Communion
is Restoration
11/23/13
Communion
is a way of life for everyone who attends church. Though the
doctrinal procedures of communion differ in length and content the basic
concepts are adherently installed into one beautiful process. Communion
represents the cornerstone of Christian beliefs and will always be the key to
understanding what the life, death, and resurrection of Christ means to our
lives. But have we considered the ties that the articles that we use
in communion to how they relate in the relationship between God and man? It
is an interesting concept and one that up until now I had never thought about,
but it brings this remembrance of Christ more to life now that I understand its
deeper meaning.
Many
of us who are familiar with communion understand the importance of its
symbolism. Communion is one of the more important commands and
remembrance things that Christians do as a testament to the life, death and
resurrection of Christ. Communion is a solemn occasion where one
needs to reflect how Christ gave His life for our chance to have a restored
relationship with God the Father. Much has been debated, speculated
and even argued about how to conduct the procedures for this command of Jesus
and in some instances one has to be a member of that church to even
participate, leaving out the true meaning of the unconditional restoration
process that Christ gave to us as He ascended into heaven.
The
Last Supper is one of the more famous passages in the New Testament. It
is cited many times throughout the year and is used on many occasions including
weddings. Communion should be one of the focal points in all of
humanity since it represents the one true way that mankind can redeem itself
from all of the dirt that we have obtained in our lives. It is a
unique form of worship and submission that only God could dream about and to
fulfill with His son being the centerpiece of the entire process.
The
question has been raised concerning the act of blood sacrifice and why its
results stopped even though the procedure continued after Jesus was
crucified. It is a logical question and one that is easily explained
but can be kind of hard to understand if one does not understand the meaning of
both sides of the story. Generally speaking the altar and blood
sacrifice was the means that man asked God for forgiveness of their sins. By
sacrificing the animal and shedding of its life giving blood, man acknowledged
to God that he understood that there would be no way that he / she could ever recognize
true life in the current state of death that they had chosen to create. It
was the act of shedding the blood and giving the life of the animal that proved
to God that man was serious enough about his own living condition that he would
give something that was pure in order to redeem himself from a perfect and holy
creator. God created all living things which include animals. So,
you have an item that God created and that man grew and nurtured and then was
willing to give it up to a being that was perfect in every way possible, seems
kind of unique doesn’t it? Also, sacrifices were done at a specific
time of the year and not in random at all, there was a separation still present
for it was not yet time for complete relationship.
Keep
this in mind as we fast forward to the time of Christ and the Last Supper
passage in the Bible. The disciples went up to Jesus and asked Him
what was going to happen and where Passover was going to be held. The
place for the Last Supper had already been chosen and all of the normal
procedures followed just as it was many times before. However, God had something else in mind for
this time and even though the disciples had no clue what was about to happen, Jesus
fully understood what was going to transpire and it was to be the culmination
of His life for our restoration, yet the ancient procedures still had to be
followed in order for perfect placement and fulfillment in God’s orderly
manner.
Jesus
makes an unusual statement in that after they had eaten He took the bread and
broke it and said to the disciples that it was His body that was going to be
broken. Then Jesus took the cup and told them to drink the wine for
it will represent His blood that would be shed for all mankind. To
Christians this is a beautiful symbol of Christ’s life, death and resurrection
and everything that His death means for our eternal salvation and restoration
with God. God had the perfect plan in store for His son that would
define the way that our relationship had been with God way back before sin
entered into the world and through Jesus and the articles of Communion, God
gave us another correlation and confirmation that Jesus is the only way that
this could happen.
Going
back to the sacrificial era, we notice that mankind is represented by the high
priest or if you wish to think on a personal level, Abraham. It was
God who created man and it was Abraham who created Isaac. The
process was in sequence as a future symbol that God had a plan for man’s
redemption and restoration yet it was not time for this new process to take
place, so the sacrificing continued. The innocent and pure animal was used
in the sacrificial setting in the Old Testament. Once again God
created the animal from nothing and man nurtured the animal and kept it as pure
as possible up until the time for sacrificing. This too was a
pattern that was chosen by God in order for the perfect bridge to be formed so
that we may have life everlasting. It might seem that I am
completing some circles right at the moment but make no mistake that each of
these items fit perfectly into what God is sharing.
Jesus
took bread which was a customary item at this time of the year. The
bread itself came from the wheat that grew in the field. A farmer
had to take care of that wheat and nurture it until it was ready for
harvesting. The farmer did not create the wheat plant, God
did. Yet man had to grow the wheat and then harvest it so that it could be
used for food. There is a process that it takes to make bread and
this process includes time, for bread cannot make itself. The bread
itself was made by the hands of the human from a plant that was created by
God. The same process occurred with the sacrificial animal as it did
with the bread, which brings me to the wine.
Where
does wine come from? It comes from grapes. Wine is a
product of grapes and even though it comes from a natural source it must be
processed before it can be consumed. Who created the grapes? God
did. Man takes the grapes and grows them each year and then
processes them into wine, jelly, juice etc, but in this case we are going to
stick to the wine idea. Wine takes time to process which takes
months to complete and cannot happen overnight. Steps have to be
initiated and completed before the wine is ready to drink. Wine is a
purified drink and is safe to drink without having the unknown effects of
contamination.
So
we now have some specific examples that were used in the sacrificial process
and in the Communion process that are connected. Do I believe that
this is a coincidence? NO WAY!!! Remember, for everything
that God does He has a divine purpose and a flawless plan that is alive and the
topic for this article is another example of how God works in everything. One
final question to answer and the pieces will be connected. That
question is how does Jesus fit into all of this lineage and symbolism?
In
the beginning of man’s history God and man had a pretty good
relationship. Both parties walked with each other every day and held
some pretty detailed conversations I suppose. But when man decided
to separate himself from our Creator, a division occurred that could not be
brought back together by any methods that man had to offer. All
parties understood this so God began the restoration process. Restoration
does not come over night and it does not come at a low price so man had to
understand that it would take a while before this division could be
mended.
God
made man perfect in every way possible so our “roots” in origin come from a
pure and holy foundation; sound familiar? When man decided to leave
God’s ways, God still wanted a relationship with man and this began the
sacrificial process to teach man that a way was possible. The
process used a creation of God by a sinful being to complete the connection of
two spiritual realms. This sacrifice has to be of pure nature and
would never be used again after the process was completed; a total sacrifice of
that life was required.
He process
continued until God choose Mary to complete the restoration process between God
and man. God became the father of Jesus
which represented a holy blood line given to a human which then served as the
perfect birth process for the one that would be considered the bridge that
crosses the separation gap. Jesus was
the perfect created being that combined both the holy and the human which
completes the same process that has been demonstrated with the sacrificial process,
and the bread and wine process. Jesus
was created by God and born and raised by Mary a human. This is the perfect example that God has a
purpose and plan for each and every one of our lives no matter what your
circumstances are or might be. If there
had been any doubt that God does care about us and is not in existence, this article
proves that God is alive, He is everywhere and that He has a perfect,
fulfilling and complete plan ongoing in each person’s life.
It
is stated in the Bible that God loves us and even knew us before we were
conceived in our mother’s body. It is evident
that God’s plan for our lives was already in development before the fall of man
in the Garden of Eden. As humans we do
not fully comprehend His timing but we need to make sure that we trust God well
enough to follow what He has in store for our lives. It takes both God and man to make the
universe work properly and it takes God and man working together to provide our
lives with everything we need in order to survive. In all matters, both great and small from the
creation to the ends of the world, God must be present in our lives in order
for us to have the true meaning of life.
We need to stop and take a closer look at what God has provided for our
lives and to make sure that everyone in the world knows this truth.
DLB
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