LAST SUPPER

"When our Lord instituted his Memorial Supper, called the Last Supper, it was...a new symbol, built upon and related to the old Passover type, though not a part of it, being a commemoration, or memorial of the antitype. As we read, he 'took bread, and when he had given thanks he brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you [this represents me, the antitypical Lamb; it represents my flesh]. This do in remembrance of me.'" From The New Creation, p. 464

Read online excerpt (Chapter 11) from The New Creation: "The Passover of the New Creation"

Read online newsletter: The Passover of the New Creation

Bible Question: what does the lord mean when he says do this in remembrance of me?

Dear Ella,
Thank you for your Bible question.
Yearly the Israelites would participate in Passover to take away their sins. Jesus presented himself as the "Passover Lamb" who was able to "take away the sins of the world," thus no longer requiring the original passover anymore. Jesus requested his followers to partake of His memorial as a remembrance of how and why Jesus gave his life for the world. As the Passover was partaken of once a year, we believe the "anti-typical" Passover (Jesus' Memorial) should also be partaken of once a year.
Please read the following excerpt from our article that can be read in entirety at :
http://www.biblestudents.com/htdbv5/r4703.htm#x14799
"In Jesus' day the time had come for the fulfillment of the antitype of the Passover. Jesus himself was to be the Passover Lamb. By faith the merit of his sacrifice, his blood, was to be sprinkled upon the door-posts of his people's hearts, and his flesh, the merit of his earthly perfection, was to be eaten or appropriated by them in their minds. With it they were to eat the unleavened bread of the Divine promises and the bitter herbs of trials and adversities, and withal they were to drink wine, the blood of the grape, symbolically implying their participation with the Lamb in his ignominy and sufferings.
The Lamb of God, Jesus, the antitypical Passover Lamb, was slain nearly nineteen centuries ago on the exact anniversary of the killing of the typical lambs. The sacrifice of Jesus needs not to be repeated, for by faith we all sprinkle this same blood today, and in our hearts feed upon the merit of the same earthly sacrifice, and have plenty of bitter herbs of persecution and drink of the blood—share the Master's spirit and its reward of suffering for righteousness' sake. ...
Jesus, about to begin the fulfillment of this type by dying as the antitypical Passover Lamb (Christ our Passover is slain for us—I Cor. 5:7), instituted for his followers an annual remembrancer which, in their minds, would take the place of the type and continually remind them of the great Antitype. Instead of the literal flesh of the lamb, the Master used bread, and instead of the blood, the fruit of the vine, and instead of a further commemoration of the type, he directed that this be done in remembrance of the antitype—"the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world," and the passover coming to the Church of the first-born, as precedent to the great blessings to result for Israel and all the families of the earth.
Our Lord as a Jew was obligated to keep the typical passover, eating of the literal lamb, etc., first; but subsequently, after that passover supper, he instituted with the bread and the fruit of the vine his substitutionary memorial of himself, saying, "Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them; and they all drank of it. And he said, ...Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God"—until his second coming in power and great glory to receive the Church as his elect Bride and Joint-Heir in his Kingdom and to shower blessings richly upon Israel and through Israel upon the whole world of mankind. "

Thanks again for your Bible question. If we can be of further assistance please let us know. May God bless your studies in Him,
Megan