Later in this service we are going to remember the Lord’s death (our communion service).

The Lord Jesus, on the night before He died, took bread and said, “Take, eat, This is My body.” He also took the cup and said, “This is My blood.”

Millions of people all over the world have misunderstood these words, because their religious leaders have told them that the bread changes and becomes the actual body of Christ and that the juice of the grape actually changes and becomes the blood of Christ.

So when the Lord took the bread and said, “This is My body” what did He really mean? The Lord was using a simple figure of speech, a metaphor.

I’m going to use a similar metaphor and let’s see if you understand what I am saying. [I hold up a large portrait of my great-grandfather]. “This is my great-grandfather. His name was William Martin Zeller and he was born in 1852."

Now I just said, “This is my great grandfather. How many of you really believe that this is my great-grandfather?" (Probably some hands will go up).

This isn’t my great-grandfather! My great-grandfather has been dead for many years. His body is not here; he’s buried in a grave in Shippensburg, PA. I hope his soul is in heaven with Christ, but I don’t know if he was a believer or not.

This is not my great-grandfather. It’s just a picture, a portrait. It’s a picture of my great grandfather, but it’s not him. It represents him. It looks like he once looked. It reminds me of him.

So when I said, “This is my great-grandfather,” you all understood what I meant. I meant, “This is a picture of my great-grandfather. This represents my great-grandfather."

So when the Lord Jesus said, “This is My body,” we understand just what He meant. "This bread represents My body; This cup represents My blood." It’s a picture of what He did for us when He died on the cross.

So later tonight that bread and cup are going to remind us of our Saviour who loved us and gave Himself for us. He said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

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