Today we are going to spend time remembering Jesus’ willing sacrifice of Himself on the cross for us. We will remember Him in the way Jesus Himself taught His disciples 2000 years ago, with the bread and the cup, symbols of His body broken for us and His blood shed for us. In preparation for the time, I want us to meditate on one of the titles for Jesus, the First and the Last. This phrase is used repeatedly of Jesus in the Book of Revelation:
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. Then He placed His right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. – Rev. 1:17
These are the words of Him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. – Rev. 2:8
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. – Rev. 22:13
Notice that Jesus uses the phrase of Himself. In Greek this is protos and eschatos. We borrow the roots of these words in English – for protos think of prototype, something that made as the first of its kind. For eschatos we have the word eschatology, which is a study of the end times. Protos and eschatos can mean first and last in time, first and last in rank, first and last in place. There are many ways to translate these words: former and latter, past and future, preceding and following. It is a kind of idiom for saying, “I am eternal. As God, I have no beginning and I have no ending. I am beyond time. I made time.” And the words do not just mean eternal, but “doubly” eternal – eternal in the past, and eternal in the future.
Jesus tried to teach the Jews of His eternal nature, but they rejected the teaching, and indeed, considered what He said to be blasphemy. In John 8, Jesus said this:
"Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing My day; he saw it and was glad." "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to Him, "and You have seen Abraham!" "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" At this, they picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus hid Himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. – John 8:57-59
I think it is valuable to reflect on the idea of Jesus/God being the first and the last. We may be made in God’s image, but He is so far beyond us that it is like comparing a photograph of a person to the real thing. What kind of Mind could think up the Universe, think up life, of man, of God’s amazing plan of salvation? It’s not like there were other examples out there, and He just improved things a little. As a professor who has spent many years doing research, I can tell you that 99.9% of research is minor advancements to what has already done. God made everything quite literally in a vacuum. This Being, infinitely older than mankind, than the Universe, infinitely wiser than the total wisdom of all men who ever lived, is the one we come here today to worship. Jesus, born as a baby in a manger, who lived and walked on this earth as a man, who died at the hands of the Jews and Romans, hanging on a cross, suffering ridicule, scorn, and shame, is also the eternal God, Creator of all, the First and the Last.
This phrase appears in the Old Testament as well as the New. In Hebrew the words are reshown and acharown: beginning and ending, first and last, start and finish. Again it is meant to convey God’s eternal nature. Two places this phrase appears are both in Isaiah, and because the passages preceding them are powerful, I thought we could study them “devotionally” as we prepare for communion. First is this beautiful passage from Isaiah 44:
But now listen, O Jacob, my servant, Israel, whom I have chosen. This is what the Lord says— He who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring, and My blessing on your descendants. – Isaiah 44:1-3
They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams. One will say, 'I belong to the Lord '; another will call himself by the name of Jacob; still another will write on his hand, 'The Lord's,' and will take the name Israel. This is what the Lord says— Israel's King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from Me there is no God. – Isaiah 44:4-6
Who is this passage talking about? Us! Think and reflect on these precious and powerful words. From the first three verses: He who made you. Do you ever stop and think about this? The eternal God didn’t just make mankind; He made you. He thought about what He wanted you to be like, your personality, your quirks, what you love, what you don’t like, and He put you together. He chose exactly which genes would be selected from each of your parents, and determined your physical characteristics. But beyond this, He put together your soul. He made you into an eternal creature, made in His image, and He decided exactly how you would reflect His image.
And after God did all this, did He intend to just kick us out of the nest and let us fend for ourselves, to learn the ways of the world? No! It says He who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you. He has been calling to you from when you were a baby. He has always been drawing you to Himself. He has made you thirsty for Him, hungry for His Spirit. And we are the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 44:3; we are the “your offspring” in the passage, and when we enter into a relationship with Jesus, when we confess how we have fallen hopelessly short of His good and right standard, when we then trust Him to save us, believing in His name and humbly accepting His sacrifice for our sin, we receive His Spirit poured out on us as we become new creations in Christ. We are blessed – we are beyond blessed – words cannot convey what we are because of Jesus and His love for us.
Look at the next three verses. Do you agree with the thought of Whose you are? When someone saves your life, you owe them your life in return. How much more do we owe to the One who saves our life by giving up His own, who gives us not only natural life but eternal life? Are we not the Lord’s? If you agree, if your heart swells with gratitude for what Jesus has done for us, I would like you to do something symbolic of this: I would like you to pick up a pen and write on your hand, “The Lord’s.” As you do this, I want you to think about how Jesus allowed a sharp pointy object to “write” on His hands – He allowed the spikes to pierce Him, and He did it because He loved you and wanted you to live with Him eternally. We are the Lord’s. We belong to Him who is the First and the Last.
The second passage is in Isaiah 48.
Listen to this, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and come from the line of Judah, you who take oaths in the name of the Lord and invoke the God of Israel—but not in truth or righteousness—you who call yourselves citizens of the holy city and rely on the God of Israel—the Lord Almighty is his name. Isaiah 48:1-2
I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. For I knew how stubborn you were; the sinews of your neck were iron, your forehead was bronze. Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say, 'My idols did them; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.' – Isaiah 48:3-5
You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them? From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you. They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you cannot say, 'Yes, I knew of them.' You have neither heard nor understood; from of old your ear has not been open. Well do I know how treacherous you are; you were called a rebel from birth. – Isaiah 48:6-8
For My own Name's sake I delay My wrath; for the sake of My praise I hold it back from you, so as not to cut you off. See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, for My own sake, I do this. How can I let Myself be defamed? I will not yield My glory to another. Listen to Me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am He; I am the first and I am the last. – Isaiah 48:9-12
Again, let’s look at this passage section by section, beginning with the first two verses. Although written to Israel, I believe it speaks powerfully to us as well. We too call ourselves ones who rely on the God of Israel. Look at your hands! Did we not just say that we are the Lord’s? Allow the Holy Spirit to search your heart – are you one who invokes the God of Israel but not in truth or righteousness? Are there things you are doing or have done that are not appropriate for one who says he or she is the Lord’s? Don’t suppress these things; don’t let yourself search for a distraction either, but simply allow them to come before your mind, and in your heart, agree with the Lord that they are sin.
From verses 3-5: are you stubborn? Are there things you have refused to really yield to the Lord on for a long time? Why? Is it not time to yield? God is much more powerful than you are! Do you really want Him to force the issue? He can act suddenly! And as for idols, don’t dismiss this so quickly. If you have a good job, if your finances are in decent shape, to whom do you give credit? Yourself? If you have a happy home, if your children are mostly good, why do you think that is? It is true there are wise and unwise ways to live, and that the Bible contains much practical wisdom for living well, but why is it that you know this? Who is it that gives you the power to do it? And there are no guarantees in life. Who is it that has blessed you with the outcomes you have seen? Anything can become an idol – people, things, practices, beliefs. Allow the Holy Spirit to search your heart.
Verses 6-8: are you treacherous? Treachery is defined as the willful betrayal of fidelity, confidence, or trust. When you say you are the Lord’s but you do things that the Lord says not to do, this is treachery, whether in secret (of course nothing is really in secret – the Lord sees all!) but also, perhaps especially, when others see these things. The Lord has entrusted you to be His ambassador, His priest, His messenger. Sin betrays this trust. What about the phrase a rebel from birth? This describes all of us. We all are rebellious sinners saved by God’s grace. Our salvation does not give us license to continue to rebel; instead it should compel us to love our Savior and submit wholly to Him. Again, allow the Holy Spirit to search your heart – to expose your treachery, your rebelliousness.
And in verses 9-12, understand that they apply to us as a people, to all of humanity – this is why Jesus has not yet returned. But they apply to each of us as well. We need have repentant hearts, desperate not only for forgiveness, but for a changed life going forward. We should not promise what we cannot deliver, but we should ask God to deliver us into a lifestyle of ever-increasing righteousness. As He shows us little steps to take in response – and He will show you these steps – we should be quick to take them! He says, I will not yield My glory to another. If we are truly the Lord’s, He will make us into what He wants us to be – He will not yield! If we resist Him, He will use whatever it takes to achieve His objectives. This should sober us. We should fear Him – not in the sense of being afraid of an evil person, but in the sense of being afraid of a Holy God who sees all and knows all, who has all power, and who is determined to have His way. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. He is eternal, the first and the last, reshown and acharown, protos and eschatos.
In I Corinthians, Paul wrote:
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. – I Cor. 11:23-26
You may have taken the bread and cup a hundred or even a thousand times, but remember Him freshly. Imagine yourself at that table with the disciples. He hands you the broken bread, looks at you like you are the only one in the room, and says, “This is My body, which is for you.” Do you understand how much He loves you? His body, His blood, Gethsemane, the agony and bloody sweat, the mocking and spitting, the robe, the crown of thorns, the terrible scourging, stumbling carrying the cross to the place of the skull, the nails driven through His flesh, being lifted up, struggling for every breath, the unending pain, the crying out, the becoming the object of God’s fiercest wrath – all of it, for you. Just for you. He loves you that much!
Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. – I Cor. 11:27-29
I have shared before how an “unworthy manner” does not mean you have to have your act together before you take communion; we are all sinners. But it does mean that you take it soberly, as it says, examining yourself. I like to read old sermons, and recently discovered Dr. Lewis Pinkerton, who lived in the 1800s. He was in fact a medical doctor who practiced medicine full-time in the early stages of his life. But then he gave up his profession and devoted himself full-time to preaching the gospel, teaching Christian truths, and creating Christian schools, including a school for orphans in Kentucky.
In a sermon of his I read recently, I was struck by two short passages. The first is this:
In the person and claims of Jesus, our faith is demanded; for His divinely-beautiful character our all-trusting, adoring love is asked. The commandments of Jesus are not doctrines, but plain rules of life, to which submission is required. These three things, faith in Jesus, the love of Jesus, and obedience to Jesus, as Lord of all, constitute the Christian religion, and are possible to the poor and the unlearned, as well as the wealthy and the wise.
It strikes me that for many there is a progression that should take place, from faith, to faith plus love, to faith plus love plus obedience. Where are you in this journey? Does love accompany your faith? Does obedience accompany your love? I think these are more connected than we like to admit. How can a real, loving faith in Jesus not lead to loving Him? And John tells us that there is no such thing as a real love of Jesus without accompanying obedience. If you sense you fall short, even far short, tell the Lord in prayer. He already knows. He wants you to know and He wants you to bring it to Him so that He can help you.
The second passage is this:
Jesus is with the sinner in his first faint glimmerings of faith; He is before him, the embodiment of infinite sorrow and of infinite love, when alone he heaves the first sigh of penitence; He is in his heart when, before men, he makes confession unto salvation; the penitent clings by faith to the Cross when he is buried with his Lord in baptism; when, as a child of God, he takes his seat at the table of the Lord, Jesus lifts up His bleeding hands before him, and says, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”
Jesus is with us now. Let us go to Him.
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. Then He placed His right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. – Rev. 1:17
These are the words of Him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. – Rev. 2:8
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. – Rev. 22:13
Notice that Jesus uses the phrase of Himself. In Greek this is protos and eschatos. We borrow the roots of these words in English – for protos think of prototype, something that made as the first of its kind. For eschatos we have the word eschatology, which is a study of the end times. Protos and eschatos can mean first and last in time, first and last in rank, first and last in place. There are many ways to translate these words: former and latter, past and future, preceding and following. It is a kind of idiom for saying, “I am eternal. As God, I have no beginning and I have no ending. I am beyond time. I made time.” And the words do not just mean eternal, but “doubly” eternal – eternal in the past, and eternal in the future.
Jesus tried to teach the Jews of His eternal nature, but they rejected the teaching, and indeed, considered what He said to be blasphemy. In John 8, Jesus said this:
"Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing My day; he saw it and was glad." "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to Him, "and You have seen Abraham!" "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" At this, they picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus hid Himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. – John 8:57-59
I think it is valuable to reflect on the idea of Jesus/God being the first and the last. We may be made in God’s image, but He is so far beyond us that it is like comparing a photograph of a person to the real thing. What kind of Mind could think up the Universe, think up life, of man, of God’s amazing plan of salvation? It’s not like there were other examples out there, and He just improved things a little. As a professor who has spent many years doing research, I can tell you that 99.9% of research is minor advancements to what has already done. God made everything quite literally in a vacuum. This Being, infinitely older than mankind, than the Universe, infinitely wiser than the total wisdom of all men who ever lived, is the one we come here today to worship. Jesus, born as a baby in a manger, who lived and walked on this earth as a man, who died at the hands of the Jews and Romans, hanging on a cross, suffering ridicule, scorn, and shame, is also the eternal God, Creator of all, the First and the Last.
This phrase appears in the Old Testament as well as the New. In Hebrew the words are reshown and acharown: beginning and ending, first and last, start and finish. Again it is meant to convey God’s eternal nature. Two places this phrase appears are both in Isaiah, and because the passages preceding them are powerful, I thought we could study them “devotionally” as we prepare for communion. First is this beautiful passage from Isaiah 44:
But now listen, O Jacob, my servant, Israel, whom I have chosen. This is what the Lord says— He who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring, and My blessing on your descendants. – Isaiah 44:1-3
They will spring up like grass in a meadow, like poplar trees by flowing streams. One will say, 'I belong to the Lord '; another will call himself by the name of Jacob; still another will write on his hand, 'The Lord's,' and will take the name Israel. This is what the Lord says— Israel's King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from Me there is no God. – Isaiah 44:4-6
Who is this passage talking about? Us! Think and reflect on these precious and powerful words. From the first three verses: He who made you. Do you ever stop and think about this? The eternal God didn’t just make mankind; He made you. He thought about what He wanted you to be like, your personality, your quirks, what you love, what you don’t like, and He put you together. He chose exactly which genes would be selected from each of your parents, and determined your physical characteristics. But beyond this, He put together your soul. He made you into an eternal creature, made in His image, and He decided exactly how you would reflect His image.
And after God did all this, did He intend to just kick us out of the nest and let us fend for ourselves, to learn the ways of the world? No! It says He who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you. He has been calling to you from when you were a baby. He has always been drawing you to Himself. He has made you thirsty for Him, hungry for His Spirit. And we are the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 44:3; we are the “your offspring” in the passage, and when we enter into a relationship with Jesus, when we confess how we have fallen hopelessly short of His good and right standard, when we then trust Him to save us, believing in His name and humbly accepting His sacrifice for our sin, we receive His Spirit poured out on us as we become new creations in Christ. We are blessed – we are beyond blessed – words cannot convey what we are because of Jesus and His love for us.
Look at the next three verses. Do you agree with the thought of Whose you are? When someone saves your life, you owe them your life in return. How much more do we owe to the One who saves our life by giving up His own, who gives us not only natural life but eternal life? Are we not the Lord’s? If you agree, if your heart swells with gratitude for what Jesus has done for us, I would like you to do something symbolic of this: I would like you to pick up a pen and write on your hand, “The Lord’s.” As you do this, I want you to think about how Jesus allowed a sharp pointy object to “write” on His hands – He allowed the spikes to pierce Him, and He did it because He loved you and wanted you to live with Him eternally. We are the Lord’s. We belong to Him who is the First and the Last.
The second passage is in Isaiah 48.
Listen to this, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and come from the line of Judah, you who take oaths in the name of the Lord and invoke the God of Israel—but not in truth or righteousness—you who call yourselves citizens of the holy city and rely on the God of Israel—the Lord Almighty is his name. Isaiah 48:1-2
I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. For I knew how stubborn you were; the sinews of your neck were iron, your forehead was bronze. Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say, 'My idols did them; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.' – Isaiah 48:3-5
You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them? From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you. They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you cannot say, 'Yes, I knew of them.' You have neither heard nor understood; from of old your ear has not been open. Well do I know how treacherous you are; you were called a rebel from birth. – Isaiah 48:6-8
For My own Name's sake I delay My wrath; for the sake of My praise I hold it back from you, so as not to cut you off. See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, for My own sake, I do this. How can I let Myself be defamed? I will not yield My glory to another. Listen to Me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am He; I am the first and I am the last. – Isaiah 48:9-12
Again, let’s look at this passage section by section, beginning with the first two verses. Although written to Israel, I believe it speaks powerfully to us as well. We too call ourselves ones who rely on the God of Israel. Look at your hands! Did we not just say that we are the Lord’s? Allow the Holy Spirit to search your heart – are you one who invokes the God of Israel but not in truth or righteousness? Are there things you are doing or have done that are not appropriate for one who says he or she is the Lord’s? Don’t suppress these things; don’t let yourself search for a distraction either, but simply allow them to come before your mind, and in your heart, agree with the Lord that they are sin.
From verses 3-5: are you stubborn? Are there things you have refused to really yield to the Lord on for a long time? Why? Is it not time to yield? God is much more powerful than you are! Do you really want Him to force the issue? He can act suddenly! And as for idols, don’t dismiss this so quickly. If you have a good job, if your finances are in decent shape, to whom do you give credit? Yourself? If you have a happy home, if your children are mostly good, why do you think that is? It is true there are wise and unwise ways to live, and that the Bible contains much practical wisdom for living well, but why is it that you know this? Who is it that gives you the power to do it? And there are no guarantees in life. Who is it that has blessed you with the outcomes you have seen? Anything can become an idol – people, things, practices, beliefs. Allow the Holy Spirit to search your heart.
Verses 6-8: are you treacherous? Treachery is defined as the willful betrayal of fidelity, confidence, or trust. When you say you are the Lord’s but you do things that the Lord says not to do, this is treachery, whether in secret (of course nothing is really in secret – the Lord sees all!) but also, perhaps especially, when others see these things. The Lord has entrusted you to be His ambassador, His priest, His messenger. Sin betrays this trust. What about the phrase a rebel from birth? This describes all of us. We all are rebellious sinners saved by God’s grace. Our salvation does not give us license to continue to rebel; instead it should compel us to love our Savior and submit wholly to Him. Again, allow the Holy Spirit to search your heart – to expose your treachery, your rebelliousness.
And in verses 9-12, understand that they apply to us as a people, to all of humanity – this is why Jesus has not yet returned. But they apply to each of us as well. We need have repentant hearts, desperate not only for forgiveness, but for a changed life going forward. We should not promise what we cannot deliver, but we should ask God to deliver us into a lifestyle of ever-increasing righteousness. As He shows us little steps to take in response – and He will show you these steps – we should be quick to take them! He says, I will not yield My glory to another. If we are truly the Lord’s, He will make us into what He wants us to be – He will not yield! If we resist Him, He will use whatever it takes to achieve His objectives. This should sober us. We should fear Him – not in the sense of being afraid of an evil person, but in the sense of being afraid of a Holy God who sees all and knows all, who has all power, and who is determined to have His way. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. He is eternal, the first and the last, reshown and acharown, protos and eschatos.
In I Corinthians, Paul wrote:
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. – I Cor. 11:23-26
You may have taken the bread and cup a hundred or even a thousand times, but remember Him freshly. Imagine yourself at that table with the disciples. He hands you the broken bread, looks at you like you are the only one in the room, and says, “This is My body, which is for you.” Do you understand how much He loves you? His body, His blood, Gethsemane, the agony and bloody sweat, the mocking and spitting, the robe, the crown of thorns, the terrible scourging, stumbling carrying the cross to the place of the skull, the nails driven through His flesh, being lifted up, struggling for every breath, the unending pain, the crying out, the becoming the object of God’s fiercest wrath – all of it, for you. Just for you. He loves you that much!
Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. – I Cor. 11:27-29
I have shared before how an “unworthy manner” does not mean you have to have your act together before you take communion; we are all sinners. But it does mean that you take it soberly, as it says, examining yourself. I like to read old sermons, and recently discovered Dr. Lewis Pinkerton, who lived in the 1800s. He was in fact a medical doctor who practiced medicine full-time in the early stages of his life. But then he gave up his profession and devoted himself full-time to preaching the gospel, teaching Christian truths, and creating Christian schools, including a school for orphans in Kentucky.
In a sermon of his I read recently, I was struck by two short passages. The first is this:
In the person and claims of Jesus, our faith is demanded; for His divinely-beautiful character our all-trusting, adoring love is asked. The commandments of Jesus are not doctrines, but plain rules of life, to which submission is required. These three things, faith in Jesus, the love of Jesus, and obedience to Jesus, as Lord of all, constitute the Christian religion, and are possible to the poor and the unlearned, as well as the wealthy and the wise.
It strikes me that for many there is a progression that should take place, from faith, to faith plus love, to faith plus love plus obedience. Where are you in this journey? Does love accompany your faith? Does obedience accompany your love? I think these are more connected than we like to admit. How can a real, loving faith in Jesus not lead to loving Him? And John tells us that there is no such thing as a real love of Jesus without accompanying obedience. If you sense you fall short, even far short, tell the Lord in prayer. He already knows. He wants you to know and He wants you to bring it to Him so that He can help you.
The second passage is this:
Jesus is with the sinner in his first faint glimmerings of faith; He is before him, the embodiment of infinite sorrow and of infinite love, when alone he heaves the first sigh of penitence; He is in his heart when, before men, he makes confession unto salvation; the penitent clings by faith to the Cross when he is buried with his Lord in baptism; when, as a child of God, he takes his seat at the table of the Lord, Jesus lifts up His bleeding hands before him, and says, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”
Jesus is with us now. Let us go to Him.
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