"For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." 1 Corinthians 10:26.
F. B. Hole.
(Extracted from Scripture Truth Vol. 17, 1925, page 223.)
The supper of which 1 Corinthians 11 speaks is the supper of the Lord, and in it the death of the Lord is shown. Verse 26 does not speak, be it noted, of the death of Jesus, nor of the death of the Son of God, though He who died was Jesus, the Son of God. He is the Lord, the Master, and great Administrator of the coming age, and it is the death of the Lord that we remember and show forth.
Consider Him as Lord for one moment. In that character He will take up and administer the vast inheritance of glory in the coming day. All will be committed to His hand, for He is the Heir of all things. God has made known to us the mystery, or secret, of His will; it is to "gather together in one all things in Christ" (Eph. 1:10). Heavenly things as well as earthly things are included in this vast purpose of the will of God. The great pyramid of glory, if we may so speak, will be broad based on the very earth where He bled and died, but will rear itself into the heavens and find its finality and apex in CHRIST. The top stone of a pyramid is itself a pyramid; it gathers together in one, — in itself, — all the lines and faces and angles of the pyramid as it crowns and completes the whole. Conversely once the top stone of a pyramid is chiselled and fixed, the character and proportions of the whole pyramid are determined, all save its height — which depends on how far the lines and faces are carried downwards.
Christ is that apex, and hence, as Ephesians 4 tells us, He has "ascended up far above all heavens that He might fill all things" (verse 10). In the coming age He will be Head of all and Lord of all and impress His own mark and character on the whole realm, blessed beyond compare, that will lie beneath Him.
Now we show forth the death of Him who is Lord and Heir of all things, for in that way He has elected to take up the inheritance. The thoughts of men's hearts had been that by killing the Heir they would end His claims and seize on the inheritance for themselves. When the Lord Jesus expired between two thieves it did indeed seem as if their thoughts had come to pass. Apparently the Prophet of Nazareth had met with sudden eclipse, His cause was extinguished. Through the ages the devil had played his pieces with but a feeble reply from prophets and servants of God. Now playing with masterly skill the adversary encompassed the death of Christ. But the death of the Lord proved to be God's first great move, a move of overwhelming consequence, a move of such a character that only another move or two of a simple sort need be taken and the devil's checkmate will be a completed thing. By death the Heir has acquired a fresh title to the inheritance, the title which redemption gives. By death and resurrection the Lord has consolidated His sway in all spheres. He is Lord both of the dead and of the living.
But it is still the dark hour of His rejection. Since the hour of His apparent eclipse the world has been bereft of His light. He is forgotten, and men pursue their own way as though He would remain but a Name for ever. He is coming! And when as Lord He assumes authority He will rapidly and effectually overturn the existing order and establish that which is Divine. We know it through grace, and that it is His death which has made all possible. It has made it righteously possible for Him to take up His glory and link us with Himself in it.
We wait, therefore, for Him, and while we wait we eat the bread and drink the cup and thereby show forth the death of the Lord until He come.