Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
Exodus 12:1-13 records the first Passover celebration. It foreshadows the heart of God for all men in all ages. It pictures what was done from the foundations of the world; Jesus Christ our Passover Lamb was slain for us (Rev. 13:8).
When God saw the blood applied to the doorpost and lintels of the Hebrews’ homes the death angel would not visit them. No person in the household had to die, the lamb died for them. That is a picture of our great salvation!
It is important to note that the blood of the lamb was applied to the house in Egypt, and the next day after the Passover they were still in Egypt, still in captivity. We can be born again and have our sins forgiven, but still be living in captivity in our hearts and minds. Salvation is saved, healed and delivered. So many people spend years with a sense of forgiveness, yet never consistently walk in the wholeness that is available in Christ.
Forgiveness is foundational and wonderful, but sooner or later, if that is all we have the joy of forgiveness will begin to wane in wounded, captive hearts, and our spiritual life will become less and less fulfilling. We will slowly drift from the Lord.
God had a solution for the Hebrews’ problem of captivity; eat the lamb. They ate the lamb and that became the nourishment, strength and vitality for them to walk out of captivity toward the liberty of the Promised Land. They walked out of Egypt (captivity) in the energy of the lamb. This is a picture of empowering grace.
Christ, our Passover Lamb, is living inside us and as the Old Testament lamb portrayed He provides us the spiritual nourishment, strength and vitality to make the journey into our land of promises, our land of wholeness and destiny. It is God working in us to will and do His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). Just as the lamb was the total answer for the Hebrews at the first Passover, Christ is the total answer for us. Christ is our life (Col. 3:4).
Eating the Lamb’s flesh and drinking His blood is no longer a once-a-year event; rather, it is something we do all the time as we abide in Him by faith (John 15:1-5). Yet in the church and in our homes we celebrate the Lord’s Supper because it is all about Jesus Christ becoming our Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 11:23-31). Literally celebrating the Lord’s Supper is vital to us as individuals and as a body of believers. Here are some of the reasons:
It is the only ceremony instituted in the New Testament. Jesus said “This do…” and it says, “as often as you…” and “until the…”
It is a reminder that Jesus Christ is everything. Jesus said, “Do this to remember Me.” It is a reminder that Jesus is all we need for living life; it is not Jesus plus church or Jesus plus the Bible or Jesus plus prayer, etc. And with Jesus comes the Father and the Holy Spirit. We can never be reminded of this truth too much.
It proclaims the very heart of the gospel message – the Cross. It is an amazing statistic that on average, one out of 13 sentences in the New Testament makes a direct or indirect reference to the Cross. I think it would be about impossible to partake in the Lord’s Supper and not think about the Cross- what God has done to reach us.
It reminds us to rightly discern the Lord’s body. If we participate in the ritual of communion, assuming it fulfills the reality of actually abiding in Him, then we are deceived and we deprive ourselves of His life. We must never substitute the ritual for the reality of the Lord Himself.
Receive and embrace the blood, but be careful to not neglect or even reject the bread (the Body of Christ). We cannot pick and choose what aspect of Christ we want. Like the Hebrews of old we must eat the whole thing.
Many Blessings, BW