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| The Lord's Holy Supper: |
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Several people have asked: "Is it the body and blood of Jesus, that we eat and drink in together with the Lord's Supper?" Answer to the question: According to the Bible Jesus Christ ordained The Lord's Holy Supper just before the crucifixion. He knew that this was the last supper with the disciples: "During supper Jesus took bread, and blessed it and broke it and gave it to the disciples with the words: "Take this and eat; this is my body." Then he took a cup, and thanked God and gave it to them with the words: "Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, shed for many for the forgiveness of sins." Matt. 26:26-28. Jesus is here talking of his blood as: "the blood of the covenant, shed for many for the forgiveness of sins." This means that because of the deeds of Jesus Christ and His victory on Golgotha all human beings have the possibility for a complete forgiveness for their sins before God, if they receive Him as their Saviour and believe in Him. In a book written 1920 by C.A. Pripp I read: "Luther claimes that during The Lord's Holy Supper you should eat and drink the physical body and blood of Christ and by doing so immediately with a formula the priest expresses, in some mysterious way become part of Christ and obtain the forgiveness of sins. In support of his doctrine he uses these words of Crist: "This is my body." But those who are born again in their spirit understand that Jesus doesn't exhorts us to some kind of cannibalism, that we as physical persons should drink the physical blood of Jesus and eat his physical body. It means, that the saved and sanctified ones, who are born again in their spirit should drink and eat of the spiritual life and deeds of Jesus Christ. It means: in our new sanctified spirit we should eat and drink of God's holy love, purity, righteousness, grace, mercy, peace and joy and so on. Jesus always spoke in parables and: "...he never spoke to them without a parable. This was to fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah, who said: 'I will open my mouth in parables; I will reveale things kept secret since the world was made.'" Matt. 13:34-35. The bread and the wine that Jesus gave to the disciples together with the Lord's Holy Supper are symbols of the presence of God's word and the holy Spirit within the sanctified man's spirit. The Bible distinctly says that: "The bread that God gives comes down from heaven and brings life to the world." John 6:33. Jesus said to the disciples: "I am the bread of life." John 6:35. In the same chapter Jesus says regarding the spiritual bread: "I am that living bread which has come down from heaven; if anyone eats this bread( =eats of my word) he shall live for ever. Moreover, the bread (=the word) which I will give is my own flesh; (=is my word) and I give it for the life of the world. (=so that the saved and the sanctified ones should be able to live a spiritual life.)" John 6:51. You can clearly see in these Bibletexts that the disciples didn't eat the body of Jesus and didn't drink his blood because Jesus Christ was present himself in the flesh at the Passover meal, before his physical death and they saw him standing there right before their eyes when he said to them: "This is my body and my blood." Yes, it is quite impossible for the disciples to get the apprehension that they were to eat the physical flesh of Jesus and drink his physical blood in this moment. In his message to the disciples and the believers Jesus exhorts them with these words: "Follow me!" Luke 9:59. When Jesus said: "This is my body and my blood." it means that it is a symbol of how Jesus offered his life for our sake through his deeds, that existed of love, purity, righteousness, humbleness, gratitude, peace, joy and so on. Jesus said, that we should make The Lord's Holy Supper in remembrance of him. The Lord's Supper were meant to be a holy spiritual remembrance to the sanctified ones of the life and deed of Jesus Christ within the spirit and life of the sanctified man. And since we are saved and sanctified we should be willing to offer our old human nature so that our new spiritual holy man is able to offer herself for our fellowmen as Jesus Christ offered himself. Without offering yourself for your fellowmen, the Christian confessing is dead. Paul writes to the Romans: "We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. For even Christ pleased not himself..." Rom. 15:1-3. In the letter to the Corinthians Paul exhorts us to be very serious about The Lord's Holy Supper and speaks with reproving words towards them, because when they were together at The Lord's Holy Supper, they got drunk on wine and gorged upon food. Many who participated in the Holy Supper lived a life far away from the holy life Jesus had been teaching about. 1 Cor. 11:27-29. The Lord's Holy Supper is a personal confessing, a concentration and a reminder of Christ being alive and working through the sanctified man. Jesus said to his disciples: "If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father and I will come unto him, and make our abode within him." John 14:23. Many confessing Christians have never had any explanation or teaching that God and Jesus Christ are in the Word itself. Read John 1:1-5. When Jesus says that he and the Father shall come and make their abode within man, it means that God's love, purity, righteousness, humbleness, gratitude, peace, joy and so on, would come and make their abode within the spirit and mind of the saved and sanctified man and change her into a true living Christian. Earlier we have talked about "the bread", together with "The Lord's Holy Supper", as a symbol of God's word. The wine, mentioned in this Holy Supper is an obvious symbol of the presence of the holy Spirit within the spirit of the sanctified man. For ex. when we read about what happened on Pentecostday, when the believers were filled with the holy Spirit, some people meant "they had been drinking wine." Acts 2:13. It must feel like an intoxication with God's glory when the sanctified man is able to say like Paul said that: "The life I now live is not my life, but the life which Christ lives in me." Gal. 2:20. God's word exhorts everyone to examine herself if she has Christ within her spirit and if she lives a righteous life before God before eating the Lord's Holy Supper. In his letter to the Corinthians Paul gives a warning: "Anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of desecrating the body and blood of the Lord. A man must test himself before eating his share of the bread and drinking from the cup. For he who eats and drinks eats and drinks judgement on himself if he does not discern the Body of the Lord". 1 Cor. 11:27-29. This warning of God regarding The Lord's Holy Supper is also aimed at us in our time. See link "Antichrist or Christ within spirit of man." Click here! Many lukewarm Christians mean that you can eat The Lord's Holy Supper in just any way and with just anyone and they mean, you'll have to eat The Lord's Holy Supper. But the holy Spirit says, that if you for ex. live in a city or in the country and you cannot find a sanctified person in your neighbourhood you might share the Holy Supper with, then you are not forced to eat the Holy Supper. But if you meet a holy person you have the possibility to arrange a Holy Supper before God's presence, together with that person. God's word exhorts the sanctified man not to sit with mockers: "Happy is the man who does not take the wicked for his guide nor walk the road that sinners tread, nor take his seat among the scornful."Psalms 1:1. In connection with The Lord's Holy Supper we are exhorted to: examine ourselves before eating and drinking. What is it that we should examine? God's word says: "Examine yourselves: are you living the life of faith? Put yourselves to the test. Surely you recognize that Jesus Christ is within your spirit? - unless of course you prove unequal to the test." 2 Cor. 13:5. Also Judas who betrayed Jesus ate The Holy Supper and he is an obvious example to all of those who in our time eat The Holy Supper in an unworthily way. And this is God's word regarding these people: "He that ate bread with me has lifted up his heel against me." John 13:18. "A man must test himself before eating his share of the bread and drinking from the cup. For he who eats and drinks eats and drinks judgement on himself if he does not discern the Body of the Lord". 1 Cor. 11:28-29. Thank You for the question. I hope You are satisfied with the answer and You are welcome back with new questions. I pray that God will bless You abundantly. Jesus says: "He that is of God, listens to God's word." John 8:47. Jesus also says that: "He that seeks, will find." Matt. 7:8. My prayer is that all of You who are reading this message of the Cross of Christ might be blessed by God and that You might receive Grace, to understand the Holy message of the Cross before it is to late. God bless You all. I will in the future present more of The Apostolic Church message in English, here on my homepages. I hope you will overlook if the English translation is not correckt. Greetings Street missionary Bror Espegren Vretgränd 17 Uppsala Sweden Back to page 1. © Copyright |