“For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup…”
The Visible Word
“But as our faith is slight and feeble unless it be propped on all sides and sustained by every means, it trembles, wavers, totters, and at last gives way. Here our merciful Lord, according to his infinite kindness, so tempers himself to our capacity that, since we are creatures who always creep on the ground, cleave to the flesh, and, do not think about or even conceive of anything spiritual, he condescends to lead us to himself even by these earthly elements, and to set before us in the flesh a mirror of spiritual blessings.”
(John Calvin, Institutes, Book IV, Chapter 14, 3)
The sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, were given by God to fulfil this human desire for something physical. As Calvin said, our God is merciful. And in that mercy, He condescended to grant us the sacraments. And in them the promises of the Word of God are represented, signified, and sealed to our persons.
The death of Christ is represented before our eyes. However, it isn’t just pictured before us, but sealed to us. As we take the bread and drink from the cup, we know that as real as that bread is, so was the sacrifice of Christ’s body on the tree for us. As we drink the cup, we know that even as we smell this wine and it flows over our lips, touches our teeth, tingles our taste buds, slides down our throats, so as real is the blood of Christ shed for us. As it courses through our bodies and gives us nourishment and life, the truth that Christ’s grace not only saved us, but sustains us is sealed to all who partake in faith. We have before us a visible sign that we are truly in vital union with Christ.
They have been ordained by God to picture the Word before our eyes. When the waters of baptism flow or the wine is poured from the cup, it is not man’s creativity that is stirring us, it is not mere emotionalism that is to rise within us, and it is not moralism that is held out to us, but the grace of God in the person of Christ..
Jason Helopoulos