CHAPTER FIVE
TIMELESSNESS OF THE HOLY EUCHARIST

 

“The Church is the epicentre of the universe. Worship is the epicentre of the Church.” - K.P. Yohannan

“…numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,”Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!’”³¹⁴

 

“I SAW THE Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of His robe filled the temple.”³¹⁵ When we enter a large Church building we sense the greatness of the God who is worshipped. For those who have never been in a large stone Church building, this is an experience that you are missing. I remember when studying at college I would go into an old, large Anglican Church on my way back home. I stayed in there for an hour or more, reading the Bible, praying, and spending time in silence. It was a powerful way to put God back into my thoughts and have a sense of His presence. The building itself gives you the sense of God, in the high ceilings, stonework, and stained glass. You get the sense of what the prophet Isaiah felt when he went into the temple (Isaiah 6). Church buildings can be a representation of what we think of God and worship.

Many modern Church buildings lack any grandeur,³¹⁶ holiness³¹⁷ or reverence³¹⁸ for God. Sadly, this speaks for the people who also worship in them. A.W. Tozer stated that in his day he felt the evangelical Church had lost worship. What I believe he meant is that we lost the conception of the great, holy God we worshipped and, therefore, lacked the ability to worship God appropriately.³¹⁹ We see another important aspect of this passage of Scripture,³²⁰ Isaiah is being given a glimpse into the heavenly worship in the throne of God. Some wonder what we will do in heaven, or what is happening in heaven right now. In this passage and in Revelation 5 we see the picture of heavenly worship of angels, elders, and songs of worship and praise being given to God.

In some older Churches the intention and design of the church is trying to imitate heaven and give a sense of its holy atmosphere. The focus of early Church worship was Jesus Christ and His death for mankind. We see in the heavenly throne room as the focal point: “A Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne.”³²¹

Some Churches make the main figure the charismatic speaker or worship band, but in the early Church they put the Holy Communion as the center and focus of the worship. There were Scripture readings and short messages but the focus was on the Lord Himself. When a Christian service begins, do you feel yourself joining in with the holy angels in worship of the Lord? Paul the Apostle was pleading with the Church in Corinth to get their eyes off of men and onto the Lord: “Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?”³²² Essentially Paul was saying if we elevate Christian speakers too highly we end up up taking away glory from Jesus Christ, His death, and resurrection. May God help us recover that sense of God’s holiness in our modern churches. Francis Chan, a famous evangelical speaker, recently preached in a large evangelical church for many weeks. He put a communion cup and bread on a table at the front of the church. He stated that though teaching was needful, having the elements there would remind the people why they are gathering at this church weekly. It is to meet with the Lord and remember His death.

Entering Into Heaven’s Worship

What a shock heaven will be for so many people. As we are so earth-bound and earth-focused, many modern believers have given very little thought to heaven itself. Yet we see in the traditions of the Church that the focus on heaven was one of their main considerations. Golden bowls,³²³ incense,³²⁴ holy angels,³²⁵ 24 elders,³²⁶ prostration before the Lord,³²⁷—not the typical church meeting for most believers! When we read Revelation 5, we are given a beautiful picture of looking into heaven right now. We are given the same picture of the heavenly throne room in Isaiah chapter 6. It might be hard to get our minds around the idea that right now there is a “great cloud of witnesses”³²⁸ worshipping the Lord but it is true. John Chrysostom says when we gather as the Church to worship: “You are accompanied by the Cherubim in the Thrice-Holy Hymn and with them–peacefully–you glorify the All-holy Triune God.”

When we read these two chapters of holy Scripture, we are taken aback with the great sense of awe and holiness in heaven. One golden chord of thought and belief in early Christian theology is that, when we corporately worship together, we are entering also the worship of the holy angels and cloud of witnesses in heaven.

Worship has become so self-centered that such thinking seems absurd in our day. Yet Christian worship has always been lofty as we are worshipping God, not some idol or lesser deity. One minute in heaven of true heavenly worship will seem like an eternity. It would be a good start for us to meditate and consider these two chapters mentioned in relation to our worship of God.

The Apostle Peter recounts an event that was life-changing for him. When he recounts it in his mind, it brings great reverence and awe for the holy God he serves. I can imagine the Apostle closing his eyes with tears as he thinks of the holy voice of God he heard³²⁹ and the glorified Lord Jesus he saw with mortal eyes.³³⁰ He said they were “eyewitnesses of His majesty”³³¹ and when “the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory”³³² these things were life-changing to see and hear, for he was witnessing the holy presence of God. And it is no wonder he calls it the sacred mountain. What is sacred anymore in our Christian life? Are things in the Church still holy to you? Is worship something that gives you the sense of angels worshipping with you?³³³

Christianity has always been a holy religion. There is nothing mundane about it, yet modern thinking wants to bring Christ and all the holy things of God into the mud and mire of common things. Even with the Bible we hold, we can lack the sense of what Paul the Apostle named them to be: “Holy Scriptures.”³³⁴ Early believers read the Scriptures with reverence and worship.

Experiencing Christ Tangibly

For some in our day, Christ is just a creed or name but not a Living Person who they are intimate with or experience tangibly. The Church’s worship began not with songs and a sermon but disciples leaning on the breast of the Son of God,³³⁵ or a prostitute wiping Jesus’ feet with tears and her hair.³³⁶ Worship was Peter bowing in the boat saying, “Go from me, Lord, I am a sinful man!”³³⁷

For the early disciples, worship was taking the bread and wine on Passover with Jesus.³³⁸ This practice of the Lord’s Supper has been passed on from generation to generation and has become a way for us to experience Christ as the early disciples did. Through the command and blessing of Jesus Christ, we can experience Him through this holy practice of the bread and wine being done as prescribed in remembrance of Him.

The earliest Church Fathers said Communion (Holy Eucharist) was a moment to touch Christ tangibly in time:

“That chalice–rather, that which the chalice contains–has been sanctified by the word of God and is the Blood of Christ.” 339

“As two pieces of wax fused together make one so he who receives Holy Communion is so united with Christ that Christ is in him and he is in Christ.”³⁴⁰

The doctrine and belief of Real Presence was something that was believed by all believers for 1500 years of Church history before the Reformation. After the Reformation there were certain more extreme wings of belief that reacted and created a view of symbolism with the Lord’s Supper. But by the majority when the Lord’s Supper was practiced it was believed that they were participating in the Blood and Body of Jesus Christ by faith. Something mystical was happening! Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”³⁴¹ We are those who take by faith His words and celebrate His death and resurrection. Yet this “blessedness” comes to us in a spiritual experience of union and abiding with the Presence of Christ.

Worshipping in Time

As early believers followed the tradition and doctrine of the holy Apostles and repeated the liturgies that formed, they entered into the worship of God with the saints of all ages. When we choose to set apart ourselves by faith to worship God we enter into a place of timelessness where all heavenly beings are worshipping the Trinity.

In Hebrews it says, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence.”³⁴² This entering into God’s throne room through prayer and worship puts us in the very presence of Him who is eternal (outside the constraints of time) and is, therefore, timeless.

Worship is the center of the Church itself and the celebration of the holy Eucharist is the center of the worship of the Church! When we come and remember the death of our Lord we worship God for the most significant event that the Godhead ever did for mankind.

In all Christian Churches there is a verbal proclamation of the institution of the Lord’s Supper as all groups would say:

“On the night that he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, ‘Take, eat; this is My Body, which is given for you: Do this in remembrance of Me.’”³⁴³

“Likewise, after supper, Jesus took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink this, all of you; for this is My Blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for you, and for many, for the forgiveness of sins: Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of Me.’”³⁴⁴

When the words are said by faith and other parts of the liturgy, we are entering into worship with angels and elders who are saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain.”³⁴⁵

Kairos and Chronos

There are two Greek words for ‘time’ in the Scriptures. One is Chronos which is the measurement of quantitative or exact time. It is the kind of time that is measured in days, hours, minutes and seconds. The second word for time is Kairos, was is defined as the right, critical, or opportune moment. This ultimately refers to God’s time. It is not measured in hours, minutes or seconds. God’s time and our time move differently.

When we worship in the Spirit of God and by faith, we enter into Kairos time which is essentially eternal or outside of time. When we come to the Eucharist service to worship God we set aside all thoughts of the world and focus our attention on God. We essentially become like the angels in our task at this time point. An early Church Father therefore exhorts us: “Let us who mystically represent the Cherubim and sing the thrice holy hymn to the life-giving Trinity, set aside all the cares of life that we may receive the King of all, invisibly escorted by the Angelic Hosts. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.”³⁴⁶

“The crucifixion of Christ is an event with eternal consequences. Through this event all humankind before and after the cross, in fact all creation, may be saved; and in this sense it is an eternal sacrifice. Not that Christ is eternally re-sacrificed, but that the scope of the crucifixion is eternal — reaching out to each communicant in the Eucharist.”³⁴⁷

We have all had that sense of when God has worked³⁴⁸ through us, spoken³⁴⁹ through us, or shown Himself to us³⁵⁰ that time in a sense stands still for us. The Divine activity of God is timeless.³⁵¹ The celebration of the Eucharist is timeless. We enter into participation with Christ, His Body and Blood.

“The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the Blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the Body of Christ?”³⁵²

And Christ gives us the clear command to experience union with Him through the act of Lord’s Supper:

“I am the Living Bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My Flesh.”³⁵³

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you have no life in you.”³⁵⁴

Early Church Fathers on Eucharist

The testimony of the earliest Church leaders is very clear. They all believed that the Eucharist was more than a symbol. Some of these bishops especially Ignatius were in direct succession to the original Apostles. In closing of this chapter here are a few of their quotes:

St. Ignatius, A.D. 110: “I have no taste for corruptible food nor for the pleasures of this life. I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for drink I desire His blood, which is love incorruptible.”³⁵⁵

St. Justin Martyr, A.D. 151: “We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration [i.e., has received baptism] and is thereby living as Christ enjoined. For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both Flesh and Blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by Him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the Flesh and the Blood of that incarnated Jesus.”³⁵⁶

St. Irenaeus, A.D. 180: “He has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be His own blood, from which he causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, He has established as His own body, from which He gives increase unto our bodies. When, therefore, the mixed cup [wine and water] and the baked bread receive the word of God and becomes the Eucharist, the Body of Christ.”³⁵⁷

Clement of Alexandria, A.D. 191: “‘Eat My Flesh,’ [Jesus] says, ‘and drink My Blood.’ The Lord supplies us with these intimate nutrients, He delivers over His flesh and pours out His blood, and nothing is lacking for the growth of His children.”³⁵⁸

St. Cyril of Jerusalem, A.D. 350: “The bread and the wine of the Eucharist before the holy invocation of the adorable Trinity were simple bread and wine, but the invocation having been made, the bread becomes the Body of Christ and the wine the Blood of Christ.”³⁵⁹

St. Augustine, A.D. 411: “That bread which you see on the altar, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the Body of Christ. That chalice, or rather, what is in that chalice, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the Blood of Christ.”³⁶⁰

 

“GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD and HAUGHTY, BUT [continually] GIVES [the gift of] GRACE TO THE HUMBLE [who turn away from self-righteousness].”³⁶¹ God’s gift of Christ in the Eucharist is still open to those who in humility of mind, like a child,³⁶² come to experience and worship Him.

 

“Hoc enim ore sumitur quod fide creditur.”³⁶³

 

314 Revelation 5:11-12

315 Isaiah 6:1

316 Psalm 33:8, 1 Chronicles 16:25, Psalm 47:2

317 1 Peter 1:16, Leviticus 11:44

318 1 Samuel 12:24

319 Hebrews 12:28

320 Isaiah 6:1-5

321 Revelation 5:6

322 1 Corinthians 1:13

323 Revelation 5:8

324 Revelation 8:4

325 Revelation 7:11

326 Revelation 4:9-10

327 Revelation 1:17, 5:8, 22:8

328 Hebrews 12:1

329 2 Peter 1:17

330 2 Peter 1:16-18

331 2 Peter 1:16

332 2 Peter 1:17

333 1 Corinthians 11:10

334 2 Timothy 3:15

335 St. John 13:23

336 St. Luke 7:36-50

337 St. Luke 5:8

338 St. Matthew 26:17–29, St. Mark 14:12–25, St. Luke 22:7–38

339 St. Augustine of Hippo

340 St. Cyril of Alexandria

341 St. John 20:29

342 Hebrews 4:16

343 1 Corinthians 11:23-24

344 1 Corinthians 11:25-26

345 Revelation 5:12

346 Cherubic Hymn, from the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom

347 The Shape of Synagogue Worship, accessed July 26, 2024. https://liturgica.com/litEChLitJ.html#3

348 Philippians 2:13

349 St. Matthew 10:20

350 Psalm 34:8, 1 Peter 2:3

351 2 Peter 3:8

352 1 Corinthians 10:16

353 St. John 6:51

354 St. John 6:53

355 St. Ignatius, Letter to the Romans 7:3

356 Justin Martyr, First Apology 66

357 Against Heresies, book V, chapter 2.2

358 The Instructor of Children, 1:6:43:3

359 Catechetical Lectures, 19:7

360 Sermons 227

361 James 4:6 (Amplified Bible Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation).

362 St. Matthew 18:3-5

363 “For this is taken with the mouth which is believed by faith.” - St. Leo