As we’ve been studying communion, we cannot get away from the future aspect of the table. Jesus, at the Last Supper, said, “For I tell you I will not eat until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (Luke 22:16 ESV). Nor will he drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes (22:18). Jesus also told his disciples that “I assign to you, as my father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom” (Luke 22:29).
In John Mark Hicks’ book, Enter the Water, Come to the Table, he describes what “eschatology” (the study of last things or the last days) is. He says, “Eschatology, however, is not so much about what happens last–and the order in which it happens–as much as it is about the future that is already at work.” Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection began the new creation. Hicks continues, “The contrast between our present Adamic existence within this old creation and our future Christic existence in the new creation is the contrast between mortal and immortal, between dishonor and glory, between weakness and power, and between ‘natural’ and ‘spiritual’ (1 Cor. 15:42-44).”
Hicks continues even still, “The Son is new creation, the second Adam, the new human. Because of the Messiah’s work, the sacraments are a place where the new creation breaks into the old one.” The Lord’s Supper is a participation in the new creation. Sure we remember Jesus, but the living Jesus is also the meal. Jesus serves as sacrifice, host, and living food! It is a celebration and participation of the kingdom to come.