04-04-10

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Dictionary: communion = 1. act of sharing, or holding in common; participation. 2. state of things so held. 3. association; fellowship. 4. interchange of thoughts or interests; communication; intimate talk.

(1 Cor 11:23-25)  For I [the Apostle Paul] have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed [by Judas Iscariot, a Judean] took bread (1): And when he had given thanks [to Jehovah Jireh (the Lord God our provider)], he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body (2), which is broken for you (3,4): this do in remembrance of me [i.e., so as not to let me die and be gone, but to be ever-present]. After the same manner also he took the cup [of wine], 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 (5).

1.       (Luke 13:20,21)  And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took [a referral to the original sin (“she took of the fruit thereof” Gen 3:6)] and hid [connoting deceit and deception] in three measures of meal [Gk: (to grind) flour], till the whole was leavened.

a.       (Luke 8:11)  Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

b.       (Mat 16:6)  Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. (Mat 16:12)  Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

2.       (John 6:47-51)  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna [“Man did eat angels’ food: Psa 78:25] in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 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.

a.       (John 1:14)  And the Word [of God, the Bible] was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

3.       Commentary: “my body which is broken for you” = broken by the sharp scourging barbs of a whip, by the crown of thorns, by nails driven into His hands, and by the soldier’s spear thrust into His side. These latter piercings may illustrate the suffering that Jesus endured on our behalf. “Broken for you” by the soldier’s spear may also portray His body being “opened,” as the Bible is opened, for “forthwith came there out blood and water,” (John 19:34); the blood represents the New Testament (1 Cor 11:25) and the water represents the remaining Word of God: “That he might sanctify and cleanse it [the church] with the washing of water by the word” (Eph 5:26).

4.       Commentary: The bones of Jesus Christ, the Passover Lamb, were never broken. In fact, there was an Old Testament prohibition for breaking the bones of the Passover Lamb (Exo 12:46) which was “fulfilled” in the New Testament (John 19:36). Why the prohibition? Because the body of Jesus Christ was made into the Word of God, the Bible, and the bones within that body represent the Law (the Old Testament) which gives to the body “hard” form, structure, and stability. The remaining “soft” parts of the body (the New Testament) were prophesied into life in Ezekiel 37:1-14.

a.       (Exo 12:10)  And ye shall let nothing of it [the Passover Lamb] remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire [a burnt offering wholly to the Lord]. (Exo 12:46)  In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof.

b.       (John 19:33-37)  But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.

5.       (Mat 26:26-28)  And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body [the Word of God, the Bible, or, the Old Testament]. And he took the cup [of the wine of the New Testament], and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission [Gk: forgiveness] of sins. (Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19,20)

NOT DISCERNING THE LORD’S BODY

(1 Cor 11:26-30) For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup [we symbolically do this every time we bless our food and eat], ye do show [Gk: to proclaim, promulgate: declare, preach, speak of, teach] the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily [Gk: irreverently], shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily [Gk: irreverently], eateth and drinketh damnation [Gk: judgment] to himself, not discerning [Heb: to separate thoroughly] [“without recognizing” NIV] the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep [Gk: be dead].

1.       Thesaurus: discern = distinguish, tell the difference, separate, discriminate, differentiate, determine, detect, recognize.

2.       Dictionary: discern = 1. to perceive by the sight or some other sense or by the intellect; see; recognize, or apprehend clearly. 2. to distinguish mentally; recognize as distinct or different; discriminate: he discerns good and bad, good from bad.

3.       (Heb 4:12)  For the word of God is quick [Gk: alive], and powerful, and sharper [Gk: decisive, as if by a single stroke, when compared to repeated blows, like hacking] than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder [Gk: separation] of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

4.       (John 6:52-58)  The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 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. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 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.

a.       Commentary: The Jews of that time did not discern the Lord’s body. What is the body of the Lord?

  Amen

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