Gerhard’s Sacred Meditations:
“I do not ask with the unbelieving Jews– ‘How can this man give us His flesh to eat?’ (Jn 6.53), but I rather exclaim, ‘How marvelous it is that the Lord hath given us His body to eat and His blood to drink!‘ I do not pry into the mysteries of His power, but I do wonder at the marvels of His mercy. I do not curiously inquire into His glorious majesty, but I do humbly adore His boundless goodness. In His actual presence in the Holy Supper I profoundly believe, though of the mode of that presence I am ignorant, and yet I do certainly know that it is of the closest and most intimate character. We are members of His body, flesh of His flesh, bone of His bones (Eph 5.30). My soul desires to be swallowed up in the contemplation of this profoundest mystery; words fail me to set forth or properly express this great goodness of the Lord; I am utterly dumbfounded at the thought of the marvelous grace of the Lord for His saints.” p. 102
Matthew: 26Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28for this is my blood of thec covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. 1 John 2:2