(Read Luke 2:7; 22:7-20.)
Concluded from last month.
IT was a never-to-be-forgotten occasion. How significant, and how, full of meaning, are the words: “And it was night” (John 13:30). It was night for the blessed Lord, for the cross was immediately before Him; it was night for the disciples, for they were about to lose their Master; and it was night for the world, for it had definitely refused “the Light of the world.” Outside that Guest-chamber Christ’s enemies were plotting for His life; the powers of darkness were let loose; and the patrons of the world’s guest-chamber were determined to get rid of the Christ of God.
Let us again repair to that upper room and visit Christ’s Guest-chamber. Note the calm, peaceful tranquility of that hallowed place. Observe the gracious influence of His presence who was the Host, and who, even under such circumstances, could speak of “MY PEACE” and “MY JOY” (John 14:27; 15:11). We view that wonderful scene; we wonder and we worship. For His guests there was the transition from the old to the new. They ate the Passover for the last time, and they partook of the Lord’s Supper for the first time. They no longer wanted the shadow now that they had the substance”; they said goodbye to type for now they had the reality; they bid farewell to ritual for now they had the simplicity of that which He Himself inaugurated.
Think now of a few details. “When the hour was come He sat down” (verse 14). This may have a spiritual significance, but we feel sure it conveys a practical lesson. What is more deplorable than to see believers coming late to the precious feast of remembrance on the Lord’s day. If this obtained in the six working-days how many trains would be lost; how many situations would be lost; how much trouble would result in business etc.; and what an undesirable reputation we should acquire. At the appointed time the Lord is there, and if we are late we keep Him waiting. Generally speaking our spiritual state can be judged by our punctuality, or otherwise, when, we respond to His invitation to meet Him in His Guest-chamber.
They ate the Passover. Within twenty-four hours of that time it would be possible to say “Christ our Passover is scarified for us” (1 Cor. 5:7). Then, the Lord’s Supper. It will be noticed how closely the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, follows the description in verses 19, 20, when he writes to the believers in Corinth (1 Cor. 11:23-26).
How simple it all was! No robed priests; no elaborate service; no ornate furnishing; no person, nothing, no sound, to come in-between the guests and their Host. HE took bread, HE gave thanks, HE brake it, HE gave it to them, HE said: “This is MY body which is given for YOU: this do in remembrance of ME.” So with the Cup, He said: “This cup is the new testament in in MY blood, which is shed for You,” How touching are the words “MY body for YOU,” “MY blood for YOU.” He the eternal Son of the eternal God who had come into a body that He might give it; and that He might shed His blood and that— “for YOU.”
Who is He? None so great, so glorious, so wonderful as He? Who are we? Poor, miserable, good-for-nothing sinners. Yet for such as WE, who were of no account, HE gave His body, and HE shed His blood. When we think of that, how can we refrain from answering to His dying request, repeated from the glory; “This do in remembrance of Me.”
A footnote to 1 Corinthians 11:23-25, in the translation to which we referred last month, says: “The word translated ‘remembrance’ has an active significance of ‘recalling,’ or ‘calling to mind,’ as a memorial. ‘For the calling Me to mind.’”
So we remember, recall, our precious Lord as He was when in death whilst we rejoice to surround Him by faith as He is in resurrection life and glory. We can well understand how the chief butler to the king of Egypt, when he saw Joseph in his glory, would remember, recall, him as he was in the prison.
A lady-missionary was about to come home on furlough, standing outside the Mission Station, waiting to say goodbye, a native boy put a small knife in her hand, and the interpretation of what he said as he did so is; “To see me by.” We have no doubt that every time that lady looked at the knife when she was in the homeland, she would visualize that boy as he was when he gave it to her.
May we not, with reverent and adoring hearts, recall our blessed Lord as He was when He gave Himself? Then follow Him where He is and as He is, hail Him in the midst, the Host in His Guest-chamber; commemorate His death on the one hand, celebrate His victory on the other hand; and lay at His feet the tribute of worthy praise.
Thank God, the simple scene of Luke 22 can be, and is, reproduced today. A quiet room, nothing to take the eye off Himself; nothing to keep the ear from hearing His voice the music of which surpasses all that man can supply; no one to occupy the place that belongs to Him and to Him alone.
“For where two or three are gathered together unto My Name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20. New Trans.)
He Himself gathers, His Name is the rallying point, He takes His place in the midst. It is ours to answer to His call; to own His Name; to acknowledge His Authority; to rest in His presence; to bask in the sunshine of His love; to listen as He sings praise in God the Father’s ear and to join the singing that He leads. What a Guest-chamber! What a Host! Who would miss it?
The question may be asked: “Is the thought of the guest-chamber limited to the first day of the week? “By no means. If we do not know anything about being there on the other six days, we will neither be morally fit for it, nor will we enjoy being there on the first day. In the Gospel according to John we have the guest-chamber, as we have been considering it, in chapter 13 and 14 chapter 15 shows us the Lord Jesus and His disciples in the way to the Garden of Gethsemane, in the darkness of night, in the chilling atmosphere of the world; His foes awaiting the moment for their attack; He urged His loved ones “Abide in Me.”
We have to pass through the same, world; it is still night; the enmity of men has not diminished, we need expect no quarter from the world if we are true to Christ. We would grow faint, and give in, and retreat, were it not that His Word comes to us, “Abide in Me,” As we do so, we shall find ourselves in His Guest-chamber, the experience of the guest recorded in the Song of Solomon, chapter 2, to which we called attention in our first paper, will be ours.
The Guest-chamber of Luke 2:7, was in no sense a home. Jesus was refused admittance there. That of Luke 22 sets forth that which has been the home of Christ’s disciples right down through the ages; which is our home now, praise His Name, and which shall be our home till He translates us to the Father’s House. Whether in His Guest-chamber on earth, or in the Father’s House, there is and there will be our home because our blessed Lord Jesus is there and “Where Jesus is ‘tis Heaven there.”
May the Lord grant that we may find our joy in being guests in His Guest-chamber till we see Him face to face; and
“There with unwearied gaze
Our eyes on Him we’ll rest,
And satisfy with endless praise
Our hearts supremely blest.”
W. Bramwell Dick.