Proclaiming the Everlasting Gospel of God's Kingdom

In all the years I have been walking with the Lord, I have never found a good book on Communion.  I am writing this book because Communion is one of the most misunderstood parts of our service to God.
     The word "communion", according to Webster, is "the fellowship between two persons;  a state of giving and receiving".
     When we come into this fellowship with the Lord, the giving is the giving of ourselves, totally, unto Him;  denying our fleshly desires and completely dying to self;  giving thanks and praise unto the Father.
     The receiving aspect of our Communion with Him is His guidance and direction in our lives.  He desires this on a daily basis, that we may be part of His body.
     When we partake of His broken body,  we are saying it is our desire to crucify the flesh that the old man may die.  When we partake of the shed blood, we are saying it is our desire to have His life in us.  His life will renew the old creation that we may walk in newness of life.
     Some of the names given to Communion are the Lord's Supper, the Cup of Blessing, The Love Supper and the Eucharist.
     Jesus instituted Communion at the Last Supper before His crucifixion.
        "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat;  this is My body.
        And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
 
        For this is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."  *** Matthew 26:26-28
     Jesus said,  "take eat, this is my body."  He did not say this represents  my Body, or that this is an example, symbol or type of my Body.  He said, "This IS my body."   The same reference was made about the blood, "This IS my Blood".
     Jesus gave the commandment of Communion long before the Last Supper.  He did this when He was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum,  He spoke of the Communion which He would institute at the Last Supper.
        "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath everlasting life.
        I am that bread of life.
        Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
        This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
        I am the living bread which came down from heaven:  if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever:  and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
        The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?
        Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink  His blood, ye have no life in you.
        Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life;  and I will raise him up at the last day.
        For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.
        He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him.
        As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father:  so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me.
        This is that bread which came down from heaven:  not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead:  he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
        These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.
        Many therefore of His disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
        When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, Doth this offend you?
        What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before?
        It is the Spirit that quickeneth:  the flesh profiteth nothing:  the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
        But there are some of you that believe not..."  *** John 6:47-64
        Jesus said, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth;  the flesh profiteth nothing." 
     Man has always perceived Communion as a fleshly observance, and it does not have much meaning.  Many think we are only doing 
this to remember Jesus' death.  It has no Spiritual value to those at all. 
        "The flesh profiteth nothing."
     Our partaking of the broken body and shed blood is the Spiritual celebration of what Jesus did in our lives. 
        "It is the Spirit that quickeneth" or makes alive.
     What is the true meaning of Communion?  If it is only a fleshly act, the Communion profiteth nothing.  We need to let the Holy Spirit speak to our hearts and let the broken body and shed blood nourish our Spiritual growth in God.
     Jesus gave us four keys of knowledge that we need to understand as we walk with our Lord.
     1 - Except we eat His flesh and drink
         His blood, we have no life in us.
     2 - Unless we eat His flesh and drink
         His blood, there will be no
         eternal life.
     3 - If we don't eat His flesh and
         drink His blood, He will not dwell
         in us, nor we in Him.
     4 - If we do not partake of the broken
         body and shed blood, we shall not
         live by Him, nor will our lives be
         directed by Him.
     Jesus proclaimed that He was the living bread which came down from heaven, or the Spiritual realm.  When we are partaking of the broken body, we are partaking of that body.  We are partaking  of the body the Father had prepared for Jesus.
        "Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body has thou prepared me."  *** Hebrews 10:5
     If we believe Jesus' words, then far too little emphasis has been put on the Communion and our coming into the fellowship of giving and receiving.
     We will be addressing five main subjects.  In reviewing these 5 main areas of the Lord's Supper, we will also talk about what is acceptable.
     1 - The bread
     2 - The wine
     3 - How often we should partake of
         Communion
     4 - When we should not take Communion
     5 - What our Spiritual condition
         should be in taking Communion

   # 1 - Jesus took the bread
     The Bread is called the staff of life. 
        Jesus said, "This is my body."
        "I am the living bread which came down from heaven:  if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever:  and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."  *** John 6:51
     Jesus was the Living Bread which came down from heaven.  The bread was His flesh.  It was broken for the life of the world.  Much has been written of this bread.
        "Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have  we polluted thee?  In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible."  *** Malachi 1:7
     Malachi spoke of serving polluted bread on His altar.  The word polluted means "defiled".  He not only stated that polluted bread was served, he also stated that the table of the Lord was considered contemptible. 
        The word contemptible is BAZA and means "to accord little worth to something".  Many feel that Communion is just a religious observance, and that if they take it, or don't take it, it makes little difference.  They see little value in it.  To that person, it probably has little value.
     In the New Testament, leaven (yeast) represents sin, false doctrine and hypocrisy.
        Jesus said, "Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy."  *** Luke 12:1
        The bread that many churches serve is baked with leaven (yeast). 
        Jesus said,  "This is my body." 
     When used for Communion, leaven in the bread pollutes the bread.  It is saying that Jesus' Body was tainted with sin, false doctrine and  hypocrisy.
     Many are serving polluted bread upon the altars of worship and are not even aware that the bread they serve is an abomination before the Lord.  Many serve white bread, crackers or a prepared wafer to be Jesus' Body.
     What I am about to share is something the Lord revealed to me about the white flour used in Communion.  When white flour is prepared, two things are removed.  One is the BRAN;  the second is the GERM.
     The BRAN is the outer covering.  It is what holds everything together in the berry of wheat, rye or barley.  The bran, or hull, of the grain represents the Holy Spirit that holds everything together, both in the physical and Spiritual realm.
     The GERM is called the stale maker and is the life in the grain.  When white flour is used to represent Jesus' body, we have removed the life and the Holy Spirit.  We are saying that there was neither life NOR 
Holy Spirit in Jesus' body.  We, then, have served polluted bread upon His altar. 
     The Communion bread should be made from whole grain flour.
        Jesus said, "This is my body." 
        If our desire is to be part of the Body of Christ, then it is necessary to partake of the body of Christ.  When Jesus told the people they must partake of His body and drink of His blood, many of His disciples walked with Him no more *** John 6:65.
        Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?"  *** John 6:67

        The question is not:  Are we to partake of Communion.  The question is:  Do we want to be part of the Body of Christ?  If the answer is yes, we must partake of His Communion.  We must make sure that the bread we serve is not polluted on His altar.  We must be absolutely sure the flour we use has not been defiled by adding yeast.  We must be sure that nothing of the grain has been removed for convenience.  Neither soda crackers, nor prepared wafers are acceptable before God as a substitute to the body of Jesus.
    # 2 - The Blood
        Jesus said,  "This is my blood.  Drink ye all of it." 
        He certainly did not mean to consume the whole contents of the cup, but rather, it was a commandment that all were to partake of it.  If we want to partake of the life of Christ, then we are commanded to drink His blood.
     A study of Jesus' blood reveals what the blood means in our lives.  Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.  *** Hebrews 9:22
     By Jesus' blood, we are justified,  *** Romans 5:9;  we have redemption through His blood,  *** Ephesians 1:7 and Colossians 1:14; we are reconciled to the Father by His blood,  *** Colossians 1:20; we enter into the Holiest of Holies by the blood.  *** Hebrews 10:19

     There is also another aspect of the blood.  The Old Testament reveals that the life is in the blood.
        "For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof:  therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh:  for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof:  whosoever eateth it shall be cut off."  *** Leviticus 17:14
     The words "Shall be cut off"  meant to "put to death".  The life of the flesh is the blood.  But the blood of bulls and goats could not bring life.  Only the blood of Christ brings life. There was no forgiveness of sin in the blood of bulls and goats.  The blood of bulls and goats only atoned for sin.  Atone means "to placate, cover or set aside".  Only by the blood of Jesus can we be reconciled to the Father.  It is only by the blood of Jesus that there is life.  Without the blood of Jesus, there is no life.
     Jesus said that if we do not drink of His blood, there is no life in us.  To understand how the blood of Jesus can forgive sins, we need to look at the virgin birth. 
        While a baby is in the mother's womb, being formed, not one drop of the mother's blood ever flows through the child.  The characteristics of the blood always comes from the father.  This is why a child's father can be identified by a blood test, but the mother cannot be identified this way. 
        When Jesus walked the earth, He was the only person that had the Father's bloodline.  All other blood on earth was tainted by sin.  Jesus' blood was not.  His blood was of the Father's blood. That blood is the only blood that is pure, that it may be used as a sacrifice for the sin of the world.
     This blood has two aspects: 
     1 - It is the pure sacrifice for sin
     2 - The life of Christ is in the blood
     This is why, when we partake of that blood, it will bring life.  This is why it is so important to be partakers of that broken body and shed blood.  Jesus' blood was absolutely pure from all sin and defilement.  This is why the grape juice used (or wine) must be pure, unadulterated and not watered down (diluted).  Only the purest fruit of the vine can be used; no preservatives.
     In *** Matthew 26:29, Jesus referred to the juice as the fruit of the vine.  The question always arises:  Was the grape juice fermented? 
     The answer to that is: It probably was.  They fermented the grape juice to keep it from spoiling. 
     Was it wine? 
     Not in the sense that we think of wine today.  When wine is made today, much sugar is added.  This is called sweet wine and has a much higher alcoholic content than naturally fermented wine.  Fortified wine has alcohol added for an even higher alcoholic content.  Naturally fermented wines have a very low alcoholic content and are not sweet.  They were not drunk for the alcohol, but for the refreshment.  Alcohol adds no Spiritual value to the Communion.
     # 3 - How often we should partake of
           the Lord's supper
     We hear so many say:  "We do not want Communion to become a ritual."  Yet, in most churches, it is only a ritual.  At one church I attended, they served Communion every Tuesday night.  Another church had a separate room where Communion was set up at every meeting, so any one that wanted to partake, could.  They made it an individual choice.  Other churches serve it once a month, some quarterly, some every six months, while other churches only serve Communion once a year.  So which is correct?
     All the Word says about how often we should partake of the broken body and shed blood, is found in *** I Corinthians.
        "After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood:  this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me."  *** I Corinthians. 11:25
     So we should partake of the Lord's Table as often as desired, to remember Jesus and come into Communion. 
     There have been many men of God who took Communion every day at the beginning of their day.  Which may bring up a question:  Can Communion be served by anyone other than the church or someone in authority? 
        Absolutely!  Anytime we, as His children, desire to come into His presence and remember the free gift of forgiveness of sin, we may come into that Communion and fellowship with Him.
     Many churches say you must belong to their church to take Communion with them and if you do not belong, they ask that you not partake. 
        THESE DO ERR !
        Christ only has one body  and His blood was shed for the whole world.  So a believer does not have to belong to a local assembly to partake of the broken body and shed blood.
     So how often should we take Communion? 
     This is between you and God.  You do not need to follow a church ritual.  You are free to take Communion as oft as you desire.  More than once a day?  Yes, if you desire to remember the Lord or come into fellowship with the Lord.  It can be taken as many times as you desire.
     Should it become a ritual? 

     No,  we should never take Communion without remembering the Lord's death, resurrection and His Body.
     Paul addressed the questions of when we should take Communion and:
     # 4 - When we should not take
           Communion.
 
        "Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
        But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
        For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body."  *** I Corinthians 11:27-29
 
        Paul said we should not eat the bread or drink the cup unworthily.  Unworthily is the Greek word ANAXIOS and means "partaking of the Lord's Supper in a highly, frivolous attitude";  treating it as a common meal; not comprehending the importance of the Communion in our Spiritual walk in God.
     Malachi reveals this same attitude: 
        "The Table of the Lord is contemptible;" (according little worth to something). 
        Paul stated we were not discerning the Lord's Body, or not having the full understanding of why we are partaking of the broken body and shed blood;  not setting this special time apart in the Spiritual realm as an opportunity to commune with our Saviour.  But, simply, taking it frivolously and placing little importance upon it.
     Another meaning of not discerning the Lord's Body, is that the bread represents His body that was broken.  It is our job to become part of that broken body that He will put back together when He returns.
     When we partake of Communion, we need to see the piece of broken body as ourselves.  Our prayer should be:  "God, make my piece of your broken body fit when you return to put your body together of which you are the head."
     # 5 - What our Spiritual condition
           should be in taking Communion.
 
        Paul went on to say:
        "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep."  *** I Corinthians 11:30
     It should be obvious that He was not speaking of their physical condition, but, rather, their Spiritual condition. 
        Paul said,  "There are many weak and sickly." 
     They do not have a healthy relationship with God.
     When we are sickly and weak, we cannot function or even do the simplest chores.  This is the Spiritual condition of many today.   They have no power in their walk with God.  Their presence before God is one of being weak and sickly.
     The Word says we are to come boldly before the throne.  The word boldly is PARRHESIA and means "freedom of speech, unreservedness of utterance".  We do not have this privilege in a weak, Spiritual condition.
     Paul said, "Many sleep."  Paul is not speaking here of people dying, but of being asleep.
        "While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept."  *** Matthew 25:5
     The bridegroom is tarrying today.  Most are asleep. 
        Paul wrote in *** I Thessalonians 5:7, 
        "For they that sleep sleep in the night." 
        We need to awake out of our sleep and discern the Lord's Body.  We need to know that God is ready to set His head on His Body.  Those that are not under the headship of Christ, the Holy Spirit, are not going to be part of His Body that He is going to bring together under His leadership when He returns.
 
        When a member of our physical body is severed, such as a finger, the blood that gives it life ceases to flow through it;  and it dies.  It is no different when we, as a member of His Body, become separated, the life blood ceases to flow through us.  We die Spiritually if we are separated.  When He returns, we will not be part of the body for which He is returning.
     The life is in the blood.  If we want eternal life and if we want to be raised up the last day, the seventh day, which is the millennial reign, we must have the life of Christ in us.  We must be part of that Body.  If we are partakers now, we will be partakers when He returns.
     Jesus stated that we are to have Communion only until He returns.  *** I Corinthians 11:26
        We, as His body, need to realize the importance of Communion;  not only to 
ourselves, but also to our Lord and Saviour.
     Communion should be an outward sign of what God is doing inwardly.