His life is in His blood…

 “If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood. “Any one also of the people of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who takes in hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth. For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off. And every person who eats what dies of itself or what is torn by beasts, whether he is a native or a sojourner, shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening; then he shall be clean. But if he does not wash them or bathe his flesh, he shall bear his iniquity.” (Leviticus 17:10–16)

This passage was never explained to me until today. I looked in a commentary for the significance of this command and discovered the following. It is from Leviticus. The Pulpit Commentary, edited by Spence-Jones, H. D. M., and published in 1910. While these thoughts are from the book, I put them in my words:

The reason why blood may not be eaten is that the life of the flesh is its blood so eating the blood was the same thing as eating the life of the animal. Therefore his Jewish listeners would understand what Jesus meant meant by the words, “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:54)

Simply put, those who become a partaker of His life, would thereby become a possessor of His eternal life, and, possessing that, would share in its privileges — resurrection and immortality. 

There is an eating and drinking of Christ’s flesh and blood, that is a partaking of His life and Spirit, which may be accomplished without any outward act whatever; but no doubt a special method of performing this mysterious act was instituted when Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, and He “took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:27–28)

In the OT, the point of life in the blood was made so that in the NT the life of Christ would be realized as the life of all who put their faith in Him. 

Jesus, this is such a deep and profound truth that occupied my mind almost all day. Tomorrow we take communion at our church. It will affect my emotions in a way never before just as it has today. Oh my Lord, what a wonder You are.

Our reminder…

“When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord’s. Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.” (Exodus 13:11–16)

This seems a terrible way to remind God's people of their deliverance from slavery, but knowing how quickly I forget even the important things, I understand why the shedding of blood was an important thing to remember and to pass along to the next generation.

The OT tells of many rituals of remembrance, not only for the Exodus delivery but for many things that God had done for them. Again, my own forgetfulness tells me the need for reminders. 

As for a corresponding reminder to Exodus, we do it monthly in our church — with a communion service, a way to remember our deliverance from the penalty and power of sin and how that happened.

And when the hour came, (Jesus) reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. (Luke 22:14–20)

There is something powerful in this practice. As I go up to receive the elements, and as I watch several hundred others do the same, the sense of communion and of family is so powerful, as is the wonder that Jesus would die for me. Sometimes my thoughts turn to Exodus and the blood of many lambs, but rarely. Almost always I’m thinking of Jesus and why He shed His blood that day.

Today, I’m not at the church service. I’m still coughing and that could make my forever family nervous. I could wear a mask, but singing becomes difficult. Instead, I’m on YouTube and glad to sing along with familiar faces and music, and hear the message, and worship.

Jesus, I’m forever grateful that You are the Lamb, the one that all those lambs could only point to but not do for sinners what You have done. As we now sing: “This is our God. . . . who bore the cross and beat the grave. . . .  this is our Jesus” I can praise You for Your strong hand who brought me out of sin and set me free to love you.

Broken to make us united…

 

The term “broken” is often used by Christians to describe the way God deals with our selfishness. Instead of letting us be the boss of our lives, He ‘breaks’ that old nature using circumstances and other means to show us that the old person is dead in Christ and useless to God. However, when the NT speaks of Christ being the “Bread of life” and His body being broken for us, He had no sin to be dealt with.

In the NT, this metaphor is not literal nor about Jesus. His body was not broken, not one bone. Some decide this is an argument for Transubstantiation. Others say it signifies something about the church because the Bible also uses the term “body of Christ” when speaking of the church.

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, (Colossians 1:24)

When our church celebrates communion, Jesus is often quoted: “And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’” (Luke 22:19)

Each time I hear it, I tend to think of brokenness as first described — the way God deals with the old nature to ‘break’ our stubborn self-rule and bring us into a yielded body of believers. He wants us to be useful and fruitful to Him, united in our spirits.

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4–5)

The old nature cannot do any of this. “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned…” (1 Corinthians 2:14–15) Other verses describe this:

For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? (1 Corinthians 3:4)
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19–20)

There is no way we can be the church without this experience of a changed life. The call to deny myself for the sake of love, to return good for evil, to forgive seventy times seven, to endure one another, and to keep on doing this with joy for fifty or sixty or eighty years is not possible to the natural human. It is only possible supernaturally as Jesus said:

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

All of this says that this breaking of bread is more about the church than it is about the physical body of Jesus. One verse puts it this way:

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? (1 Corinthians 10:16)

But what about the brokenness? Is it the process of becoming yielded? Or something else? Is it about the unity of many different members? Or about Christ giving His body so that the many could be one?

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.  For the body does not consist of one member but of many. (1 Corinthians 12:12–14)

Whatever Jesus meant, it was for us to remember. He died so that we could be His Body and when we take the bread, we need to remember that we are united to Him and to one another. As He said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:24)

PRAY: Jesus, I do think of Your shed blood and Your battered body on that cross when I take communion. You prompt me to think also of those who take it along with me. We are one, unified because of You. I feel it and need to always remember it — as I remember all that You have done to make that unity possible; breaking sin’s hold on us by allowing Your own body to be nailed to that cross and allowing Your life to flow out that we might have life everlasting. 

How often I need reminding . . .

 

READ Luke 21-24

The Lord’s Supper, also called Communion, was instituted just before Jesus died. “And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.’ “ (Luke 22:19–20)

Whenever we do this as a local congregation in our church, it is solemn, a time for reflection of what Jesus did on the Cross, our own unworthiness. We confess known sins and are thankful for our redemption. Yet at that first communion, the disciples quickly revealed why redemption was necessary. Right after this solemn occasion when Jesus also told them He would be betrayed and killed by one of them, they were discussing who that might be. That soon led to this:

A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. (Luke 22:24–26)

I tried to imagine this scenario in our church and became dismayed to think of us arguing over who was the greatest Christian in the congregation. If that happened, what would I think? Or do?

Then Jesus told Peter that He was praying for him because his determination to be faithful would become three denials on that very day. Peter was dismayed, probably a similar feeling as mine toward fighting after communion, but Jesus was not wrong; Peter did deny Him three times.

We might defend Peter and say this happened before the Cross, before the Holy Spirit filled him and that is part of the story, yet it also reveals the need for redemption. The human heart can be sincere in wanting to love and obey God, but without the power of the Holy Spirit, sin can and will defeat good intentions. We need Jesus.

In a conversation yesterday about the convoys of truckers who are protesting government actions, my conclusion was this: no one can knowingly obey the will of God without the Spirit of God in their life, without the faith in Jesus Christ and the redemption that comes from repentance and yielding to Him. We who are Christians cannot demand that non-Christians do God’s will apart from having Him in their lives. We could not do it so it is unfair and even foolish to be disappointed when others cannot.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5–8)

Trying to persuade unbelieving leaders to do justly is something like Moses trying to persuade Pharaoh to let God’s people go. Releasing them from bondage was not profitable for that Egyptian leader. No matter the pressure put on him to do so, his heart was hard. In the end, God hardened it because He had a better plan. When His people left, they were ready to leave, but even then they were soon lamenting that their lot in life and insisting things would have been better had they stayed.

Such describes the human heart. Obeying God is hard. It meets with resistance, not only from those who do not want to obey God, but from our own sinfulness. Sin makes us quick to want to be the greatest, have it all, live according to those old desires even though we know that sinful living does not please God and instead leads to death.

For me, these days often find me battle weary. Fighting sin and praying for others to win that battle can be physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausting. In today’s reading, I felt the sorrow and passion of Jesus as He sweat blood for us, for me. Lord Jesus, how badly we Your people need revival. Hear our prayers and grant us what we need to stop falling back into the life You saved us from. Enable us to be bold and joyful in the life You died to give us.