PREPARATION FOR THE
LORD’S SUPPER
Excerpted from Wilhelmus à
Brakel, The
Christian’s Reasonable Service, 2.569–89
Part 1 of 2
It is of utmost necessity that he who desires to partake of the Lord’s Supper
should prepare himself to that end, for:
First, believers still carry within them the old Adam as well as an
inclination to world conformity. So often they gravitate again toward the
earth, as the weights in a clock, and therefore they find themselves unfit when
something of a special nature needs to be performed. Consequently, especially
at such occasions, believers need to encourage, stir up, and spiritually arouse
themselves in order to perform spiritual duties in a spiritual fashion.
Secondly, everyone will be carefully examined at the table as to whether
he wears a wedding garment; that is, whether he appears there with the proper
frame of heart. “And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a
man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how
camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?” (Mt 22:11–12). It is
therefore needful to put on the wedding garment prior to this event in order to
be a desirable guest.
Thirdly, it is furthermore a duty of an extraordinary nature. One
approaches unto God in an extraordinary manner, that is, in a very intimate
manner. One comes to the table as a partaker of the covenant in the presence of
other partakers of the covenant, sits at the Lord’s table in the light of His
countenance, and partakes of the signs and seals of the crucified body and shed
blood of the Lord Jesus. And since it is the Lord’s will that He be sanctified
in those who approach unto Him, it is needful to consider the following:
“Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God?” (Mic
6:6). One must therefore prepare himself in an extraordinary manner for this
extraordinary duty.
Fourthly, it is also God’s command that he who approaches unto God in an
extraordinary manner should also prepare himself to that end. When the Lord was
about to descend to the people upon Mount Sinai, the Lord gave command to
Moses, saying, “Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and
let them wash their clothes, And be ready against the third day” (Ex 19:10–11).
When Israel was about to cross the Jordan dry-shod by a divine miracle, it was
commanded, “Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among
you” (Jos 3:5). When Moses approached the burning bush—a symbol of God’s
extraordinary presence—he heard the voice, “Put off thy shoes from off thy
feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Ex 3:5). When Samuel
invited Jesse and the elders to the sacrifice, he said, “Sanctify yourselves,
and come with me to the sacrifice” (1 Sam 16:5). Whenever the priests would
approach unto the altar, they first had to wash themselves. Therefore, we also,
when about to approach to the holy table, must first prepare ourselves.
Fifthly, it will generally be experienced that a blessing is received
after having prepared one’s self. I repeat, generally, for it does occasionally
occur that a godly person who neglects preparation until the last moment and
ultimately cannot bring himself to be properly engaged therein, in a short time
can consciously sink away so deeply in his abominableness, insignificance, and
sinfulness; receive the Lord Jesus in such a lively frame, acknowledging free
grace; and with such sincerity arise from his sinful state, that he partakes in
faith and does receive many conscious encouragements, so that in amazement he
exclaims, “Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?” (Gen 16:13). On
the contrary, it can also happen that a believer who has made much work of
preparation, both during the time of preparation and in partaking, remains in
the dark, is troubled, and is weak in faith. And even if he received light
during the time of preparation, it can happen at the table that a sudden
darkness and deadness come upon him, so that he who was encouraged while coming
to the table, returns with sorrow to his seat. However, even though this does
happen, preparation ought not to be neglected, for it is his duty. One must
enter in God’s way, and God generally bestows a blessing upon serious
preparation, be it that which one had in view or that which is most beneficial
for him at that time. To such a person the promise will be fulfilled, “And ye
shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart”
(Jer 29:13). The soul will then not accuse itself of slothfulness, but will
find peace in her sincere endeavours. From this, one can perceive the necessity
of preparation.
Even though we may perceive the necessity of preparation, we nevertheless allow
ourselves to be readily hindered and to be kept from it.
(1) This may be done by way of postponement, saying, “Yes, I must, I am
willing, and I shall engage myself in preparation; however, I will do it then,
at such and such a time when this matter has transpired and after that task has
been finished. I am not fit at this moment.” Often, the then does
not materialise. Meanwhile, the time which we thought would be available slips
away, and before having prepared ourselves, we are overtaken by the event
itself. One then finds himself unfit to use the remaining time properly, and
will have to attend in such an unprepared fashion.
(2) The devil is active in a most subtle manner by providing us with so many
activities that it appears we have no time for preparation, or by stirring up
our lusts and causing us to fall into sin, so that we are tossed to and fro as
chaff in the wind. He thus attempts to captivate the heart, allowing it no
quietude to formulate thoughts with composure.
(3) Sometimes one will be in doubt as to whether he ought to attend. One
obstacle or the other is in the way, causing him to say, “I am so in the dark,
so unbelieving, and so confused. Would it be better if I would not attend this
time?” By thus being caught in the middle, whether to partake or not to
partake—as if this were his own decision—time passes by and the desire fails.
If, however, he determines, “I must go and I shall go,” he will be all the more
motivated to be engaged in preparation.
(4) Having now begun with preparation, this work appears to be of a very
difficult nature, and he perceives himself entirely unfit to perform such
difficult work: “It is too difficult and impossible for me to make such an
effort, to engage in such close self-examination, mourn over sin, pray and
weep, and observe a day of fasting.” He thus refrains from doing so, or it is
postponed from day to day. Or he will, with much hesitation, begin with that
which he ought to undertake in an evangelical manner, that is, by quietly
waiting upon the Spirit and quietly giving heed to His motions as much as he is
able. For here it is true that it is not by might, nor by power, but it must
take place by the Spirit.
(5) It can also be that upon engaging in preparation, one experiences himself
to be more unfit than he expected to be—yes, becoming more unspiritual,
confused, and in more darkness than was the case previously. A lively frame
yields to a dead frame, and a believing to an unbelieving frame, relative to
the truth as well as one’s spiritual state. This would cause a person to be
discouraged and inclined to desist from this work. One must note such a frame,
however, as an indication that God will deal with you in a special manner, and
is desirous to give you much grace. Therefore do not walk away from this task
nor refrain from it. Rather, take courage and wait upon the Lord; He will
strengthen thine heart.
As we proceed to consider the work of preparation, three matters are to be
practised: (1) a stimulating of desire; (2) an examination of self; and (3)
spiritual adornment.
The First Aspect of Preparation:
A Stimulating of Desire
One must first of all endeavour to stir up a strong desire to
be among God’s people, to appear before the Lord with the multitude that keeps
holyday, to see the good of His chosen, to rejoice in the gladness of His
people, and to glory with His inheritance. How David longed for this! “One
thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in
the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the
LORD, and to inquire in his temple” (Ps 27:4); “My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” (Ps 42:2). How
sorrowful he was when he was deprived of this! “When I remember these things, I
pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to
the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept
holyday” (Ps 42:4); “Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the
tents of Kedar!” (Ps 120:5). How he rejoiced when he was permitted to be among
God’s people in the temple! “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into
the house of the LORD. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem” (Ps
122:1–2).
Therefore, may your desires be also thus stimulated. Permit me to arouse a
desire within you and to stir you up.
The meeting place where the Lord’s Supper is administered is at that moment
none other than a portal of heaven—with Jacob one may say of it, “Surely the
LORD is in this place... How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the
house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Gen 28:16–17). Heaven opens
itself in such a place, and the rays of divine glory and grace descend to that
place, filling it with the very presence of God. The Father comes to His people
with His favour and reveals Himself in a familiar manner to His favourites,
addressing them as Ammi, ruhamah! that is, My people,
and object of My mercy! I have loved thee with an everlasting love and
therefore I have drawn thee with loving kindness. I have come here to meet you
in order to make known to you, and to cause you to feel, my delight and my
love. The Lord Jesus, the Bridegroom, comes in His love to them to have this
supper with them and to cause them to enjoy it together with Him. With love and
delight He views them as they surround Him. It is there that the Holy Spirit is
active, filling the soul with light, grace, and comforts. There multitudes of
angels are present who delight themselves in God’s gracious coming to His
people. They observe everyone’s behaviour and investigate as much as possible
what the spiritual motions of each person are. Here they observe one who faints
for desire; there is one overwhelmed with love; there one who swoons due to the
absence of Jesus; there a soul is bowed down in sorrow. There is one in whose
eyes can be seen a fearful anxiety due to the heart being so oppressed and so
hard that not one sigh to heaven can come forth; there quiet tears trickle down
the cheek since the Comforter who should comfort the soul is so far from him.
Yonder is one who is strong in the faith and stands firm upon the truths and
promises of God as standing upon a rock. Here is one who follows hard after the
Lord, and there is one who is leaning upon her Beloved; there is one who is
burdened with sin and who, with this heavy burden, comes to Jesus to be delivered.
There comes an infant in grace in all simplicity, and here there are some who
receive rivers of grace and comfort, so that they are filled to overflowing.
All this longing, yearning, sighing, weeping, and goings forth of love are
directed toward Jesus and end in God. Here all that is perceived and
experienced in the soul converges in one focal point. All this the angels view
with wondrous delight and they glorify God for His grace and goodness toward
the children of men. Here is the household of God, and here spiritual friends
are gathered together for a moment in order to delight themselves in the
presence of their heavenly Father and in Jesus, their beloved Bridegroom. Whose
heart, upon observing these manifestations, would not be stirred also to go there,
to be part of this gathering, and also to delight oneself in the Lord? Even a
barren soul will say, “There I wish to go, for it could be that I may receive a
blessing there.”
Secondly, consider this gathering as being led into the inner chambers (Song
1:4) and into the king’s palace (Ps 45:15), where many wonders are unveiled to
the godly which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, which has never entered
into the heart of man, and which God has prepared for them that love Him. Oh,
what glorious matters the Lord shows them there, and what sweetness He causes
them to taste there! There He grants His children a profound insight into the
eternal, sovereign pleasure of eternal election: He has known and loved them
from eternity and has ordained them to be the recipients of a salvation which
passes all understanding. There He reveals to them the covenant of redemption,
the Counsel of Peace between Jehovah and the Man whose name is the Branch,
together with all the conditions and promises of this covenant, the voluntary
surrender of the Son to be a Surety for those elect, and the manner in which
this covenant is their certainty and salvation. There He reveals to them His
unfathomable wisdom in the way by which He leads them to salvation by first
concluding them under sin and permitting them to come into a state in which
they completely miss and are estranged from God, from which He afterwards,
demonstrating His wondrous mercy, delivers them again. There He reveals to them
the work of redemption; there they behold Jesus coming in the flesh, and they
follow Him from the manger to the cross—in His preaching, His acts of
benevolence, and His suffering and death. Not only do they reflect upon this as
a truth, but they do so in a lively, intimate manner, considering the very
essence of the matters themselves and all the perfections of God which are
revealed in them. They focus on every one of them and are in amazement about
every one of them. The Lord reveals to them the wondrous ways in which He has
drawn them and led them hitherto. There He reveals something to them of future
glory, which at times brings them into ecstasy. There He assures them of, and
seals to them, His eternal love and the certainty of their state, letting them
depart with a loving kiss of His mouth.
Thirdly, consider for a moment the sweet and friendly invitation of the Lord
Jesus Himself. He has no need of you; He could have passed you by and have
invited others. However, He now says to you, “Come, for all things are ready!”
This invitation He accompanies with so many sweet motives—yes, in His Name He
beseeches you that you would come to Him. Furthermore, He Himself stands at the
door and knocks, waiting for you to open to Him in order that He may sup with
you and you with Him (Rev 3:20). The bride acknowledged this by saying, “I
sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh,
saying, Open to Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled: for My head is
filled with dew, and My locks with the drops of the night” (Song 5:2). Since He
calls and invites you in such a friendly manner to have fellowship with Him,
would you then yet walk away or remain standing? No, but allow your heart to be
set aflame with love for such a gathering, and let your soul, so to speak, fly
there with wings.
Fourthly, at the Lord’s Supper a public confession of the Lord Jesus is made.
It is then that the celebrating church professes publicly before the entire
world, and proclaims that Jesus Christ is the only and sufficient Saviour,
their Head, and their Lord. She commemorates His suffering and death as the
only atoning sacrifice, and she declares the death of the Lord to be the only
foundation for peace, comfort, and life. It is God’s way to convert men by
confessing the Lord Jesus and to thus gather His Church. It is the honour which
the Father has awarded the Lord Jesus upon His suffering. A true believer has
love for the Lord Jesus, and wherever there is true love, the believer has a
desire to say of his Beloved, “This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend” (Song
5:16). The Lord Jesus takes careful notice of those who are not ashamed of Him
and whose delight it is, together with the church, to confess Him and to live
to His honour and glory. He promises that He in turn will confess them before
His Father, before the angels, and before the entire world. Since, therefore,
the partaking of the Lord’s Supper is a public confession of the Lord Jesus,
who would then not be stirred up to be among that people who profess and
exclaim that Jesus is King? It is a confession that one would not neglect to
make in time of persecution, even if he would have to die for it.
Fifthly, one exercises communion with Christ in the Lord’s Supper. Is not that
the focus of all your desires, and the essence of your spiritual life? Is not
your soul troubled in the absence of such communion? It is there that the Lord
Jesus assures believers of being a partaker of Him as well as of His love
toward them. It is there that the Holy Spirit generally works in a more
perceptible manner. On the one hand, He reveals the promises to them and the
marks of those who are heirs thereof, and on the other hand He reveals to them
the graces which are to be found in them. Thus, on the basis of God’s Word, He
causes them to come to the following conclusion: The Lord promises these
specific matters to those who are in such a condition; however, in the presence
of God, I perceive such spiritual frames to be within me and therefore these
specific promises are for me—and since the Lord is true, He will also fulfil
them for me. Furthermore, believers consider the signs of the Lord’s Supper as
a seal and pledge by which they are assured that they truly belong to Christ
and that Christ is also their portion. At such a moment the Holy Spirit works
immediately and witnesses with their spirit that they are the children of God,
impressing the Word, the seal, and their conclusion so powerfully upon their
heart, that they know that the Lord Jesus loves them. This in turn causes their
love to be revived toward Him and they thus exercise intimate fellowship with
Christ. “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the
blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body
of Christ?” (1 Cor 10:16). How all this ought to stir up the believer to
partake joyfully of the Lord’s Supper!
Sixthly, not only is there a sealing communion with Christ in the Lord’s
Supper, but there are also times when one may enjoy extraordinary graces which
engender ecstasy. A person may at times, with the disciples, be brought to the
holy mountain and see Christ in His glory. Occasionally, the believer is there
led into the banqueting house, and Christ spreads His love over him as a
banner. He and the Father come and make their abode with him. He causes him at
times to dip joyfully into the fountain of salvation, and such corn and wine
causes even the lips of the young men and the young daughters to speak. He
kisses them with the kisses of His mouth and satisfies them there with the
goodness of His house, even of His holy temple. He causes them to sing praises
with joyful lips. Therefore, “let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will,
let him take the water of life freely” (Rev 22:17).
Seventhly, consider furthermore the blessed company which gathers there, for
there God’s children are gathered together before the countenance of their
heavenly Father and their beloved Jesus in order to find mutual delight. There
they express their love to each other; there they fully separate themselves
from the world and despise its love since they find satisfaction in their
mutual love for each other. There they express their love, not only for those
with whom they are acquainted, but also toward all believers with whom they are
not acquainted. They not only unite themselves with all the godly who are
present, but also with the angels and with the souls of just men made perfect.
“But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general
assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God
the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the
mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling” (Heb 12:22–24).
Even if the world, as their enemy, hates, despises, persecutes, and oppresses
them, there is yet no reason for concern; they can readily miss its love, for
they have better company and they refresh themselves in a sweet manner in the
exercise of mutual love. They confess this unity in the Lord’s Supper by eating
of the same bread and by drinking of the same cup. “For we being many are one
bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread” (1 Cor 10:17).
Thus, God’s children may here enjoy a prenuptial celebration.
Eighthly, one furthermore gains strength from the Lord’s Supper in
sanctification, the mortification of sin, and the living of a life that is
pleasing unto the Lord—for the food and drink of this meal yield strength and
refreshment. Here faith is strengthened; love is stirred up and becomes more
steadfast; and here is union with Jesus, the very life of the soul, and a
willing commitment to serve the Lord. The Lord’s Supper obligates one to a
childlike obedience and here one becomes enamoured with continual fellowship
with God—fellowship impeded by sin, but enlivened by the exercise of godliness.
Therefore the soul quietly begins to shine as Moses’ countenance did. She is as
the bride of Christ, receiving the eyes of a dove to keep her Beloved continually
in view and to look away from all that is desirable. It is her desire to please
her Beloved, and she therefore yields to His will.
If there be then a stirring within, a believer—however sluggish he may be and
however many difficulties and objections he may be accustomed to bring
forth—ought to be moved to go with longing to the Lord’s Supper and to say with
Moses, “I will now turn aside, and see this great sight” (Ex 3:3).
—31 March 2002
Part 2 of 2
