Brent's Bible Studies
Communion
I’d like to talk about communion, looking at its roots and meaning – why this is a core ritual in Christianity.
Communion has its roots in the Jewish Passover, which remembers their Exodus from slavery in Egypt. To get up to speed, I highly recommend watching the Prince of Egypt, which tells the story from Exodus 1-15.
The Last Supper
Matthew 26:17 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples went to Jesus. They asked, “Where do you want us to prepare the Passover meal for you?”
18He said, “Go to a certain man in the city, and tell him that the teacher says, ‘My time is near. I will celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’ ”
19The disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.
20When evening came, Jesus was at the table with the twelve apostles.
21While they were eating, he said, “I can guarantee this truth: One of you is going to betray me.”
22Feeling deeply hurt, they asked him one by one, “You don’t mean me, do you, Lord?”
23Jesus answered, “Someone who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24The Son of Man is going to die as the Scriptures say he will. But how horrible it will be for that person who betrays the Son of Man. It would have been better for that person if he had never been born.”
25Then Judas, who betrayed him, asked, “You don’t mean me, do you, Rabbi?”
“Yes, I do,” Jesus replied.
26While they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it. He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take this, and eat it. This is my body.”
27Then he took a cup and spoke a prayer of thanksgiving. He gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you. 28This is my blood, the blood of the promise. It is poured out for many people so that sins are forgiven.
29“I can guarantee that I won’t drink this wine again until that day when I drink new wine with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
30After they sang a hymn, they went to the Mount of Olives.
The historical roots of Communion
Communion has its roots in Passover and the lamb that was sacrificed.
Genesis 3:21 The Lord God made clothes from animal skins for the man [Adam] and his wife [Eve] and dressed them.
Sacrifices go way back to the original sin. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they immediately felt ashamed of their nakedness. And covered themselves with fig leaves.
God didn’t say “Get over it.” Instead, he provided durable clothes for them. For this, God sacrificed an animal. This foretells Jesus’ sacrifice to cover the sin of all humanity.
Genesis 9:4 “But you are not to eat meat with blood in it. (Blood is life.)
At creation, God gave us plants for food. After the flood, God permitted eating animals. But we must not eat blood, because blood is life. This gets interesting with communion, because Jesus talks about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. When we take communion, we symbolically consume the life of Jesus, which then flows through our own lives.
Genesis 22:13 When Abraham looked around, he saw a ram behind him caught by its horns in a bush. So Abraham took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
14Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide. It is still said today, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
Abraham’s enacting of sacrificing his only son, also foretold God sacrificing his only son – on those very same mountains.
Exodus 12:21 Then Moses called for all the leaders of Israel. He said to them, “Pick out a lamb or a young goat for your families, and kill the Passover animal. 22Take the branch of a hyssop plant, dip it in the blood which is in a bowl, and put some of the blood on the top and sides of the doorframes [of your houses]. No one may leave the house until morning. 23The Lord will go throughout Egypt to kill the Egyptians. When he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, he will pass over that doorway, and he will not let the destroyer come into your home to kill you.
This is the essence of the Passover. Those marked with the blood would be spared when God passed over their houses in judgement. Likewise, those marked with the blood of Jesus will be spared the ultimate judgement of the wicked.
Jesus is the Passover Lamb
John 1:29 John saw Jesus coming toward him the next day and said, “Look! This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 30He is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘A man who comes after me was before me because he existed before I did.’
When John saw Jesus, he connected the dots – that Jesus is like the Passover lamb.
John 6:32 Jesus said to them, “I can guarantee this truth: Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33God’s bread is the man who comes from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread all the time.” 35Jesus told them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never become hungry, and whoever believes in me will never become thirsty.
53Jesus told them, “I can guarantee this truth: If you don’t eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have the source of life in you. 54Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will bring them back to life on the last day. 55My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. 57The Father who has life sent me, and I live because of the Father. So those who feed on me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came from heaven. It is not like the bread your ancestors ate. They eventually died. Those who eat this bread will live forever.”
Let’s unpack this.
32Jesus said to them, “I can guarantee this truth: Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33God’s bread is the man who comes from heaven and gives life to the world.”
After crossing the red sea at the Exodus, God provided mana, which is bread from Heaven. This lasted for 40 years while Israel wandered the desert.
34They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread all the time.” 35Jesus told them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never become hungry, and whoever believes in me will never become thirsty.
Just as mana sustained them in the desert, partaking in the body and blood of Jesus sustains our Christian walk.
53Jesus told them, “I can guarantee this truth: If you don’t eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have the source of life in you.
If remembering what Jesus did for us is not part of our walk, we’ve forgotten our roots and our religion is useless.
54Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will bring them back to life on the last day. 55My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
While Passover remembered the blood of the lamb that passed over the Israelite’s houses in Egypt, it also looked forward to their Messiah’s coming to cover our sin. Similarly, while communion remembers Jesus’ sacrifice, it also looks forward to Jesus’ return when he’ll ultimately deliver us from our sinful nature and the burden of sinful authorities over this world.
56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. 57The Father who has life sent me, and I live because of the Father. So those who feed on me will live because of me.
Jesus is the Word of God, but so is the Bible. We must feed daily on the Word of God to keep our Christian faith alive.
58This is the bread that came from heaven. It is not like the bread your ancestors ate. They eventually died. Those who eat this bread will live forever.”
And whoever eats the Word of God will live forever.
The Messiah - prophecy fulfilled
I really love how this old film, The Messiah, Prophecy Fulfilled shows how the traditions of the Jewish Passover were fulfilled by Jesus.
Acts 2:42 The disciples were devoted to the teachings of the apostles, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.
After Jesus ascended to return to Heaven, his followers hung out with each other. There’s numerous references of them breaking bread together, which implies having meals together, but it also implies taking communion together.
Paul’s teaching
Some years later, Paul wrote some great teaching on communion. The church at Corinth had all sort of problems, which gives us the opportunity to learn from how Paul addressed these and gives a great theological foundation.
1 Corinthians 5:6 It’s not good for you to brag. Don’t you know that a little yeast spreads through the whole batch of dough? 7Remove the old yeast [of sin] so that you may be a new batch of dough, since you don’t actually have the yeast [of sin]. Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8So we must not celebrate our festival with the old yeast [of sin] or with the yeast of vice and wickedness. Instead, we must celebrate it with the bread of purity and truth that has no yeast.
As part of the Passover, the Jews were to clean out all yeast from their houses. Then, for the following week, they’d eat bread with no yeast in it.
Yeast represents sin. Just as a little bit of yeast causes bread to rise and bloat, a little bit of sin in our lives affects our entire lives.
1 Corinthians 11:17 I have no praise for you as I instruct you in the following matter: When you gather, it results in more harm than good. 18In the first place, I hear that when you gather as a church you split up into opposing groups. I believe some of what I hear. 19Factions have to exist in order to make it clear who the genuine believers among you are.
20When you gather in the same place, you can’t possibly be eating the Lord’s Supper. 21Each of you eats his own supper [without waiting for each other]. So one person goes hungry and another gets drunk. 22Don’t you have homes in which to eat and drink? Do you despise God’s church and embarrass people who don’t have anything to eat? What can I say to you? Should I praise you? I won’t praise you for this. 23After all, I passed on to you what I had received from the Lord.
On the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread 24and spoke a prayer of thanksgiving. He broke the bread and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” 25When supper was over, he did the same with the cup. He said, “This cup is the new promise made with my blood. Every time you drink from it, do it to remember me.” 26Every time you eat this bread and drink from this cup, you tell about the Lord’s death until he comes.
27Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks from the Lord’s cup in an improper way will be held responsible for the Lord’s body and blood. 28With this in mind, individuals must determine whether what they are doing is proper when they eat the bread and drink from the cup. 29Anyone who eats and drinks is eating and drinking a judgment against himself when he doesn’t recognize the Lord’s body.
30This is the reason why many of you are weak and sick and quite a number [of you] have died. 31If we were judging ourselves correctly, we would not be judged. 32But when the Lord judges us, he disciplines us so that we won’t be condemned along with the rest of the world.
33Therefore, brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, wait for each other. 34Whoever is hungry should eat at home so that you don’t have a gathering that brings judgment on you.
Matthew 5:23 23“So if you are offering your gift at the altar and remember there that another believer has something against you, 24leave your gift at the altar. First go away and make peace with that person. Then come back and offer your gift.
Likewise, when taking communion, we should reflect on whether we have any sin in our lives, particularly if we’ve wronged someone. We should sort that out first, before we continue taking communion.
Communion
So, let’s have communion together.
Matthew 26:26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it. He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take this, and eat it. This is my body.”
27Then he took a cup and spoke a prayer of thanksgiving. He gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you. 28This is my blood, the blood of the promise. It is poured out for many people so that sins are forgiven.
Communion looks forward to Jesus’ return
Remember, communion remembers Jesus’ return to restore the world and conquer the wickedness of worldly authorities.
Revelation 19:6 I heard what sounded like the noise from a large crowd, like the noise of raging waters, like the noise of loud thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! The Lord our God, the Almighty, has become king. 7Let us rejoice, be happy, and give him glory because it’s time for the marriage of the lamb. His bride has made herself ready. 8She has been given the privilege of wearing dazzling, pure linen.” This fine linen represents the things that God’s holy people do that have his approval. 9Then the angel said to me, “Write this: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the lamb’s wedding banquet.’ ” He also told me, “These are God’s true words.”
Communion looks forward to the Marriage supper of the Lamb, when the church joins with Jesus as his bride for eternity.
So that’s my thoughts on communion. I pray that this is a blessing to you as you meditate, that is chew over, God’s Word.
Shalom and be blessed.
- Brent
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