Helenmm

"This is My blood, which is poured out for many, for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of Me." It is sin that has to be dealt with in order for us to be redeemed back to God. Our sin stands between us and God until it is forgiven. If we are to stand in right relationship with Jesus then we have to repent of our sins to Him as well as forgive others (extend that forgiveness to those who have offended us.) Repentance is the highway that John the Baptist declared to men as a preparation of the way for Jesus. It is still the preparation. We repent. Then Jesus can come in and establish the new creation, the new order of things for which He so dearly paid. Forgiveness is also the new way for us to deal with the world andits hardships. The banner under which we stand is forgiveness. We are both to give it and to receive it. When we get that flow right we are close to God. Then, as sons of God we take the Lord's Supper in demonstration of that relationship. To treat the Lord's Supper with less care than this is to blaspheme or cause a sacrilege. We are coming close to the Most High. To violate the glory and holiness of the Most High God brings with it a curse, because this whole world stands on the edge between blessing and cursing. The curse is not to be accepted by the Holy One, and to be thrown out with the angels of satan. Yet, to honour Him through belief and obedience brings blessing far greater than we can contain. Hallelujah to our Jesus!

I think the disciples were in shock ater the crucifixion. It was very difficult for them to get their heads around what was really happening. It would not all come together for them until the Power of Pentecost was upon them and the Holy Spirit gave revelation. One of the purposes of the Holy Spirit is to bring to memory all that is needed for understanding, and that really took place at Pentecost, so that all that Jesus had explained to them suddenly became real in their understanding. Thus Jesus put in place the passages of Scripture that would be illuminated on that day, in powerj. Once the Holy Spirit annointed them with understanding of the truth about Jesus, they took on His own person within them and became His flesh on the earth, doing the same works, teaching the same Truth, being sons of God in fact. How does this chapter explain the meaning of Jesus' death? I think huge volumes have been written on the subject. But the essence of it might be that Jesus fulfilled both Old Testament law and also around 130 OT prophecies which no other single man on earth could ever fulfil. This alone clearly identifies Jesus as the Son of God in whom we are to place ALL our faith.

Q2. Why did Jesus refer to the violent nature of his death in the Words of Institution? What did this probably mean to the disciples at the time? What did it probably mean to them later? As is made clear in the story of Noah, God hates violence. It's also there in Habukkuk, where He hates the violence behing divorce. Violence is why He wanted to clean the earth of men and was sorryHe ever created them. The first - and unforgiveable - violence a man can do is to disbelieve God. That leads to all sorts of other styles of violence and, not very far down the track, to murder. Indeed, if you don't believe God, there is nothing to stop you from any form of immorality or violence, because you give account to no-one. A man in unbelief cannot be forgiven because there is simply no connection with God possible. Everything that is not of the Spirit violates (meaning destroys) the purpose of God and the Institution of His word. This is why Jesus suffered violation on the Cross. Any violation, however small it may seem, is of the death nature, is like a nail in Jesus' hand. One nail, you might think, wouldn't kill Him, but it was part of the violation that did. I don't think the disciples cottoned on to Jesus' meaning at the time. They did know the passover meant the killing of lambs, but whether they connected that to Jesus' crucifixion before the event is very questionable. John may have got an inkling because Jesus had spoken of His deathmany times, and John was able to believe in the resurrection the minute He saw that Jesus was no longer in the tomb. However, I think it might have been in hindsight, after Pentecost, that the disciples began to understand the new passover. After the Pentecost, Jesus had forgiven Peter his denial, the disciples on the road to Emmaus had listened to Jesus explaining the scriptures about whyJesus must suffer, and all of them had experienced His physical presence in resurrection, the Holy jSpirit was able to give them clarity, and Peter was able to address the crowds with certainty and at great length on what was happening. I think, that day things became clear.

Q1. How were Old Testament sacrifices a way of God showing grace and mercy to his people? The firstborn animal or son was given to God. However, since God did not require the death of a firstborn human child, people were able to give a substitute animal and ransom back their child. Animals were always the substitute offering for sin, or any other thing. It was human sin that was the problem, but it was an animal that paid the price - a bit like having a whipping boy when a young prince needed punishment! By rights the human should take responsibility for his own sin and pay the price - but always there was the other option given by God. The fact that it was never enough, and the price was never fully paid did not deter God. (I think that particular faact never occurred tothe humans at all!) He knew that there was going to be a day when it would be paid in full. Until that day He wanted humanity to substitute. No sinful human would suffice as substitute anyway - the lamb had to be without blemish. So God contented Himself with waiting for full payment. This was His mercy and grace. During the waiting time, the animal sacrifices had to be made so that men might know that sin had a price - and indeed a cow or sheep cost much money. Otherwise they would easily forget the cost of sin. Of course, Jesus later became the perfect substitute and paid full price. Sacrifices have not been needed since.

Q4. How does Jesus' voluntarily laying down his life for you encourage you? How does it speak to your value and worth as a person? What does it inspire you to do? I really love it that when Jesus announced to the guards "I am", they fell down on the ground before Him. John 18:6. Not only did Jesus give Himself for us, he actually had to raise up and enable or allow the guards to do their work! It could not be more obvious who was in control of that situation! At other times when people wanted to kill Jesus He simply left them. Never, at any given moment in Jesus' life, was He not in total possession of the whole situation. This is my Lord. He is still the same, yesterday, today, forever the same. He's got the whole world in his hands. How foolish we would be to think otherwise. The beauty of that is that, having made us in His own image, he gives us the same privilege - complete authority over our own choices, even about how we will respond to Him. How totally lovable is that? How wonderful to be able to relate to Him on those terms. The way Jesus values me is absolutely .. I can't find the words. But nobody can take that away from me. I love Him because He first loved me. It couldn't be otherwise. His blood covers my sin, so great is his love. He's everybody's dream lover! All my life Jesus has inspired me to put people above things. Never above Him, but above things I might prefer He values us so much that He took human form to pay the price of our sin. Therefore I also must put that value on human beings. It is the true value of a human being. Father showed me once that a very disabled Christian man was a prince in the kingdom of heaven and should be treated as such, that he had an annointing to live his life that way to test out our spirits. It frightened me and I thought of the Dives and Lazarus story. These people need to be treated like kings, and I have great pleasure in doing so. I have a picture in mind that when Jesus comes again and rules with His rod of iron, that poverty will be disabled, and the widow will have no idea of how poor she is, because nothing will be denied her. We can emulate that already within our churches, if we are real about Jesus. I don't think we are to take on the whole community necessarily, but to take care of those poor within the congregation so they, and particularly their children, have all that is needed (eg outings, music lessons etc).

Q3. Look at the verses above which include both the word "give" and a preposition that means "in behalf of." According to these verses, what was the purpose of Jesus giving himself in sacrifice? I think that, from the very first sin of Adam, God was broken-hearted over mankind. He has a longing for his creation that is way beyond what we can ever imagine. His plans for his creation were so great, and so terribly broken by sin. In Noah, and later in Abraham's willingness to sacrifice His own son Isaac, and in Job, God (and Jesus) saw the potential for men to be actually like-minded with Him, the potential for unity with His creation, the potential for His dream to come into being. He was able to begin with the Jewish people, to set aside a people to be the priestly nation, God's voice to the world. There were some indeed who recognised this and joined themselves to the Jews - Ruth, The Ethiopian, the Centurion whose faith amazed Jesus, Naaman, Rahab etc. As the Jewish nation developed, God's word began to make in roads into the world of men. There were going to be some who could respond to God's voice on earth - a remnant - but some. I think that in Jesus' sacrifice God saw the beginnings of the armies that would align themselves with Jesus, as persecuted David's raggedy soldiers aligned themselves with him and became an army of mighty men. David had to suffer the pangs of being hunted to (near) death by Saul in order to create His mighty regime. Jesus would do likewise, but he would go the whole way, right into the jaws of death, through it (the valley of the shadow of death) and out the other side, bringing with Him a mighty army of those who would follow, and who would be the Kingdom of God on earth. As David did before Him in material terms, (Ziglag) Jesus plundered hell and retrieved what had been stolen, namely us (the bride). He saw past the grave to a Kindom to be won. Not only that, but God had given Him responsibility for the earth and it'speople, knowing what it would cost him. It was all done in Heaven. It's like God had created Heaven for himself and earth for Jesus, with the understanding that the two kingdoms be joined as one with them. The battles that God fought with satan in Heaven were fought by Jesus for His Kingdom on earth. their unity was wonderful, and their strength total. We can now be part of that. But for total unity Jesus had to give Himself a ransom that His people would follow. There is no unity without this total sacrifice of self. Jesus first and me following at least in spirit and in truth, if not in the physical.

Q2. (1 John 4:2-3) Why does Christianity insist on a physical birth, physical suffering, and a resurrection of the physical body? How would our faith be different if Christ hadn't fully entered the human condition? It is not possible that Jesus could have redeemed us without entering into the physical realm. Entering into sin by Adam was a physical act with eternal (supernatural, spiritual) resonances and consequences. However, it was invoked in the physical and had to be redeemed in the physical. If I sin against someone in the physical, it is not enough for me to ask Father forgiveness and repent to Him through Jesus, I have to repent in the physical and go to the person I have hurt, repenting and asking their forgiveness, and making amends where possible, before it can happen in the spiritual or eternal realms. The whole sin thing originates in the physical acts and must be fixed in that area. If I am a cabinet maker, and I make a cupboard door that falls off, I have to make physical restitution. Saying that I'm sorry is not enough. I can't make a restitution in the soul (with my apologetic words) or spirit (maybe a determined promise never to do it again). I have to make restitution in the physical before any other apologies are acceptable. If Christ had not entered into the human condition, then redemption could never have been satisfied. Satan would still have dominion over the earth and we would have no physical freedom from his clutches.

Q1. (1 Peter 2:24) Why do you think the Apostle Peter emphasized Jesus' physical body, when he talks about sin-bearing? The physical is totally connected to the supernatural. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit - Jesus being God in the physical. Man is body, soul and spirit. (Whatever he does in one of theses three aspects affects the whole. To sin in the flesh corrupts the soul and spirit also. To love Jesus in the spirit affects the soul - behaviour - and the body - peace) Water is ice, water and steam. When Adam sinned he did it in the flesh but his eternal status (spiritual) was changed. Not only that, but the corruption that entered his soul became effective in the whole earth of which he was created, and to which his body would return. "The whole creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption..." Rom 8:21 This corruption of the whole earth was demonstrated when the blood of Abel cried out from the ground and was heard in heaven. Gen 4:10 Our Father's sensitivity is great towards not only us, His children, but towards every hair (or minutiae) of His creation. Also, Adam gave the dominion vested in him away to satan by believing satan over God. God had vested Adam (physical man) with dominion over all the earth, and He will not rescind that gift. Therefore the only way it could be wrested from satan was through an uncorrupted physical man. So Jesus had to become human in order to be able to retrieve dominion over all the earth from satan. Sin brought violence into the world, and Cain's blood was the first example of the outcome of violence. It cried ot to God fromthe earth. Any violence(eg domestic violence leads to physical violence) pertains to blood, takes the life energy from its victim. Jesus had to defeat satan in every sphere including the physical. He had to overpower all violence, and to do that he had to suffer the violence full on, in the physical. The source of violence was physical. although it had soulish and spiritual consequences. It was the source of violence which had to be defeated on its own terms. The source of violence was physically effected, and had to be physically annihilated. Man then continues to have choice (dominion) over his participation. In communion we are identifying with the victorious man, as distinct from the corrupted man. We are learning to participate in the great victory of Jesus, won for us on the cross.

Q4. What are the implications for you personally, when you realize that in the Lord's Supper you are becoming a sharer in the sacrifice of the cross? How does that affect you? How does it change your understanding of the Lord's Supper? In the light of all the other things I've said in answering these brilliant questions, I have the challenge to live up to all of it, and also to communicate and teach these things wherever I can. Some of this I can do through writing, but on my heart is the need to teach new Christians how to enter fully into these things, so that they don't have to take ten years to get there like I have I actually want to ask my pastor about this, because there is so much that has been neglected or lost in western society that I'm beginning to discover, all of which can be taught right at the beginning of Christian life. The identifying thing is very strong. eg If one is fighting for one's country, one doesn't sometimes go an fight for the enemy because they are good fellows too!. The country calls that treason and sets you up with a firing squad, or at least a ball and chain. In the same way, communion identifies us with Jesus, His glory and purpose, and we have no place consorting with the enemy. I'm learning to find the parallels in the physical so that powerful learning can take place, for everything reflects God consistently in every way.

Q3. In what way did the priests participate in the altar by eating of the Old Testament sacrifices? How does Paul connect this observation with our participation with Christ's sacrifice? Eating together is a major identification process. In our homes we eat together with those of similar disposition, and we invite friends to meals with whom we will enjoy company. Sharing a meal represents something much greater than just the physical act of supplying the body with nourishment. It's about intimacy, and it develops intimacy. Much business is done over the sharing of meals, which brings people into a happy relationship together and promotes unity of purpose in the business at hand. Hospitality is an age old custom of giving honour to those invited to participate in the meal. Itis not offered to those of opposing disposition, those with whom one will disagree. Celebrations (of birthdays, victories, graduations, etc are all done almost invariably over meals, and never with dissenters from the occasion. So sharing a meal is very much more than just the physical act of eating together. It creates units or entities almost between people. Even in the simplest of examples, eating together is a supernatural phenomenon. Thus the process of priests eating of sacrifices is actually the creation of an entity or unity in a supernatural manner. This is why God's direction to Moses about the priestly role were so very explicit. This is why our participation in Holy Communion is so very important supernaturally. The priests at the altar, by eating the sacrifices, were actually taking the role of Jesus in being a sacrificial offering, as we do now in communion by eating the bread and the wine. Supernatural unions are forged this way. In communion we are actually forging a supernatural identity as a sacrifice for sin with Jesus. We are participating with Him on the cross. Paul is saying that if we identify with Christ's sacrificial offering in communion, then it is totally vexatious to God if we then go identify with some other idolatrous activity, because in effect we are joining Him into that idolatry, which is an intolerable thing with Him and creates righteous jealousy in God Himself. The clear physical parallel is in sexual behaviour. If a person has multiple partners, then he is sharing sexual disease, demonic attachments, comparisons and fearfully unhelathy attitudes with each partner. You get not only that person but all the previous partners as well. This is why marriages cannot cope with adulteries, and also why God will not tolerate idolatries. The principles involved are very similar. Adultery severs the marriage bond and gives the one sound reason for breaking up a marriage. Participation in Holy Communion is equally holy and not to be violated by participation in the eating of the food related to other gods (demons)

Q2. What does koinōnia mean? What does it mean to "participate" or "share" in the blood of Christ? Koinonia means an intinate fellowship with bonding. Would it be fair tosuggest that a baby, on being born, enters into bonded fellowship with its established family? It has an inheritance inthat family. It also takes on family responsibilities, for example a carpenter's son used to help his father and eventually become a carpenter himself alongside his father. They had a deep fellowship and a bonding, and the son would inherit a share when the father died. I think this principle of adoption into family is the best way to describe the koinonia kind of fellowship that Christians experience in the deep sharing of the communion. We are bonded together in the family lifestyle that Christ established on earth and we have the responsibilities and inheritances that go with that. We "eat" together, and we "drink" together as evidence of the depth of fellowship we share. The word "Christ" is Greek for "annointed one". We are Christians, sharing in the very annointing that came on Jesus at His Baptism, actually (sur)named with that name. Proudly we wear the name of Christ before our communities, whether or not they respect it. Everything that Father vested in Jesus is now vested in us, and we have His mission, just as He once had the carpenter's mission from Joseph. Koinonia is the fellowship of those who bear the annointing of JesusChrist, who share His baptism into death and resurrection for eternal Life. We exhibit this fellowship distinctively in the Holy Communion, the partaking of the body and blood of Jesus, the demonstration of our sonship (and daughtership), the identification of our family membership. As families love to get together and eat, so we love to get together and take Holy Communion, and in so doing, demonstrate our partisanship. Praise be to Jesus!

Q1. Why was Paul exhorting the Corinthians about the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons? What was going on in the church? What was the danger to the believers? We are eternal creatures, made inthe image of God.Everything we do has an eternal connection and consequence. There are two parts to eternity - Heaven and hell. Through Jesus we are saved from hell into the heavenly precinct. However we can lose that salvation, and one way to do it is to play the games of hell, ie to tryand have a foot in both camps. Father hates lukewarm Christians and will spew them out of His mouth. Neither He nor Jesus were ever luke warm! Everything that we do builds on our eternal destiny. Paul is saying that we are not to play the games of the idolatrous and participate in demonic activities, but to remain pure in the Lord, and to treat communion withthe greatest of respect and holiness. Corinth was a most idolatrous city. People then were doing what people do today - trying to please everybodyby having a foot in both camps. This is not possible. Jesus came actually to divide families, and taking the communion separates us from the world. We have to be willing to stand for Jesus and not for the world, to be a separate people. This way people can see the difference between us and the natural world. The danger was that people would eventually slip right back into carnal ways and lose their salvation, that they would re-establish their connection in the demonic world from which they had been saved and delivered, and lose their salvation. If a person is delivered and returns to their demonisation (sins, vomit), then it is likely that the demon they lost will return with seven others and their bondage will be seven times stronger than before, and that much more difficult to overcome. I've experienced this in a small way but nevertheless real way, and am terrified to return to the behaviour I was delivered from. It involved a spider that had to be offered to Jesus at the Cross. I returned to that habit from which Iwas then delivered, and next time clearly experienced 7 deliverances from spider power. Now I dare not re-engage that behaviour and avoid it like crazy, as a redeemed alcoholic avoids alcohol. Our salvation is so precious, including salvation from bad habits. Thank you Jesus

Q4. (1 Corinthians 11:26) In what way is the Lord's Supper a proclamation? To whom is the proclamation made? Why is this important? What happens to the church when its proclamation shifts to a different central theme? I think the Lord's supper is a proclamation as much as if there was a grand parade through the town in His honour. We are aligning ourselves with His victory over death, and casting our lot with Him. Recently in Australia we had two miners who suffered 14 days of being two miles underground encased in what should have been their tomb because of seismic activity around the mine. Mine management worked brilliantly and got them released (Howbeit a third miner died). The whole town threw a party to celebrate their home-coming and release. Everybody including the media was there. The celebrations were tremendous because it was a mining town and everybody understood the trauma and had personal knowledge of the miners so entrapped, and wanted to join with them physically in the joy of release. Their joy was proclaimed to all the world on tv and on their faces. I think that our participation in the Lord's supper is the joy of our proclaiming our release through His blood and physical suffering. As the mining town identified with the released miners. even more so we identify with the death and resurrection of Jesus, knowing that He is coming again to claim His Victory. Jesus Himself proclaimed His longing to eat this passover with His disciples. He was bringing an eternity of victory into their hearts and lives, and He was excited, even though He had yet to suffer the death. How amazing that we can proclaim victory even before the physical onslaught of suffering that we endure in His cause. So someone who may be martyred proclaims joy in advance of the event through taking the communion, the Lord's Supper! Or, closer to home, we can proclaim victoryover our carnal natures by participating ing the Lord's Supper Indeed we need to do this or else we suffer for taking the communion wrongly. The proclaimation is made to any and all who are observing, whoever they be,whether friendly or otherwise. It is also made in front of the evil one and his cohorts who must retreat under the blood. It is also made in the presence of the angels of heaven and in the very presenceof the Lord Himself, who, I believe, still rejoices in the true celebration of Holy Communion. For it is a sacrifice that brings Heaven to earth in great power, as in the days of Elijah calling God's fire on his sacrifice doused in water before the prophets of Baal. We too are calling God's power and authority, through the sacrificeof Jesus, to take precedence on the earth. This is important because God wants His authority displayed (through our re-unification with Him) throughout the earth, in order to win souls. When the church shifts its proclaimation to a different central theme it immediately loses all its power and becomes redundant - "a form of godliness without the power, from which people turn away." 2 Tim 3:5.

Why is our remembrance of Christ's death so important? What happens to Christianity if we neglect remembering in this way? What happens to us personally when we forget Christ's death? I spent some years of my life not remembering Jesus. They were disastrous years during which my family fell apart as did my life. One thing is for certain. I never want to go back there again. I want to remember Jesus in every way, every day and every moment of the day. He is life to me. In Deuteronomy 30 we are adjured to take an option - life or death - but to choose life. That is the choice for me - Life in Jesus. Our nations have chosen to eliminate God from public schools, and every arena of public life. The consequence is that our youth have grown up with no moral fibre, no personal strength. Loud voiced lobby groups have taken over our morality base and media, quite happy to impose their views on the rest of the people, although not permitting Christians to say their bit, and Christians have submitted to that. It's time to stand up, stand up forJesus and become soldiers of the Cross again. Our faith has a place in the public life of our nations. We need leaders up there who will stand for the Truth because the whole nation needs redemption. Euthanasia, abortion, single parenting, family breakdown and other savagely destructive factors have all taken their toll on the nation. Children are not parented properly and cannot grow to be strong adults, so either they act out their resultant aggression or spend lives trying to recover their losses. This was never God's plan for His children. The theory of evolution has produced a survival of the fittest mentality among men, who, like animals, run on appetite rather than principles. Eventually it will produce complete anarchy, as the un-principled youth become leaders. Education by media is totally directed towards consumerism anad unprincipled fun Corruption comes in and justice flies out the door. We have an opportunity to take a stand now, but not to do so will bring the nation into gross disorder. What really happens if we neglect Jesus, is that we atart to believe the lies (eg that it is valid to live together before marriage to check out the partner!) instead of the Truth. Slowly but steadily we run right downhill, gathering momentum until we get caught in the mud at the bottom and can't get out! For example I know of a family that look exceptionally successful, but have not insisted their children receive Christian teaching. Now, to their great disappointment, the young 15 year old daughter of promise is smoking as her first step into experimentation. They themselves have enjoyed the benefits of a Christian heritage which they have not passed on to their children, thinking that intelligence will fill the gap. It doesn't! Personally, if we neglect Christ's death and resurrection, we become animals, living only for immediate advantage. We forget that we are part of a community with obligations thereto. We lose our moral standards and devastate those close to us in the process. Never again Lord. Never again shall it be said of me that I forget my Jesus. He lives in my heart forever.

Q2. What was the purpose of the Passover meal for future generations? Why was it to be repeated? What was to be remembered? What would have happened if the Jews had stopped remembering the Exodus? The Passover meal was actually a way of teaching the new generations the vital history of their people in a way that should not be forgotten, so that the new generation should be initiated into the mysteries that, at that time, were held by their people. David, in his psalms, reflected on what God had done for Israel in slavery. I think that, hearing these stories as a child, he grew his faith on them, writing songs about it, nurturing his spirit in God's faithfulness to His people, and that made him the great leader that he became. I believe that God wanted the history of His dealing withhis beloved Israelites sewn into their bones, that they might not forget their God, but continue with Him and become the light of the world. The other reason for the repetition of the passover was that it was prophetic. Jesus was yet to come and be the Passover Lamb, and this had to be recognised when it happened. The Passover was a fore-runner of the death and resurrection which was to surplant it as the great memorial feast. Maybe that is why Jesus had so much looked forward to celebrating this particular passover with HIs disciples, because He knew what was about to be instituted! He was celebrating the resurrection even before His death in a sense! In the recent resurrection of Lazarus after four days He had assurance of his own resurrection after three (He was also a man and learning moment by moment from His Father just as we do). The institution of the Holy Communion proclaimed the new covenant that God had with His people through the body and blood of Jesus. It didn't wipe out the old covenant. Jesus came to fulfil the law (be the passover) to great abundance and overflowing. blessing of the new. It's like the old covenant was the vase, and the new covenant is the flowers!

There is a possibility that the Lord's supper could become mundane and lose its meaning. It's up to the people who celebrate it. It's to be done with a great deal of thought, passion and understanding and preparation. God established a number of celebrations in Israel, like the festival of tabernacles, passover etc. They were to focus people's thinking on important spiritual things. This was the new celebration of passover. People are still celebrating the Lord's Supper 2000 years later, and still it brings people to a deeper and deepr understanding of what God has done for us. This is the reason for its celebration. People go to the football often and it doesn't become mundane in their eyes. How much more should the celebration of Holy Communion be a rich experience as we see God's Spirit moving in many different ways continually.

Q4. Which part of the meaning of the Lord's Supper is most valuable for you at this point in your spiritual journey when you partake of and meditate on the Lord's Supper? There is a scripture that haunts me. It is the one where Abel's blood cries out to God fromthe earth. It is the result of disobedience which produces violence on the face of the earth. Violence is God's great hatred and all evil is a violence against His love. One could expound on Malachi 2:16 about this, or on the story of Noah and God's distress about the violence on the earth. These days when I am taking communion I am thinking that Jesus' blood was poured out over the earth covering the violence of sin from Father's eyes. I am glad that my sin is covered by His blood. I had a vision that Jesus wanted my hands nailed to the Cross with His, but He took the pain and His body protected me. So communion for me is also my living sacrifice for my Lord, my total surrender to Him for His purpose and glory. Eating the bread means my hands are with His, and drinking the wine means my life also is to be poured out for salvation of people. He definitely has purpose for me and directs me along His path.

"Take, eat and drink" are words that tell us we have physical involvement in the passover sacrifice. Physical involvement enables or activates a more powerful mind process and totality involvement. We see totality of involvement at the football and the races, but it isnot limited to those scenarios! I think this is seen in intercessory prayer when prayer involves total body participation, and worship is with all the heart, mind, soul and strength - that's physical action as well as mental. That is how Father asks us to worship in Spirit and in Truth. What theSpirit is doing affects the body movement. It can bring laughter, tears, dance, handclapping, kneeling, prostration, physically responding to what is seen in thespiritual realm,eg laying hands on maps, lifting hands to receive a gift in the spiritual realm, all sorts of unexpected activities according to the events in the Spirit. "Take, eat and drink" invite this total participation in the cross as the Bride of Christ, not separated from Him but united with Him in His passion for souls. "Do this in remembrance of Me" indicate that our thoughts and body language are to be totally attuned to what we are involved in, totally knowledgeable that we are participants in the holy sacrifice of Jesus, not transgressing that holy appointment. In the same way, the words "poured ot, broken, forgive, give thanks, given, are to be descriptions of us, the children of God and the Bride of the Christ, if we are to enter into the presence of Jesus at HolyCommunion.

Q2. How can an extreme symbolic interpretation cause a person to have too little respect for the Lord's Supper and its elements? Where is the balance, do you think? An extreme symbolic interpretation of the elememts of communion would mean that insufficient attention was being paid to the very real spiritual event taking place in which the disciple is truly feeding on the body and blood of Jesus. This must be equivalent to "having a form of religion without the power thereof" which Christ despises -= a very dangerous and deceitful practice! As I said yesterday, the bread and wine are symbols, but a spiritual event is taking place when a true disciple partake of communion "in "Spirit and in Truth" as Jesus wants us to worship. This event can move mountains, create healing, and indeed was designed to do so. To anticipate less is to deride God. To undervalue the Holy Communion in any way reflects seriously on our Father and upon Jesus whom He sent. We are to know what we have in hand and to use it productively. The bread may look the same afterwards as before, and indeed it may test the same, but it is the front for a major spiritual event and not to bve taken lightly, or without the reconciliations, forgivenesses and humility . The balance is in paying attention to both aspects of communion, and to the fact of God's very presence there, and all that this implies. It identifies us withthe sacrificed body - is our body totally sacrificed to Him for His good purposes (spiritual circumcision)? It identifies us with the blood poured out. Are we indeed poured out totally for Jesus? Or have we reserves, places we won't go, things we don't want to do? Every moment of His life was spent for us. We owe Him that.

Q1. How does your particular understanding of the bread and the wine (literal or figurative) help you grow closer to Christ when partaking of the Lord's Supper? (Note: This question is not your excuse to argue, but to learn from one another's personal experience of partaking.) I have a feeling that the concept of the bread and wine being Jesus' body and blood is maybe physically figurative and spiritually literal. There is huge reality about how we treat the communion serice including the fact that disrespect can induce judgement (1 Cor 11:29). I think other translations call it a curse. It is certain that miracles have been associated with the partaking of communion. So the spiritual reality of what we are doing cannot be questioned. The physical reality, I believe, hinges on remembrance of the body and blood. It's as if we are to be extremely thoughtful and conscious of what we are doing because of the spiritual power involved in it. That power is there for healing and reconciliation, but misused will damage the soul. Let us then be very obedient when we participate in the communion., having forgiven, kept short accounts of sin, and put right all our relationships with God and men first. Then we will walk in blessing.

"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord." I think these are the words which most completely describe the new peace that we will have in the new Heaven and the new Earth. The knowledge of the Lord is all wrapped up in loving, not hurting. How wonderful when eventhe animals are doing that! How wonderful when men are truly preferring each other. Joy will replace tears af any sort. The memory of hurts will be absent. The Prince of Peace will be adored by every one of His subjects. They will praise Him all day long. He will fulfill all their heart's hopes and desires and their joy shall not be abated. This Prince of Peace is indeed the pearl of great price for which we would sell everything else to attain His presence. What else matters? Nothing. To know Him is everything one could ever want. It will be the joy of Heaven, to know Him as we are known! (1Cor 13:12b). In this knowledge we will be completely fulfilled!

Q3. Why did Gideon name the altar "the LORD Is Peace"? In what sense did the Lord offer peace to Gideon? Gideon had been totally terrified when he realised that he had been talking to the angel of the Lord. But no harm had come to him, and indeed Yahweh then took over the conversation with the word "PEACE". Now, when God speaks a word, it is not only something that you hear with your ears. From the beginning, what God speaks immediately becomes reality. It becomes part of the structure of things (cf God spoke and they were created) So when God spoke that word to Gideon, his soul, his bones and his whole being were flooded with immutable peace. Gone was the terror and fear of the Lord, and in its place there was every wonder ful thing that that word "Shalom" represents, - wholeness, health and physical stsrength, well-being, joy of the spirit, prosperity, ability to prosper, safety, confidence, ability to form wonderful relationships all round, ability to lead and instil confidence. I think Gideon named the altar "Shalom" or "peace" because it solidified for him the moment when God announced shalom to him (and to all Israel through him), and he felt this shalom in the very core of his being. That rock altar would always remind him of this precious and wonderful moment when God again brought certainty into his life and the life of Israel. At this altar he would always be back there with Yahweh, remembering how his offering was received (consumed) and his life changed. Though his feeling still questioned and wavered, that rock (altar in the physical, but also the rock of faith which is the certainty of things not seen - Heb 11:1, a substance of God, unchangeable) brought him back to reality. Yahweh is. In Him we live and move and have our being!(Acts 17:28) When Yahweh brought Shalom to Gideon as described above, He was investing Gideon with the fullness of His presence, the weightiness of his might, the consciousness of His majesty and authority invested in him, Gideon. It was like the experience of Paul the apostle on the Damascus road. He was never the same again. The most timid and insecure man in the tribe of Manasseh was transcribed into the great leader that all Israel needed. It took a while for him to get hold of this fact! But nevertheless, the deed was done.

Q2. "Save" and "Savior" are used so much in Christian circles that they have become almost jargon words that we don't even think about. What are synonyms for "save" and "Savior"? What does a "Savior" actually do to earn the name? I think a saviour is one who gets you out of an impossible situation. He intervenes in a way that the sufferer is totally unable to do, and removes the problem, freeing up the victim. Synonyms for "save" and "Saviour" might be "Guarantor" or backer.

The responsibility oof the next of kin to a person in trouble was to bale them out (and save the familyname?) Jesus took on human flesh in order to become our kinsman. As we (man) had sold our inheritance (dominion of the earth) to satan, it could only be bought back again by a man, because God had already given dominion to man and could not just take it back again. So Jesus came to do that very job, to redeem our position with regard our inheritance of dominion. This reveals that God's love is of an unimaginable magnitude, that He should do this for us. Something is only worth what someone will pay for it at themarket. Jesus values us enough to pay with His Life's blood. He valued us above Himself. We are worth all that to Father and to Jesus Himself.

God never changed His nature somewhere between Moses and Jesus. He was always the great, loving, forgiving God. Those who took the trouble to know Him knew the depths of His love. In essence it is all there for anyone to see, even in creation where He has set us about with a most amazing world to enjoy.The prophets, the psalmists all knew of this great unchanging love in which they lived. Always He was ready to forgive Israel when they repented and returned to Him, and to re-establish the covenant. Always any gentile who wished could become a Jew and fully participate in the covenant, eg Ruth, Rahab. None were refused, but all delightedly received by our great and mighty God. According to John 3:16, Jesus came into the world as a focal point for humankind, that whoever should believe in Him should enter the "Promised Land" (= eternal life). This opened up the Jewish faith to the whole world. As they had had their 40 years wilderness experiences to relate to and know God's provision and character, so the whole world would have its sign in Jesus. As the Jews had their brass serpent on a pole in the wilderness, so the whole world would see Jesus and the cross as their salvation. Jesus has indeed been a focal point for all mankind. Even the international calendar is dated from His birth (even though they change the wording to try to hide this fact!) Jesus is the fulcrum on which the whole of creation rotates! He is the one by whom all will be judged. If life is a very (sinfully) slippery seesaw, then Jesus is the pivot (the weighty sacrifice) and doorway, God's righteousness/mercy sits at one end and each person on the other. My only chance of getting through to God (and eternal life in Heaven) is to attach myself to Jesus and go through Him onto the safe end of the seesaw! Then the weight of my sin will not count against me. Anywhere else and I slide down into the pits of hell. There are certain times in the seesaw of life that righteous God (in mercy) moves (the see saw) in such a way that I have an opportunity to do this. To miss that opportunity is disastrous. To take it is momentous. I then live on the "other side", in eternity, even though I am still on the seesaw of human life! It's a totally new zone! The WOW zone! I can still relate to those on the wrong side of the slide and plead with them to come on through, untill Father takes me off the slide altogether, into His everlasting arms! He picks up His child and laughs with eternal joy.