This Sunday, we will be partaking of the Lord’s Supper together. The Scriptures instruct us to approach the Lord’s table having examined ourselves (1 Cor 11:28) and having discerned the body (1 Cor 11:29). At Rumination & Reveille, we spent much time considering the value of biblical meditation. The Puritans widely regarded these references in 1 Corinthians as calls to prepare for the Supper through meditation. With that in mind, I would like to share with you the meditative suggestions of one such Puritan, Edmund Calamy.
In The Art of Divine Meditation, Calamy suggests twelve topics for meditation through which the believer can prepare to partake of the Lord’s Supper. One need not necessarily meditate on all of them at one time. As we observe the Supper twelve times per year at PBF, perhaps one could use one in preparation for each Communion service.
1. Meditate on the great and wonderful love of God the Father in giving Christ, not only to die for us on the cross, but in giving him to be our food in the Supper.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
1 John 3:1b See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.
1 John 4:10 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.
2. Meditate not only on the love of the Father in giving his Son, but of the love of the Son in giving himself.
Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
John 10:17–18 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
Ephesians 3:19 …and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
3. Meditate on the heinousness of sin; when we were fallen in Adam, we were engulfed into such a bottomless abyss of misery that nothing but the blood of a God could deliver us, for there was an infinite breach by sin between God and us.
Psalm 38:4 For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.
Ezra 9:6 …“O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.
1 Peter 1:18–19 … you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
4. Meditate on the excellency of the Supper as a commemoration of the blessed sacrifice offered on the cross for our sins.
Luke 22:19–20 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Hebrews 9:13–14 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
5. Meditate on your own unworthiness.
Matthew 15:27 “… even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
2 Samuel 9:8 …“What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?”
1 Timothy 1:16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.
6. Meditate on your spiritual needs and necessities.
Psalm 63:1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
John 15:4–5 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Hebrews 4:15–16 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
7. Meditate on the cursed condition of the unworthy receiver.
1 Corinthians 11:27–30 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or 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. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.
8. Meditate on the happy condition of those that come worthily to the Lord’s table.
Psalm 32:1–2 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
1 Peter 1:3–5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
9. Meditate on the elements themselves, the bread as the body of Christ, the cup as the blood of Christ, both offered to satisfy the wrath of God.
Matthew 26:26–28 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.
John 6:54–55 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
Isaiah 51:17 Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.
Mark 14:36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
10. Meditate on the actions of the Supper: (1) the breaking of the bread as the breaking of Christ’s body; (2) the pouring of the cup as the pouring of Christ’s blood; (3) the sharing of the elements as both participation in Christ and the oneness of the body of Christ.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit…
Hebrews 13:12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.
John 6:56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
1 Corinthians 10:16–17 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
11. Meditate on Christ’s return.
1 Corinthians 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
Revelation 1:7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
12. Meditate on the love deserved by Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:14–15 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
Psalm 73:25–26 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Mark 12:30 “…And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
1 Corinthians 16:22 If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!
Song of Songs 5:16 His mouth is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend…
Having just typed these headings and assembled these Scriptures, my heart is well stirred to join you at the table. May the Lord use our intentional meditations to prepare us well to partake of the Supper this Sunday…and each occasion until He comes!
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