Jesus Leaves No One Without His Table and Supper In His Spiritual House (11.18.13)

"When are you coming "home" to the eucharist, the real presence, and the mass?"

For about a year and a half I have been receiving ongoing biblical revelations about the Lord feeding us from his table- nineteen so far.

They are varied and beyond where I ever thought to venture, but they all add up to Jesus supernaturally feeding all his people, as guided by his word and inspired by His Spirit that always lines up with it.

He fed Adam and Eve in the garden. 

He fed Abraham bread and wine.

He fed his hungry people manna in the desert.

He fed Elijah and Elisha and the prophets, so they could feed God's people.

He said 'Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...', and then he filled us with his righteousness!

God has always been in the business of miraculously feeding all his people, his arm is not too short, at his table, in the desert, wherever.

He isn't going to stop now.

I have also learned that his rich provisions of his table are not limited to any denomination or particular building, but are open to all folks of good faith. 

As to your kind question, it referred to some terms of art, so for the sake of those who aren't aware of these, I'll do my best to explain them, as I attempt an answer.  

Eucharist is a Greek word for the thanksgiving-physically sacrificial meal that some Christians call "the mass." Please note that the teaching that the mass represents the physical body and blood, and the soul and divinity of Jesus was issued in response to the Protestant Reformation and the advent of the printing press in the 16th century whereby folks began to read and interpret the bible for themselves. 

"Mass" is derived from the Latin "missa" in that "the mass" used to end with 'Ite Missa Est' as in "we're done here- now you are sent on mission." 

Other Christians like us at Zion Pentecost Mission refer to "the Lord's Supper," or "the Table of the Lord" and assess and discern it to be a thanksgiving-spiritually sacrificial meal.

At this ministry we prefer "table of the Lord" because it incorporates the whole range of biblical revelation regarding sacrificing and sharing food and drink offered to God: Exodus 24,4,6 and Exodus 25,23-30; Ezekiel 4,22; Psalm 23,5 and Luke 22,29-30.

Most other Christians, as with the great Reformer Martin Luther, do not assess the Lord's Supper to be either a physical or spiritual sacrifice, and rather see all "sacrifice" discussion as fruitless.   

But if Martin Luther had had the five hundred years we as church have had to biblically reflect on the Lord's Supper, perhaps he would not have discarded "sacrifice" in relation to it, in that 1Peter 2,5 says all of us Christians preside over "spiritual sacrifices:"

"you also as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up Spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 

We at Zion Pentecost Mission believe that when we go to the table of the Lord in repentant faith, and offer up bread and wine to and through Jesus in faith (Matthew 26,26ff), and after "we" bless these in faith (and the bread "we" break (1Corinthians 10,16), God accepts our faith, we have performed an "acceptable" Spiritual sacrifice (1Peter2,5), and thereby Jesus' risen Spirit manifests and comes into the bread and wine and makes them our real, "supernatural food" and "supernatural drink" (1Corinthians 10,3-4), just like the food and drink God provided in the desert for his first people, Israel, was real.

We remember that nothing we can ever do or say on earth can force God to accept something offerred to him that he does not choose to accept (see Table Meditation N. 13).

But God is faithful.

He told us how to celebrate his supper.

So did the Apostle Paul, at length, according to 1Corinthians 10-12.

Jesus expects us to do so with a faith that lines up with his word, and if so, he sends down his risen or Spiritual presence into the bread and wine.   

This is a 'real presence" at his choosing, only upon his blessing, not from the ipso facto, or decreed words of men.

We consume not his physical blood and physical presence. This was prohibited by the Word of God (Leviticus19,26) and ignores John6,63 (which explains the Spiritual nature of Jesus' prophetic words about the supper).

So Jesus was physically offered once and for all on Calvary- but by our Spiritual sacrifice, by our blessing (Spiritual consecration) of the bread and wine and His blessing of the same, we thereby consume His risen "flesh," (1Corinthians15,44, "natural body and spiritual body") the only he has right now.

"Real Presence" refers to the faith claim by the Roman church that both Jesus' pre-Calvary body (His physical body) and His risen presence automatically comes into the bread and wine after they are offered and blessed, and some of Jesus' words at the "Last Supper" are spoken.

Lord's Supper Is A Spiritual Sacrifice and All Biblical Sacrifices and Covenant Ceremonies Are Subject To God's Acceptance

Exodus 24 depicts the various sacrifices that made up the Sinai covenant ratification ceremony.

At the base of the mountain, Moses and his team offered whole burnt offerings of bulls to the Lord. There were also the "shared" (ie meal) or peace offerings of the same (v. 5).

There was the proclamation of God's word and the proclaimed witness of the blood to the mutual terms of the covenant. There was also blood sprinkled on the people and the altar to make this witness clear to all (v.8).

As this chapter Exodus 24 proceeds, Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu and the seventy elders go up the mountain, seeking in faith God's manifested presence, to see whether the sacrifices have been manifestly acceptable:

(9)Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, (10) and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was , as it were, a pavement of sapphire, clear blue as the very heavens; (11) but the Lord did not stretch out his hand against the leaders of Israel. They saw God; they ate and drank."    

So the biblical principle of physical sacrifice that we carry onto the Spiritually sacrificial table of the Lord follows the same faith protocol, minus the blood and animal offerings, as at Sinai. We Spiritually sacrifice (offer and bless) as the Lord's word demands (1Peter 2,5; 1Corinthians10,16), with faith, and then we proceed up the mountain, so to speak, to determine whether our sacrifice is acceptable.

Only after we have "seen" and understood by faith that our faith based sacrifice is acceptable, only after we have recognized the risen Lord in the breaking of the bread (Luke 24,13-35), and eat of it after God has accepted it, has the covenant aspect of our spiritual sacrifice been fully ratified.

This is another way to say just as the Lord was the foundation sapphire pavement presence on Sinai at Exodus 24,10, He- not any man- is the foundation of the Spiritual sacrifice at His table.

He shows up if he chooses to accept our spiritual sacrifice.

Or not.

Home (At The Table) In His Spiritual House

So while it's taken me awhile to come to the rich biblical understanding of the table of the Lord, this understanding brings me, as a living stone in His Spiritual House, home to our risen Jesus, conerstone of the new moveable Spiritual Temple, in whom and through whom we offer Spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.

I'm at "home" in his house-Temple in which we are all consecrated priests simply following him (Psalm 61,8; Luke 9,57-62; 1Peter2,5 and 9)).

Thanks for asking about my spiritual well being.

Please pray for me, as I will for you.

Shalom on all God's people, all bought at a great price by Jesus' saving blood, shed once on Calvary for all.

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