It’s a great privilege that we can eat and drink along with Jesus at the communion table. So let us with a thankful heart enter into this. Let us partake in the body and blood of Jesus Christ as He wants us to do as often as possible. First let us look at the Bible verse which is the basis of this.
And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” ( Luke 22:19 NKJV)
Holy Communion – feast at the banqueting table
The Holy Communion is a banqueting table of great provision. Provision which has blessed many unto these days. Miraculous healings have been experienced by very many through this blessed feast. This includes healing of the so called incurable sickness, healing of mind, panic attack. Breakthroughs of situations and circumstances for matters and circumstances which did not seem to have solutions, ideas, wisdom have come through diligent celebration of this banquet.
Psalms 23 speaks about the banqueting table in verse 5 and 6.
The beauty of the feast is that it is the banquet in the presence of our enemies.
Our head is anointed with oil.
He makes the cup of provisions running over.
What is the provision of the Lord?
The provision of the Lord includes healing for the sick.
The provision of the Lord includes joy for the sorrowful.
The provision of the Lord includes rest for the always busy.
The provision of the Lord includes jobs for the unemployed.
The provision of the lord includes freedom for the imprisoned.
The provision of the Lord includes peace for the anxious mind.
The provision of the Lord includes unity where there is division.
The provision of the Lord includes being set apart for the sinner.
The provision of the Lord includes harmony where there is discord.
The provision of the Lord includes wisdom & strategy for the limited, restricted & cornered.
As Jesus Christ became the blemishless lamb slayed for us, sin and death has lost all claim on us. Being a new creation in Christ, we have all of heaven’s provisions as our inheritance. These ones listed above are just a few. Your imagination can include whatever heaven’s provisions required for you.
God’s Goodness and Mercy follows us all through our lives.
And the greatest blessing of dwelling in God’s House becomes ours.
All these starts with the banqueting table of Christ Jesus – where we gather as the body of Christ Jesus.
We are around the banqueting table as we gather around the bread and wine, around the body and blood of the lamb. Banqueting as a family at our homes.
Banqueting as a congregation in church.
What’s available at the banqueting table?
At the banqueting table of the Lord, the spread is rich.
We have the fruits, a rich and diverse variety of meat, best wine and refreshing water.
The fruits at the banqueting table are the very best that can be imagined viz. love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. The superior fruits are such that no law can stand against it.
So from the banqueting table diet you will have the grace and favour to reign over all situations, circumstances, even laws ! Oh only if our eyes or our hearts were open to the precious and unique strengths and power we receive from the Lords banqueting table.
Biblical background of the Holy Communion
Priest Melkazedic
In the Holy Bible, the very first instance of the Bread and Wine being offered seems to be when Melkazedic, the Priest of the Most High, the Prince of Salem offered it to Abraham. This could probably have been the earliest instance of the Holy Communion.
In Genesis 14:18-20 we see Melkazedic, the priest of the most High bring out bread and the wine. He then declared that Abraham be blessed by God most High, possessor of Heaven and maker of Heaven and Earth. He goes further to Bless God who has delivered Abraham’s enemies into his hand.
Abraham’s obedience and sacrifice
When he was willing to sacrifice his son in obedience. We can read about Abrahm’s obedience on God being the provider in the 22nd chapter of Genesis. Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Issac was well received. When on the journey to mount Morriah, little did Issac in his 30’s know that he was the sacrificial lamb who was going to be offered as burnt offering over the heap of wood he was carrying to the mountain with his father. Yet all through the process, without any resistance, Issac willingly conceded to his father Abraham’s will. We thus see that Issac and Abraham went through the process of sacrifice like God had done with Jesus Christ His son over 1,800 years.
Exodus from Egypt
Yet again another powerful image of the Holy Communion we know when Israel had at the passover when they were about to leave Egypt for the promised land. The blood of the lamb marked the doors and lintels of all Israeli homes. The angel of death passed over the homes whereas death and destruction was over every Egyptian home.
We see the protection, abundant life, favour and victory over enemies, anointing, provisions and feasting in the presence of enemies, goodness and mercy of God and dwelling in God’s house where we are shielded.
Why does Jesus want us to remember the Holy Communion?
There should be many facatest to this. In the Holy Communion we are eating His body and drinking His blood. In addition to literal, even in the spiritual sense we are becoming one with the saviour.
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11 NKJV)
As we partake of this, we remember Abraham’s trust in God, which increased and became his faith in God. He trusted that God who provided Issac was faithful. Abraham in his old age knew God was faithful to fulfil God’s promises to Abraham to provide innumerable children as he had promised. The significant matter is Abraham trusted God and found God to be faithful in His promises.
Abraham experienced God’s provision in the lamb in the thicket/bushes when he lifted his eyes.
Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” (Genesis 22:13-14 NKJV)
Abraham received a great promise of children innumerable like stars of the sky.
He received a promise that his descendants shall possess the gates of the enemies.
All because he believed in God and did not withhold his son. As we step into life after this communion when situations and circumstances want us to make a choice. Let us be found trusting God, obedient to God and expect to receive promises and blessings just like Abraham received.
Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”(Genesis 22:15-18 NKJV)
At the crucifixion of Jesus, the veil in the temple, the separation between the Holy of Holies was torn by the hand of God from top to bottom.
Thus signifying the presence of God came in a very visible way to all who believed in Jesus. What used to be restricted to the Holy of Holies came into our lives. Gift of the presence of God manifested.
Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’(Genesis 22:44-46a NKJV)
It was after crucifixion that the Holy spirit was sent to the believers in a manifest way. Thus the presence of the Holy Spirit in a manifest may is a matter of great empowerment – after the crucifixion, which is celebrated in the Holy Communion.
Have a daily routine of partaking the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Be blessed.
