17
`And as they were eating (i.e., the Passover, see verses 17 and 19), Jesus took bread (i.e., a Passover loaf of
unleavened bread), and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is My body.
And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is My blood of the
new testament (new covenant), which is shed for many for the remission of sins'.
1 Corinthians 5:7 tells us that Christ is the true passover Lamb, and consequently His death fulfilled the type, and
the Lord's Supper fulfils the observance.
Israel and the New Covenant.
Is the new covenant a part of that mystery which had been hidden from ages and generations? Listen to the
Prophet Jeremiah:
`At the same time [i.e., the latter times (30:24)], saith the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of ISRAEL,
and they shall be My people ... Again I will build thee ... O virgin of ISRAEL ... O LORD, save Thy people, the
remnant of ISRAEL. Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the
earth ... a great company shall return thither ... for I am a Father to ISRAEL ... He that scattered ISRAEL will gather
him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. For the LORD hath redeemed JACOB ...
`Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a NEW COVENANT with the HOUSE OF ISRAEL, and with
the HOUSE OF JUDAH: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt (hence connection of the new covenant with the Passover) ... But
this shall be the covenant that I will make with the HOUSE OF ISRAEL ...
`If those ordinances (sun, moon, and stars) depart from before Me, saith the LORD, then the seed of ISRAEL also
shall cease from being a NATION before Me for ever' (Jer. 31).
Under no system of true interpretation can the Church of the Mystery be understood as referred to here. Both the
first and the second covenants are closely connected with the Passover (Exod. 12; Deut. 29:25). There is no
covenant mentioned in Scripture which pertains to the One Body.
`Till He Come'.
In 1 Corinthians 11 the apostle told the Church that in the Lord's Supper they did `show forth the Lord's death,
till He come'. The hope of the Lord's return was before the Church of those days as an event that would happen
during the lifetime of its members. The coming which was expected was the parousia, the personal presence of
Christ on the earth.
This parousia coming is explained for us in Matthew 24, where it is closely associated with all the signs of the
end of the age, and it takes place immediately after the great tribulation (Matt. 24:27-30). It was for this coming that
the Thessalonians waited.
The apostle Paul in the last chapter of the Acts sums up the expectation in the words, `The hope of Israel'. Now
the hope of Israel is one thing, and the hope of the Church of the Mystery is another. Peter in Acts 3:19-21 defines
the hope of Israel:
`Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall
come from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ ... Whom the heaven must receive until the
times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world
began (ages)'.
The Condition.
The coming of Christ is here seen to hinge upon the repentance of Israel. `Repent ye therefore ... WHEN ... He
shall send Jesus Christ'. This hope obtained when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians. It still held good when Paul reached
Rome. It ceased to hold good when Israel as a nation was set aside.