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.” Luke 22:14-16.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלוהים) says:
The night He was betrayed, My Son celebrated the Passover seder, the memorial meal of remembrance, with His disciples and the permanence of the institution was fulfilled and would continue forever at My table in My Kingdom.
This was not a coincidence; it was an appointed time. The fulfillment of the appointed times of Passover and Unleavened Bread in Jesus, the Lamb I Myself provided for the burnt offering to take away the sins of the world and the Bread from Heaven for a man to eat and never die.
Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” And He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is near; I am to keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.”’” The disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover. Matthew 26:17-19.
Jesus told them His time was near. Matthew 26:18. Then when He reclined that evening at table, I tell you that the hour had come. Luke 22:14, And finally I tell you that, before the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of the world to Me, began the seder by washing His disciples’ feet. John 13:1.
And what happened that night? My Son entered Covenant with you at that Passover seder meal and as He walked the bloody path to the Cross and hung thereon, He entered Covenant with Me—the new and everlasting Covenant which will never be broken. So being in Him, you entered Covenant with Me in Him as your representative and great High Priest.
In the prior Life Lesson we talked about living pure. I am continuing that today with the marvelous gift of you partaking of the very body and blood of absolute purity and goodness and becoming a member of that body through Holy Communion, the Covenant meal, where the lower is raised to the stature of the higher Covenant partner, the poor to wealth, and the sick to health. This raising up of the lower partner to the wealth and stature of the higher is a benefit of Covenant. Covenant creates a relationship that binds two together as one where they are in agreement of purpose, and each is at the call of the other to provide protection, provision, partnership, and, above all, faithful loyalty.
When you partake of the body and blood of My Son you are joining in His very life, not just from a distance but walking it with Him in the Spirit. When you join yourself with Jesus you are one spirit with Him. 1 Corinthians 6:17. And you become partakers of the divine nature.
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? And as members of His body, you are filled with the same Spirit which is His and with the same anointing.
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17.
Many of you are longing, praying, and begging Me to make you pure and holy. I have a surprise for you, you already are! When you were born again in Jesus by My Word, I put My Spirit in your heart, and you have the holiest of holies and the purest of the pure living in you and that now is who you are in Christ. Look to Me and be radiant with joy and your faces shall never again blush with shame for cleansed in the blood your sins are gone, He made peace through the blood of the Cross between you and Me, and presents you holy, blameless (pure), and beyond reproach before Me. Colossians 1: 20.
And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach. Colossians 1:21-22.
The beauty within of a born-again believer is My glory.
The King’s daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is interwoven with gold. She will be led to the King in embroidered work. Psalm 45:13-14.
I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10.
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Galatians 3:26-27.
Stop begging for holiness and purity and just tell those thoughts and impure intentions that the devil shoots your way that you do not even entertain such things for you are justified, sanctified, and made holy in My sight.
And, as we discussed previously, you wash all that impurity out by the Word and that is how Jesus washes His body, the Church, as well. But there is more. And you will find all this in Jesus, the written and spoken Word, but also the Word made flesh.
Take and eat, this is His body given up for you. Partake of purity and grow thereby. Be washed in His blood and your sins will be gone. But when you partake you must do it in remembrance of Him. And therein comes the Word of remembrance, the Torah, the Prophets, and the Scriptures, and now the New Testament as well, where My Son speaks to you directly. You must remember, you must walk with Him and see all He suffered so you can be holy and stand aside in grateful awe of so great a Salvation. And I have put you in Him and Him in you. Your hope of glory.
Glory is My almighty power exercised in love to produce goodness. And that will produce the works in you that Jesus did and greater as you live for the praise of My glory. You have been called to My glory by grace. Grace has made you partakers of My divine nature and faith is what receives and takes that into your life.
Why did Jesus so earnestly desire to eat that Passover seder with you before He suffered? So you would be in Him to receive by substitution and identification as His body, one with Him through Covenant, all that He did and won for you in His passion, death, and resurrection, and continuing to His ascension when I seated you with Him at My right hand, and then on to receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out onto and into you by Jesus.
Do you even begin to realize the treasure you have in Holy Communion? This is a matter into which angel’s long to search. When the Words of Jesus are spoken over the bread and the wine the substance is changed by the Holy Spirit, who watches over My Word to perform it, to the Heavenly substance of the Body and Blood of My Son. You take in His body as part of your own and are incorporated into Him as a member of the great body of believers in Heaven and on earth. Every good work by a member of the Body causes you to shine with greater glory and every good work you do increases you and every other member’s glory as well. You are surrounded by the Body, My family in Heaven and on earth, and all members are cheering you on to finish your course of life to the uttermost.
If you understood this you would approach the communion table with deep joy, awe, and gratitude for all that you are receiving and what is taking place in you and on you as you receive. You would recognize the Body, both His and the Church and your part therein. Each member is essential. Do not ignore so great a Salvation, so wondrous a gift of everlasting love.
Take and eat for His body is given for YOU. And receive all that He has and is as your own. He has no sickness, no disorders, no evil in Him and that is yours for the taking in Holy Communion. It is the true bread from Heaven for a man to eat and NEVER die. You are eating your way to eternal life.
And make sure you recognize the body, both as joining you and Jesus as one, and through His Covenant made as Son of Man on your behalf with Me, joining you as one with Me in Him, and as joining you with all other believers who are in Covenant with Jesus as well, and the whole family in Heaven and earth derives its Name from Me. Ephesians 3:14-15. Be aware of how joined we all are to bring the Kingdom to earth and gather all people in My love.
For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. 1 Corinthians 11:29-30.
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13.
And each good work done by every member of the body is yours as well and each good work you do is to your reward and the glory of all the body. And all the glorious good works of the body glorify all the members and the Head in one beautiful body of glory, the glorious Church without stain or wrinkle, for you are all clothed in your Head, that is, Jesus Christ.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. Ephesians 5:25-30.
And that by eating this bread of His body you shall live forever should not surprise you. Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and they died the death. Now you eat from the tree of life, for as you partake you declare His death upon the cross for your redemption and salvation, and you live forever.
And when you drink from the cup of His blood it is Passover all over again, under the cover of His blood you are safe from the destroyer and from the judgment of wrath for sin for all your sins are gone, accounted to the Lamb that I Myself supplied for the burnt offering as Abraham prophesied when He saw the day of Jesus and was glad.
You can also, as I do, liken this relationship with your precious Savior to a branch attached to a vine. His wisdom, merits, health, and riches flow into you by the Spirit and cause your spirit to produce the fruit of the Spirit so that My magnificent Covenant promises manifest in your life.
And this all speaks of times of refreshment in Jesus your Messiah. Come to Him and learn from Him for He is gentle and humble of heart and your souls will find rest and refreshment, for His yoke is easy and His burden light. Why? Because He bore all your burdens caused by sin which so encumbered you already. It was too heavy for you to carry so He took it up and carried it away and I nailed it all to the Cross as paid in full. You are free.
I love you. Receive Communion often. The early community of believers understood the greatness of this gift. What do I tell you they made of primary importance? So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand [an]souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 2:41-42. And I tell you that they were breaking bread from house to house, that is, in their private homes together. What a wonderful way to gather together and share the Body and Blood of My Son. Do it often it is the meal that heals, empowers, blesses, raises up, and give eternal life to all who receive with faith.