[Songs in the Night - April 18]
And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it. Matthew 26:27
OUR Lord distinctly declares that the cup, the
fruit of the vine, represents blood, hence life; not life
retained, but life shed or given, yielded up, sacrificed
life.
He tells us that it was for the remission of sins,
and that all who would be his must drink of it—must
accept his sacrifice and appropriate it by faith.
All
who would be justified through faith must accept life
from this one source.
It will not do to claim that faith
in and obedience to any great teacher will amount to
the same thing, and bring eternal life.
There is no
other way to attain eternal life except through accepting
the blood once shed as the ransom-price for the
sins of the whole world.
There is no other name given
under heaven or among men whereby we must be
saved.
Likewise there is no other way that we can
attain to the new nature than by accepting the Lord's
invitation to drink of his cup, and be broken with him
as members of the one loaf, and to be buried with him
in baptism into his death, and thus to be with him in
his resurrection to glory, honor, and immortality...
Let us, when we celebrate this grand memorial, not
forget to give thanks to the Lord for our justification,
and also for the grand privilege we enjoy of being fellow
sacrificers with our Redeemer, and filling up that
which is behind of the afflictions of Christ.
And while
sorrowful and thoughtful, meditative and full of heart
searchings on this occasion, let us, as did the Lord,
triumph through faith and go forth singing praise to
him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous
light, and who has privileged us thus to have fellowship
in the great transaction now in progress. Z'01-76 R2772:6; 2773:5 (Hymn 122)