1321 Lord, give thought to David, and to all his troubles; 2 How he made an oath to the Lord, and gave his word to the great God of Jacob, saying, 3 Truly, I will not come into my house, or go to my bed, 4 I will not give sleep to my eyes, or rest to my eyeballs, 5 Till I have got a place for the Lord, a resting-place for the great God of Jacob. 6 We had news of it at Ephrathah: we came to it in the fields of the wood. 7 Let us go into his tent; let us give worship at his feet. 8 Come back, O Lord, to your resting-place; you and the ark of your strength. 9 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness; and let your saints give cries of joy. 10 Because of your servant David, do not give up your king.
11 The Lord gave a true oath to David, which he will not take back, saying, I will give your kingdom to the fruit of your body. 12 If your children keep my word, and the teachings which I will give them, their children will be rulers of your kingdom for ever. 13 For the Lord's heart is on Zion, desiring it for his resting-place. 14 This is my rest for ever: here will I ever be; for this is my desire. 15 My blessing will be on her food; and her poor will be full of bread. 16 Her priests will be clothed with salvation; and her saints will give cries of joy. 17 There I will make the horn of David fertile: I have made ready a light for my king. 18 His haters will be clothed with shame; but I will make his crown shining.
1331 See how good and how pleasing it is for brothers to be living together in harmony! 2 It is like oil of great price on the head, flowing down over the face, even Aaron's face: coming down to the edge of his robe; 3 Like the dew of Hermon, which comes down on the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord gave orders for the blessing, even life for ever.
1341 Give praise to the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who take your places in the house of the Lord by night. 2 Give praise to the Lord, lifting up your hands in his holy place. 3 May the Lord, who made heaven and earth, send you blessing out of Zion,
17 But in giving you this order, there is one thing about which I am not pleased: it is that when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For first of all, it has come to my ears that when you come together in the church, there are divisions among you, and I take the statement to be true in part. 19 For divisions are necessary among you, in order that those who have God's approval may be clearly seen among you. 20 But now, when you come together, it is not possible to take the holy meal of the Lord: 21 For when you take your food, everyone takes his meal before the other; and one has not enough food, and another is the worse for drink. 22 What? have you not houses to take your meals in? or have you no respect for the church of God, putting the poor to shame? What am I to say to you? am I to give you praise? certainly not.
23 For it was handed down to me from the Lord, as I gave it to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when Judas was false to him, took bread, 24 And when it had been broken with an act of praise, he said, This is my body which is for you: do this in memory of me. 25 In the same way, with the cup, after the meal, he said, This cup is the new testament in my blood: do this, whenever you take it, in memory of me. 26 For whenever you take the bread and the cup you give witness to the Lord's death till he comes.
27 If, then, anyone takes the bread or the cup of the Lord in the wrong spirit, he will be responsible for the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let no man take of the bread and the cup without testing himself. 29 For a man puts himself in danger, if he takes part in the holy meal without being conscious that it is the Lord's body. 30 For this cause a number of you are feeble and ill, and a number are dead. 31 But if we were true judges of ourselves, punishment would not come on us. 32 But if punishment does come, it is sent by the Lord, so that we may be safe when the world is judged. 33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to the holy meal of the Lord, let there be waiting for one another. 34 If any man is in need of food, let him take his meal in his house; so that you may not come together to your damage. And the rest I will put in order when I come.
(Read 1 Corinthians 11:17-22)
The apostle rebukes the disorders in their partaking of the Lord's supper. The ordinances of Christ, if they do not make us better, will be apt to make us worse. If the use of them does not mend, it will harden. Upon coming together, they fell into divisions, schisms. Christians may separate from each other's communion, yet be charitable one towards another; they may continue in the same communion, yet be uncharitable. This last is schism, rather than the former. There is a careless and irregular eating of the Lord's supper, which adds to guilt. Many rich Corinthians seem to have acted very wrong at the Lord's table, or at the love-feasts, which took place at the same time as the supper. The rich despised the poor, and ate and drank up the provisions they brought, before the poor were allowed to partake; thus some wanted, while others had more than enough. What should have been a bond of mutual love and affection, was made an instrument of discord and disunion. We should be careful that nothing in our behaviour at the Lord's table, appears to make light of that sacred institution. The Lord's supper is not now made an occasion for gluttony or revelling, but is it not often made the support of self-righteous pride, or a cloak for hypocrisy? Let us never rest in the outward forms of worship; but look to our hearts.
(Read 1 Corinthians 11:23-34)
The apostle describes the sacred ordinance, of which he had the knowledge by revelation from Christ. As to the visible signs, these are the bread and wine. What is eaten is called bread, though at the same time it is said to be the body of the Lord, plainly showing that the apostle did not mean that the bread was changed into flesh. St. Matthew tells us, our Lord bid them all drink of the cup, Matthew 26:27, as if he would, by this expression, provide against any believer being deprived of the cup. The things signified by these outward signs, are Christ's body and blood, his body broken, his blood shed, together with all the benefits which flow from his death and sacrifice. Our Saviour's actions were, taking the bread and cup, giving thanks, breaking the bread, and giving both the one and the other. The actions of the communicants were, to take the bread and eat, to take the cup and drink, and to do both in remembrance of Christ. But the outward acts are not the whole, or the principal part, of what is to be done at this holy ordinance. Those who partake of it, are to take him as their Lord and Life, yield themselves up to him, and live upon him. Here is an account of the ends of this ordinance. It is to be done in remembrance of Christ, to keep fresh in our minds his dying for us, as well as to remember Christ pleading for us, in virtue of his death, at God's right hand. It is not merely in remembrance of Christ, of what he has done and suffered; but to celebrate his grace in our redemption. We declare his death to be our life, the spring of all our comforts and hopes. And we glory in such a declaration; we show forth his death, and plead it as our accepted sacrifice and ransom. The Lord's supper is not an ordinance to be observed merely for a time, but to be continued. The apostle lays before the Corinthians the danger of receiving it with an unsuitable temper of mind; or keeping up the covenant with sin and death, while professing to renew and confirm the covenant with God. No doubt such incur great guilt, and so render themselves liable to spiritual judgements. But fearful believers should not be discouraged from attending at this holy ordinance. The Holy Spirit never caused this scripture to be written to deter serious Christians from their duty, though the devil has often made this use of it. The apostle was addressing Christians, and warning them to beware of the temporal judgements with which God chastised his offending servants. And in the midst of judgement, God remembers mercy: he many times punishes those whom he loves. It is better to bear trouble in this world, than to be miserable for ever. The apostle points our the duty of those who come to the Lord's table. Self-examination is necessary to right attendance at this holy ordinance. If we would thoroughly search ourselves, to condemn and set right what we find wrong, we should stop Divine judgements. The apostle closes all with a caution against the irregularities of which the Corinthians were guilty at the Lord's table. Let all look to it, that they do not come together to God's worship, so as to provoke him, and bring down vengeance on themselves.
