Re enactment or Remembrance

Re enactment or Remembrance?  Save O Lord thy people and bless thine inheritance!

Without spelling out the minutiae, a key question is, “what does remembrance mean when  commune?"

When  we remember the Lord’s death, is this a mere mental recollection or reenactment? 


1. First,  Remembrance in the OT is the intervention of God to fulfill HIs covenant pledge to bless and forgive His people.  Let's look at the first occurrence of God remembering.

And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that [was] with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; Gen 8.1

God made the judgment to stop when He remembered His people.

He then promises to  Noah:
And God said, This [is] the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that [is] with you, for perpetual generations:
13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15 And I will remember my covenant, which [is] between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that [is] upon the earth. Gen.9:11-16

God remembered His covenant and consequently fulfilled His promise to not judge with a cataclysm again.

Again  we see God’s remembrance of Abraham.  God promised He would  be with  Abraham  and deliver him (Gen.12,15)  Now,  when  He  is about to judge  the people of Sodom  He remembers him and Lot and delivers.
29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.

The next occurrence of God remembering is Rachel.  Rachel  wanted children but God restrained her.  She beseeches God and God  judges on her behalf and gives her Joseph.
2 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.
23 And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:
24 And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son. Gen.30:22-24

Exodus 2:24  illustrates this even more succinctly.

His covenant is remembered and He begins to deliver His people.
“And God looked upon the children of Israel  and God had respect unto them.” 2:25
God delivered them  and destroyed Pharoah.

 2.  Secondly, God’s covenant curses as well are filling a cup.
God’s wrath  is compared to a cup.  The full measure of which  will be poured out on the wicked.
6 For promotion [cometh] neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.
7 But God [is] the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
8 For in the hand of the LORD [there is] a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring [them] out, [and] drink [them]. Ps.75:6-8

Edom  faced God’s judgment for  idolatry in the time of Jeremiah  who cried,
12 For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment [was] not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and [art] thou he [that] shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink [of it].

Now let’ skip to the New Testament.
The wicked of latter times are judged and God says,
9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Lastly,  Babylon is given a cup:
19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Remembrance of iniquity, the cup  which  the wicked fill,  is poured out.  Ultimately you  drink the poison  you  mix.

3.  Thirdly, Christ drank  the cup reserved for us as wicked
Saying,”  Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me”
It could not and so,”he by the grace of God tasted death for every man.”(Heb.2:9)  Becoming a curse (Gal.3:13).

God grants Christ every blessing for His suffering,
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength riches  and honor and glory and blessing.”
The cup of blessing then  is given to His people.
“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?”
 When  we remember the Lord’s table,  we are invoking the Name of the Lord-  not just mentally thinking about a representation.  No  we are remembering His saving commandment  as the liturgy says.  Thereby  God is entreated to be merciful to us and give us the grace of the Covenant, to save His people and bless His inheritance.
This is what an ALTAR always does.  It calls upon the Name of the Lord,  who thereafter confirms His covenant with His sacrifice and saves His inheritance.