356: Peter King - Exhortation: The Last Supper in the Gospel of John

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   Welcome to good Christophian talks. I’m Levi. I’m Chris. I’m Jason. And I’m Brian, thank you for joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. Each week we post a talk. That we previewed. From suggestions sent in by listeners from around the world.

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   Then we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk. And now let’s talk more about this week’s talk.

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   Hello everyone, this is Brother Chris back with another talk to share this week. For this week, we’re listening to an exhortation that was given by Brother Peter King at the 2005 Idlewild Bible School. The title of his exhortation is The Last Supper in the Gospel of John. Now Brother Peter’s talks are always have a really interesting way of looking into Scripture. This is no different than that connecting different ideas and looking at kind of a unique way of viewing the Last Supper in the Gospel of John.

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   Instead, he tends to pick pieces from the gospel on how the story of the Last Supper was outlined there in different ways. And as a result, I always have found it interesting looking at the story of the Last Supper in the Gospel of John in similar passages. And that was part of what drew me to this exhortation when I digitized the tape.

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   So it has a very different way of looking at the Last Supper that is both reflective and also kind of pulls in different meanings and a different way of looking at the memorial emblems. So I don’t want to give too much away because Brother Peter does a fantastic job about this, but I thought it would be something really interesting for you to go through and listen to.

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   You will have something new to think about. So I hope that this talk encourages you on your walk and gives you something to think about through the coming week. So now I’ll turn it over to Brother Peter King for his exhortation from Idlewild in 2005 entitled The Last Supper in the Gospel of John. All of the Gospel writers bring us to the breaking of bread service.

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   The Synoptics do so almost identically, perhaps with Matthew giving us the lead which are presiding brethren, you so very often. We’ll read it tomorrow. Easy to remember Matthew 26, verse 26.

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   But this evening I just want to have a few words with you, please, about John’s introduction to the breaking of bread service. It’s scattered really over many chapters, and it begins with the discourse of the Lord Jesus Christ, with the disciples and with some of those people who we now call his enemies because he’s provided bread for them.

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   And they come back for more. And Jesus says, verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me, not because you saw the miracle, but because he did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Staggering, staggering, staggering miracle here. Here was a man who could not only cure the sick, but he could provide food from next to nothing.

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    This was the man they wanted as king. It isn’t to be wondered at that they took Him by force, or tried to on more than one occasion to make him king.

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    But Jesus of course needed not to be told, was in which was in the heart of man, because He knew men’s hearts. And He said to them, Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed. Jesus is going to say in this chapter, I am the bread of life, which is a continuous verb, which is coming down from heaven.

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    It didn’t just come down from heaven and that was the end of it. This bread of life is living and vibrant and permanent, and it is coming down from heaven now for those who will take it. And they say unto him, what should we do that we might work the works of God?

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    It’s a staggering question, brethren and sisters, and one which we can easily slip over if we’re just reading the word of God with without, without due thought, really, what should we do that we might work the works of God. God’s people, Israel were always wanting to sort of put God in in their debt. We’ll do this and you owe US1 What should we do that we might work the works of God.

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    What what should we do? And then God will be in our debt. Now you can do this for us. That that’s, that’s what was in their mind. And Jesus said unto them, it’s a wondrous reply, This is, this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he hath sent.

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    Now do do you see the subtle difference? They have said, what shall we do? They wanted to do something physical. Jesus said, this is what you must do. This is the work of God that you believe on him whom he hath sent. And see how they misunderstand Jesus. What sign? Show us thou then that we may see and believe thee.

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    What does thou work? Totally misunderstood the Master. The Master said this is the work of God, that you believe on Him or in Him. It’s the same thing. Believe on Him whom He has sent. They say show us a sign and we’ll believe you.

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    It’s easy to believe if somebody gives a sign. The two things are totally different. If I were to say to you, Sister Carol and I had a a good ride out from from England hassle free and we’ve had a couple of relaxing days before coming on to Bible school, you would believe me. Well, I hope you would.

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    I’m telling you the truth. But if I said I want you to believe on me, that’s a totally different thing. If you, if you’re going to believe on me, you may have to change your vocabulary, maybe your way of life, maybe your ambition, maybe your employment. If you believe on me or in me.

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    And Jesus said this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he had sent. And they said, so show us a sign and we’ll believe you. You see, the money changes tables have already been overturned. That was the sign that which previously purchased your salvation. He’s now a thing of the past.

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    Our fathers did eat manner in the wilderness as it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. And Jesus has to put them right. He said you’re misquoting Nehemiah. You’ve quoted me Nehemiah Chapter 9. And that isn’t what the prophet said, because Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven. My Father gave you the bread from heaven and still is, for the bread of God is he which cometh down, is coming down from heaven and giveth life on life unto the world.

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    They said, Lord evermore give us this bread. Jesus is going to say to them later on, Your Father’s did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. They ate the bread of God’s providing and died. And the Lord Jesus Christ is now saying to his disciples of all ages, eat this bread and you will live forever.

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    I just want to have a look, brother and sisters, at the at the giving of the manner. You needn’t turn to the passage. I would be very sad if if if it was not fairly clear in in your in your memory. Just just see this the scene, if you will. Let’s set the scene.

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    Moses didn’t speak. Moses didn’t speak to the people. Aaron spoke to the people. The passage of the word of God coming to the people was like this. God spoke to Moses. Moses spoke to Aaron, and Aaron conveyed the message to the people. It seemed that he was a better orator than Moses. And God said to Moses, I’ll give them bread because they had complained.

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    Our Father knows what we have need of. He knows that we need bread. And he said, I’ll, I’ll give them bread from heaven. And he says tonight you will see a demonstration of the power that brought you out of Egypt. And tomorrow morning you will see the glory of God. Very important that once more this evening you will see a token of the power that brought you out of Egypt.

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    And tomorrow morning you will see the glory of God. And whilst Aaron is speaking to them, they look into the wilderness behind Aaron, and there they say, shimmering in the cloud, the glory of God. Now that’s strange because God has directly said you won’t see my glory tonight, you’ll see it tomorrow morning. And yet they’re looking at it and it’s still tonight. And tomorrow morning when they woke up and pulled open the door of the tent, there upon the ground was that stuff they called Manna.

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    What is it manner? And there were rules associated with it. And we do well to hear them, brethren and sisters, because although they’re 3000 years old, these regulations, they are highly applicable to us because the bread spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it was He that appeared on the ground with the people more than anything, more than any other illustration in the whole of the world of God.

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    In my estimation, the manner speaks to us clearly of Jesus. It came from heaven. You see, if I talk about the manner, you think about the Lord Jesus Christ. It came from heaven in a miraculous way, never been seen before. On which day of the week do you think the manner first appeared? Well, no question is it for children of God, it first appeared on Sunday morning.

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    But then it would, wouldn’t it, if it’s going to type the Lord Jesus Christ for us. The Bread of life first appeared from the tomb on Sunday morning. And here is the bread representing God’s glory first appearing on Sunday morning. They gathered an ether about about 6 pints in our language. Enough for one man for one day go out and gather it.

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    It was corruptible was this manner and this was evidenced by the people who didn’t believe it might be there tomorrow and so it so it took two portions today and he bred worms and stank in their tents. Corruptible. You see, like the Lord Jesus Christ. There isn’t a book in the New Testament that doesn’t speak of the Lord Jesus Christ coming in the flesh, made like us, Jesus Christ, corruptible, temptable. Coming in the flesh was not seen on the 7th day was not this manner, neither was the Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody saw Jesus on the Saturday of the weekend of his death. You could do lots of things with it. You could fry it, bake it, boil it, do lots of things with it so you can with the Lord Jesus Christ, just take it as he comes or do lots of things with it.

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    I’m a I’m a culinary imbecile in in the in the kitchen. I can prepare nothing. And so were I to be living in the day of Moses, when the manner was given of necessity, I would have had to eat it just as it was. And that’s fine. You can do that. It’s very good for you. So you can do that with the Lord Jesus Christ too. Children of of all ages, just read the parables, learn the miracles.

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    Just just read them and as simple stories or your brother and the sisters of more mature years do other things with it. Put the magnifying glass on it. Find out why.

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    Find find out why. In Matthew’s Gospel, for example, the Lord Jesus Christ benefited from one of his own miracles, the only miracle that he performed from which he was a beneficiary. Well, he may have eaten of the bread, but we’re not told that he did.

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    But when the tax collector came and said to Peter, does your master pay tax? Not all this is not Roman tax. Does your master pay tax? We’re reading this a week ago. Peter said, yes, of course he does. He must have seen Jesus pay the tax half a shekel per person. And Jesus said of whom do those ruling take texts?

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    Of the children or of strangers? Of strangers. That’s why the Romans texts as Peter could have said, then other children free, said the Lord Jesus Christ. But what these people are doing to us is saying that whilst God is texting us, we’re strangers to God. That’s what they were saying. And then Jesus says, go and cast a hook into the sea, and the first fish that comes up, you’ll find a coin in its mouth. Give that to them for me and thee. There’s so much wrong with that, brethren and sisters, that we don’t have time to discuss it now. First of all, it’s grammatically wrong. You never put yourself first, do you? Hey, you don’t.

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    You don’t ever put yourself first. But Jesus says, give it to them for me and thee. A polite man surely would have said give it to them for you and me. No, give it to them for me and Z. Why was that? Why didn’t Jesus say to Peter have have a day off from discipleship and go fishing for a day, catch some fish, sell it and give it, give it to them. What’s all this rigmarole about casting a hook into the sea? I tell you what, if it were not such a sticky evening and and time marches on, you’d, you’d be stuck with me not explaining that, that that sounds very condescending. And I don’t mean to be like that. You’d be stuck with me talking about that for several more minutes.

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    But we’ll leave you at that because when you read it a few weeks ago, you surely came up with the answer. Why should the piece of why should the coin be in the fishy’s mouth? Why give it to them for me and thee. And this is what we can do with the Lord Jesus Christ, brethren and sisters, with, with, with the manner. Take him as he is or put the magnifying glass on him and say this is what I can learn from this wonderful mare. You see, I’m not sure about the, the, the laws of in, in North America, not very clear on them in, in the United Kingdom, to tell you the truth.

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    But I, I am, I’m, I’m told by people who say they know that I must have 5 portions of goodies per day. Didn’t you know what I mean? Do you, do you have that law here? No, I’m told on newspapers, government advertisements. I mean, they tell me to stop smoking which are which are which, which is easy.

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    But but these five I’m told to drink orange juicy tomatoes. Don’t don’t forget the the the carrots. And these people, brethren and sisters for 40 years, 8 Manor. And when they got to the border of the promised land, nobody was sick. How about that for a diet? How, how about that? How about that for goodness?

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    God’s provision, That’s what it was. And you could do lots with it, but men had to gather it. God said you, you have to gather this. You see, it was biodegradable, we would say today. That is to say, when the sun came up, it melted. Now you could make a choice, either bed or bread.

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    That, that, that was your choice. See, it’s true, don’t you think? That’s right? Thank you. I’m getting one or two nods. So at least a few, a few people are still awake.

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    You either got out of bed and gathered it or you said I’ll have a line today. And when you got out of bed, it did melted and was gone. No bread. There’s got to be a lesson there for you and me. Get out of bed. Wait, wait.

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    Get out of bed a bit earlier and read they put it in a pot. This this was a wondrous thing God said to to Moses take take a daily ration and put it in a pot. You know, I should think the pot was about about like that, about like that and about like, I really don’t know, but not I’m just guessing. You had to you had to hold about 6 pints pretty big sort of pot. Look what you have.

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    You’ve got corruptible man. I’m talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. You’ve got corruptible manner going into a corruptible pot, and God said to Moses, put it in a pot that Israel may see it. I’m not quite sure what that means. Some of our writers say that on the great day of atonement, it was taken out of the ark of the covenant and paraded before Israel so that everybody could see it. I need Bible evidence of that and I can’t find it Now what I think, what I think it might mean you, you just ponder the size of the of the camp of Israel with that little Tabernacle in the middle and a little pot. What chance would the man at the far corner say? It’s a bit like the people in that corner looking at the prayer list down here we’re being told about. And I think that the pot therefore must have been taken around Israel for them to see it. You see this, you see this, this is going into the very presence of God and we lose sight of it in the Levitical record. No idea what happened to it from Exodus chapter 16 except to say that Moses did as he was commanded. He put the manner in the pot and he set it up before the Lord. That means in the ark of the covenant. Thank God we have the great letter to the Hebrew ecclesia, hey in Jerusalem.

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    Thank God the the, the the Hebrew man tells us what happened because he said that pot which was corruptible because it was made of clay which held the manner which was corruptible, was covered with gold and anything in the word of God he’s made when he’s covered in gold, he’s made incorruptible. It speaks of incorruption.

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    Look what we have. We have the Lord Jesus Christ, who was corruptible, placed in the very You can get no nearer to God in Old Testament times than inside the art. And that’s where the pot was put covered in gold and sealed. Jesus, he’s going to say in John chapter 6, for him hath God the Father sealed. When anything was sealed, brethren and sisters in the Roman Empire, 3 seals, bag of corn, for example, 3 seals were placed on it.

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    Nothing else could get in and nothing could come out. That seal guaranteed quality and quantity. And Jesus said for him, hath God the Father sealed. They tried to seal him. They put him in a tomb and they put a seal on it. And they said there you won’t get out of that now, will you? And the seal was broken and Jesus emerged from the tomb manifesting.

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    He didn’t emerge, that the stone wasn’t rolled away so that Jesus could get out. The stone was rolled away so that the disciples could look in and see that he wasn’t there.

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    So they tried to seal him, and they couldn’t, because him hath God the Father sealed perfect in quantity and quality. And this, brethren and sisters, is the manner upon which Israel lived for 40 years and preciously louse.

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    Just just just ponder once more, if you will, the goodness that was packed into that manner. And this is Jesus. And if we’re wise, we eat it every day. I don’t know anybody never recorded in the wilderness, anybody who said I had a good portion yesterday, I’ll be all right today. Now you need it every day, brother and sisters. And so we ask our brother to uncover the emblems and give us the bread and let us sip the wine, which speaks eloquently of Jesus.

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    Just one last thing, when the Lord Jesus Christ dictated the letter to the Church at Pergamosum Revelation, we hear him say this chapter 2 and verse 17 of Revelation.

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    Him that overcometh will I give a whitestone upon which a new name is written. I’m not quite sure what that is, but by God’s grace and with your patience, we shall talk this coming week about God manifestation. And it is the most wondrous in, in my estimation, the most wondrous subject, God manifestation in Jesus Christ.

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    And so when come the day of the King, a new stone is given to those whitestone is given to those who are accepted. On it is written a name. We’ll talk about that name. I think Revelation chapter 2, verse 17 is, is hinting perhaps at the Urim and Thummim which the high priest held by his heart and which had the capacity to answer yes or no.

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    And you’re in the Kingdom. The whitestone is given you with a name on it. We’ll talk about that name, but something else is given. Jesus said not only will he give them a stone, a whitestone with a new name written on it, He’ll also give them to eat of the hidden manner.

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    But we’ve no idea what happened to that pot of manner. We’ve lost it. Hebrew scholars tell me that Jeremiah knows where it is, and come the day of the Lord Jesus Christ’s appearing, many surprises are going to be had. For example, Jeremiah will find that the tube of clay in in which are the title deeds to Anathos.

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    Jack, come on, use your imagination. There’s nothing wrong. Just imagine the Lord Jesus Christ being on the earth. Oh, look, we’ve found it. We’ve we’ve found it. Found us a scroll here, brother president in in this clay tube, break it. And he tell Jeremiah’s title deeds to the town of Anathos never been rescinded that you know, and Hebrew scholars tell me that Jeremiah also will find the pot of hidden manner.

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    I cannot believe that it’s been destroyed. Can you this gold pot Speaking of immortality from which came from corruption. How about then the there is an assembly like this only 1000 times more, when the Lord Jesus Christ presides over a breaking of bread service in the Kingdom. And the golden pot is on the table and the seal is broken.

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    And the manner which has been stored for thousands of years is poured out. And wine is sipped by Jesus and the congregation and bread is taken from the hand of the steward. And Peter or John or Matthew perhaps will pass you the plate, but you’ll say, ah, the Lord Jesus Christ may do that, but there won’t be enough.

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    Well, there were 6 pints. How’s that going to go around between the great congregation celebrating the return of the King? And I would think if that is the case, then the answer is easy. Jesus will do with the man or what he did with the loaves and fishes so that everybody will have enough. And so, brother and sisters, we come to take of this this manner, we eat it and we take you on board the Lord Jesus Christ.

59. 25:52

    It becomes part of you. When you eat this bread and drink this wine, within a few seconds it is inseparable from your body. This bread becomes you. This wine is you as you sip it and as you eat it, and the bread and the wine of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we grow in him, and we grow like Him, so that ultimately at the return of the King, we shall hear those words spoken. Well done, good and faithful have waited for this day. There’ll be no half measures, brethren and sisters. Nobody will scrape in by the skin of their teeth. That’s a human blessing.

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    Come on then, it’s a close run thing. But you, it won’t be like that. Arms outstretched. We’ll talk about that as well because that’s God, God’s way of showing us salvation. It starts in Exodus chapter 6 and verse 6 where God says I will redeem you with outstretched arms. And that is our redemption through the outstretched arms of love and of sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I will remember him in bread and in wine. Amen.

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