1 Corinthians 11:25
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.
This verse has been used as a command to have communion. Some even will say communion is a good time to check yourself to make sure things are clean in your life or clear between you and others. The fear they have is taking the ceremony unworthily and judgment being placed on them. Once again, tradition has been received over Truth.
The Word of God centers around Jesus Christ, not around us. Remember, if we go to God's Word focused on getting to know Him more, rather than taking a self-centered approach to His Word, our own lives will become more fulfilled. For example, if we go to The Word with the mindset of: I would like to get to know who God is instead of: “What can you show me, God, to help me get through this day." When we focus on God through His Word and prayer, He, in turn, begins to work those things out in our life we thought were so important.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Getting back to communion;
1 Corinthians 11:25 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.
When Christ said to do this in remembrance of me, what was He saying? First, what meal were He and His disciples having? Answer the Passover feast. What was the Passover? About 1500 years before Christ, the night before Israel was allowed to leave Egypt, where they had been in slavery and bondage. The Lord was going to pass thru the land and suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite the firstborn of every family. If the children of Israel had slain a lamb without blemish and marked the doorposts of their home with the blood of the lamb, the Lord would pass over them. This is where the Passover name came from. From that time on, once a year, the Passover would be celebrated and remembered how the Lord had delivered Israel from bondage.
Fast forward to the night Christ was having His last Passover feast meal with His disciples. The Bible says Christ looked forward to having this last Passover with His disciples.
Luke 22:15 And he said unto them, With desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer:
Why did He desire this? He was about to show the disciples the deeper and fulfilled meaning of the Passover. Israel in bondage was a shadow of the bondage that sin has on mankind. The spotless lamb that was slain each year was but a shadow of Jesus Christ, the Perfect Lamb of God being slain upon the cross for the sin of the world. If the blood of the lamb was placed on the doorposts of the home where the Passover meal was being held, that blood would ensure life and not death. That blood was a shadow of the blood of Christ that He shed on the cross and His blood that can give everlasting life. So Christ was showing His Disciples the true meaning of the Passover. He no longer wanted the release from Egyptian bondage to be remembered but the blood that He was going to shed, and did shed on the cross that would free all from the bondage of sin forever. He, by the broken bread, showed how His body was soon to be brutally mangled and broken to provide physical and spiritual healing for us all free from the effects of sin. So from then on, as often as they ate that bread and drank that cup, they were to remember Christ and His suffering. How often would they have that meal? Once a year at Passover. But surely Christ's sacrifice and resurrection were meditated on daily by them that believed. And once the Gentiles were invited into The Kingdom message, they too could partake of the Passover tradition, but in remembrance of Christ, not deliverance from Egypt.
1 Corinthians 11:25 After the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this does ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
Christ wasn't saying do this often; He was just saying when you do it, do it in remembrance. They would do it once a year, and now Passover, its true meaning is revealed.
Luke 22:20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
This was not a time to examine one's life for the worthiness of eating the bread or drinking the cup. Worthiness was all wrapped in Christ. When Paul said in;
1 Corinthians 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
Some in the Corinthian church were partaking because they wanted to eat and drink and weren't considering at all the message behind the bread and wine. This is why many were sick and died because they were just eating and drinking for self-indulgence, not in remembrance of Christ. This was not set up for self-examination but for Christ's examination.
Fast forward to Acts 28:28 Be it known therefore unto you that The Salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. The message of The Kingdom to Jews and Gentiles has been paused because of unbelief by the Jewish nation, and a new message was delivered to Paul. A message where there is no Jew or Gentile, a message not pertaining to feasts or Sabbath days or holy days or ordinances (communions) or washings (baptisms). It is a message with a new hope of the appearing of Christ in glory, not Him coming in clouds with a shout and sound of a trumpet, a hope of heaven, not a city built by God with 12 pearly gates. Spiritual blessings in Heavenly Places, not sign gifts. A walk by faith, not by sight. Worshiping Christ in spirit and in Truth. A message covering all aspects of your walk for today. This message is distinct and was hid in God since before the foundations of the world. There is no reflection of earthly things but only heavenly. We don't need emblems of bread and wine to have a Passover, communion, or remembrance of what Christ did for us. We worship Him in spirit and in Truth.
We are not spiritual Israel or the Bride, but we are The Church of His Body. We don't wrestle with flesh and blood but the principalities of the dark. But sadly, as God's message was rejected, that was spoken by the prophets, and spoken by God in the flesh, and then His disciples. So was God's message of The Mystery, which was sent to Paul for us today, rejected and is still being rejected today. That is why Paul said in 2 Tim 1:15 This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me... Paul had been given a message that fulfilled God's Word, but most don't realize it even exists. But if we are diligent in seeking Christ and His Word, which are one and the same, and remember 2 Tim 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, then we can be part of Gods fulfilled Word, and we can have The Hope of Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed Hope, and the Glorious appearing of The Great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
