716. IV
The Lord is wholly present in the Holy Supper, and so is the whole of redemption.
The Lord is wholly present in the Holy Supper, both as regards His glorified Human and as regards the Divine from which the Human came; this is obvious from His actual words. These passages prove that His Human is present in the Holy Supper:
Jesus taking bread, broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, This is my body; and taking the cup, he gave it to them, saying, This is my blood. Matt. chapter 26; Mark chapter 14; Luke chapter 22.
Also in John:
I am the bread of life; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever. The bread which I shall give is my flesh. Truly, truly, I tell you, he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him; and he lives for ever. John 6[:51, 56].
These passages establish it as obvious that the Lord is present in the Holy Supper as regards His glorified Human.
[2] The Lord is wholly present in the Holy Supper as regards His Divine, from which the Human came, as is obvious from the following: He is the bread which came down from heaven (John 6[:51]). He came down from heaven together with the Divine, for we read:
The Word was with God, and the Word was God; all things were made by Him; and the Word was made flesh. John 1:1, 3, 14.
Further, the Father and He are one (John 10:30); everything of the Father's is His (John 3:35; 16:15); He is in the Father and the Father is in Him (John 14:10, 11, etc). Furthermore His Divine could no more be separated from His Human than the soul can be from the body. Therefore, when we say that the Lord is wholly present in the Holy Supper as regards His Human, it follows that His Divine from which the Human came is there together with it. Now since His flesh stands for the Divine good of His love, and His blood stands for the Divine truth of His wisdom, it is plain that the Lord is wholly omnipresent in the Holy Supper both as regards the Divine and as regards His glorified Human. Consequently this is a spiritual eating.