Communion Is Our Confidence

Exodus 12:1-14

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,

2 This month [shall be] unto you the beginning of months: it [shall be] the first month of the year to you.

3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth [day] of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of [their] fathers, a lamb for an house:

·                    Each family shall take a lamb.

·                    There will be no deliverance without a sacrifice.

·                    This lamb represents Jesus – pure, young, innocent and slaughtered.

4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take [it] according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.

5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take [it] out from the sheep, or from the goats:

6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike [it] on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; [and] with bitter [herbs] they shall eat it.

·                    Everyone must partake of the lamb of sacrifice.

·                    The blood must be protecting on the outside.

·                    And the flesh must be nourishing us on the inside.

9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast [with] fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.

10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.

11 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.

·                    This is an odd request – meals are usually eaten while resting on the floor.

·                    They are asked to eat it while ready to run (be alert for this meal).

·                    They are asked to eat it in haste (danger must be on the horizon, no merriment).

12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I [am] the LORD.

13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye [are]: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy [you], when I smite the land of Egypt.

14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

·                    The wrath of God is about to be delivered.

·                    The blood shall protect us – but there is a long journey yet to the rest.

·                    The Lord tends to celebrate before the event – confidence in victory.

·                    HOWEVER, Jews must celebrate this ceremony correctly to be included!!!

·                    Just because it is a happy meal does not mean that they could treat it lightly!!!

John 6:48-58

48 I am that bread of life.

49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.

50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.

51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?

53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

1 Corinthians 11:27-29

27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink [this] cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of [that] bread, and drink of [that] cup.

29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

Unworthily ≠ unworthy

·                    Qualifications (repentance, water baptism, and a desire to serve God).

·                    Disqualifications (visiting, want to be religious, think its sweet, non-Christian).

·                    We are all unworthy, those who are not practicing Christians do it unworthily.

·                    Don’t hesitate because of offenses, that is not a Biblical reason for skipping.

Matthew 5:23-24

23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

·                    There is a day of wrath, there is a victory, and there is a feast that separates the two.

·                    We have a Lamb, have you sprinkled the blood?  Are you nourished by the flesh?

EXAMINE YOURSELF – ARE YOU IN THE BODY?

1 Corinthians 11:23-26                           LET COMMUNION BE YOUR CONFIDENCE.

23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the [same] night in which he was betrayed took bread:

24 And when he had given thanks, he brake [it], and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

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.

26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.