When I was pastoring back in the day, there used to be a group of us that went up to Life Conference in Auckland each year. It was a big event and they provided a special lounge for pastors and church leaders to rest in. You could get barista coffees, snacks and fruit all day long with comfortable seating. Once while there I felt the need to fast about something that was troubling me and planned to eat at the end of the day. After the service as I passed the Pastors’ Lounge, and low and behold I saw that they were providing a special meal in there and the main course was Lamb. Thankyou Jesus.
I piled up my plate and went to a table to eat. As I enjoyed this delicacy, I looked around and didn’t recognise many of the people. It wasn’t your average group of pastors, in fact there were some of the guest speakers and other important looking people there. ‘Funny I thought.’
Next minute a lady came up to me and said. “Were you invited?” I said no for I am a pastor. She said this is an invite only meal for special guests. Suddenly in the twinkling of an eye I went from the marriage supper of the lamb to the wedding feast where the guest was cast out for not wearing the right clothing.
She was nice about it but said I should leave after I’ve eaten, so after dessert I left and was secretly glad that I’d got it wrong and that God could work everything out for my good.
I was thinking afterwards about this delicacy of lamb, and how this meal had ended up on my plate. One minute the lamb is frolicking around in the paddock and then it becomes a wonderful meal on our plate. We don’t like to think too much of all that happened in the between stages. We enjoy the end result but not so much on how it all came about.
Isn’t this very much the same concerning our enjoyment of the true of Lamb of God - Jesus. We enjoy all the blessings and a wonderful relationship with the Lord but its hard to understand all that He went through on the cross to make it all happen for us.
At the first Passover when the Israelites were in Egypt, they were told to get a lamb without blemish and sacrifice its life. The blood was to be sprinkled on the doorposts of their houses to protect them from the Angel of death, and they were to then eat the lamb before leaving Egypt. They could have kept the meal for a picnic later.
Each family was to take a spotless lamb and keep it in their homes for 4 days before killing it. It must have been really hard for the children who would have grown to love the lamb and then see it killed. The disciples also found it hard to see their beloved Lord slain in front of them at the Passover, but it was all necessary for their salvation.
Each time we have communion we remind ourselves of all that Jesus went through for us so that we might become the children of God and enjoy all the blessings of Heaven.
John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.’ He’s called the lamb 28 times in the Book of Revelation alone. Did you realise that Jesus not only gave Himself as the spotless Lamb of God for the forgiveness our sins but also for the healing our diseases?
Jesus said at the last Supper ‘This is my body given for you.’ He was inviting us to a love feast that you wouldn’t be kicked out of. He tells us to eat His flesh and drink His blood.
There could have been many other ways for us to remember what Jesus did on the cross but eating the bread and drinking the blood are the ways that He chose and its very significant. He said that we are to drink his blood and eat his flesh and this offended many back then and still does today.
God not only wants us to know that the cup in communion represents the forgiveness of our sins but the bread speaks of receiving His life, His health, His wholeness – All of Him. We know that when we eat something it is absorbed into our bodies and becomes part of us and He reminds us of this in communion.
At the first Passover meal we see that there was a 2 fold blessing given to the people of God. Not only were they delivered from the Angel of Death by the blood of the Lamb, but they were supernaturally empowered to come out of Egypt by the eating of its body. Psalm 105:37 says that God brought Israel out with silver and gold and that there wasn’t one feeble person among them. Its interesting to note that of 3 million of them who left Egypt that night not one of them was weak or sick, and they all had a hard life. There are maybe 200 odd of us here, how many of us are weak and sick?
We need to have our eyes opened to see that Communion is much more than just celebrating that our sins are forgiven. Praise God that they are forgiven for without it we can’t get to heaven and we celebrate this blessing by drinking the cup. But we are to also celebrate something else as well.
Paul said in his communion message in Corinthians that we need to discern Christs body when having communion. It doesn’t say we are to discern His blood, and goes on to says that for this reason many are sick and dying before their time because they don’t discern Christs body.
We need to have our eyes opened to see more. The disciples on the road to Emmaus didn’t recognise Jesus, but when they took communion they had their eyes opened and they knew Christ.
Paul encourages us to ask for the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation so that we too might know who Christ is all that He has done for us on the cross and the new life that He imparts.
The Devil kept me in the dark concerning communion for many years but now I realise that their much more land to be possessed in my walk with God.
Jesus said in John 14:20 that in that day you will ‘know’ that I’m living in the father and that we are one with Him, because He is living in us. When we partake of communion we are to remind ourselves of this amazing truth that Christ is in us and we are complete in Him. In really knowing this truth we see that we are in Christ, in His body, far above all the powers of darkness and every name that is named. Even over all the names of sickness.
This Christmas unwrap the present that the Father has given you. He has given you His Son, the Lamb of God as a gift. The Darling of Heaven. Christ is the unspeakable Gift who is far above anything else you have ever known or will ever receive in this life. Ask God to open your eyes to see who Christ is and all that He has done for you as you take communion this morning.
There is a Christmas Song by Mariah Carey that is called ‘All I want to for Christmas is you.’ This can also be applied to Jesus the Lamb of God and our passion for Him. May we really understand who He is like never before. He’s greater than any Angel. He’s the true ultimate gift that will keep on giving.