Bread And Wine From Heaven (6.11.14)

"Then the King of Salem, Melchizedek brought food and wine. He was a priest of God Most High..." Genesis14,18

"Then he gave orders to the skies above and threw open heaven's doors; he rained down manna for them to eat and gave them grain of heaven. So everyone ate the bread of angels; he sent them food in plenty."  Psalm78,23-25

"Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lambs had to be slaughtered, 8 and Jesus sent off Peter and John, saying, 'Go and prepare the Passover Supper for us.' 9 'Where would you like us to make the preparations?' they asked. 10 he replied, 'As soon as you set foot in the city a man will meet you carrying a jar of water. Follow him into the house that he enters and 11 give this message to the householder: "The Teacher says, 'Where is the room in which I am to eat the Passover with my disciples?'" 12 He will show you a large room upstairs all set out: make the preparations there.' They went and found everything as he had said. So they prepared for Passover." Luke 22,7-13

'How I have longed to eat this Passover with you before my death! 16 For I tell you, never again shall I eat it until the time when it finds it's fulfillment in the kingdom of God.' 17 The he took a cup and after giving thanks he said, 'Take this and share it among yourselves, for I tell you, from this moment on I shall not drink the fruit of the vine until the time when the kingdom of God comes.' Luke22,15b-18.   

The Vatican State church since the Protestant Reformation claims that repeating Jesus' words by a priest whom they ordained renders his physical pre Calvary body and pre Calvary physical blood into both the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper.

Protestant Reformers descried this clerical dogma known as "transubstantiation," so much so that they went over board and nullify any "real" or supernatural source and presence to the bread and wine. How can we nullify any supernatural presence in the blessed bread and wine when we we as Temples of the Holy Spirit are likewise blessed from above by the consecration of Holy Ghost baptism? How can we now say that physcial things such as bread and wine, and you and me can't be consecrated, and expecially Holy, when we know for a fact that the physical utensils of the Temple cult were themselves consecrated and expecially holy (Leviticus7).  

But the source and import of the table is neither anti Reformation dogma or Protestant overreaction, but the supernatural blessing from our ever-living and eternally risen Jesus.

How do we know this?

1Corinthians10,3-4 tells us of 'supernatural food and drink' at the table. Supernatural things are not merely symbols- they are very real. They actually fed the people in the desert post Exodus and they actually fed people in Corinth and they actually feed us today.

At John6,55-56 Jesus reveals the source and import of the supper "my [risen per 1Corinthians15,44] flesh is real [Spiritual] food and my [every flowing Spiritual, John 19,34] blood is real drink.

Likewise Genesis14,18- the supernatural, Angel of Lord, an eternal priest without lineage, "Melchisedek", the eternal righteous priest-king of God's eternal city, Salem (who has an everlasting priesthood and kingship and life per Psalm110,1-4 and Hebrews 7,3 and 8), brings food that he got from where?

From the convenience store on the way down the king's highway?

No, He's a supernatural being, a pre-figurement of the heavenly Christ, so likewise He comes bearing supernatural food and drink, food from whence He came.

He comes bearing the food and drink of the kingdom! (Luke22,15b-18).

And yet, some come to the table only after dogmas amnd some for mere symbols?

I'm not hungry for dogmas.

I'm not hungry for symbols.

I'm hungry, in faith, for the risen body and blood of my Lord who prophesied: "unless you eat my body and drink my blood you have no life in you." (John6,53)

Neither of the aforementioned polar and polemical opposites, dogmas or symbols, are biblical as we have seen in our 26 prior meditations.

As we have repatedly shown from scripture a biblically based Lord's Supper is a spiritual sacrifice (1Peter2,5; as was Cornelius' loving alms to God's people, Acts10,4; as was Paul's priestly ministry of spreading the gospel to the gentiles, so that they too would be a pleasing offering to the Lord  Romans15,16).

This is not a physical sacrifice that requires some sort of ordained non-biblical man made priesthood. It is a command for all of us. The cup can be blessed and the bread can be broken by any water-baptized and born again man or woman in the congregation, 1Corinthians10,16 ("the cup we bless," the bread we break). Christ ordained no one a priest. An ordained priesthood is for physical, not for Spiritual sacrifices, and he was the last physical sacrifice.

This spiritual sacrifice of bread and wine is offerred as a living memorial, to our risen savior, inviting us to communion with Him. It is His choice alone to accept our blessing the bread and wine with His risen presence consecration. And when He does also bless the bread and wine at the table, at this Spiritual sacrifice, by our faith we partake of His risen body and blood.

We do this in faithful obedience to Jesus' command, and our gathering in his Name leads up to the blessing of the bread and wine by those born again (John3,5) in the community.

Again only if our faith at the table is fitting according to the Lord's sovereign will, whether rightly offerred by one or a hundred thousand born again folks, then and only then are the bread and wine blessed with his risen Holy presence, and then and only then, by his prophetic word, are his risen body and blood present in the blesed bread and wine. A rsien body is the only body Jesus has now, Corinthians15,44. An everflowing Spiritual blood is the only blood He has now, John 19,34. 

His risen body still feeds us and His Spiritual blood still flows, ie what his physical blood purchased, His ever flowing Spirit blood, cf Romans8, 23, sprinkled down in mercy on us faithful sinners, and upon the table blessings too, cf Isaiah52,15.     

The point here is nothing more than the fact that the supernatural source and origin of all that  is supernaturally partaken of at the table is God's heavenly Word, the Word made "flesh, " which is now the risen flesh Word risen, He himself, risen from the dead. It's not about earthly dogmas and earthly symbols.

The Last Seder Gives Way To Eternal Table

The "last" seder, what we often call the 'last supper,' is our pattern.

It was orchestrated by the Lamb of God who came from heaven, on the very eve of the day he was to be slaughtered one time in His physical flesh. He told John and Peter to go into Jerusalem and they would immediatly meet a mysterious man (Luke22,10, perhaps an angel). This was a sign, as were the two men Saul was prophesied to meet in confirmation of his kingship,1Samuel10,2,  that God was preparing not only the Passover Seder that year, but something bigger, an eternal passover lamb, an eternal  priesthood common to all the faithful, and a kingly reign of Jesus, our eternal righteous king, as proven by his rising from the dead.

This heavenly "man" knew the right house for he knew Jesus who came from heaven. And Jesus also knew the owner of the house, who knew him too, as his "teacher." This owner was providentially instructed by God for just this hour (v.11). The owner showed them an upper room, a room fitting for the full, awesome and fearsome heavenly revelations of God that were breaking that day, likely the same upper room (or type of room) where the apostles and associates were living-tarrying before the Spirit came down on Pentecost and birthed the church (Acts1,13), born from above, blessed from above.

This upper room seder table was prepared that year b+y heaven. It was prepared as our eternal table of the Lord. The design of this table was and is to feed and liberate all humankind.

This was an especially fitting prepartion for the Passover Seder this year, because this year Jesus' core disciples would sit with the Lamb of God, come down from heaven, soon to one time only shed his phsyical body and blood. They were told to do a living memorial, a Spiritually cultic memorial, after the Passover liberation by His physical body and blood, a Spiritual and living faith sacrifice in his ever living and loving memory. 

Israel in the desert ate the bread of angels, manna from heaven,  from God. Like at the last seder this was orchestrated from heaven (Psalm78,25; John6,32, bread not from Moses);

The feeding of Elijah by the ravens was orcestrated from heaven (1Kings17,2-6);

The feeding of the multitudes was orchestrated by the final and definitive messiah prophet promised by Moses to come from God John6,14, Deuteronomy18,15ff, Acts 3,22. Obedience to this prophet was to be the mark of salvation.

David and his hungry men on a secret military campaign were by grace, as orchestrated by heaven, and by priest Ahimelech's mercy, allowed to eat the bread of the Lord's presence, it being the day of the week when the twelve loaves of his face, the show bread, were replaced with fresh loaves, 1Samuel 21,1-6.

Likewise, Jesus and his loyalists on mission were allowed to pick and eat grain on the Sabbath because Jesus spoke up for them and demonstrated  that His Holy people on gospel mission were "something greater than the Temple" and its rules (Matthew12,1-8).

Our eternal and heavenly high priest (Hebrews5-7), Jesus, outranking all of us, supernaturally prepared the last supper on the day He died.

By Faith A Supernatural Table Is Prepared For Us Too At The Lord's Supper

Our biblical faith has also prepared us to find an "upper room" and raise up in offdering/bless/break bread, and raise in offering our victory cup (Psalm16,5). The table of the Lord, by our blessing and God's consecratory blessing, the stuff of real food and drink, not dogmas and symbols.

Oh Praise His holy Name, may we know him in the breaking of the bread- know him by his actually presence and actual provision of supernatural sustenance. This great communion happens only when our persoanl faith and obedience, according to this Spiritual sacrifice, is accepted by him.

Is anybody hungry?

Or thirsty, yet?   

For a brief video overview of the supper: http://vimeo.com/63572579

If you or your church is called to celebrate the supper according to its revived and biblical basis, and you would like some coaching, please let us know.