God Has Always Made His Promises Through Covenants. And He Has Always Given Signs and Meals to Confirm Them.
From the rainbow after the flood to the Passover meal in Egypt, from circumcision to the Sabbath, God has not only spoken his promises to his people — he has given them tangible, visible, sensory signs and meals to point to and confirm his blessings. These are not empty rituals. They are the means by which God appeals to his people through the five senses, making his covenant promises concrete, memorable, and personally assuring.
And the Lord's Supper is the greatest of them all.
In The Lord's Supper as the Sign and Meal of the New Covenant, professor Guy Prentiss Waters traces this remarkable thread through both Testaments — defining the nature of covenant signs and meals, exploring their unity across the Old and New Testaments, and showing how the Lord's Supper stands as the culminating sign and meal of the new covenant: the meal in which Christ's body and blood are proclaimed, remembered, and received in faith.
This is a book that will deepen every Christian's understanding of what happens at the Lord's table — not by adding to it, but by helping them see more clearly what was always there.
What This Book Covers
Guy Prentiss Waters works through the biblical and theological foundations of the Lord's Supper as the sign and meal of the new covenant:
- What covenants are — A clear, accessible introduction to the biblical concept of covenant — God's formal, binding commitments to his people — and why they are the framework within which the Lord's Supper must be understood
- Covenant signs in the Old Testament — How God gave his people tangible signs — circumcision, the rainbow, the Sabbath — to confirm and apply his covenant promises to their senses and their faith
- Covenant meals in the Old Testament — How God gave his people covenant meals — most notably the Passover — to point to his provision and to bind his people together around his promises
- The unity of the covenants — How the Old and New Testaments form one unified covenant history — and why understanding this unity is essential for understanding what the Lord's Supper means
- The Lord's Supper as the new covenant sign — How the Lord's Supper fulfils and surpasses the covenant signs of the Old Testament — as the visible, tangible, sensory confirmation of new covenant blessings in Christ
- The Lord's Supper as the new covenant meal — How the Lord's Supper fulfils and surpasses the covenant meals of the Old Testament — as the meal in which Christ's body and blood are proclaimed and received
- Practical implications for the church — What this biblical and theological understanding of the Lord's Supper means for how the church celebrates, guards, and benefits from this meal
What Readers Will Learn
- What a covenant is — and why understanding covenant is essential for understanding the Lord's Supper
- How God has always given his people signs and meals to confirm and apply his covenant promises — appealing to all five senses to reinforce his blessings
- How the covenant signs and meals of the Old Testament point forward to their fulfilment in the new covenant — and in the Lord's Supper specifically
- Why the Lord's Supper is not merely a memorial or a tradition but the sign and meal of the new covenant — rich with theological significance and spiritual benefit
- How the unity of the Old and New Testaments illuminates what the Lord's Supper means and what it does
- What it means to receive the Lord's Supper rightly — with faith, understanding, and genuine engagement with its covenant significance
- How a deeper understanding of the Lord's Supper enriches the church's worship and strengthens believers' assurance of God's new covenant promises
How to Use This Book
The Lord's Supper as the Sign and Meal of the New Covenant is accessible, biblically rich, and immediately applicable:
- Personal reading — Ideal for any Christian wanting to understand the Lord's Supper more deeply — in its biblical, covenantal, and theological context
- Church members — Written to be accessible for laypeople wanting a reliable, biblically grounded guide to what the Lord's Supper actually is and means
- Church leaders and pastors — A valuable resource for those responsible for administering, explaining, and guarding the Lord's Supper in the local church
- Theological students — Substantive enough for use in academic settings as a concise, well-argued treatment of the Lord's Supper in biblical and covenant theology
- Small group study — Clear and accessible enough to work through together as a group wanting to deepen their understanding of this central practice of Christian worship
Who Should Read This Book
This book is for you if you are:
- A church member who participates in the Lord's Supper regularly but has never fully understood what it is, what it means, or what it does
- A pastor or church leader wanting a reliable, biblically and theologically grounded resource on the Lord's Supper for personal study or for teaching your congregation
- A theological student wanting a concise, well-argued introduction to the Lord's Supper in the context of biblical and covenant theology
- A new Christian wanting to understand why the church eats bread and drinks wine together — and what God intends to communicate and confirm through this meal
- Anyone who has ever sat at the Lord's table and sensed there was far more to it than they yet understood — and wanted someone to show them what
About the Author
Guy Prentiss Waters is Professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. He is a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America and the author of several books on New Testament theology, the Lord's Supper, and covenant theology. Guy is known for combining careful scholarly engagement with the biblical text and theological tradition with a genuine desire for ordinary Christians, students, and church leaders to understand and benefit from the rich theological heritage of the church. He brings to this book both his expertise in New Testament and covenant theology and a pastor's concern for the Lord's Supper to be rightly understood and richly experienced by God's people.
