One Man’s Spiritual Journey

One Man’s Spiritual Journey

The drinking of wine signaled both the beginning and the end of the spiritual pilgrimage of one of England’s greatest preachers.

IN 1779 Charles Simeon entered King’s College at Cambridge University as an eager student with no particular allegiance to God. After three days he was appalled to learn that at Cambridge participation in the Lord’s Supper was mandatory. In just three weeks he would have to eat the bread and drink the wine at Communion. His initial reaction was that Satan was probably more prepared for the Lord’s Supper than he. An earnest soul, he determined that he must prepare himself immediately. He went out and bought the only Christian book he knew, The Whole Duty of Man by William Law, the great English devotional writer. As he read and reread it, he cried out to God for mercy. By the time he took Communion, he had made himself ill with his intense reading, fasting, and prayer.

Then as soon as he had taken Communion, he realized that Easter was coming when he would have to take it again. He sought out books on the Lord’s Supper and pored over them. He remembered the sins of his life and mourned over them. He sincerely tried to repent and to exercise self-denial.

When Holy Week came, he read that in their sacrificial system the Jews transferred their sin to their sacrifice. The question entered his mind, May I transfer my guilt to another? Has God provided an offering for me to which I may transfer my sins?

On Wednesday of Holy Week he began to hope that he would find mercy. From Thursday through Saturday this hope increased more and more. Finally on Easter Sunday he awoke with these words on his lips: “Jesus Christ is risen today! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” As he ate the bread and drank the wine of Communion, he felt a load being taken off his soul and a peace that he had never before experienced. He now knew that Jesus in his death had paid the penalty for his guilt and his sins.

Charles Simeon grew in his faith and went on to become vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, where he served for fifty-four years as one of England’s greatest preachers.

On November 4, 1836, exactly a week before his death, Charles Simeon drank a glass of wine that his doctor had prescribed for him. Stretching out his feeble arms, he pronounced a blessing on those in his room, “May all the blessings which my adorable Savior purchased for me with his tears, yea with his own precious life blood, be now given to me to enjoy, and to my two dearest friends . . . and to my two dear nurses. . . . I shall drink no more of that wine until I drink it new with my Redeemer.”

A week later he was with his Redeemer in his kingdom.

Reflection

What does the Lord’s Supper mean to you? Do you prepare yourself for it by taking a spiritual inventory and truly repenting of your sins? Taking the cup at the Lord’s Supper can be just another church ritual, or it can be a renewal of your allegiance to the Lord of the Supper. Which is it for you?

Then he took a cup of wine, and when he had given thanks for it, he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.”

Luke 22:17-18