Posted: 06/08/2016 at 5:58am
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The
words breaking of bread signify eating together with one another in
reverence and harmony with the Lord. Jesus broke bread during the
Passover meal with His disciples and turned that Old Covenant feast into
the prophetic sign of the New Covenant. We call this sign the Breaking
of Bread, the Last Supper, the Lord’s Supper, Communion, a Love/agape feast or Eucharist. Those are words of rich relationships in Christ Jesus with one another.
Breaking of Bread
The
Lord’s Supper is a prophetic sign of the past, present and future in
the kingdom of God that was and is and is to come. It involves both our
physical and spiritual partaking and participation. Since it is a
prophetic sign, we need our eyes opened by the Holy Spirit in order to
see, hear and feel more than bread and wine in it. The Holy Spirit
dwells in all who trust in Jesus Christ, the Son of God (1 Cor 3:16 and gives us that capability.
In Luke, we see Jesus revealing Himself to His disciples through breaking bread
right after His resurrection. At first they did not recognize Him. When
Jesus broke bread, their spiritual eyes were opened and they knew Him.
We know Jesus in the breaking of bread.
When
He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed
it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were
opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. Luke 24:30-31 NASB
In the celebration of Passover, Jesus broke the bread which was the sign of His soon coming sacrificial death.“For
I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the
Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he
had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for
you: this do in remembrance of me” (1 Cor 11:23-24). A few days later, He was crucified. We are to remember His death till He comes. “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come” (1 Cor 11:26).
Since we know Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and sits at the right
hand of God, we thank Him for His sacrifice, proclaiming the Lord’s
death till He comes.
The bread Jesus broke was unleavened. It was made without yeast as required for the feast of unleavened bread which was annexed to passover. Leaven represented whatever had the power of corrupting, whether doctrine, or example, or anything else. Paul
had to straighten up the church in Corinth about a man whose wickedness
they tolerated in their midst. In his exhortation to them he refers to
the celebration of agape calling it “our festival.” And, “our passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ.”
Your
glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the
whole lump? Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as
ye are unleavened. For our passover also hath been sacrificed, even
Christ: wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither
with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread
of sincerity and truth. 1 Corinthians 5:6-8
In Acts 2; we see the first celebration of the Lord’s Supper as an agape feast.
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.
And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done
through the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all
things common; and they sold their possessions and goods, and parted
them to all, according as any man had need. And day by day, continuing
stedfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread
at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart,
praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added
to them day by day those that were saved. Acts 2:42-47
That is a good description of the Lord’s Supper as an agape feast also addressed in Jude 1:12. The Greek word agape is translated love. “And
we know and have believed the love/agape which God hath in us. God is
love/agape; and he that abideth in love/agape abideth in God, and God
abideth in him” (1 John 4:16). Faith and agape is in Christ (2 Tim 1:13). The fruit of the Spirit is agape (Gal 5:22). The agape chapter of the Bible is (1 Cor 13). Breaking bread at home is agape.
Agape is
an environment. These believers were not one hour on Sunday church
Christians. They were 24/7 believers, who thrived in harmonious
community relationship. They put their love into action and made it
real, walking in good works. “For
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10 KJV).
Drinking the cup
In his preface to the Lord’s supper, Luke shows Jesus was looking forward to Passover fellowship with the 12 and brings forth the mindset Jesus had toward His imminent crucifixion. He knew He was to suffer, but Jesus was looking beyond it to the end of His reign when He turns over His kingdom (Col 1:13) to His Father (1 Cor 15:20-28) in the kingdom that is to come . “For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, thinking nothing of its shame, and sat down at the right of God’s throne” (Heb 12:1-2). Even then, Jesus was looking forward to the kingdom that is to come (Rev 21-22) and the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:7-10).
When
the hour had come, He reclined at the 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 say to you, I shall never again eat it
until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And when He had taken a
cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves;
for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on
until the kingdom of God comes.” And when He had taken some bread and
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 in the same
way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is
poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood. Luke 2214-20 NASB
The first cup Jesus took was the cup which was ordinarily taken at the beginning of Passover supper. The second was the sacramental cup. It was known as the cup of blessing (1 Cor 10:16). Jesus took the cup saying “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”
To aid our comprehension of the meaning of that statement, let’s dig in the Spirit and go to the Word.
Jesus said: “the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
So
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the
flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in
yourselves. “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life,
and I will raise him up on the last day. “For My flesh is true food, and
My blood is true drink. “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood
abides in Me, and I in him. “As the living Father sent Me, and I live
because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of
Me. “This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers
ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”
These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
Therefore
many of His disciples, when they heard this said, “This is a difficult
statement; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, conscious that His
disciples grumbled at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to
stumble? “What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was
before? “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. John 6:53-63 NASB
Jesus spoke of His crucifixion death as the cup.
But
Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink the
cup that I drink? or to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized
with? And
they said unto him, We are able. And Jesus said unto them, The cup that
I drink ye shall drink; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal
shall ye be baptized. Mark 10:38-39
Blood was a sign for the LORD’S pass over the Israelites.
And
thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet,
and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the
LORD’S passover. Exodus 12:11 KJV
The actual pass over was when He passed over the houses with blood on the sides and tops of the doorframes. “The
blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I
see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to
destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt” (Ex 12:13 NASB).
The ordinances commanded for the Passover supper also contain prophetic signs of Jesus as the perfect sacrifice for our sins so that we might have life. .
The cup was the prophetic sign confirming the new covenant.
Jesus took the cup saying “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”
In Hebrews 9
we see the comparison of the old covenant with the new covenant. The old
covenant had an earthly temple and earthly sacrifices for sin. They did
not clear the conscience (Heb 9:1-10).
But
Christ having come a high priest of the good things to come, through
the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to
say, not of this creation, nor yet through the blood of goats and
calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats
and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling them that have been
defiled, sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh: how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God?
And
for this cause he is the mediator of a new covenant, that a death
having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were
under the first covenant, they that have been called may receive the
promise of the eternal inheritance. Hebrews 9:11-15
__________________ Bill Bremer Kingdom Relationships http://billbremer.org
billbremer04@yahoo.com
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