Bread and Cup

Why Two Emblems?

Jesus took bread … and he took the cup.—Matthew 26:26,27

George Tabac

What is the distinction Jesus wanted to convey by using two different Memorial emblems? This study based on various types will show the “bread” pictures the ransom merit of Jesus, and the “cup” the sin-offering experiences of “The Christ” head and body.

When the Israelites were in Egyptian slavery, they were a type of the whole world of mankind under the bondage of sin and death. On the fourteenth day of the month Nisan the Israelites slew an unblemished lamb, and sprinkled its blood on the lintel and door posts of their houses, thus protecting the firstborn within each house from death.

Clearly this pictures Jesus, perfect and unblemished, who was put to death on the fourteenth day of Nisan as a ransom sacrifice. The first application of the merit of his sacrifice is used to justify the church of the firstborn, who, because they remain under the blood, are “passed over.” Ultimately, the other Israelites, picturing all mankind, were delivered when they passed safely through the Red Sea while their enemies were destroyed.

The Day of Atonement

On the Day of Atonement the high priest sacrificed an unblemished bullock as the first of two sacrifices required to bring the nation back into a relationship with God (Leviticus 16:11,14). The bullock represented Jesus. The high priest represents Jesus as a new creature making this sacrifice on behalf of himself (the church, his body members) and his “house” (the household of faith, the Great Company).

The next sacrifice was the Lord’s goat, which is a picture of the church: “Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people” (Leviticus 16:15). It might appear that Jesus’ merit was for the church and the church’s merit is for the world, but this is not the thought! The church has no redeeming merit of its own. The blood or merit of both the bullock and the Lord’s goat is our Lord’s. Two sacrifices are used to show how the merit of Jesus is applied.

The blood of the bullock (picturing Jesus’ merit), is first sprinkled or deposited in what might be termed the “bank of justice” to be applied at a future time on behalf of Adam and the entire human race. During the Gospel age the value of this merit is “borrowed,” so to speak, so it can be imputed to the church for its justification. When those to whom this merit is imputed have died, this merit is then sprinkled a second time, as shown when the blood of the Lord’s goat was applied on the mercy seat. Thus Jesus’ merit is returned to the bank of justice to be applied on behalf of Adam, releasing the world of mankind from condemnation.

The sacrifice of the bullock and the Lord’s goat are viewed by God as a single sacrifice. The high priest who made both sacrifices pictures the new creature of Jesus making both offerings. We, as members of Christ’s body, do not offer ourselves. We present ourselves to our high priest who offers us as a part of his sacrifice, as shown in Hebrews 7:27. “Who [Jesus Christ] needeth not daily [continually], as those [ancient] high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.” The word “himself” refers to the offering of our Lord as “head” at Jordan and his “body members” at Pentecost.

The Law Covenant

The sealing of the Law Covenant also required the blood of two different animals: “For where a covenant exists, the death of that which has ratified it is necessary to be produced; because a Covenant is firm over dead victims, since it is never valid when that which ratifies it is alive. Hence not even the first has been instituted without blood. For every commandment in the Law having been spoken by Moses to all the people, taking the blood of bullocks and of goats … he sprinkled both the book itself, and all the people, saying, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which God enjoined on you.’ ”—Hebrews 9:16-20, Diaglott.

As on the Day of Atonement, the blood of the same two animals ratified the old Law Covenant. (Multiple bullocks and goats were probably needed to get enough blood to sprinkle everyone.) Sealing the old Law Covenant was a picture of the sacrifice of Jesus and his church as sin-offering sacrifices which will seal or ratify the New Covenant. Paul confirms that the type using two different sacrifices pictured “The Christ,” head and body, when he says: “It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these” (Hebrews 9:23). The sacrifices (plural) refers to Jesus and his body members, the church.

Sprinkling the book of the law pictures the merit given to God’s justice. Sprinkling the people pictures bringing them into conformity with the New Covenant arrangements. Hebrews 9:16,17 states that the New Covenant itself cannot begin until that which “ratifies it has died.” The “death” of Jesus and of the church are thus shown as being prerequisite to the institution of the New Covenant.

The Bread

“As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body” (Matthew 26:26). The bread pictures Christ’s ransom merit. It must be accepted or “eaten” by the church now and by all mankind in the kingdom to receive life. The bread of the original Passover meal, as well as the Memorial bread, was unleavened. Leaven is a picture of sin, so unleavened bread pictures our Lord who was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26). When Jesus broke the unleavened bread and said, “Take, eat; this is my body,” he was saying the bread was a symbol of his perfect, sinless body which was broken or sacrificed as a ransom, a corresponding price for father Adam.

Jesus himself said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). The words “which I will give for the life of the world,” mean that this ransom merit will at some future time benefit the world. But the church, whose members by partaking of that “bread” now, receive justification and become probationary members of the body of Christ. As we read in 1 Corinthians 10:17, Diaglott, “Because there is one loaf, we, the many, are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf.” There is but one unleavened, sinless “bread,” and that “bread” is Jesus. He is the “living bread” which, “if any man shall eat of it, he shall live for ever.”

The King James translation of this verse is incorrect: “For we being many are one bread, and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread.” This in essence says the church is part of the “bread.” This is not the thought of the Greek text. The New American Standard, Rotherham, Revised Standard Version and the Diaglott all have the correct thought: “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Corinthians 10:17, RSV). There is but one unleavened bread, picturing Jesus’ perfect, sinless body, and it is because we partake of Jesus’ sinless ransom merit, that we can become members of his body.

There is a bread that pictures the church and the Great Company. It was offered on the day of Pentecost fifty days after the Passover (see Leviticus 23:15-17). Two loaves were offered on Pentecost baked with leaven. The Passover and Memorial bread were unleavened which contrasts the sinless, perfect body of our Lord with the imperfect, sinful nature of the Church and Great Company.

The Cup

“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 [Greek: diatheke, covenant] which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:27,28).

The cup pictures sin-offering experiences of Jesus and the church, which together will ratify the New Covenant. It is similar to the blood of bulls and goats which ratified the Law Covenant, and the blood of the bullock and Lord’s goat which jointly reconciled the nation of Israel on the Day of Atonement.

In Matthew 20:22 Jesus asked his disciples, “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of? … They say unto him, We are able.” Thus the Church throughout the age has endured the cup of suffering as part of its sin-offering experiences. Jesus said to Peter, “The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18:11). Surely he was saying the “cup” represents his sin-offering experiences of suffering and trial.

Thus we conclude that the Memorial cup pictures the sin-offering experiences Jesus endured as a new creature. But it also includes the sin-offering experiences of the church which, together with their Lord, seal or ratify the New Covenant.

Distinctions Between Bread and Cup

“He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it” (Matthew 26,27). Some believe “Drink ye all of it” means “all of you take a drink from this cup”; others believe it means “drink all of it so that none remains.”

It is unlikely Jesus merely meant “all of you drink from this cup” because then he would have said something similar about the bread like “Eat ye all of it.” {Footnote: For a different point of view, see “On the other hand…” which follows this article.} Since he only said “take eat,” there is a clear distinction between the two. Asking them to drink the cup so that “none remained” would imply that those disciples, as representatives of the entire church, were offered the exclusive privilege of suffering with him, and to “fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ” (Colossians 1:24), as members of his body.

“Drink ye all of it” (so none remains) shows the privilege of sharing in the sin-offering was limited to only the footstep followers of Christ in this Gospel age. Never again throughout all eternity will anyone be given this opportunity to suffer with him. The world will not share in that cup for it will have been entirely consumed.

Notice how Jesus makes this distinction. In John 6:48-51 he shows the world will eat or partake of the bread, but the privilege of partaking of the cup is limited to only the church (John 6:53-56). “He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.” Only the church dwell in Jesus and he in them, for only they “eat the bread” and “drink” or share in the cup of “The Christ’s” sin-offering sufferings.

Throughout the Scriptures, the church is considered as the body of “The Christ,” being joint sufferers as well as heirs with him. We noted this earlier in the use of the personal pronoun “himself” in Hebrews 7:27 which referred to Jesus and his body members. The same was true in Leviticus 16:11. “And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself.” The personal pronoun “himself” cannot mean for Jesus alone since Jesus did not need a sin-offering. He was perfect. “Himself” includes his body members, the church, because they are the ones who need redemption. Thus, in a similar way, when Jesus said, “This is my blood of the new testament [covenant] which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:28), we believe the pronoun “my” means not Jesus’ blood alone, but in essence he was saying this cup is a symbol of the sin-offering sufferings that we together as head and body of “The Christ” experience, which in turn will seal the New Covenant. This was pictured in both the sealing of the old Law Covenant and the Day of Atonement sacrifices which required the blood of both a bullock and a goat. These two animals picture “The Christ,” head and body.

Communion

As we partake of the Memorial bread and cup, let us reflect on the words, “The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16). This “communion” is the common participation of the entire church, of eating or appropriating to ourselves what the bread symbolizes, Christ’s ransom merit which brings us justification. All the brethren throughout the world thus share in partaking of the bread of Christ’s ransom merit together.

“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16). This “communion” is the privilege we have of sharing together in a common participation of what the cup represents, the privilege of sharing in the suffering experiences of “The Christ,” the anointed class, head and body. It is this commingled blood of Jesus and his body members that will ratify the New Covenant, just as the blood of bulls and goats ratified the old Law Covenant, and will bring mankind into At-one-ment with God.

May each of us appreciate ever more deeply this once-in-eternity privilege of partaking of the “bread,” and sharing in the communion cup of sin-offering experiences, that will result in the “blessing of all the families of the earth.”

On the other hand …

The words “drink ye all of it” in the KJV of Matthew 26:27 is ambiguous. It could be understood to mean “All ye at this table drink of it” or “Ye shall drink all of it.” But there is no ambiguity in the original text. The Greek word “all” is pantes which is plural, not singular. Thus the “all” must refer to the plural “ye” and not to the singular “it.” A literal translation of Jesus’ words is, “All ye drink out of it,” or “Drink out of it, all of you.”

Among the more accurate New Testament translations that read similarly are Rotherham, Kingdom Interlinear Diaglott, Wilson Diaglott, Wuest, Weymouth, Stern, NASB and ESV. Few if any translations unambiguously support, “Drink ye every bit of it.”

Rendering Matthew 26:27 as a request that they all drink of the cup brings it into conformity with Mark 14:23 which reads, “He took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.”

It is not incorrect to say that the opportunity to drink of Jesus’ cup is limited to the Gospel age, and that the bread of life alone will be available to the world of mankind during the thousand-year kingdom of Christ. However, Jesus’ words in Matthew 26:27 evidently do not allude to that. To support that conclusion, one should consider other Scriptures, such as “These things saith … he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth,” and “they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut” (Revelation 3:7; Matthew 25:10).

—James Parkinson