charisbarak

The covenant with Israel was ratified by the blood of the young sacrificed bulls. They promised to love God only and with all their hearts & to obey his commandments. The young bulls were sacrificed, their blood sprinkled on the altar & the meat was eaten in the manner commanded by God.

This is my blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (all my sins past, present & future!) If we have not confessed & repented of our sins before taking the cup we have closed the communication between God & ourselves. The Bible says we take of communion unworthily if we haven't confessed & repented of known sins in our lives. I Cor. 11:28 "A man ought to examine himself before he eats the bread and drinks of the cup." We need to do this in reverence for God and not to bring judgement on ourselves.

Jesus purposely pointed to Is. 53 to because He soon would become the fulfillment of those scriptures which they had known for years. He poured out his life unto death--a choice He made. He was numbered with the transgressors--crucified with 2 other true transgressors. Bore the sins of many--He died for all mankind. Made intercession for the transgressors--for us and the other man on the cross. Also he will bear their iniquities--took upon himself our sins. Perfect, exact picture of why, how & what happened to Jesus that day!!

The violence of those words in explanation of what was going to be happening to Him were to prepare the disciples for what was soon to come. I think they would have tried to connect it to the passover somehow, but I think they dared not think that He would have to die to bring this to pass--perhaps God would step in & rescue Him somehow? Afterwards, when He had risen from the dead and the Holy Spirit entered them, I think they knew and understood the full implication of what had happened to Jesus & the awful price He paid for our salvation.

God's grace & mercy were at work in the sacrificial system. Instead of no way out/no solution to the sin problem, He provided the means through perfect animal sacrifices to be sacrificed for us. He was building the bridge even then to Himself for all of us. Jesus, the perfect human sacrifice appeased our great God & bought salvation for us for once and for all--no more animal sacrifices. His mercy to us was putting our sins on Jesus & not having us pay the awful price for our sin. His grace came in salvation--not earned or deserved.

I am encouraged by Jesus' choice to die..to be a sacrifice for ME a sinner... I am loved by God for being who I am. Now it's Whose I am! I belong to Him! It inspires me to live my life that I might not be a snare to others coming to God, to be His witness, and to help others along my way to know Him & to encourage them to love Him too.

The purpose of Jesus giving His life as a sacrifice was the fulfilling of God's love for us. He died that we might have life & live for Him. He desired to see all men come to faith in God. He took our place to ransom us.

Christianity demands a physical birth, death & resurrection. There had to be a real man to live a perfect life to be the sacrifice for us to please a just God. Knowing none of us is without sin, God intervened & provided himself as the perfect physical body on whom God's judgement could be set upon to fulfil the sacrifice needed to bridge the separation between man & God. Without this happening our faith would have NOTHING to stand on.

I think Jesus' physical body was emphasized because it brings to light the awful suffering He had to go through for us. None of us could qualify to do what Jesus did for us. We can, however, understand all the things that were done to Him, physically. The horror of those hours stays with us as we realize He took OUR punishment for US. We deserved it--He did not. He chose to lay His very life down for us, He received what we deserved.

Personally, when I am a sharer in the sacrifice of the cross, it refreshes me; it allows me to commune with Jesus and thank Him again for the suffering He had to go through because of His love for me, a sinner; it also keeps it all fresh in my mind. I need to come back to that common ground on a regular basis, not let it fade from my daily thoughts. There is so much information we receive every day and His sacrifice for me needs to take priority in my thoughts. The more I learn about the Lord's Supper, the closer I want to be to Him and I long for the supper I will share with Him in heaven soon!

The priests had to follow the law when it came to the sacrifices. Not only did they have to offer the right sacrifices, prepare & burn them in a special way & to complete the process they had to share the meat with their families. In the same way, our participation in the remembrance in communion is to actually take part in eating/drinking the elements served. I could watch communion being taken, but I would not be a participant. Sharing of these elements completes the remembrance of Jesus' sacrifice for us.

Koinonia means participation, communion, a common ground. As a Christian, I participate in taking communion to remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for me and my brothers & sisters in Christ. This is the common ground for us to gather to remember Him & His sacrifice of blood on our behalf.

I think Paul was exhorting the believers to be careful of what practices/sacrifices they were involved in. He wanted them to know they would be closely identified with the gods/God whom they made sacrifices to. And because God is a jealous God, He commands we be identified (worship) only with Him. He would not share the glory with another object/person. They were mixing their old practices (worldly) with the holy. Evidently the Corinthians did not have a pure church. I have to seriously ask myself..what practices/things are taking up my time--am I "worshipping" besides God? Do those things bring glory to God?

The Lord's Supper is a proclamation I make confirming my belief in the life & death of Jesus, His substitutionary death for me. Each time I take part in communion, I am stating I am remembering Him, and how important to me is what He did for me. The proclamation is made to God first of all, then to my brothers & sisters in the Lord, then to any unbelievers who may be watching me. This is important because it is a witness. If the proclamation changes to another theme, or is not even made, it is not Biblical. I think it would be sinful to change the focus from Jesus Christ to any other. The church who does this would be setting itself up for judgement.

Our remembrance of Christ & what He did for us & all mankind is the most important thing to remember. Because of what He did, I live. If we neglect to remember Christ & his sacrifice for us, Christianity becomes just a "religion." It would also open the door for the world to shape our lives. Personally, when we forget to remember Christ & His sacrifice our Christianity becomes shallow. Our value as one of God's children is discounted, and we live like the world. Pretty soon we would just be religious.....

The Passover Meal for future generations was simply a remembrance of what God did for them in Egypt. It was also to be repeated to remember how they were in slavery in Egypt, then how God used Moses to release them & God's faithfulness to them. If it were not repeated, they would soon have forgotten the Exodus from Egypt, how special they are to God & would serve other gods & end up in another kind of slavery.

Yes, any ritual could become mundane, if we let it become so. We must purpose in our hearts & minds to keep each communion a real "communion" with our Lord in remembrance of what He did for us. I believe the Lord wants us to continually have his sacrifice in our minds as we live out each day lest we forget. As some of those have stated, it is soooo easy for us to forget. So the Lord commanded us to remember & practice this intimate celebration.

The Lamb, fully God (as well as fully man) is the Son of God, sitting at the right hand of the Father. Praise Him!!

We, as a kingdom on earth & heaven are to be priests--bringing others to Him--serving Him in everything we do will reign on earth--I think our reign is begun on earth culminating in the new heavens & earth. I cannot be certain exactly what God has planned for us exactly, but I know it will be exciting!

The Lamb is worthy because He suffered & died for our sins--freeing us--redeeming us--He paid the price with His life. And He lives!!!

lamb = Jesus Christ standing after slain = resurrection & still showing signs of wounds on His body horns = might/strength eyes = H.S.--see fully/completely--all-knowing seven = idea of completeness/perfection The Lamb has the qualities of being God!

He is the Lion of Judah--taken from Jacob's blessing on his son Judah--lion's cub/croching lion--Messiah Genesis 49. The root of David--Jesse was father of King David from whom would come Messiah--Is. 11

For me, the reflection on Jesus' death & His amazing love for me and with the culmination of being with Him & the fellowship of believers is very important at this time of my spiritual life. "Oh for a deeper walk with Thee"

The action words are: given--the choice of Jesus to give up His body as a sacrifice broken for--suffering/dieing for us poured out--His blood was spilled for us

The balance comes to those who take it figuaratively simply when they reflect on Jesus & the actual act of his sacrifice for us. Keep in mind those descriptions which tell of how Jesus suffered for us. Maybe relecting back on the movie "The Passion." It's where our heart & mind are & God knows this--our spirit in touch with His. Even those who take it literally have to do this same reflecting prior to & during communion. Otherwise, it becomes just a snack....