Communion Message
(The Night of Betrayal)
November 10, 2002
Pastor Donald Sheley

Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

There's an interesting observation that Paul brings out with regards to the communion service, he says, the Lord Jesus on same night, the same night in which He was betrayed, He took bread. The communion touches our sympathy and love more deeply than any other religious service because the sacred symbols give silence to discussion, and without the machinery of words recall the great tragedy that transcends words. The sacred writers as a rule paint no pathetic scenes self-contained. They have sternly repressed the painful details of our Lord's betrayal and His sufferings.

But incidental illusions to His cruel and shameful maltreatment lead us to ask in the words of the prophet Zechariah, what are these wounds in thy hands? To which the answer is returned, those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. To be wounded in the house of a friend was an unexpected and usual violation of all Oriental covenants and hospitality. And the records of our Savior's maltreatment indicate that the concurrence of circumstances unavoidable increased His sorrow.

One of the significant illusions repeatedly mentioned is found in the fact that He was betrayed at night. Paul introduces the Lord's Supper as we've just read. The Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread. And in order to emphasize the same fact, John distinctly states that Judas, having received the sop, went out immediately and it was night.

What night? It was the Passover night. Jesus had not been in Jerusalem since the previous December until the Passover week, and the rulers were afraid to arrest Him by day when He was surrounded by friends and especially on the feast because they feared people. The Passover night was the first night of our Lord to remain in the city, and it furnished an opportunity for Judas who knew some of His movements to arrest Him quietly and bring Him unknown to the multitudes to the high priest's house.

On the Passover night, in olden as well as modern time, the streets of all Jewish cities are absolutely deserted. All the people by a special custom remain in doors has their fathers did in Egypt. And not a Jew is seen on the streets of the city. Judas with his band could creep through the deserted alleys and in the full light of the moon affect the shameful arrest and bring Jesus unknown to His midnight trial. Our Lord was probably condemned before His friends in the city were aware that He was even arrest.

The night of the betrayal was the last night of the old covenant, and everything in the Paschal separation was arranged to recall the memorable birth night of the nation. That was the greatest night in human history; not only because it celebrated the ransom of Israel from imminent death and their emancipation from slavery, but because it was a night of the greatest gloom and darkness, and ushered a new day. For with the day of the new covenant Jesus brought light and immortality to light.

Now while the communion reminds us of the night of betrayal and the death of the cross, through faith it graciously assures us that the night is over and that the Son of Righteousness is risen and believers are now the children of light. The Passover night was a night where those ancient Israelites who had suffered as a nation for 430 years in the slavery of Egypt, it was the night of deliverance. Their slavery would end. Freedom was ahead of them. A promised land that was described as a land that flowed with milk and honey was out before them., and they were headed home.

So it was a night celebrating deliverance -- deliverance from slavery, deliverance from bondage, deliverance from their oppressors. And I'm suggesting that it was that night in which Jesus shared with His disciples, and then taken to the cross, it was that occasion that brings to all mankind the opportunity to be delivered from Satan's chains. The opportunity to leave sins darkness and come into the light of the glorious knowledge of Jesus Christ, the Savior and Lord. It really is a time of great deliverance.

Some of you standing with me here today have recently made that tremendous discovery, that for all the years in the past you lived under Satan's dominion and the guilt and the penalty of sin was heavy upon you. Then you came to the knowledge that Jesus Christ came to this world to save sinners and to be the substitute. And it was at that night, evening, or day, whenever it might have come to your life, where you were delivered from sin's bondage and you were made a child of God. The sins were forgiven.

Some of you may stand here today and think and may ask the question, why did Jesus have to go to that cross? realizing that the cross is the very center of our Christian faith. Let me tell you why, because in ancient past God had made some statements to His first creation and He said if you partake of this tree you will die. You're doing it in disobedience to Me.

You and I know the story: Adam and Eve did disobey God, and God had every right in the world to strike them dead. But He didn't. He did something very wonderful. He went out into the garden, got a substitute to die, which was an animal, slew the animal, took the skins and covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve. And thus started the sacrificial system of substitution. That animal died when Adam and Eve should have died.

That's why you have throughout all of the Old Testament this constant sacrificial process going on. When you sinned you went to your flock got your animal, brought it to the priest, put your hand on it and transferred, as it were, your sins to the animal, the animal died as your substitute and you went away scot-free with your sins covered.

The Bible tells us though in the fullness of time God said I'll end that sacrificial system. They'll be one final sacrifice; just one, and that sacrifice will cover the sins for all the world; and that sacrifice was Jesus Christ dying on the cross. He took the sins of all mankind: past, present, and future, and there He paid the supreme penalty. What's the penalty?

God had laid down the decree that he that sins shall die, so death is the penalty for sin. Jesus took the death penalty for our sin and died in our stead so we could have life in God. And that was the night it all took place -- the night of the Passover. That night changed human history. That was the night the Savior conquered the problem of sin and forever took care of it that the cross. Amen?

And really folks, this is the heart of our Christian faith. That's why we come to the communion service. That's why we take of communion, because we're saying in our participation, Jesus, I believe that You're the Savior of the world and I believe that You died on that cross for my sins, and I receive You as my Savior. Amen. Let's kneel together, shall we?

Lord Jesus, we're so many centuries removed from that scene down in Egypt when Moses lead the children of Israel that night out of bondage into the freedom and started them on their journey to the Promised Land. It's hard for us to grasp the emotions that must have filled that people that night. A people that had suffered so intensely under the slavery and the taskmasters of Egypt. That was all going to be over, gone forever, and they were going to be free. What immense emotions must have filled their hearts and souls that night.

But Lord Jesus, we kneel here today and many of us think back -- for some of us a few weeks ago, a few months ago, a few years ago -- when we lived in our bondage, in our slavery because we were slaves to sin and Satan was our taskmaster. Then came that beautiful moment in our life when the truth of the gospel became so clear to us that we need not live anymore in slavery and in sin's bondage; we have a Redeemer, we have a Savior, we have a substitute who took our sins. And Lord Jesus, that was the occasion that we invited You to come into our heart and life and by faith we received You. That was the moment we were born again. That was the night, that was the time we were delivered from sin into the glorious freedom of the Your eternal kingdom, dear Christ.

So we look at this moment, this table, as the table of deliverance and we celebrate our deliverance from sin, and our deliverance from slavery to freedom in You, dear Christ. We want to thank You for that today. And these elements that we hold in our hands, the simple little piece of bread bespeaks Your body that became the substitute for us. It was in your body that You died on that cross. You took our sin, you became sin, dear Christ, so that we might be made righteous.

And this cup, even though it has tremendous mystery about it, bespeaks Your precious blood that was spilled to cover all of our sins and to forgive us. And we partake of these elements today in faith in Jesus' name. Let's take the bread together, and then the cup. It seems that our human words are so trite, but we mean them from the very depths of our heart dear Jesus. Thank you, thank you very much for dying for us and becoming our Savior. And everybody said, amen. Let's stand and greet one another, shall we?