Conquest by Sabbath

This meal is a Sabbath meal. It is a feast of rest and gladness. We sit down at this meal because that is what Jesus and his disciples did, but we also sit down at this meal because we are at rest. By faith we are entering that rest now. We are eating and drinking the first fruits of the new creation and enjoying the life of the true and final Promised Land. NT Wright points out in a recent lecture that the Lord’s Supper is like the cluster of grapes brought back to the Israelites in the wilderness from Canaan. This meal is a foretaste of the glories to come; and this rest, this Sabbath rest too is the final eternal Sabbath rest brought forward in time to us. Our eating of this meal and resting here and throughout this day is all a memorial of what Christ has accomplished and what we confess that means for the rest of the world. The conquest of Canaan has begun, the cities have begun to fall, though there is still much to be done. We rest here and now, trusting and believing that all will be accomplished and that just as Jericho fell to the worship of Israel, so too the new creation begun in Jesus will be brought to final completion as God’s people worship in faith. So come eat and drink and find rest for your souls. And as you rest here, remember that we are circling the cities seven times, and the walls will soon fall down.