July 17, 2026

At The Spiritual Sacrifice Of The Lord's Supper Jesus Feeds Us His Spiritual Flesh

God Always Had Both A Physical And Spiritual-Resurrection Body In Mind Or In Fact For Jesus 
"All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb's book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world."
Revelation13,8 NIV

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me..."  Hebrews10,5
(Not just a body to die, but the same body to rise, and reign and live forever!)

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
John6,51 NIV

People Too Afraid Of God's Presence- And Avoid Going Up Mountain For Priestly Sanctification 
"The morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.  Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him." Exodus19,16-19  

Jesus Blood Washes And Sanctifies And Fulfills The Universal Holy Priesthood Prophesied At Exodus19,5-6
"you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 1Peter2,5 

"But you [Jew and gentile] are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." 1Peter2,9. NIV

"Sacrifices, the primary form of worship in Judaism from biblical times until the destruction of the Second Temple [70AD]. Sacrifice was the dominant way of serving the gods throughout the ancient Near East and was embraced by the Isrealites as the means by which the people of YWVH could pay homage to the one God. The word sacrifice corresponds to the Hebrew qodashim consecrated things; Lv.22,2-3); other Hebrew terms are qorban (that which is brought near, an offering; Lv.1,2), minhah (tribute; Gn.4,3), and isheh (formerly thought to mean"fire offering" [from esh (fire)] but now known to mean "gift"; Lv.1.9). These terms demonstrate the idea that the individual and the community were expected to express physically and tangibly their love of God, their dependance on him, their gratitude and subservience to him, and their desire to continue to enjoy his blessings by offering to him a portion of the bounty he had given them." Oxford Dictionary Of the Jewish Religion 1997. 

Born Again Children Of God By Faith In The Risen Body-Flesh Of Jesus And The Saving Will Of God  
"Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." John1,12-17 NIV

At the Lord's Supper we who are born again- ie Spiritually filled with grace through faith in Jesus Christ- consume real His Spiritual food and drink (John6,55: "For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink." NIV)- His risen flesh and blood. This is food and drink for the redeemed Spirit filled faithful- provided by our Lord- whose body was always Holy flesh- redeemed flesh- whether physical or Spiritual.  

The Lord's Supper Is Our Fourth Biblical Gospel Focus Area 
From the start at Zion Pentecost Mission the Holy Spirit has led me to focus on four biblical areas that make our Word based faith come alive. Firstly, we focus on prophetic Spirit led gospel teaching about everyone's need for salvation and deliverance from sin, demons and generational curses. Only by way of preaching this core initial gospel can we lay hold by grace and an ever increasing faith the Holy Ghost freedom that God wwants to give us. As the Apostle Paul declared "for freedom Christ has set us free." Galatians5,1 

There is no halfway slavery or half way freedom- it's one or the other. And lukewarm (Revelation3,15-16) doesn't cut it in this age of speeded up innovation and knowledge and grace as well as speeded up evils masquerading as goodness. And Praise God by faith (and the grace that precedes it) we are slaves to sin no more!  Such basic gospel preaching takes a sometimes heavy dose of grace to hear- and also a willingness to learn a bit more about the bible- as well as the humility to once and for all to get right with our living Lord Jesus-  prophet, savior, and judge- the one who will separate the sheep from the goats. Matthew25,31-33

Secondly, we have focused on personally faithful adult water baptism for everybody- no excuses- God accepts no substitutes for calling onJesus and making our lifelong gospel individual salvation covenants with God.

Thirdly, we have focused on receiving the promise of the fullness of Holy Ghost baptism to all the faithful per Acts2,39; and John3,5. 

Fourthly, we have made known the importance of a fuller understanding of the Lord's Supper with 45 (but who's is counting but Br. Tobin!) 'table of the Lord mediations.' This supper was clearly a holy priority of the first 'qahal'- called out ones- in Jersualem:

"These remained faithful to the teaching of the Apostles [the gospel word], the brotherhood [Spiritual fellowship-sharing], to the breaking of the bread [the Lord's supper] and to the prayers [public prayers in community]." Acts2,42 1985 NJB (Doubleday) notes for words in [    ].          

The breaking of the bread at the Lord's Supper was practiced right from the start of the church Luke22,19, 24,35; 1Corinthians10,16;11,24. This was not done in the Temple but in private houses, and included a communal meal. 

Jesus commanded this supper two thousand years ago- and He and His eternal Word are still telling all of us today to "do this" in his memory.  

How Did The First Churches Learn About The Supper? 
According to Acts20,7 they learned about the supper by celebrating it on the first day of the week. We learn most things by doing- and Christians learned the supper by celebrating it weekly on the first day of the week- Sunday. 

As predominatly Jewish folks- the early "church" already knew that the weekly supper developed from the yearly Passover celebration, whereby the Levite priests would bleed out the passover lambs in the Jerusalem temple precincts- then each family would take one home and eat it with their family.

Passover represents God passing over the houses of Jewish newborns while bringing the tenth and final plague upon Egypt. This feared plague prompted Pharoah to let Isreal go (before he changed his mind and pursued them.)

How Did Israel Escape Egypt- Shed Sacrificial Blood
"And they [enslaved Isreal] shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it." Exodus12,7

The shed blood on their doors saved them from God's judgement on the Egyptians. Just as the dying blood of Jesus on the cross, and applied to the sins of our heart, saves us from the judgement. Israel's eating of the lamb, and gathering the unleavened bread in haste was a bonding and unifying encouragement to them to follow God as he led them to salvation and the promised land.  

This first pesah (freedom meal) is directly related to the passover meal Jesus ate with his apostles according to Mark14,12: "On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, 'Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?' "

Luke22,15-20 depicts this yearly passover meal- a roasted lamb, and then something else additional. As to this meal, Jesus' focus is to clearly reveal to his apostles- who will have to teach about Him as the new Passover blood sacrifice that finally reconciles humans to God unto foregiveness and new and blessed eternal life.

(Jesus didn't have months and years to teach all that was on his heart at this sunset meal because his saving death was now less than 21 hours away. None of us in our modern lives feels as if we  have enough time- imagine Jesus stressing about time when his disciples after the meal couldn't even keep vigil with him for an hour! Matthew26,40)

As To The Passover Meal
"And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” 17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

So the Passover meal ends.

Lord's Supper Established After Passover Meal: 
But there was more than the Passover meal on Jesus' mind according to Luke22,15-20. He prophesies the Lord's supper- at verses 19-20- he speaks it into exsitance- the new Spiritual sacrifice of His new universal priesthood (1Peter2,5)- to be celebrated after he rises from the dead:

19 "And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in rememberance of me.' 20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.' "NIV 

This would be Thursday according to the gospels of Matthew Mark and Luke. There was no family women or community at this Passover meal-Lord's Supper- not because Jesus didn't like women or that some of his apostles were not married- or they just didn't want anybody else at these events (See Exodus 12,3-4), but because eleven of the apostles were from Galillee (78 miles from Jerusalem) and it was very dangerous to be on Jesus' core team in Jerusalem at this time.

Jesus had to firstly eat the Passover meal to fully reveal who he was to his apostles- and then also to establish the new Lord's Supper- both for the future health of his apostles and the future church down through the ages up until today.

Two Pressing Priorities
So with these two pressing priorities and the danger of the moment I think it's fair to conclude that Jesus saw no need to subject anyone else but the apostles to the already clear and present danger in the face of the Roman empire skittish about an uprising in the Province of Judea- not to mention the hostility and immanant betrayal of Judas through some of the Sanhedrin priesthood.

This passage from Luke not only reveals Jesus' two pressing pre-death priorities it also vitally transitions Christian Jews and Christian posterity from the last physical blood sacrifice of Jesus as the final passover lamb to the Spiritual sacrifices of the New Testament such as the Lord's Supper. "For by one [physical] sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." Hebrews10,14 NIV

So since the first Christians were almost all Jewish believers (and Jewish men are required to participate in the three yearly Temple "pilgrmage" or "hag" festivals- Passover and Pentecost and Tabernacles) they had a good idea of the many blood sacrifices tied to these festivals.

But they also had knowledge of many types of non blood-offerings- what our New Testament calls "spiritual sacrifces." (Romans12,1; 1Peter2,5) such as personally faithful adult water baptism (Romans12,1, Acts2,36ff) and this new Lord's Supper (1Peter2,5, led and celebrated by his whole priestly faithful). These are the first and foremost Spiritual sacrifices in bible based Christianity.

The Jews- through whom salvation comes to the world- were- and still are- praise God- a people that celebrates a lot. I have also learned of late- after almost forty years of faith in Jesus- that there are lot more sacrifices in the Hebrew scripture that are closer to our New Testament Spiritual sacrifices in nature than I thought. And perhaps too many of us Christians have suffered from the erroneous impression of Isreal's worship- like it was about cultic drudgery and always about blood and dying- and all about the elite temple priesthood- far from it!

Yes there were blood sacrifices as commands of God's holy law- but the Hebrew scriptures also include all sorts of worship and thanksgiving and praise of the Lord that lean in the direction of Spiritual sacrifices- which were no less holy because they were more in line with the Spiritual of Christianity.

There nothing wrong with the revelation of the Mosaic law and the blood sacrifices that are a part and parcel of it- the only problem was- as we Christian see it in our faith- the Mosaic law could not save us humans from our sins- in other words it couldn't make humans holy- full of God- who is Spirit- from the inside out.

As an example of Israel's breath of worship and non bloody sacrifices at Deuteronomy16,9-10 Moses tells the people that when they reach the promised land they are to celebrate what we as NT Christians would more likely classify as spiritual sacrifice:  

"9 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 'Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He [the high priest] shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted [by God] on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it…' "

So, the first Jewish Christian believers in Jesus' knew that Passover centered on the blood slaughter of lamb and then eating them as a memorial to Isreal's escape from Pharoah's slavery. The blood on the lintels the door jambs, after the slaughter of the lambs, spared Israel, saved them physically, and eventually after forty years brought the chosen people into the promised land.

As soon as they got to promised land there was to be the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, a Grain offering, another non bloody Spiritual sacrifice, of the first barley harvest- 3.5-4 pounds of barley, the omer, bound together waved before God in the temple. Leviticus23,10-14     

Whereas, the festival Passover in the Temple centered on the qorban pesah the paschal lamb sacrifice (Oxford Dictionary of Jewish Religion 1997 'paschal lamb'), the centerpiece of Feast Of Unleavened Bread was a wave offering (no that's not what happens at an American football game), or what some bibles describe as an "elevation" offering. Though it still involved something physically shared with God, the sacrificial gesture, the wave, the elevation was more akin to the non bloody Spiritual sacrifices of the New Testament. This wave offering was what Israel was commanded to do immediatly after getting into the promised land to show their gratitude for it, thankful to start anew without any of the leaven of evil, of corruption, from the prior time, the prior year. No last year's leaven in this years bread- as Br. Faley in the JBC 1990 describes at Leviticus23,4-14 p. 76.

Before the new crop could be used or even harvested there had to be a non bloody- what we would call-Spiritual sacrifice- bringing ourselves and often something valuable close to God, giving it to God, thanking him for it and then getting Spiritually closer to him by this faith obedience by joyfully celebrating the sacrifice just as God's Word says. Sacrifice whether essentially physical or Spiritual is about bringing oursleves and various provisions of God near to him, and by so doing drawing close to him with our offerings which brings his loving and holy response of drawing near to us- making our offerings and us holy and set apart unto Him. (The Attende Domine Hymn from the 10th century captures this sense of the essence of all sacrifice- we draw near to God with all that he tells us to bring- and by personal faith-pleading that our offerings- would result in God would be drawn near to us.) 

The countdown to the next required pilgrimage feast began that day the four pounds of barley stalks was waved. This next of the three major feast is call the Feast of Weeks- seven weeks multiplied seven days in each week up to Pentecost, 50 days after Passover, another harvest festival.

And again this harvest festival, like the feast of Unleavened bread, is epitomized not by the many bloody sacrifices in the Hebrew scriptures, but by the offering of two leavened, representing our human imperfection, loaves of bread on behalf of the community from the firstfruits of that spring's wheat harvest. Leviticus23,17: "You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the LORD." ESV

Jews for Jesus (https://jewsforjesus.org/blog/lessons-from-leaven) reveals a good insight about this offering: "Similarly, two loaves of firstfruits with leaven were given as a wave offering (Leviticus 23:17). These were dedicated to God, though not offered to Him on the altar."

So imperfect people bring a first fruits offering but that offering is not fit for God's holy altar because God's first people and all people still need- despite all God's love and care to date- the final provision of redemption to be fully reconciled to our Holy God. 

Honoring God in this offering in the Temple by the leading priests was in effect a future plea of Isreal, and by extension all God's humanity, to be made whole, to get the evil leaven out of us. Wild yeast is a corruption by single celled fungi by adding non chorinated water to unbleached flour. Yes leaven makes tasty bread rise, but in the bible it usually represent sin and evil rising up.

Pentecost is also associated with the giving of the law on Sinai (Exodus20), and the hope was that this binding law covenant between God and his people, a great gift of God and a huge step forward for the civilization of worldwide humanity, would teach and keep Israel from sin- and in good stead with God. But of course we know now, that only Jesus' last blood sacrifice and personal faith covenant could save us from our sinful selves. No mere knowledge of exterior law could do that- take away our sins- only the last blood sacrifice of Jesus and the Spiritual giving the new interior law of the Spirit living in us could do that. https://zionpentecostmission.com/accept-the-word-unto-living-interior-law.html

And the two leavened loaves offered in the Temple at Pentecost hint at our need for Jesus' sinless Spiritual body bread at the table of the Lord that is created- by our blessing of his pure resurrection Spirit on the unleavened bread we bring to the table and Jesus' confirming blessing which we ask for: John6,51 "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” John6,51 NIV

We needed Jesus' physical flesh to be the last blood sacrifice for our ongoing sin problem. We needed the incarnated man-last passover lamb slain from the foundation of the world, in the mind and will of God, to die in exchange for, in propitiation for, to make up for and cover and blot ot our sins.

Then at the table we need his risen Spiritual "flesh" to maintain our Spiritual strength and hope and joy along the way of our life's faith sojourn and journey: "So Jesus said to them,“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the [Spiritual] flesh of the Son of Man and drink his [Spiritual] blood, you have no life in you." John6,53

Finally, in the fall harvest festival of Sukkot, plural Sukkah "huts", or "booths", "tabernacles," Israel recalls its glory days- 40 years of camping in the desert after their deliverance from Egypt- under make shift tents, or huts, or tabernacles in the desert.

Now we know that Isreal celebrated extensive blood sacrifices of animals. 

But again in this third required pilgrimage festival to Jerusalem, the central focus was similar to a spiritual sacrifice- not a bloody sacrifice- but another joyful celebration of God's provision and salvation in the desert, but familial camping- which might not immediatly be fun- but it was a weekely festival so you could practice and learn the joy and fun of it! Jews in Jerusalem or Crown height NYC today might do this seven day hut living thing by sleeping on top of their apartment buildings or on a porch.

This non bloody wave offering Of The Feast Of Tabernacles included a four specie wave offering for seven days:
"So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the Lord for seven days; the first day is a day of sabbath rest, and the eighth day also is a day of sabbath rest. 40 On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees—from palms, willows and other leafy trees—and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. 41 Celebrate this as a festival to the Lord for seven days each year." Leviticus23,39-41 

So two of the three major pilgrimages and festivals have central aspects that sound a lot like the term spiritual sacrifice, and the third and most popular of the festivals commands Spiritual rejoicing. Wouldn't it be great if we christians, as the priesthood of the faithful, 1Peter2,5, were more ready to rejoice in our important Spiritual sacrifices?  

Some Spiritual Sacrifices We Already Know
What are some of the Spiritual sacrifices we Christian have besides adult baptism and the Lord's Supper. Well there's summer bible camps for young people. There used to be pilgrmages of many Christians- sort of like the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles and camping in the desert- the sacrifice of taking our gospel feet and moving where God wants to lead. Married folks in all denominations and non denominations know the beauty and challenge of a weekend dedicated to improving their marriage- that's a great Spiritual sacrifice. In many Christian churches there are opprotunities for "retreats" or a "Walk To Emmaus" weekend. Or, a 'life in the Spirit' retreat- all these are worthwhile Spiritual sacrifces. 

Spiritual Sacrifices Can Be Joyful, Meaningful And Reverent  
All ages can participate in spiritual sacrifices. Ever see kids draw pictures of Jesus or the church? And they will give them to the pastor- they made a loving spiritual sacrifice. The Apostle Paul describes his preaching of the gospel as a priestly offering, so that by his offering our one saving gospel to the gentiles they too would know the love of God and the same Spirit of God that prompts us to make Spiritual sacrifices. Acts15,16.   

Some people do a very fine Spiritual sacrifice by volunteer or work with handicapped people. By faith they decide to put handicapped people- or neurodivergent people- first. And I recall hearing one caregiver- her excellent sacrificial service was to discern what her neuro divergent friend was to always listen to what he was saying and then respond with promptness and respect as needed- like it wasn't a bother.

Day after day caring for people- and listening to and helping and recognizing people is one of the greatest spiritual sacrirfices we could make in today's world.   

One more example: Miriam- Moses and Aaron's sister- composed and sang a prophetic song about their people's liberation from Egypt: 

20 "Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing. 21 Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.” Exodus15,20-21

Imagine Anew Our New Testament Spiritual Sacrifice Of The Lord's Supper
One Lord, One Table, One Priesthood, With Holy and Faithful Hands Extended In Blessing the One Bread Of Life And One Cup Of Salvation.

One Faith, One People, One Supernatural Sharing- by consuming together the Risen Body and Everflowing Risen Blood of Jesus for the Spiritual Health and Joy and Sustenance of our Blood Bought Lives And Our Blood Bought Redemption.

All glory and honor and thanksgiving to the risen Jesus Our Lord, Our Savior, Our Redeemer, Our Provider, Our Spiritual Sustenance unto his Kingdom come.  

Oh glory!

Br. Tobin Hitt
Connecticut USA