“And in this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of well refined wines on the lees.” (Is. 25:6)
Every week we gather here to celebrate this feast as the beginning of what we confess is for the whole world. Jesus set this table 2000 years ago with His disciples, and then He filled the feast with the power of His own life through His death and resurrection. Since that time God has been pleased to invite all people to this feast. And that really is what evangelism is all about. Evangelism is the proclamation of this feast and the invitation to come. But this sacrament that we celebrate every Lord’s Day is meant to proclaim something that is much bigger than what it might look like. Sacraments are always meant to be mirrors. They are meant to proclaim what is already gloriously true. We gather here and we share bread and wine in order to proclaim the death of Christ until He comes. We proclaim the feast of God spread for the nations until they all come. But we don’t make it any more true today than it was last week. We see the truth displayed more and more as all the people take their places at the feast. But the death of Jesus accomplished the fact. And so we sit here together, and this sacrament is a mirror that shows us the reality that we cannot yet see but which we long for by faith. We sit here and share bread and wine, and for a few moments we catch a glimpse of the great mountain of the Lord, and a feast spread for all people, every man, woman and child throughout the world, throughout history. And this banquet, this marriage feast is spread with the finest wines, the finest meats. And the reason we celebrate this feast week after week is because we need to be reminded of what is true all the time. Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, you are freed, you are forgiven, you are clean, and you are welcome. You are seated at this feast on this mountain. You do not go out into the world in order to try to be clean, in order to try to become free, in order to find forgiveness. You are already clean, you are already free, forgiveness has already found you. God knows about your temptations, He knows about your doubt. He knows about your selfish stubbornness, your lies, your gossip, your slander, your lust, your envy. And most importantly, He knows that you think you need to do something about it. But the good news of the gospel, the good news of this feast is that there is nothing for you to do because God has already done it. And this is what we proclaim to the whole world: come to feast. It’s completely and absolutely free. This is the city of God, the Kingdom of God, the life of God come down from heaven for the world, a feast for sinners, family for the lonely, life for the dead, light for darkness. So come to the feast, you and all the world.
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