“Unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious” (1 Peter 2:7)
The testimony of the Breaking Bread is not a ceremony. It is a testimony. Our Lord gave thanks and broke the bread. He does not ask us to show sympathy for his death, but to give thanks to him because by one perfect sacrifice He accomplished the great work of salvation fully (Heb. 10:14). Before His coming, many sacrifices were offered at different times but not a single sinner became righteous through those sacrifices. So His suffering and death are a victory and not a defeat. By dying in our stead, He took upon Himself all our judgement and all our punishment. He made it possible for any sinner of any degree of any country and of any kind to become righteous. That is why we spend some time worshipping Him and thanking Him before we take part in the Lord’s Table. The Lord said in John 10:17, 18, “I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it again”. Paul testified in Gal. 2:20b “…and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”. So by thanking Him for dying in our stead and conquering death on our behalf and rising again, we are made partakers of the victory which He accomplished on the cross. We begin to see how precious as believers we are unto Him. And also we can see what a great and high purpose our Lord had in dying in our stead and saving us.
As we keep the Table in the middle the Lord speaks to us in a symbolic way. We can hear the voice of the Lord speaking to us. First, He speaks to us and then we speak to Him. Our Lord says, “Remember, My dear children, how willingly and lovingly I gave my body to be broken for you. I gave what all I had to be your Saviour”. To be our creator, our Lord said only one word. By one word He created all. But to be our Saviour He had to give all. He had to empty himself. “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (2 Cor.8:9). And that is how our Lord speaks to us in a symbolic way through the bread and the cup. He emptied Himself to be our Saviour. He gave all willingly. And that is why we are very precious unto Him. The Lord is saying to all among us who are redeemed by His precious blood, “My dear children, you are unto me more precious than all the heavens put together. I gave my all to purchase you. Now you are unto me a peculiar treasure”, “For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure” (Psa. 135:4). In Matt. 13:44, we are called a treasure hid in a field. Also according to Matt. 13:46, we are His shining pearl. In Deut. 32:9, we are called His everlasting inheritance. Unto Him, we are very precious, more precious than all the heavens put together. Heavens shall pass the hope of living forever. That is why falling upon our faces we worship Him.