As we gather on Sundays, we preach the Bible, read the Bible, pray the Bible, and sing the Bible. But that is not all, for we also “see” the Bible. Here’s how Mark Dever expresses it: “The ordinances are the dramatic presentations of the gospel. They are the moving pictures that represent the spiritual realities of the gospel, written and directed by Jesus himself.”
God has given us two ordinances (or sacraments, if you prefer) that present the gospel in a very different way. Instead of hearing it or speaking it, we see it. We see it demonstrated through baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These too are means of God’s grace, and Ligon Duncan explains it in this way: “In the reading and preaching of the Word, God addresses our mind and conscience through the hearing. In the sacraments, he uniquely addresses our mind and conscience through the other senses.”
In baptism and the Lord’s Supper, God blesses and strengthens us as we see these moving pictures and as we touch, taste, and smell water, bread, and wine. These are the little plays, the little demonstrations, Christ himself has given us through which we experience his blessings, his sanctifying and sustaining grace.
