Years in Preparation

The bread on this table took months, if not years, to arrive here. A farmer bought seeds, planted them, nurtured them, harvested the wheat, sent it to the granary, it was milled into flour, which a baker then turned into bread, which a trucker delivered to the grocer, and then our faithful deacons purchased it and readied it for us all this morning. 

The wine is much the same. A vineyard nurtured its vines for years, harvested the grapes, pressed them into juice, and fermented it for perhaps decades. The point is…this meal took years to prepare.

And, what this meal represents also took years––millennia, in fact––to prepare. God’s goal in history is His own glory by redeeming for Himself a people through the atoning sacrifice of His Son. From the fall onward, God was preparing this meal. He promised a serpent-crusher to Eve. He promised a starry host to Abraham. He promised a passover lamb to Moses. He promised an eternal kingdom to David. He promised Immanuel to Isaiah. 

As Paul put it, “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons (Gal 4:4-5).” In the fullness of time, God the Father set the table, the supper was ready. The meal upon it was His only begotten Son, come to redeem us, and make us His sons and daughters. All human history was guided by His sovereign hand to prepare this meal for you.

So come and welcome to Jesus…