The Lord’s Supper and the Three Things Necessary (1)

Rev. J.J. Van Eckeveld, Zeist, the Netherlands

The heartbeat of spiritual life

Most of us have heard, since we were young, from the Heidelberg Catechism of the three things which are necessary in order for us to live in comfort and to die happily.

We must know how great our sins and miseries are (the part of misery), how we may be delivered from our sins and miseries (the part of deliverance), and how we may show true thankfulness for such deliverance (the part of thankfulness). We must know these three parts, not just with our understanding, for then our heart is not included and our lives are not renewed. No, here it relates to an experimental knowledge, a knowledge wrought by saving faith. It is clear that the doctrine of the three things necessary is according to the doctrines of Scripture. I will only cite Psalm 130:3 & 4. “If Thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?(the part of misery), But there is forgiveness with Thee (the part of deliverance), that thou mayest be feared (the part of thankfulness).”

God’s children will never finish being instructed in any of these three parts. They are inseparably linked together. In these three parts, one finds the heartbeat of spiritual life. Where true spiritual life is present, you will find, both in the beginning and in its continuance, the knowledge of these three parts. No matter where you meet children of God, in whatever country or culture, you will hear them speak of their experiences concerning these three parts. It is not my intention to discuss these three parts in great detail but how they have a place at the Lord’s Supper. It is striking that in the Liturgical Forms in the back of our Psalter time and again we come across the three parts. That is the case, for example, with the Form for Baptism, but it is found no less in the Form for the Lords Supper. Partaking of the Lord’s Supper is preceded by self-examination. How can I examine myself before the face of God? That can be done with the use of the three parts. We can read of it very clearly as it is stated in the Form for the Lord’s Supper. Do I know something in my life of these three parts? That is the essential question we should ask ourselves when performing self-examination.

I wish to discuss this in somewhat greater detail with an eye towards partaking of the Lord’s Supper. In this discussion I will also consider how people such as Calvin, Brakel, Immens, and others have written on this subject, because we can learn so much from their writings.

The part of misery

Let us, in the first place, give our attention to the words from the Form for the Lord’s Supper. There we can easily find the three parts explained. Our self-examination follows in the order of the three parts.

In the first place we read, “That every one consider by himself, his sins and the curse due to him for them, to the end that he may abhor and humble himself before God, considering that the wrath of God against sin is so great, that (rather than it should go unpunished) He hath punished the same in His beloved Son Jesus Christ with the bitter and shameful death of the cross.”

It speaks here of the necessity of the knowledge of our sins and our lost state. What would we do with Christ if we did not have any sin or guilt? Why would we then need Him as our Surety and Mediator? How then would we proclaim His death? It is in the discovery of our lost state that we come to need Him and that He becomes precious to us. The abhorrence and humbling of self also assumes one’s sorrow over sin. Boston states that he has never seen a person who laughingly fled to Jesus but always with tears. If we know nothing of the sorrow over sin, of the curse of the Law, and an abhorring and humbling of ourselves, how can it ever become a wonder for us that Jesus receives sinners and eats with them? (Luke 15:2).

Calvin, the well-known Reformer from Geneva, continuously emphasized that a worthy partaking of the Lord’s Supper is accompanied with a consciousness of our own unworthiness. In spiritual life, faith and the abhorring of ourselves go hand in hand. When we seek our life outside of ourselves and in Christ, it is an acknowledgement that, in and of ourselves, we are dead. “When we consider that our total happiness is contained in His grace, it is necessary that we realize how great our misery is without this grace.” What stands in the way of the proper use of the Lord’s Supper? Not our awareness of our unworthiness, but “carelessness and slovenliness.”

William Teelinck also points to the necessity of the knowledge of misery. In connection with this, he points to the fact that whoever may have but one drop of Christian blood in his veins cannot be anything else but deeply sorrowful when he realizes how bitterly Christ has had to suffer because of his sins. By Teelinck, therefore, this sorrow has a strong evangelical character, but it also brings with it a breaking with sin. Teelinck, in this respect, mentions specifically the sins of gluttony, merriment at mealtimes, idleness, following the latest fashion in clothing, and living in discord with others.

The depths of the discovery

In the pastoral work surrounding the Lord’s Supper, the questions which are repeated over and over are these: “Is my knowledge of sin great enough? Have I been uncovered enough to my sins? Do I have enough sorrow about my sins?” In other words, it concerns the question as to how deep the knowledge of our sins should be.

I would like to cite several items in answering this question. In the first place, it concerns the nature of our knowledge of sin. Cain also had knowledge of his sins, to such an extent that he said, “My punishment is greater than I can bear” (Genesis 4:13). In the Dutch Bible it says literally, “My sin is greater than that it can be forgiven.” Judas also received a deep glance into the depths of his lost state, for he called out, “I have betrayed the innocent blood” (Matthew 27:4), but even with their knowledge of sin Cain and Judas went lost. Cain fled from before the face of the Lord, and Judas went out and hanged himself. What were they missing? It was the love of God. That is why they did not know the true sorrow over sin. Their knowledge of sin did not drive them out unto God. Love and sorrow go together.

Sometimes one can attend a funeral where there is no sorrow. Why is that? It is because the people did not know the deceased person. If you had loved the deceased person, then you would mourn over their departing, and there is sorrow. Sorrow comes forth out of love. The sorrow for sin comes forth out of love. In the rebirth, the sinner is reunited with Christ through faith, and because of that, the love of God is poured out into the heart. Then it lies secure from God’s side, but now it must also be secured from my side through the exercises of faith.

The love of God is poured out into the heart in the rebirth, and it reveals itself immediately in the fruits. There comes a longing after an unknown God. Psalm 42 becomes reality, “My soul thirsts after God.” It becomes my greatest distress that I am separated from God. I am taught to see that it is my sins which have separated me from God. Sin then becomes very bitter. It becomes such a deep sorrow that with my sins I have angered and offended God, a God whom I can no longer do without.

— To be continued —

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