“The Lord’s Supper”! (pt.1)

 

Text: Matthew 26:17-30 (Jesus eats the Passover with His disciples):  

·         Vs 26: And as they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat, this is my body”.  Vs 27: And he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying, “Drink you all of it”.  Vs 28: For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many, for the remission of sins”.  Vs 29: But I say unto you, “I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day (after His resurrection) when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom”.

Matthew shows Christ as our King.  It covers events from Jesus' birth to His resurrection.  Today I’m ministering on just one of those events and that’s “the Lord’s Supper” or the “Last Passover” that was instituted by Jesus Christ Himself.

This is the taking of the bread and wine, known as Holy Communion or Eucharist.

The Lord’s Supper along with baptism is one of the two ordinances or sacraments enjoined by the Lord Himself.  It’s observed by all Christian bodies world wide.

The Passover festival was instituted by God for Israel at the time of the Exodus in order to commemorate the night when Yahweh spared (passed the houses where the blood was applied) all the firstborn of the Israelites but struck dead all the firstborn of the Egyptians (Exodus 12:1-51).

Exodus 12:1-51 (the LORD speaks to Moses and Aaron in relation to their exodus from Egypt):

·         Vs 3: The tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house.

·          Vs 4-6: A lamb without blemish, a male of the first year:  take it out from the sheep or the goats:  and kill it on the fourteenth day. 

·         Vs 7: They shall take the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. 

·         Vs 8: They shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 

·         Vs 9-11: Eat it not raw or sodden with water but roasted with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof (heart; liver; kidney) [not the intestinal canal]:  eat it with your loins girded, shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand; and eat it in haste:  it is the LORD'S Passover.

John 13:1-9 (The Last Passover):  vs 1: Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

End in this verse didn’t denote “the end of the world” as some suppose, and still doesn’t mean “unto the end of the world” as we know it.  End here is the Greek word tel’os meaning to set out for a definite point or goal; the point aimed at as a limit; the conclusion of an act or state; what’s paid for public ends.  UNTO THE END is stating that Jesus loved them to the point where He gave His life as the price paid so that not just His disciples, but mankind would not have to die but could live free from sin, death, hell and the grave, having everlasting life!!

·         John 3:15: That whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal (quality) life:

·         Vs 16: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting (unending) life.

·         Romans 8:2-3: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh:  vs 4: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk (live) not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

·         Hebrews 9:12: Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.  Vs 22: Without shedding of blood is no remission.

“Unto the end” also connoted that God was now finishing with the flesh body of Jesus as one man and was now ready to take on a many-membered body of people called “CHRIST”!! 

·         1st Corinthians 12:12: For as the body is one and hath many members (limbs; parts) and all the members of that one body being many are one body:  so also is CHRIST!

·         Ephesians 5:30: We are members (parts; limbs) of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

This “Passover festival”, the “eating of the unleavened bread” and “drinking of the wine” were looked upon as memorials of the deliverance of the Israelites being raised from the bondage of an Egyptian tyrant to being a free people owing allegiance to no one but Jehovah.  The Exodus was looked upon as the birth of the nation; the Passover was the annual birthday feast.  Each year the celebration was to be done as it was when they came out of Egypt:  the killing of a lamb roasted with fire, eating its flesh, eating of unleavened bread, with bitter herbs; eat it with their loins girded; shoes on their feet; and staff in hand; and eat in haste.

In Luke 22:14-20 (the last Passover) [the disciples were about to get a new revelation of the “eating of the unleavened bread” and the “drinking of the wine”, with the words of Jesus.

·         Vs 19: And he took bread and gave thanks and broke it and gave unto them saying, “This is my body which is given for you:  this do in remembrance of me”: 

·         vs 20: Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you”!

It wasn’t just a memorial of Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage, because that had to be repeated annually:

·       Hebrews 10:1: The law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

·       Vs 2: For then would they not have ceased to be offered?  Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience (perception; knowledge) of sins. 

·       Vs 3: But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance (anam’nesis) [recollection; reminding] again made of sins every year. 

·       Vs 4: For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

 What Jesus was teaching His disciples at this time was now the Passover was about “remembering what HE had done or was about to do” to deliver them and us from the bondage of sin and death!

Hebrews 10:1-9 states clearly how the Old Covenant sacrifices were carnal, temporary and powerless to cleanse from sin.  Hebrews 9:10 states: “Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed (enforced; inflicted) on them until the time of reformation” (a making straight; correcting; amending of a fault):

·       Vs 11: But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

·       Vs 12: Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

What is “communion”, “the Lord’s Supper”, or “Passover” truly all about?

Actually it is the “communing (or coming into union) of the people of God into one unit in Christ”!  Communion is the Greek word koinoni’a (koy-nohn-ee’-ah) meaning partnership, participation, intercourse, or benefaction (donation or gift):  fellowship; communication; distribution; contribution.  It’s a “having in common”!  What more can we have “in common” with one another than “having Christ in us the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27), and “being in Christ and being a new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17)?  

So “communion” is having a “true relationship” with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  I believe that when we develop a “true relationship” with our Heavenly Father, we then can have “true fellowship” with one another.  This partnership, fellowship, and communing (sharing one’s thoughts or feelings with (someone) especially on a spiritual level), stems out of the new birth that Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about in St. John 3:3-5:

·         Vs 3: And Jesus answered and said unto him, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see (know; understand; discern clearly) the kingdom of God”.

There must be a “spiritual birthing” that has to take place.  Born in Greek is genna’o, meaning to procreate (prop. of the father, but by extension of the mother); to regenerate: begat; bear; bring forth; be delivered; conceived.

·       1st Peter 1:23 states, “Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently:  being born again, not of corruptible (phthartos’) [decayed; perishable] seed, but of incorruptible (aph’thartos) [undecaying (in essence or continuance); immortal], by the word of God which lives and abides forever".

So now, if we are “born again” of “incorruptible seed”, the Word of God, and we are, then that makes us also “incorruptible”.  Luke 8:11, The seed is the Word of God!  

·       St. John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

·       Vs 2: And the same was in the beginning with God.

The same (hou’tos) [he (she or it), these; this man; they; this woman; who] was in the beginning with God (that’s “us” His sons, male & female). 

·       Vs 14: And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. 

Yes, this is speaking of Jesus, but we are also included. Jesus was sent in the flesh at the appointed time God had ordained, so that He could deliver the creation back to the Father.  Even though we know now that He existed in and from the beginning!  But we also came at the appointed time that our Heavenly Father wanted us (His other sons) to be manifested in flesh form.

One of the definitions of “born” in John 3:3-5, is “regenerate”.  Even Webster defines “regenerate” as renewed or restored; to cause to be spiritually reborn; to be completely reformed; to bring into existence again; form again; make new.

The first part of this word is “regene - rated”.  The “gene” is the unit in the chromosome by which hereditary characteristics are transmitted.

God sent us here in these flesh bodies that we are living in, and we were made subject to the carnality of it, so that we could conquer and overcome in these bodies through the “new birth” and be restored back to the place of dominion, authority and power we had with our Heavenly Father in the beginning! 

·       Colossians 3:9-10: Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the “old man” with his deeds; and have put on the “new man”, which is renewed (renovated; new; fresh) in knowledge (recognition; full discernment; acknowledgement) after the image (profile; representation; manifestation) of him that created him. 

Being born of the water:

·       St. John 3:5:  Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”.

This “water” is not baptism in physical H2O.  I’m not knocking water baptism because it’s a type of “burying the old man” and “resurrecting the new man”!  But this “water” Jesus is speaking of is “the Word” itself.

Ephesians 5:25-33 (speaks of duties of husbands – but actually it’s a great mystery concerning Christ and the Church):

·       Vs 25: Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; vs 26: That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, vs 27: That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

We are sanctified and cleansed through the “washing of water by the Word” (Ephesians 5:26), but it’s the “blood” that redeems us (Hebrews 9:22): Without shedding of blood, is no remission.

Being born of the Spirit:

·       St. John 3:5:  Jesus answered, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”.

The Spirit of God is God’s pneu’ma or His very breath that we must inhale or “breathe in”!! 

·       John 4:24: God is Spirit:  and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Spirit is the Greek root word pneu’ma, meaning a current of air; wind; breath. And in Hebrew Spirit is ru’wach, meaning wind, breath. 

This “wind” or “breath” is not just a mere current of air or the oxygen (O2) that we breathe in this earth realm, but it’s the very “breath” of God Himself that has His blood in it that gives us “life”.

·       Leviticus 17:11: The life of the flesh is in the blood!

This is the “same breath” that was “breathed” into the man Adam in Genesis 2:7 that made him a living soul!  It was the same “breath” that was “breathed” in the valley of dry bones that gave them life (Ezekiel 37:1-14)!  This is the same breath that Jesus breathed into the disciples in (John 20:21-22) When he had said, “As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you, he breathed on them and said unto them, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost”!  This is the “same breath” that was “breathed” into those that were in the upper room (Acts 2), at Pentecost and thousands were saved. This is the “same breath” that is still being breathed into God’s people as He sends out His messengers with the Gospel of the Kingdom as it is being preached and taught by His Spirit, and it will continue forever!!

And remember what John said in Matthew 3:11: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance:  but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear:  he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire!

Fire does one of two things, it purifies or consumes!  If we receive God’s Word and not just be hearers but doers, His Word will burn out of us everything that’s not like God and make us like Him.  But if we fight against His Word, that same Word that would purify and cleanse us will consume us! Hebrews 12:29: Our God is a consuming fire.  So let us love God and walk in obedience to His Word so that His Word will purify us and bring us into the “new birth”!

Remember, this “Kingdom” Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus about is not out somewhere beyond the blue.  This Kingdom is a person, the Man Jesus the Christ!

Mark 11:1-11 (Jesus makes His triumphal entry into Jerusalem): [but listen to what the people said with their own mouth]:

·       Vs 9: And they that went before and they that followed, cried, saying, “Hosanna (Greek) [oh save][or in Hebrew (yasha’)] meaning [Savior; Deliverer]; blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord”: 

·       Vs 10: “Blessed be “the kingdom” of our father David, that cometh (accompany; appear; be set; arrive) in the name of the Lord”:  “Hosanna; in the highest” (hup’sistos) [the Supreme (God); the heavens; most high].

Even with the definition of “highest” (the Supreme God; the heavens), one can see how just being in “Christ” puts you in “the heavens”, without having to get there via a dirt grave as religion teaches.  These people were prophesying that Jesus was the Kingdom of God that had come (arrived; appeared) and was (accompanying) them!!

·       Luke 17:20-21: And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, “The kingdom of God comes not with observation” (ocular vision):  neither shall they say, “Lo here, or Lo there”.  “For the kingdom of God is within you”!!

·       Romans 14:17: The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

·       1st Corinthians 4:20: The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.

Let’s get back to “Communion” (the Lord’s Supper; Lord’s Passover):

With us being born of “incorruptible seed”, the Word of God makes us one brotherhood through Jesus Christ:

·       Hebrews 2:11: Both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one:  for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren. 

·       John 17 (Jesus’ prayer to the Father):  vs 21: That they all may be one; as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us:  vs 23: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one:  that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

What’s the significance (worthiness; importance) of “this communing” [eating of the Lord’s supper]?

NOW, the taking of “communion” is about “remembering what Jesus did” to deliver us from the bondage of sin and death!

Why did Christ use “bread” in the Lord’s Supper and not a lamb in relation to establishing the new covenant? It was because the types and shadows were to cease when the real or true Sacrifice was come and offered.  There was to be no more shedding of blood when once His innocent (not guilty) blood was shed.  There could be nothing that might cast doubt upon the efficacy (the ability to produce a desired or intended result), abundance of that!  Then, the Lamb (Jesus Himself), being sacrificed, once for all, is NOW the “BREAD OF LIFE”!

SUPPER is the Greek word deip’non (dipe’-non), meaning dinner; the chief meal; feast / also (dapan’e [dap-an’-ay]), meaning, to devour [eat hungrily or hastily; quickly; greedily; heartily; consume; feast on].

John 6:26-58 [The people are demanding a sign from Jesus and not exercising faith] - (Jesus gives them a discourse on who, “the Bread of Life” is):  

·         Vs 30: They said therefore unto him.  “What sign show thou then that we may see and believe thee”?  What dost thou work?  Vs 31: Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written.  He gave them bread from heaven to eat.  Vs 32: Then Jesus said unto them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven:  but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven”.  This is the “bread” that feeds not only the physical body, but it feeds the whole man, heart, soul, mind and body.

BREAD: (Greek) (ar’tos) bread (as raised) or a loaf; showbread (face-bread).

This is the bread that couldn’t be cut or broken and was consecrated to the Lord and had to stay before Him continually.  It was the 12 loaves placed on the altar with frankincense (lebonah’) [from its whiteness (that of its smoke)]/(laban’) [to be white] on them, an offering made by fire unto the LORD (Leviticus 24:5-7).

Why white?  It’s white because it typifies the “sons of God” that are become the righteousness of God in Christ:  2nd Corinthians 5:21: He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.  It also denotes “priesthood”, offering up prayers for the people:  1st Peter 2:5: You also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.  Revelation 19:7-8: Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him:  for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white:  for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.  The "showbread" (face-bread) denotes who we are in Christ, being bread just as He is: 1st Corinthians 10:16-17: The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?  The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?  For we being many are one bread, and one body:  for we are all partakers of that one bread.

·         John 6:33: For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven (not out from beyond the blue, but out of the higher realms of spiritual elevation), and giveth life unto the world!

·         Vs 34: Then said they unto him. “Lord, evermore give us this bread”.

·         Vs 35: And Jesus said unto them, “I am the bread of life:  he that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst”!

Verses 43-51 (Jesus explains more fully the bread of life):

One of the benefits of the Bread: 

It gives life!

·         Vs 48: I am the bread of life. 

·         Vs 49: Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.

Manna (Hebrew) man (mawn), meaning a what-ness (so to speak), [the questioning of it]; meaning, what is it?  It came every morning in the form of a small round seed resembling a hoar frost and had to be gathered before the sun rose.  It was prepared for food by grinding and baking and had the taste of fresh oil and wafers made with honey.  It was gathered every day except the Sabbath.  On the sixth day they had to gather twice as much so they’d have some for the Sabbath. The attempt to lay aside for a succeeding day except the day preceding the Sabbath, it would become wormy and offensive. 

Today those bound by “religion” are still in the wilderness eating “manna”.  When God sends a kingdom messenger to give them the truth, they’re still questioning “what you said”!  What is that you’re talking about, saying we don’t have to wait for Jesus to come back?  Didn’t He say He’s coming back?  Well, one of these days He’s going to crack the sky and I want to be ready!  These are the things religious people scream!  Well their manna has gathered worms and has become offensive, because they’re still “holding on and holding out waiting till one of these days when Jesus comes”!  And this belief stinks in the nostrils of God!!  When the truth of the matter is, the wait has been over for over 2000 years.  He is already come and is present in us now by the Holy Ghost!  Look at what John wrote:

1st John 4:2: Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:  every spirit that confesses (assent; acknowledge) that Jesus Christ is come (present tense) in the flesh IS OF GOD!  

I am confessing (acknowledging) in this message that Jesus Christ not only came as Mary's baby, but I'm confessing (acknowledging) that He is now come or "present now" in the earth, "in the flesh" in you and in me!  We are members (limbs; parts) of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones (Ephesians 5:30), right now in the earth.  

Vs 3: And every spirit that confesses (assent; acknowledge) not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh IS NOT OF GOD.  

These are they that are waiting for Jesus to come back in a flesh body and get them and take them to where God is.  But Paul wrote:  2nd Corinthians 5:16: Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh:  yea, though we have known (past tense) Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth (from hereon) know we him no more.  We MUST now know Him by Spirit!!!

 And also these are they that's waiting for Jesus to set His kingdom up in Jerusalem.  He is the Kingdom as I explained earlier in this message, and His Kingdom is already established in the earth in us, God's people, who are His Kingdom, because the kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:20-21).  We are God's "new Jerusalem", His "holy city", in the earth!  Isaiah 60:14: The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet, and they shall call thee the city of the LORD, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.  Isaiah 62:12: And they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the LORD:  and thou shalt be called, sought out, a city not forsaken.  Hebrews 12:22: But you are come unto (point reached or entered) mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels.  Revelation 21:2: I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven (not going up to heaven), prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  

We the church (His body) [male/female], of which He is now the Head, are no longer the bride, because the veil (the flesh) has been removed, we're walking by Spirit, we have "kissed the Son" (Psalm2:12), and we're now the wife of our Husband, Christ, and we're bringing forth other sons of God for His Kingdom!!

The "marriage supper" has happened, is happening, and will go on forever, because we are now married to Christ and enjoying "eating the chief meal" together!!  Revelation 19:7: Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him:  for the marriage of the Lamb IS COME (present tense), and his wife hath made herself ready.  vs 8: And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white (light):  for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.  [Praise break]!!

1st John 4:4: You are of God, little children (darlings), and have overcome them:  because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world:  vs 17: As he is, so are we, in this world!!

We that have received the revelation truth are eating of the “hidden manna” that’s in the golden pot that never spoiled.  This “hidden manna”, one doesn’t have to gather it daily, it is a continuous eating (devouring; consuming) of the body of Jesus Christ’s flesh, which is an eating or receiving of the Word of God.

·         St. John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word  was God.  Vs 14: And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

So as we eat (devour) of the Word of God, we are eating Jesus’ flesh!  This is what gives us life eternal: 

·         John 6:53: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you!

·         Vs 54: Whoso eats my flesh and drinks my blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

The “last day” is not the end of the world, but it is Christ Himself: Revelation 1:8: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, said the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty:  (vs 17) I am the first and the last!

·         Vs 55: For my flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed.

·         Vs 56: He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me and I in him.

·         Vs 57: As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father:  so he that eats me, even he shall live by me.

·         Vs 58: This is that bread which came down from heaven:  not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead:  he that eats of this bread shall live forever!

Eating the Word of God is us “eating the Lord’s supper”!  The receiving of His Spirit, is us drinking His blood! 

So people of God, continue to study, eat and devour the Word of God, which is the flesh of Jesus and drink His blood so that you and I can live forever!!

Pastor Gracie Perry