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Therefore my beloved says the apostle Paul to the church at Corinth, what is equally relevant to you and I today- “I speak as to wise men, judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing that we bless- is it not a participation in the Blood of Christ ? The Bread that we break is it not a participation in the Body of Christ ? Because there is the one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread”. [1 Corinthians 10:15-17]
Being made wise with wisdom from the Spirit, Paul exhorts the Corinthian church, and you and I also, to judge the truth of the Lord. Give considerable thought, make individual study and examine the scriptures to know and receive the truth of the Lord’s table in its wholeness. It is much more than a ritual that you partake in. It is of profound relevance and significance – an expression of your relationship with God. A right understanding and outworking of the truth of the Holy Communion happens in you through –
1. Revelation, that leads to –
2. Realization, that results in –
3. Resurrection life and power in you.
For as you examine the scriptures, even as the Bereans did in the early church the Holy Spirit will begin to give you revelation that is specific and relevant. The revelation leads you to a realization of God’s truth, which in turn empowers you to apply it in your life. ‘Father, if it is your will, remove this cup from me. Yet, not my will but yours be done’. [Luke 22:42] This was the Lord’s agonized prayer, as He willingly bowed to His Father’s will, and laid down His life on the Cross in love for each and every person in this world. Now therefore what we participate in is a celebration of the Lord’s Supper and a proclamation of His death until He comes again. It is the cup of blessing that we now partake. How did this transformation happen ?
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. They are folly to him, because spiritual things are spiritually discerned. “The spiritual person judges all things…”. [1 Corinthians 2:14,15] Born again of the Spirit, the spiritual man studies and meditates on the word of God. By revelation he receives the very thoughts of God Himself which he then speaks out in confession thereby confirming it. It then becomes the empowerment for his actions that see the fulfillment of God’s plans and purposes for his life. It all does not happen in a day or two though. Consistency is the key to see God’s prosperity in your life. It is the man who meditates on the Word day and night who is like a tree planted by the waters, whose leaves do not wither even in drought. And whatever he does prospers. You are the cup of blessing because he loves you. “But the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, instead the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you”. [Deuteronomy 23:5] Moses narrates in the verse above, what God accomplished in the lives of His chosen people, the Israelites. Today, you are his chosen generation, and the truth above is truly applicable in your life too. Blessing is the power of God to bless you. Curse is the power of darkness wielded by the evil one that is devoted to your destruction.
The change happened because, in the Garden of Gethsemane Lord Jesus prayed to His Father in loving submission and went willingly to the Cross where He took upon Himself all the evil that should have come upon us. God changed the curse into a blessing, all because He loves you. And no human being however threatening they may be, or any problem however dreadful it may appear to be, can ever separate you from God’s love. Therefore, you are a blessed person. God loves you with an eternal, unchanging, unfailing love. He will surely bless you. And when God is for you, nothing can stand against you. It is illustrated in the lives of the Israelites, when an enemy king Barak hired a prophet Balaam to pronounce curses to destroy God’s chosen and beloved people. But Balaam though he tried using his powers of sorcery to curse the people was unable to do so. He received instead a command from God to bless the people.
When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as other times to look for omens, but set his face towards the wilderness. [Numbers 24:1] It pleases the Lord and God takes pleasure in blessing you. Balaam realizing the truth, lifted up his eyes to the Lord. “And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe. And the Spirit of God came upon him”. [Numbers 24:2] The Spirit of the Lord came upon him to behold and believe.
It is the psalmist’s prayer “Open my eyes to see the wonders in your law”. [Psalms 119:18] When the Spirit of God opens the eyes of your heart, you will see wonderful things in God’s word that you never saw before. What you behold with eyes of faith in the scriptures, you will see it come to pass in your life. To behold is to believe and to become.
Balaam saw the twelve tribes of Israel who were camped in the wilderness according to God’s specific instructions. The tabernacle at the centre signified the presence of God I AM WHO I AM. Looking at the scene from a higher elevation, the aerial view would have appeared to be in the shape of a gigantic Cross, say the biblical scholars. With the light of the Spirit’s revelation coming upon him, Balaam prophetically beheld and proclaimed the redemption from the curse that was to come upon the Israelites through the Cross of Calvary. For, he saw them not as nomads wandering in the wilderness but as a people blessed by God, with a beautiful inheritance. He realized also that they were people who could not be cursed, because the power of God’s blessing can never be transcended.
“Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad”. [John 8:56] These are the words of Lord Jesus to the Pharisees who refused to accept Him as the Messiah. It describes how on seeing the ram that God provided to be sacrificed on Mt. Moriah, Abraham with the Spirit’s revelation rejoiced and was glad. He saw the eternal and perfect sacrifice, and God saying to him ‘Your son need not die for I have given My Only Begotten Son instead’. Worthy to partake by His Blood alone. No self effort on your part can ever be adequate enough to be made worthy to participate in the Lord’s Communion. Christ has through His death and resurrection become your holiness, wisdom and righteousness, when you received Him as your personal Savior. And it is His Blood that makes you holy and worthy to partake of the cup of blessing. The Cross, which is remembered in the Holy Communion, is the provision of God not to bring a curse on your life, but to escape from the curse into blessing. Christ has already done it all for you, finished the perfect and good work on the Cross, that you may be blessed. Nothing can change it. It is a done deal. He has blessed I cannot reverse it. Balaam acknowledging his inability to pronounce a curse said these words, which stand true even today, for each and every child of God. God is not man, that He should lie, Or a son of man, that he should change His mind. Has He said, and will He not do it ? Or has He not spoken, and will He not fulfill it ? Behold I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. [Numbers 23:19,20]
Man sometimes changes his mind, being unable to go through with his word. And he speaks what is not the truth, in order to cover up his mistakes or the wrong words that he has earlier spoken concerning any person or an issue. But with God, it is a different scenario altogether. He remains the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. And what He says, He brings it to pass. In fact He makes something in your life, by speaking it. It is the unchanging thread of truth that you see in the word of God, all the way from the book of Genesis to Revelation. All the promises of God are ‘yes’ and ‘amen’ in Jesus Christ. And this is your season. Therefore, if you have not seen the manifestation of your promise yet, believe that your miracle is coming closer. Refuse to see it negatively because it is getting delayed. This is your season, to see your miracle come to pass. Where there is manipulation of man, there will be no miracles of God.
But you will be able to proclaim, ‘This is the Lord’s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes’. Even as you partake of the Lord’s Table, proclaim that you are a blessed person. Put away all self pity from within you. God wants you to be blessed. And He has accomplished it all for you on the Cross of Calvary. No iniquity, no misfortune. Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, says the prophet Isaiah about the people of Israel. On the other hand, Balaam says about the same people He has not observed iniquity in Jacob Nor has He seen misfortune in Israel. [Numbers 23:26] It is an observation that is equally applicable even to you today. But you know from God’s word that the Israelites were not free of iniquity and sinful behavior and the same could be said of you also, if you were honest with yourself. Then, is God bypassing it all to bless you ? No, for the God who is love is also a God who is just and righteous. And if He were not so, He would not be God at all.
The truth is that on the Cross of Calvary, Christ has carried away your iniquities and transgressions. God sees all your sins nailed on the Cross in the body of His Son Jesus. His Blood has been shed for the remission of your sins and the sins of the whole world. And as you partake of the Lord’s Table you are declaring ‘I am a sinner, whose sins have been washed by the Blood of Christ, declared righteous by the All Righteous God’. God now sees Christ in you, the hope of glory. You are empowered not to sin. The Shout of the King is with you. The Lord His God is with him. And the Shout of the King is among them. [Numbers 23:21] There were people who stood around the Cross mocking the One who was dying for their sins on the Tree. But at the end of the ordeal there was a shout from the One who was on the Cross. A shout of victory from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords saying, ‘It is finished’.
Christ has already accomplished all that you need in your life, on the Cross. And He has risen victorious from the grave. The Shout of the King is among us now. You can therefore boldly declare I will not be anxious about anything, for Christ has already accomplished everything. Communion is a common union with the Lord and communion communicates. It is also something that happens constantly all through your life.
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the Blood of Christ ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the Body of Christ ?. [1 Corinthians 10:16] Partaking of the Lord’s Table, in the cup of blessing is participating in it. And what you partake you become part of. You become part of what Christ has done for you. It is why you can say, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. [Galatians 2:20] Linked in crucifixion, through Christ who now lives in you. you are also linked in His resurrection life and power.
But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him. [1 Corinthians 6:17] The Lord’s Table acquires deeper significance when you realize the truth embedded in it. When you are joined to the Lord, you are one in spirit with Him. He is the God who is Immanuel. He is with you always. He never leaves or forsakes you. You are never alone. A realization of this truth leads to an empowerment to live a new life. We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life. [Romans 6:4] If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. [Romans 8:11]
The Risen and Exalted Lord says to you now Because I live, you also will live. [John 14:19] And the standard, the dimension of life available to you now is a glorious one. For as He is, so are we in this world. [1 John 4:17] This is the awakening that God wants to happen in you so that you may not just crawl through life, but rather soar in the Spirit’s power.
May your eyes be enlightened to bring an understanding, a realization of this empowering truth. You are a blessed person, blessed by the King of kings and Lord of lords. This is your season and this is your time. Let revelation lead to a divine realization, to be connected to resurrection life, as you remain engulfed by His presence, overwhelmed by His love Amen.
