Some Scripture Passages Concerning the Eucharist
Melchizedek – symbolic of Jesus’ eternal priesthood and the Eucharist:
Genesis 14:18-20
Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine, and being a priest of God Most High, he blessed Abram with these words:
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth;
And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your foes into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
Psalms 110:4
The LORD has sworn and will not waver: “Like Melchizedek you are a priest forever.”
Hebrews 7:3
Without father, mother, or ancestry, without beginning of days or end of life, thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.
Manna in the desert – symbolic of the Eucharist
Exodus 16:4
Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will now rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion.”
Exodus 16:15
On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another, “What is this?” for they did not know what it was. But Moses told them, “This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.
John 6:48-50
I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is
the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.
Passover prefigures the Eucharist
Exodus 12:3,6
Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. Then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight.
Exodus 12:7-8
They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb. That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Exodus 12:14
“This day shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.
New Testament descriptions of what the Eucharist is:
Matthew 26:26-27
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins. (see also: Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19)
1 Corinthians 11:23-27
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.
John 6:51
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
John 6:53-58
Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
1 Corinthians 10:16
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
1 Corinthians 11:29
For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.
Revelation 7:9
After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
Revelation 19:9
Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb.”
Other scriptural references include: Emmaus, Cana, Blood and water from the cross, Eucharistic Celebrations in Acts, Multiplication of the Loaves, etc.