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How to Understand God’s Teaching Regarding the Lord’s Table

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Understanding God’s Teaching Regarding the Lord’s Table

© 2025 C. O. Bishop

1st Corinthians 11:17-34

17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.

18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.

19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.

21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.

22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? what shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

Paul Tells Us How to Behave

23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:

24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.

27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.

34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.

Introduction:

In the matter of the Lord’s Table, the Corinthian believers were already in trouble: they just didn’t know it yet. Many among them were sick as judgment for sin, and some had died…God says so!  Most of the time when we read about the Lord’s table, we begin in verse 23, but the context is important, so that we can see the background, and understand why they were in such trouble. So, today we will begin in verse 17.

What Was The Problem?

When we have a “pot-luck supper, in the church of today, everyone brings what they can, but we all share. If someone has nothing, (whether because they were not aware of the potluck, and so were unprepared, or because they are physically unable to bring something, or financially unable,) they are just as welcome as the one who brought a huge quantity of food. And there is usually food left over in our potlucks. We enjoy sharing and providing for one another.

But the Corinthians got together to eat, all right, and actually called it their communion, but they did not share, The rich went home stuffed with food and drink…sometimes actually drunk. The poor went home hungry and left out. Rather than fostering unity, they were producing division rooted in what they were calling the Lord’s Supper. Do you see the evil that was happening? They were splitting the church, causing deep resentment and disunity over the very thing that was supposed to draw them together.

A Root of Division

17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. 18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. 19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. 20 When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.

Paul clearly condemned what they were doing, and said this is NOT the Lord’s Supper. He said, that this practice was fostering schisms in the group. Today we might politely call them “cliques.” But it is still a division. And from chapter one we saw that Paul addressed the divisions in the church, and condemned the roots of those divisions: (Pride and self-will, as they were separating on the basis of who their favorite teacher was, and who baptized them.)

Divisions in the Church are always a bad thing. If the divisions are caused by bad teaching, false doctrine, etc., then the bad teaching is a problem, but the division is the real problem.

Jesus Gave the World Three Criteria by Which to Judge the Church:

  • Agapé Love (See John 13:34, 35 “34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”)
  • Unity. (See John 17:21 “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”)
  • Good works. (See Matthew 5:15, 16 “15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.“)  

And all three concepts were being violated, there in Corinth, when they continually dishonored the Lord and His church by their self-centered way of approaching the Lord’s Table!

Unity was Discarded, and the Poor were Shamed

21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? what shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

Better that they never actually ate together, if they failed to share freely, in Love and Unity. If they could not share, he said to leave the “feast” at home, and only share the bread and the cup.

Does this rule out pot-luck dinners? Nope! It rules out self-centered pride and selfishness in general. It rules out causing divisions where there should be none. As we share, and the bounteous meal is spread out for all to enjoy, we usually do not even know who brought what food, unless we ask, wanting the recipe, or when the dish has been washed, wanting to know with whom to send it home. That is not the important thing. Sitting down to eat together, as a local assembly of God’s Family is what is important.

So: What Should Happen in Celebrating the Lord’s Table?

23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.

So, the general practice is laid out, here in 1st Corinthians 11:23-26. In some countries and in some cultures, they still use ONE loaf, from which each person pinches off a small piece, and ONE single cup, passed around the room, from which each person takes a sip.

Our culture shares the “one cup” in the form of dozens of tiny cups. In similar manner, we share the “one loaf” in the form of dozens of tiny unleavened crackers. I seriously doubt that this is offensive to God. But approaching the Lord’s table in an unworthy manner, causing disunity, and shame, and hurt, is definitely offensive to Him.

Where Did Paul Get His Information?

Paul laid out that which he had received from Jesus, personally, regarding the Lord’s Table.

When did Paul receive this information from Jesus? Evidently during the three years he seems to have spent in personal training under the Lord Himself. (Galatians 1:11-18) Paul received some teaching that the other Apostles did not have. Jesus specifically trained Paul to be the “Apostle to the Gentiles.” (Romans 11:13) Paul was also the one through whom the “mystery of the Church” was primarily revealed.  And The Church is absolutely Holy to God.

Why all the Warnings Associated with the Lord’s table?

In 1st Corinthians 3:17, God warns that if anyone defiles the “temple of God” (which in that context He states clearly is the Church, the Body of Christ,) then God will destroy them. God is not “playing games,” nor being unclear about His motives. The Church at Corinth was defiling the Church, and He evidently was destroying at least the worst offenders.

27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

There are a Couple of Keys to Understanding this Passage:

  • The word “Unworthily” is an adverb: It modifies the verbs “eat,” and “drink.” It is not an adjective, modifying “whosoever.” Yes, on our own, we are all “unworthy.” But by God’s Grace, through faith in Jesus’s blood at the Cross and His resurrection, we have been declared righteous. (Romans 5:1) But in this passage, the word “unworthy” specifically refers to the behavior the Corinthian Church was practicing, regarding the Lord’s Supper…not the people themselves.
  • The command in verse 28 is for us to examine ourselves (for our motives, and behavior, and our attitude toward the Lord and the believers around us), and “so to eat of that bread, and drink of that cup!” No one is turned away from the Lord’s Table, except for obvious disrespect or flippancy or openly active disunity. We are not “examining one another for secret sins.” We examine ourselves, and we come to the table in unity and Love, confident in God’s Mercy and the acceptance we collectively have as His Children.

So, What Do We Do?

31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.

34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.

To begin with, we recognize that we are fallible human beings. We desire to do things God’s way, and we examine how and why we do what we do. Why? because we fear the Judgment of God, even though we know it is chastening, not condemnation, so we earnestly try to be obedient to God’s Word, as best we understand it.

We keep the Lord’s Table separate from any other meal. And, as we pass out the bread and the cup, we wait until all have been served, and we partake together. Is this “exactly” right? Maybe. Maybe not. But we earnestly seek to follow Jesus, as His disciples. We are not just “going through the motions.”

The Lord’s table is not just a ritual. It is one of the two ordinances given to the church. (The other is water baptism.) Both ordinances are commemorative in nature.

When a believer chooses to “follow the Lord in Baptism” they commemorate the fact that they have already been baptized into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit. (1st Corinthians 12:13)

When we join with one another in celebrating the Lord’s Table, we commemorate the facts of Jesus’s Death, burial, resurrection and second coming! And we do so regularly, until He returns!

Conclusion of Chapter Eleven

Paul said 34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.

If they could not learn to share at meals, then they were to stop their supposed “church dinners.” And, he said, there might be more that needed to be discussed, but that he would address those things in person. There are certainly things we fail to understand as we read God’s Word. None of us has a corner on correct doctrine. So, we, too, can accept that Jesus will straighten us all out, face to face. In the meantime, we do not break fellowship over minutiae.

Lord Jesus, heal our hearts of any disunity, and allow us to truly embrace the simgularity of the Body of Christ, and Love one another as Family

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See The Twin Ordinances of The Church: Baptism and Communion

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The Twin Ordinances of The Church: Baptism and Communion

© 2024 C. O. Bishop

Baptism

1st Corinthians 12:13; Romans 6:3, 4; Acts 8:26-40; Acts 16:31-33;

Communion…the Lord’s Table

John 6:35; 1st Corinthians 11:23-31

Introduction:

The World has influenced us, through 2,000 years of “religious pageantry.” In addition, the humanistic “hunger for drama” has affected our perspective. Therefore, world religions have made both baptism and communion into “sacred rituals.” Since then, they claim that only priests having human-sourced ordination can carry out these “sacraments.” As a result, they demand a humanly sanctified priesthood. Religions call these ordinances “sacraments.” (That word means “a way by which to become holy.”)

No Special Human “Credentials”

But, John the Baptist came out of the desert, as an “unknown.” He looked pretty rough, and he acted rather strange. Obviously, He did not have “human training.” Humans did not ordain, or send him.” Furthermore, most of the apostles were also what we would call “blue-collar workers,” today. Finally, Jesus Himself was a carpenter, as was Joseph, His adoptive father.

Ordinances, not Sacraments

And the physical ordinances of baptism and communion have zero effect in making us holy to God. They only state that He has declared us Holy: we are His private property, reserved for His use.

Nobody knew for sure who John the Baptist was: The priests had heard all the rumors. The people were excited about John’s message. The priests wanted to “join the crowd.” Historically, they had the only “religious game in town.” They could not afford to allow an outsider to outshine them, so they hoped to be baptized with all the others. I expect that they intended to co-opt him into their fold, and take all the energy of his ministry and redirect it to their own. Obviously, that is just a guess.

Who was John the Baptist?

But two things happened: The first was that they came, and John recognized their unrepentant hearts. He said, “You brood of serpents! Who has warned you of the wrath to come?” He warned them that they had better bring forth fruits appropriate to repentance. He evidently did not say such things to the others who came for baptism.

The other thing: John 1:19-23 says that the priests and Pharisees sent messengers. They asked John who he was. They wanted his credentials.

John’s Credentials:

So, they asked him, “Are you the Christ?” And he said, “No!”

They asked, “Are you Elijah?” And he said, “No!”

They asked, “Are you ‘that prophet?’” (Meaning the prophet predicted by Moses, in Deuteronomy 18:15) And John replied, “No.”

So, they asked, “Who are you, then?” He replied, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, saying ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as said the prophet Isaiah.”

Why did the priests and Pharisees desire Baptism?

None of John’s answers made them feel any more comfortable with him. So why did they seek baptism?

Everyone else confessed their sins, in seeking baptism. They requested baptism to publicly identify with the message that John preached. He preached the Gospel of the Kingdom, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”

John did not preach the Gospel of Christ (also called the “Gospel of Salvation,” or the “preaching of the Cross.”) He was announcing the presence of the King. Jesus was right there, if only they would receive Him. (And Jesus initially preached that same message, until they formally rejected Him.)

But they wanted to identify with the message of the Kingdom. Some of them saw that they were sinners. They needed cleansing, before entering that Kingdom. I expect that those few were later the ones who received Him as their Savior.

But, Why Baptism?

The English translators rendered the Greek word “baptizo” into “Baptize.” Different forms of the word are used, but they all mean “to dip.” When Jesus “dipped” the sop in the cup, before giving it to Judas Iscariot, the Greek word is “bapto.” When people dyed cloth, they dipped the fabric into a pot of dye, and the word was “baptizo.” It permanently identified the fabric with the specific dye into which it was dipped. (A cookie dipped in milk will never be “just a cookie” again.)

The people wanted to be identified with John’s message. Jesus needed to be identified with that message, too, which is why he insisted, there in the Jordan, that John baptize him. Why should He be identified with the Gospel of the Kingdom?He had no sins to confess, so, confession of sins was not the issue. It was because He was the King!

In 1st Corinthians 12:13, it says that the Holy Spirit has baptized every believer into the Body of Christ, the moment they believe. We understand that, when the Holy Spirit “placed us into” the body of Christ, He permanently identified uswith Him in every aspect of His Life, His Death, His Burial, and His Resurrection. Romans 6:3, 4 says so! (And that is where God sees you from that moment on! There is no “water” in Romans 6. If we dip someone in water, it changes nothing. When the Holy Spirit places someone into the Body of Christ, it changes everything.)

Examples

In Acts 8:26-40, we see the Ethiopian Eunuch requesting water baptism, after hearing and believing the Gospel of Christ. The Ethiopian Eunuch confessed his faith in Jesus Christ. Philip baptized (dipped) him in some water that was beside the road. God did not tell us what water it was…a pond, a lake, a stream, or whatever.

Acts 16:31-33 tells us that Paul and Silas preached the simple Gospel of Christ, and the Philippian jailer and his family believed and were baptized immediately. Again, God did not tell us what water Paul used, although we do know there was a river close by.

Water baptism simply testifies that our Baptism by the Holy Spirit, into the Body of Christ, (as explained in 1st Corinthians 12:13) has already occurred. Water baptism is an outward testimony that we have chosen to be identified with Jesus.

Each person desiring water baptism testifies that their faith for salvation is in Jesus Christ. Whether they understand it or not, they also testify that they have already been placed into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit. They have become identified with Him in His Death, His burial, and His Resurrection. And they desire to publicly identify with Him in their life.

What About Communion? The Lord’s table…The Lord’s Supper?”

Obviously, we teach this ordinance quite regularly…once a month. To begin with, in John 6:35, Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life!” The Jews knew that He was comparing Himself to the Manna given to their forefathers. He said that He was the fulfillment of that “picture.”

But, in the original Passover, the people did not “just” strike the blood of the Lamb onto the lintel and the two doorposts: They also (everyone in the household) ate of that Lamb! Therefore they partook of that sacrifice personally, confessing that it was their sins that necessitated the sacrifice, and that the Blood of that little Lamb was shed for them… personally!

It was not just a “nice theory,” nor was it “just a ritual.” They knew, that very night, that a destroyer was coming through Egypt, and in every home, the firstborn was going to die, if they were not all sheltered under the Blood of the Lamb. And, ever since that day, the Jews have celebrated the “Seder:” as a commemoration of that Passover.

According to 1st Corinthians 11:23-26, we see that our communion, too, is a commemoration: When we partake in Communion, we each testify that “Jesus died for me! His Blood was the blood sacrifice for my sins! He willingly gave His body to be beaten and torn and pierced, for me!” And, whether we know it or not, we also testify of our faith in His second coming!

Let’s celebrate that Communion, by sharing in the Lord’s Table now. Afterward, we will have a baptismal service, as several young folks have asked to be baptized.

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How Can We Eat of His Flesh?

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How Can We Eat of His Flesh?

© 2022 C. O. Bishop

John 6:53-59 (Context: v. 47-52)

Introduction:

As we study our way through the Gospel of John, we occasionally run into peculiar passages, difficult to understand, and sometimes hard to accept. This passage is one of them, partly because it has been seized upon to push the notion that the Lord’s Table is literally cannibalism: That we are called to partake in a feast on human flesh and blood. It has been used by some to support their religious stance, and by others (in response to them,) to accuse the entire Church of gross malfeasance and evil thinking.

The very first thing we need to do when we run across any difficult passage is to read the entire context: What was the whole passage saying? What is it teaching?

Eating the Bread of Life

Beginning in verse 47, we see that Jesus clearly said, “He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life.” Keep that in mind as we read the following passage which could seem to contradict that first, clear statement. Remember that this is God’s Word, and it all has to agree: if something seems to be a contradiction, then the chances are very good that we are misunderstanding something.

Verse 48-51. Jesus continued, saying, “I am that bread of life.” In keeping with what He had taught in verses 33-35, He reiterates that He is the Bread of Life. But in verse 51, it would be very easy to draw the conclusion that physically eating His flesh is how we gain eternal life! Please! Read verse 47 over again! He says we enter into eternal life by faith…believing in Him!

At that point, his audience was beginning to grumble amongst themselves, questioning Jesus’s statement: They thought that they were being invited to physically consume His physical flesh. (They said, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”) (verse 52)

Meanwhile, we keep re-reading that context, in verse 47, and we see it constantly reaffirmed that we are saved by Grace, through Faith, plus nothing, as Paul also tells us, in Ephesians 2:8, 9.

But they were struggling with this whole concept; (and He hasn’t even hit the hard part yet!)

Eating His Flesh and Drinking His Blood

Jesus’s reply to their complaint really pushed them over the edge. He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.”

This was the real kicker: You remember, eating human flesh was specifically condemned in Scripture, and, even more specifically, drinking blood—any blood—was absolutely forbidden.

Eating Blood was a Crime!

Leviticus 17:10-14 spells out in no uncertain terms that drinking blood, or even eating meat that had not been properly bled out, was a capital offense. Why?  Because the blood was given to them as a sacrifice on the altar, to cover their sins! (KJV says “atonement’…it means “covering.”) Why was that important? Because the animal sacrifices were limited to covering sin, temporarily. Only Jesus’s Blood could take away sins. That is what He came to do! He came to save us from our sins by taking them away!

So, if animal blood was sacred, and if eating it was a capital offense, (meaning a crime for which they would kill you) how much more sacred should we consider the literal Body and blood of the Savior?

This was the problem the Jews were having with what Jesus taught. It seemed to directly contradict one of the key commandments God had given to Israel.

What was Jesus really commanding?

Keep in mind that Jesus is the Author of both the Old Testament and the New Testament: He was not “changing his mind” about the sanctity of blood. He was comparing Himself to the Passover Lamb: Each family took part in the blood on the night of the Passover: They killed that little lamb, they caught that blood in a basin, they dipped a bunch of Hyssop in that blood, and struck it onto the lintel and the two doorposts. (I love reading this, and physically going through the motions (or at least in my mind,) realizing that they were huddled in faith, under the same blood of the cross which we claim for our redemption.

But as individuals within each family, they were required to make the sacrifice personal: they were each to eat of that flesh, acknowledging that the blood on the lintel and the doorposts was shed for them personally. They were saying, “It was shed for me, personally, and by eating that sacrifice, I am confirming that I am under that blood: that my faith is in the completed work of that Lamb!”

Object Lessons in Scripture

Do we physically “eat Jesus’s body?” No! Do we actually “drink human blood?” No!! absolutely not!

We can further see that in 1st Corinthians 10:4, God declares that the Rock in the desert—that Rock which supplied the millions of gallons of water necessary for the survival of the Children of Israel and their livestock—that Rock was Christ! It does not say “a picture of Christ:” It says it was Him! And they all drank their “life-supply” from Him, personally.

In John 4:14 and in John 7:37-39, Jesus gave us some hints about “drinking from Him.” He told the woman at the well, in John 4, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

In John 7, on the last day of the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus cried out, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.  (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

What is the answer?

So, what should we conclude about the statement regarding “eating His flesh and drinking His blood,” here in John chapter Six? Given both the immediate context of verse 47 and the remote contexts of chapters 4 and 7, what should we understand that Jesus was saying in chapter six? There are huge numbers of people who ignore the context and conclude that the elements of the Lord’s Table literally become the Body and Blood of the Lord, and that we are committing a literal act of cannibalism, as well as defying the Lord’s clear command to not drink blood.

If we examine the facts of the night when the Lord’s Table was instituted, we see two key things:

When Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper:

  1. He was living in his physical body: He blessed, and broke, and offered them unleavened bread, saying “This is my Body, which is broken for you…” When people today speak out against recreational drug use, they may hold up an egg, saying “This is your brain” and then they fry it, and say, “This is your brain on drugs! Any questions?” But NO one answers, “What? My brain is a chicken egg?”
    Jesus set out unleavened, blessed, broken bread as an object lesson regarding His coming sacrifice. The disciples felt no confusion about the relationship between that physical bread and His physical Body. They knew that Jesus intended an object lesson.
  2. His blood was in His veins, keeping His body alive! That is what God said it was supposed to do, in Leviticus 17:11 “The life of the flesh is in the blood!” As long as Jesus’s Blood was in His body, He was alive, and we were still in our sins. But when His blood was poured out on the ground, satisfying the righteousness of the Holy God who sent Him, then He died, and our sins were fully paid for: He cried out “Tetelestai!” (It is Finished! Paid in full!”) But His Blood had to be poured out, for that to happen.

Without the pouring out of His Blood, we would still be lost.

The moment you trusted Jesus’s shed blood as full payment for your sins, He took your sins away forever. (Think back again, now, to verse 47: How did He say we are to gain everlasting life?) “He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life.” But in Hebrews 9:22 He says, “Without the shedding of Blood there is no remission.” Without His voluntary, physical, one-time sacrifice, we would still be lost.

But we do not “re-crucify Jesus” when we take communion. I was at a funeral where the presiding priest actually said, regarding the Eucharist, “this is our sacrifice, and Jesus is our victim.” My friends, that is blasphemy! Jesus said, in John 10:18, “No man taketh my life: I lay it down of myself” He is not our “victim:” He is our Kinsman-redeemer. Yes, my sins are why he went to the Cross, but He went there voluntarily on my behalf.

And He did it once, for all eternity. It was never to be repeated, and never to be continued. It was finished at the Cross!

How do we “take part in this sacrifice?”

  1. How do we initially take part in that sacrifice? We enter in by faith, by believing in Him as our Savior: Jesus said that is what God requires, in John 6:29, and 6:47. This is a good example of why it is so important to read the context in which a verse appears…not just the one verse or passage, by itself.
  2. How do we “feed on Him on a continuing basis?” We do so by continuing to feed on His Word, believing that His blood has cleansed us. (In John 1:1-3, 14, and Revelation 19:13, He is identified as being the Living Word of God.”) 1st Peter 2:2 says, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby”
  3. We continue to drink of the fountain that He has opened as we allow the Holy Spirit to fill us and empower us.

But we commemorate that sacrifice when we take Communion. We do not reenact it!

The Lord’s table is not a sacrifice, at all! God says very specifically that Jesus died once for all, and that His work as the sacrifice was completed on that Cross. Hebrews 10:10, 12 says, “…we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all… this Man, after He had offered One Sacrifice for Sins, forever, sat down on the right hand of God.”

He still acts as our High Priest, but He does not continually offer more sacrifice. His work was so completely finished that it says in Hebrews 1:3  “When He had by himself purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High.” (Where could the High Priest sit? There was only one “seat” in the Holy of Holies…it was the Mercy Seat… the top of the Ark of the Covenant! God’s throne!) So what we see here is thatJesus, God the Son, completed His work as our high Priest, and sat down in the throne with God the Father.

Why do we celebrate the Lord’s Table?

1st Corinthians 11:25-26 says, “Do this in remembrance of Me…as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death until He come.” It is a commemoration only, and a physical, outward demonstration of something that happened historically, and which has taken effect inwardly, and continues to take effect as we walk with Him.

Lord Jesus, please help us to completely understand the sharing that takes place in the Lord’s table and to see it as a holy fellowship before your throne, as well as a testimony to one another as well as the Unbelieving World.

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