ and I am raised with Christ (Romans 6:8).
We have the idea that a covenant is a contract because that is really all we know living in the west. We don’t have covenants, even our marriage covenant is treated as a contract. A contract can be changed or rewritten. It is made with a note of distrust and basically says that I am not sure you will do what you say, so to protect myself, I am drawing up an agreement of protection.
God did not make a contract with us protecting Himself but rather, He made a covenant protecting us. He wanted nothing holding us back or preventing us from His love so He established covenant with us.
The amazing thing is this covenant, while being made with us, is actually made through our representative. Jesus came as us, for us, so that covenant could be made between God and man. Jesus is our representative, just as David represented the Israelites when he fought Goliath. All of Israel were in David when he slayed the giant. They enjoyed the victory as if they had defeated Goliath personally.
God will not break his side of the covenant and who is on the other side of the covenant? God the Father is on one side and God the Son, in the fullness of His humanity, is on the other side. This covenant is God with God; it is a covenant between God and the Son of Man.
Once a covenant is made the only way to break it is by death. If this covenant between God and man (Jesus) were broken, then God would cease to be, but it is secure; it is established and will never be broken. We can bank on it because Jesus defeated death (Acts 2:24) and has risen victoriously establishing a covenant completely taking death out of the picture.
Deuteronomy 7:9 says that He keeps His covenant of love to those who keep His commands and love Him. This can be daunting, but remember Jesus is our representative. We receive what He did. He did the doing, He kept the commands and loved (Matthew 5:17). I am to accept His work for me, as me in the covenant, This is the abiding place of faith; it is in His finished work. All things in the covenant are mine because of Jesus.
The words lovingkindness or mercy in the OT are often translated from the covenant word – hesed. You have rights and privileges given to you as partakers of the covenant. These are yours based on the finished work of Jesus – God’s covenant with man.
“Rejoice! This is the day the Lord has made.”
Examine Who?