It used to bother me that when we come to the Lord’s Table we only get these tiny pieces of bread and this tiny thimble full of wine. I realize that this is, in part, because there are so many of us and it would put us in the poor house if we were to have a huge feast every week. But then I noticed that God loves to give glimpses and hints of what the future holds, instead of giving the promised blessing all at once. For example, God let Adam live in the garden for a short time, then, because of sin, booted him out. But we know what glory will be like because of that short preview of what we will one day receive. God sent Abraham to the promised land, but didn’t allow him or his family to live there for over 400 years. And when Israel was finally allowed to live in the land, even that was only a hint of what God had in store for his people.
The book of Hebrews tells us that the Jews had to sacrifice an animal every year; this showed that the sacrifices were only temporary. The atonement made by the blood of bulls and goats was not sufficient to cover the sins of the people for more than a year. Consequently, the writer tells us, the annual Day of Atonement pointed forward to a day in the future, when someone would come and permanently take away the sins of the people. Jesus, the perfect lamb, offered by the perfect high priest, was that someone. And because He was the perfect sacrifice, He only needed to die once. In Him our sin is taken away forever. But until the actual fulfillment of the promise came, the people only got glimpses of what was coming.