Acts 10 - Part 5; Memorials

It is recorded twice in Acts 10 that the prayers and alms of Cornelius had come up as a memorial or had been remembered in the sight of God.

Acts 10:4; "And when [Cornelius] observed [the angel of God], he was afraid, and said, 'What is it, lord?' So he said to him, 'Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God."

Acts 10:30, 31; "So Cornelius said, 'Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, and said, 'Cornelius, your prayer had been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God."

Christians tend to think that we humans need to be reminded and God does not. Well, this may be true, but why then does God tell us that He remembers and forgets? He forgets our sin and remembers His promise not to destroy the earth with a flood when He sees the rainbow.

In Genesis 9:13-16;

"I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."

There is no indication here that God puts a rainbow in the cloud to remind us of anything, and twice He tells us the rainbow is to remind Him.

Consider also when Jesus institutes the New Covenant He tells us to do this as a memorial to Him. I've come to believe that this also is not only, or not even primarily, a reminder to us. Jesus tells us to do this to remind the Father of Christ's work as the Lamb of God.

When the animal was vicariously sacrificed in the Old Testament, the blood was taken from the altar and sprinkled around the inside of the temple. Since the temple was symbolic of God's house, and God resided there, the sprinkled blood showed God that those in the temple were covered by the blood. All this was a picture of Jesus Christ, the true Lamb of God whose blood was shed for His people.

When Jesus institutes the New Covenant, He tells His disciples and us that bread and wine are His body and blood. He commands us to eat and drink this as a memorial to Him. And since we hear in Paul's letter to the Corinthians that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the body and blood of Christ are seen in the temple by the Holy Spirit. Then God remembers that we are His people in Christ. This is the reality that was only shadowed in the Old Covenant.

So, in conclusion, we ought not think that the Lord's Supper is only or even primarily a reminder to us. It is to remind God of our standing in Jesus Christ, His Son, with whom He is well pleased. This is our only comfort, hope, and confidence.

DR