Good morning,
Memorial Day is Monday, 31 May 2021.
God has given us many memorials. This week we will look at five of them.
The Lord’s Supper, the Rainbow, the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Feast of Purim.
A memorial is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person (who has died) or an event. The most common type of memorial is the gravestone or the memorial plaque. Also common are war memorials commemorating those who have died in wars.
MEMORIALS
1. The Lord’s Supper
The first memorial we are considering in this list is found in Luke 22:19-20.
“And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” (Luke 22:19-20)
Of course, the greatest memorial of them all is the Lord’s Supper which is a reminder of the broken body and shed blood of Christ.
The Communion service is a service of remembrance. It is the equivalent of the Passover feast under the Law of Moses. The Communion takes us back to our salvation from sin through Christ, which was made possible on the cross and to which we became related by baptism. Keeping this commandment is therefore something we naturally want to do. We do this in obedience to Christ’s command.
2. The Rainbow
The second memorial can be found in Genesis 9:12-17.
“And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.” (Genesis 9:12-17)
The memorial is the rainbow, and it is a reminder that God would never again destroy the world by a flood.
In the verses in the above quote, the rainbow is described as a token of the covenant. So God is saying that whenever He sees this sign or monument in the sky, it will remind Him of the covenant between Him and every living creature on the earth. In other words, it is a memorial not only for God but also for us. Whenever we see the rainbow it is to remind us of the covenant, that never again will there be a flood to destroy all life on the earth.
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com
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